2022 Trinity 4
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As we move through the Easter season, this Sunday is the first step into a different direction as we build up to the festival of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit who would come to dwell in the disciples and all who believe.
In our Gospel text today from John 16:5-15, we see Jesus preparing the disciples for his departure. The disciples will hear that Jesus will be departing “in a little while.” But before Jesus goes, he wants to the disciples to know that his departure is good for them.
At the cross and the empty tomb, Jesus’ work in his condescension is accomplished. Jesus’ mission was to be the pascal lamb, to be the scapegoat for the sins of the world. By his blood shed on the cross, the sins of the world are carried away. His work is done. Jesus is now promising the Holy Spirit’s arrival and revealing His great mission to the world and the disciples.
We know from last week’s Gospel text — which is from this same chapter in verse 17 — that the disciples were focusing on nothing other than that Jesus said he was about to leave. They weren’t thinking about where he was going or what it meant, only that he was leaving. They were pinning for the good ‘ole days.
“Remember when all those people were fed with the bread and fish beside the sea of Galilee?”
“Remember when people were flocking from across Galilee to hear Jesus preach and to be healed?”
“Remember when he turned water into wine?”
“Remember when???”
While it is good to remember, Jesus is teaching the disciples and the church that we remember for a reason. We don’t remember to relive the “good ‘ole days.” We remember to keep God’s faithfulness in mind. For the church, we don’t look back to “the good ‘ole days.” For those who are in Christ, we look forward to the glorious eternity that lies before us.
Jesus is telling the disciples, the good ‘ole days will not continue. But, good things lie directly ahead.
What is this? The ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Helper. Or in the Greek, the Paraclete.
It is because of the coming of the Holy Spirit that Jesus’ departure is for the advantage of the disciples. It signals two things. 1) That Jesus work is indeed finished, just as he declares upon the cross. That means there is nothing else that needs to be done to win salvation. The love of God has been completely shown forth and His love has accomplished the forgiveness of sins for all. 2) The second thing Jesus’ departure signals is a new epoch. The great world-wide mission of the Holy Spirit follows the mission of Jesus. The Holy Spirit’s mission is summed up very clearly in our text today. It begins with...
The Holy Spirit Convicting the World
The Holy Spirit Convicting the World
Verse 8, The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement.
Before we look at these three aspects of the Spirit’s work, I want to quickly pause and point out an important detail. Notice how Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit, “he.” Not “it.” “He.” This gives us a small peak into one of the greatest mysteries of God. There is one God in Trinity. We believe in One God in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
But think about this a moment. “He.” What does this mean?
Well, it means the Holy Spirit is not an “it.” Therefore, he is not merely a force or a collective work of the church. The Holy Spirit is not a movement. The Holy Spirit is a person…
He is often called the third person of the Trinity. Not because He is third in importance or majesty or authority. He is co-equal in all aspects with the other persons of the Trinity. We call him the third person because he is the third person listed in the command to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Likewise, we believe the Holy Spirit is not merely a part of the Trinity. He is not a part of God. He is God in the same way the Father is God and the Son is God. Yet, He is not the Father, nor the Son.
The Holy Spirit differs from the Father and the Son in how he is presented. The Father is who begot the Son. The Son is begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and by the Son.
The Holy Spirit differs in His personal work as well. Jesus, the Son, died on the cross. The Father did not die on the cross. The Holy Spirit did not die on the cross. And yet we can say that God died on the Cross because Jesus is God. At Jesus’ baptism, the Father spoke and the Holy Spirit descended.
We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity. This is a great mystery of which God has revealed to us in the scriptures and yet it is a mystery, still. The truth of it, however, is abundantly clear though we might struggle to comprehend it.
Back to the rest of the text...
The Holy Spirit will convict…
The Holy Spirit will Convict the World Concerning Sin
The Holy Spirit will Convict the World Concerning Sin
What does this mean?
Well, I’m convinced that the world knows something of sin. Paul’s letter to the Romans chapters 1 and 2 make this abundantly clear. By passing judgment on another, the unbelieving world condemns itself. It knows of right and wrong and continues in that which is evil. The world has exchanged the light of God and his created order for chaos, darkness, and abominable things. They follow after the lusts of their hearts and dishonor their bodies, exchanging the truth for a lie and worship the creation instead of the creator.
But, like I said, there is knowledge of such sins. They sometimes go by a different name than sin, but nevertheless, it is known.
The Holy Spirit does a few things with the conviction of the world concerning sin.
1st, He makes the knowledge of sin sharper. The Holy Spirit specifies exactly what sin is according to God’s character, will, and command.
2nd, He also shows that sin is a universal malady of the human condition. No one escapes the condemnation of sin.
3rd, He shows the outcome of sin — death, hell, and eternal torment.
The Holy Spirit accomplishes this through the preaching of the law. The law drives those who hear it to contrition and fear over sin.
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Acts 2 - Peter’s Pentecost Sermon
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We see this in Acts 2, the 3000 people who became Christians on Pentecost. They were convicted of their sin. But this conviction over sin was not their death. This conviction brought by the Holy Spirit drove them to ask, “How can we be saved?” This is the fullness of what Jesus means when he says the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin: The Holy Spirit shows the escape from sin.
That is the main question. “How can we escape the guilt of sin?” Verse 14 clearly states that the task of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in this way, by declaring the truth about Him, that the only escape from the guilt of sin is by faith in Him.
Then, in verse 10, Jesus tells us...
The Holy Spirit will Convict the World Concerning Righteousness
The Holy Spirit will Convict the World Concerning Righteousness
The opposite of sin is righteousness. Sin is a negative word. It means to miss the mark, or to act contrary to the law. Righteousness is a positive word. Sin belongs to the world and the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning its sin. This conviction is beneficial for those who believe in Jesus but devastating for those who do not believe.
The righteousness of which the Holy Spirit will convict the World, likewise, is a righteousness which belongs to the world. What do I mean by this? Everyone in the world is concerned with righteousness.
In what way is everyone in the world concerned with righteousness?
To see that the world cares about righteousness, just follow the world justice. The media we consume shows this to be true. Everyday there are new true crime podcasts and crime shows which demonstrate this to be true. There are professional activists and so called “social justice warriors,” who make a living seeking after their own view of justice and exercising their own idea of righteousness.
We see this sort of thing filter into our schools and our communities where righteousness is proclaimed by the flag that flies in the classroom and at places of business. Just the other day, armed with their so called “righteous cause” some activists in Arlington were performing an audit of local business as to whether they would display their particular group’s propaganda in their store windows or outside their doors.
This isn’t just reserved for one side of the conversation though. The same sort of thing happens by the overly zealous throughout our society. In pursuit of being the most righteous person or group, the extremes of our society go so far to the extreme that they abandon human decency and reason. This is especially seen in politics, but also in social media and in public. Human decency and the exchange of ideas are abandoned and those who disagree or question are shouted down by those who claim their cause to be “righteous.”
Men and women hide from God and His righteousness behind their self-made righteous walls that go by their various ideological names and actions. This is how the Pharisees in Jesus day declared themselves righteous.
This is folly. This is like a criminal who is plainly guilty walking into a court room, acting as his own judge and declaring himself to be innocent.
But, We are proud of our self-made righteousness. We are proud of our motivations. We are proud of our ideology and our actions.
There is only one problem. Our self-made righteousness is a complete fiction. It isn’t real.
The Holy Spirit speaks into this fray and tears apart man’s fictional righteousness. A self-made and self-pronounced righteousness is a false righteousness. These self-pronounced declarations are delusional and utterly worthless. Every self-made and proclaimed righteousness is only another piece of evidence against you, another sin, another rebellion against God.
There are none who are righteous, except Jesus Christ, the Righteous One and our guilt in sin is not removed from us unless God forgives us for His sake. The Holy Spirit reveals that only Jesus — who died, arose, and ascended — is our righteousness when we repent of our sin and believe in him. Through faith in Jesus, you are forgiven. Through faith in Jesus, you are declared righteous.
The third aspect of the Holy Spirit’s convicting work is that...
The Holy Spirit will Convict the World Concerning Judgement
The Holy Spirit will Convict the World Concerning Judgement
This conviction of judgment also has to do with the world, but not just the world — verse 11 shows us specifically, that the ruler of this world has been judged by God. The ruler of this world is the devil.
Now, you may say, “I thought Jesus was ruler of all?” You’re right. But Satan is called the ruler of the world because of the great power he wields. Think about the temptation of Jesus which we heard from a few months ago. When the devil tempts Christ, he takes him to a mountain and says that if Jesus would bow down and worship him, all the kingdoms of the world will be his. The devil claims this authority but it is not his. In the end, he is a usurper and no real king or prince. His rule is temporary.
The fact is that when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, the devil was bound and chained up. He is judged. Though he still wields great power, that power is like a chained dog. It can only harm you when you get too close.
The world has not yet been judged in the same way that the devil has. His end is sealed. The Holy Spirit comes to convict the world that the judgment of the devil will be their judgment as well. But the judgment of the world is yet to come. The door of God’s grace, mercy, and love, still stands open. Any who repent of their sin and believe in Jesus escape the judgment of death and receive the judgment of everlasting life.
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Jesus then turns his attention away from the Holy Spirit’s work in the World and focuses on the Holy Spirit’s work toward the church.
The Holy Spirit Guides the Church
The Holy Spirit Guides the Church
Jesus, the good shepherd, takes into account the condition of his little flock of disciples and says they aren’t ready for all that he would tell them. But, he would send the Holy Spirit to tell them what they would need to know. He calls the Spirit, the Spirit of truth because he will guide the disciples in all truth.
He will lead them, teach them, cause them to remember all that is needed to be remembered, he will reveal to them future events that are necessary for them to know. This is the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation is the perfect communication of the truth to the disciples.
Inspiration is the perfect communication of the truth by the disciples to us in the scriptures.
This promise of revelation and inspiration is given directly to the apostles — those whom he sent. We are not promised to receive direct revelation from the Spirit, nor are we able to write under the Spirit’s inspiration.
However, the Spirit’s mission to the disciples is important for you and me.
God used his revelation to and inspiration of the apostles to be the means by which we, the church, are lead into all truth.
We should not expect God to come to us in any other way than this. This is his normal way to speak to us, just as Hebrews 1:1-2 says.
Hebrews 1:1–2 (ESV)
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
When we accept this to be true, the apostles and the church today are united in Christ.
Verse 14 then tells of the goal of the Holy Spirit in all things, to glorify Jesus. To make Jesus glorious among mankind and to grant salvation to all who hear and believe.