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The Holy Spirit, the Truth-Teller

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Sermon for Cantate – Easter 4

James 1:16-21  +  John 16:5-15

As we said last week, these weeks leading up to the celebration of Jesus Ascension into heaven focus on His words spoken in the upper room, before heading out to the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s preparing His disciples for some of the challenges we’ll face in the world, before He returns at the end of the age. And the greatest help that the Church will have during this age is the help of the Holy Spirit. People today think wrongly of the Holy Spirit as a feeling that moves through the building, or as a divine whisper in the ear, or as a burden on the heart. Or, people think that the Holy Spirit is here to enable people to speak in tongues or perform some other miracle. But the role of the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus, has nothing to do with those former feelings, and very little to do with those latter signs. At first, on the Day of Pentecost and at various times during the lifetime of the apostles, the Spirit’s presence was accompanied with mighty outward signs of His presence. But those signs were never His primary work. Jesus talks about two of the main works of the Holy Spirit in today’s Gospel, and these works continue throughout this New Testament period. They’re vital for the Church in this world. There is a work He does toward the world, and there is a work He does toward the Christian, and both revolve around truth-telling, because the “Spirit of truth,” as Jesus calls Him in today’s Gospel, is the true Truth-Teller.

Jesus begins by comforting His disciples in today’s Gospel. They were sad to hear that He would be going away (speaking, again, about His ascension into heaven, which would take place within 43 days). But He assures them, It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Here we run across this title of the Holy Spirit, which means “Helper” or “Intercessor” or “Advocate” or “Comforter.” It can even have the sense of “Attorney,” and that’s essentially the work that Jesus describes in the next few verses. The Holy Spirit is like an attorney representing Jesus’ disciples, like a prosecuting attorney who makes His case against the unbelieving world.

When he comes, he will convict the world regarding sin, and regarding righteousness, and regarding judgment. Regarding sin, because they do not believe in me; regarding righteousness, because I go to my Father and you will not see me any longer; regarding judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. The word “convict” here means to speak the truth against someone, to speak the truth revealing the crimes someone has committed. And that’s what the Holy Spirit does toward the unbelieving world, not as a voice calling down from heaven, but through the preaching of the Word of God that is carried out in the world. The Holy Spirit, Jesus promises, will be working when God’s Word is preached, speaking the truth, whether the world accepts it as truth or not.

He will convict the world regarding sin, because they do not believe in me. The truth-telling Spirit speaks the truth against the world concerning their sins, because people deny their sinfulness before God. They refuse to accept God’s judgment about what’s right and wrong. And so the Spirit of truth comes along and reveals the sins that the world refuses to recognize: the sin of worshiping false gods, the sin of atheism, the sin of making up your own religion and your own “truth,” the sin of badmouthing other people and ruining their reputation, the sin of lying, the sin of coveting what doesn’t belong to you, and all the sexual sins that the world indulges in.

But the greatest sin revealed by the Holy Spirit is to not believe in Jesus as the Christ and as the Savior of the world. It’s the greatest sin, because Jesus is the Father’s greatest gift to the world, because when a person repents of his sins and believes in the Lord Jesus, all his grievous sins are washed away. But where there is no repentance and faith in Christ, then all a person’s sins are still charged to his or her account. And there will be no escaping the truth on the Last Day.

He will convict the world regarding righteousness, because I go to my Father and you will not see me any longer. The truth-telling Spirit will speak the truth against the world concerning righteousness, because no one knows what it truly is. People have their own ideas of righteousness. All the people fighting for the climate, or fighting for a woman’s right to have an abortion, or fighting for illegal immigrants, or defending homosexuality or drag queen shows, or engaging in angry, violent protests—all these people think their causes are righteous, making them righteous. But they aren’t.

Or take just your average people of the world, who do the best they can in the world. They work hard. They don’t bother anyone. They take care of their families. And many think they’re righteous because of that. But the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit is that true righteousness, the kind that God recognizes, begins with worshiping the true God and serving Him only, fearing, loving, and trusting in Him above all things. It continues with honoring His Word and the preaching of it. True righteousness then continues with loving your neighbor as God defines love. True righteousness is wrapped up in Jesus Christ, who is called in Scripture the Righteous One. It isn’t to be found in anyone else, including ourselves. It’s to be found in Jesus whom we don’t see, because He has gone to the Father, but whose ministry is still offered to us in Word and Sacrament. Here is righteousness and the forgiveness of sins, in the Gospel of Christ crucified, risen, and ascended. But the world won’t seek God’s righteousness there, and so the Spirit of truth speaks against the world’s idea of righteousness.

He will convict the world regarding judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. The truth-telling Spirit will speak the truth against the world when it comes to judgment. Not only do people claim that their sins aren’t sins. Not only do they claim to be righteous. But they also try to convince themselves that they won’t have to face God’s judgment in the end, that there is no divine judgment. There is only the here and now. But the prince of the here and now, the devil, is already judged. And God’s judgment will come upon this world, and each individual will face God’s judgment when we die. If you’re found at the judgment to be on the side of the prince of this world, then you will share his fate. But if you’re found to be taking refuge by faith in Christ Jesus, then you will stand in the judgment, and you’ll share in the victory of Christ the King.

Now, all of that will be going on during this entire New Testament period, that work of the Holy Spirit, revealing the truth to the world about the futility of unbelief. The world has tried and will try to silence that truth, to not let it be spoken or heard. But the Spirit will see to it that the truth is told, no matter what.

The other work of the Holy Spirit highlighted here by Jesus is His work among the Christians themselves. When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, that he will speak, and he will reveal to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and proclaim it to you. That work was first fulfilled among the apostles. The “speaking” that Jesus refers to here isn’t an audible kind of speaking, but the “speaking” of opening their minds and helping them to understand the meaning of the Old Testament prophecies, and of the words of Jesus Himself, allowing them to preach and teach, and eventually write down in the New Testament Gospels and Epistles, not their own ideas about what it all meant, but the truth of what it all meant. The truth-telling Spirit would “guide them into all truth.”

The Holy Spirit still carries on that work in the hearts and minds of Christians, helping us to understand the Word of God, to hear the truth and to recognize it as truth. But notice the Spirit’s focus: “He will glorify Me,” Jesus says. The Spirit isn’t out there giving random guidance about life, or about the future. He’s guiding us to know Jesus rightly and so to glorify Him in truth. That’s one way you can tell that the modern Pentecostal teachers are false teachers, because they put so much emphasis on the Holy Spirit that Jesus becomes almost an afterthought. That does not bring glory to Him. It’s also how you can tell that all these modern Christians going on and on about modern Israel as God’s chosen people are following a false spirit, not the Holy Spirit. It brings no glory to Jesus to express Christian solidarity with a nation that rejects Jesus and His Word. On the contrary, such teachings rob Christ of His glory and mislead countless Christians to minimize Jesus, and to support unbelief and earthly-mindedness instead.

But if we rely on the truth that the Holy Spirit has already told, the truth recorded in Holy Scripture, then we will not be so easily misled with the guidance of a false spirit. The better we know the Word of God and listen to the Word of God, the better we’ll be able to recognize and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

There are other works of the Holy Spirit that we’ll talk about over the coming weeks. But for today, give thanks to the Lord Jesus for these two works of the truth-telling Helper: first, for His truth-telling against the unbelieving world, which is the enemy of Christians. How do we deal with this enemy? Not with hatred. Not with anger. Certainly not with violence. But by relying on the word and power of God the Holy Spirit, who enables us to speak the truth in love, and who will see to it that the truth is heard, if not always believed. And, second, give thanks for the Spirit’s truth-telling among us, guiding us to recognize which teachings are true and which ones aren’t. We will face many challenges in these days leading up to Christ’s return, challenges from the unbelieving world, challenges in understanding God’s Word rightly amid all the false teachings and unbelief surrounding us. But we will also have the continual presence of God’s Holy Spirit, the Helper promised by Jesus. Rely on His help, and give thanks for it! Because the truth will prevail in the end! God will see to it.  Amen.

Source: Sermons

Better to have the Spirit-Advocate by our side

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Sermon for Cantate – Easter 4

James 1:16-21  + John 16:5-15

It’s the 29th day after Easter. In eleven days, we’ll celebrate the Ascension, and ten days after that we’ll celebrate the Day of Pentecost. Today our Gospel reading, still from Jesus’ discourse with His disciples on Maundy Thursday, begins to turn our attention to the visible departure of the risen Christ and to the gift that the risen Christ would give to His Church on the Day of Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Earlier that same evening, John chapter 14, Jesus had already begun to speak of the Holy Spirit. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

You notice, Jesus calls Him here “another Helper.” That’s because the disciples already had a Helper there with them—Jesus Himself. The Holy Spirit would be “another Helper.”

Let’s take a moment and understand this word “Helper.” It’s been translated in different ways: Helper, Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, or simply the transliterated “Paraclete.” I favor the translation “Advocate.” It’s someone who is called to the side of a person to speak up on their behalf, like an advocate or an attorney in the courtroom. In his first Epistle, St. John calls Jesus our Paraclete, our Advocate: My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Jesus has been called to our side by God the Father, to speak up in our defense. If we sin, whenever we sin, the Law accuses us before God and condemns us. But we have a Paraclete, an Advocate in the Lord Jesus. He speaks up in our defense, not defending our sins, not lying to the court as if we had no sin, but making the case before the divine court that He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, that He suffered for them and made atonement for them on the cross, and that God has made a solemn promise that all who flee to Christ for refuge will be safe from condemnation. There He sits, at the right hand of God, our Advocate.

So now Jesus speaks of another Helper, another Advocate, the Holy Spirit. He had begun telling His disciples that He would be going away soon, and they were sad about it. He told them, you shouldn’t be. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

It’s to our advantage that our Advocate who is the very propitiation for our sins should sit at the right hand of God the Father and speak up for us before God. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 8, Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. It’s to the Church’s advantage that Jesus is there at God’s right hand.

And it’s also to our advantage to have that other Helper or Advocate, the Spirit of truth, here by our side, wherever the Church is gathered throughout the whole world, advocating on our behalf before the world.

Here’s what Jesus says the Spirit will do: And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

He! He will convict the world, rebuke the world, show the world its fault. Because He’s our Helper, our Advocate, called to our side to speak up for us. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak with His own voice. He does it with ours, with the voice of His Christians, of His Church, of His ministers. See what power Jesus attaches to the speaking of His Word, the power of God the Holy Spirit to show the world its fault.

He will convict the world of sin…because they do not believe in Me. Just a couple of weeks ago, an Italian man died. He was an atheist. His young son was given the chance to ask the pope about his father, whether he was saved or not. The pope pointed to some good deeds the boy’s father had done and told the boy that God was very pleased with his father for those things, and that God surely received him into heaven, even though he didn’t believe in Christ. Is that the voice of the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus’ words in our Gospel? On the contrary, that’s the voice of the Demon. The great sin, according to Jesus, the sin that the world refuses to acknowledge, is not to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God and our Advocate before the Father—and we’re talking about the real Jesus here, the One who reveals Himself in the Scriptures, not the idea of Jesus that many people have, the false Jesus who is whatever people want Him to be. Where there is true faith in Christ, all sins are covered, all sins are forgiven. Where there is no faith in Christ, none of the good works of men will save them from condemnation. Men will have to answer for every misdeed, every careless word, every sin, including the great and terrible sin of not fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things.

He will convict the world of righteousness…because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. What does righteousness look like? Where does it come from? If you give enough to charity, if you speak up for the oppressed, if you go to church once in a while, if you pray, if you refrain from injuring anyone, if you serve your neighbor, if you serve your country, if you raise children—does that make you righteous? It may, in the eyes of the world. But the world is wrong. We’re all sinful by nature, down to the very core of our being. The only way to become righteous before God is through faith in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. But He ascended to His Father. Righteousness lived here on this earth for 33 years. The world saw Him—and crucified Him. And now He’s unseen. No one can be righteous before God, unless He who is righteousness sends it down to us from heaven, sends Himself down to us from heaven. And He does! But He doesn’t do it visibly. He does it through the Means of Grace. He sends His righteousness down to us in the preaching of the Gospel, in the waters of Baptism, in the Holy Supper, and it’s received through faith. Righteousness is found here, in the Church, because this is where the invisible Christ gives us His righteousness through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in the appointed means. It’s rightly said that outside of the Christian Church, there is no salvation. But the corollary is also true: inside the Christian Church, there is salvation! And all are invited by the Holy Spirit to enter it.

He will convict the world of judgment…because the ruler of this world is judged. The world rejects the true God. The world rejects His holy Word and His holy Ten Commandments. The world rejects the Jesus who died for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification. If you’re not with Jesus, you’re against Him. If the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is not your God, then the devil is your ruler. You live enslaved in his kingdom. But the ruler of this world, the devil, already stands judged. And judgment is coming on the world. Not the judgment of humans destroying the planet. But the judgment of Jesus coming back to judge mankind by the standard of His holy law. All who are found in the devil’s kingdom when Christ comes for judgment will receive the judgment of their ruler, the devil. So this is the Holy Spirit’s message: flee from the devil’s kingdom now! Come into the kingdom of the light, the kingdom of Christ, where there is forgiveness for every misdeed and every careless word! The entrance is free! Do it today, because tomorrow may be too late! To stay in the devil’s kingdom is the worst kind of foolishness.

There’s more to say about our Gospel—about how the Spirit will guide His Church into all truth and glorify Christ as He does it—but let this be enough for today. We don’t have Jesus living visibly by our side. But we do have One who is just as divine, just as powerful, and even more helpful than the visible Christ would be. Better to have the Spirit-Advocate by our side in this world. He is the good and perfect gift who has come down to us from the Father of lights. Amen.

Source: Sermons