The Lord explains still further what the Holy Ghost would accomplish, what He would bring and teach us: “He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Indeed a great task, so vast that its execution seems impossible. Not merely one school, or one village, or one city, or even several of them, but the whole world shall come under the influence and reproof of the Holy Spirit. It must in truth be a mighty power which can accomplish such a task, and it must be sure of the necessary support. To the world belong all the descendants of Adam, emperors, kings and princes. All these are included among the number of those whom the Holy Ghost, through the preaching of the apostles and other ministers, is to reprove and admonish. He tells them: Ye are all sinners; not one of you is just or wise, whether you live in Jerusalem or in Rome, whether you are of high or low degree; you must all learn true wisdom of me, or not one of you will be saved. If you despise my teachings, you shall all go to hell, just as you are, with your entire baggage of self-righteousness, of holiness and good works. Thus, says Christ to His disciples, will the Holy Spirit execute His office of reproving the whole world through you, the poor and despised preachers of the Gospel.

This reproof, however, is no idle sound, but dread reality. Christ says: “He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” What now, if there is in the world no righteousness, no judgment, nothing but sin – what shall become of us? Hence the reproof of the Holy Ghost is for the world a terrible shock; we hear that we are the devil’s own, with all our good works, and that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless the Holy Ghost removes our sins, makes us righteous, and frees us from judgment. Many passages in the Scriptures are of similar import. Thus St. Paul says: “God has concluded all under sin;” and again: “We were by nature children of wrath.” Christ also says: “Unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” With such words and declarations the Holy Ghost reproves the world of sin. (Luther’s House Postil, Fourth Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 546-547)

For the purpose of comprehending this consolation the better, we will now speak in general of crosses and sorrows. Our reason assumes that God, if He cared for us and loved us, would ward off all evil from us, whereas now troubles and miseries crowd in upon us from every side; hence the conclusion is that God has either forgotten us, or else He has become our enemy and cares no longer for us; for surely if it were otherwise He would deliver us from our grief and distress. But such thoughts are wicked, and since they are very apt to arise, we must guard against them by applying the Word in true faith, and by following its precepts and not our own thoughts. If we judge our experiences in daily life aside from the light which the Word of God casts upon them, we shall inevitably become victims of error. What says the Word in this connection? Not even a single hair shall fall from our head against the will of God. If we accept this declaration in earnest faith, we will conclude that neither the devil nor the world, no matter how powerful they are, can harm the Christian in the least, if it is not God’s will that they should do so. Christ makes this plain in the parable of the sparrows; these are really useless birds, which do more injury than good, and yet not one of them shall fall to the ground and perish unless it be the will of the Father in heaven, Matt. 10.  Now, if we have any confidence whatever in the words of Jesus, we must conclude from this that God will certainly concern Himself much rather for men than for many sparrows; He therefore will guard them well and will not permit the devil and the world to harm a single one of His Christians against His will. If troubles do come, we infer that God has first given His consent; for against His knowledge they could not arise. Let us well remember this truth, so that we do not think, when evils surround us, that we are forsaken of God; for He has not forgotten where we are, nor is He ignorant of our condition, though He permits sorrows to invest us.  (Luther’s House Postil, Third Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 537)