1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Pentecost
Sunday that we celebrate today is the culmination of the Festival Half of the
Church Year. The work of Jesus, from His incarnation, birth, Epiphany, Passion,
resurrection, and ascension, is now brought to its completion with the sending
of the Holy Spirit. In our day, this is a day of increasing importance as Pentecostal
and charismatic movements have created much confusion concerning the work of
the Holy Spirit. Today we hear—and need to proclaim clearly—exactly what that
work is: that the Spirit is “the Lord and giver of life” as he takes us to
Christ and brings Christ to us. The
message is entitled, “Help Us, Holy
Spirit, to Convince the World,” and it’s taken from John 15:26-27 and John
16:4-15, dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
I once saw a film based on one of
Charles Dickens’s novels. The film was about poverty and the degrading effect
it has on people. One of the most depressing scenes was in a lawyer’s office,
as the relatives of a man imprisoned for debt were desperately trying to bring
a lawsuit to prove that he was owed a large sum of money, which should be paid
and earn him his release. The lawyers didn’t care. Their clerks didn’t care. Nobody
cared. The case, written out on a fine piece of parchment, was rolled up, tied
with a ribbon and left to gather dust along with dozens, hundreds, of others. Suddenly
you could feel it: the cold realization that there was nothing you could do.
Justice deferred is usually justice denied. And it was being deferred
indefinitely.
3.
In Jesus’ ministry He warned His
followers that persecution was on its way for His disciples. It would mean
being put out of the synagogue (as with the man born blind, in chapter 9). It
may well mean death (as with the frequent threats against Jesus, and also
against Lazarus in John12:10). And now that Jesus is going away, his followers
need to know how things will be. They are bound to be sad, but they should be
comforted by the arrival of the ‘helper’, the Holy Spirit. In particular, they should take heart. In the
‘lawsuit’ they’ll find themselves in
(not necessarily specific occasions of being brought before courts, but the
heavenly lawsuit Jesus is imagining, in which they will be pitted against ‘the
world’), the ‘helper’ will do the job of advocate. The Holy Spirit will prove
that the world is in the wrong, on the three counts that really matter, in
regards to sin, righteousness and judgment.
4.
Jesus says in
our text from John 15 and 16, 26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send
to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will
bear witness about me. 27And you also will bear witness, because you have been
with me from the beginning. 4But I have
said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I
told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning,
because I was with you. 5But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you
asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6But because I have said these things to you,
sorrow has filled your heart. 7Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: 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. 8And when he comes, he will convict
the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9concerning sin,
because they do not believe in me; 10concerning righteousness, because I go to
the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11concerning judgment, because the
ruler of this world is judged.12“I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you
into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he
hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
15All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is
mine and declare it to you.”
5.
When Jesus
departs, the Sprit will be sent to them. Jesus declares what the Spirit will
do. He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit’s work begins with convicting
the world of sin. Big sin, little sin,
big sinner, little sinner—does it really matter? For the seriousness of our sin
isn’t measured by the deed, but by the one we have sinned against. Shoving the
president of the United States is more serious than shoving your sister. All of
our sins are serious because they are not just against our brothers and
sisters, but against God. They are violations of the First Commandment, making
an idol or putting another false god in place of the one true God. Every sin is
enthroning myself and my will in place of God and his will. If a person doesn’t
recognize his sin, he will see no need for a Savior. If the Spirit does not
hold up the mirror of the Law for us to see how we are held in bondage to sin
and are unable to free ourselves, we will never be drawn to Jesus. If the Spirit
doesn’t convict us our sins, we’ll never seek Christ’s mercy and salvation. But
the Spirit does convict us of sin. He convinces us that we can’t save
ourselves.
6.
The
unbelieving people of this world know certain things about “sin” One definition
of sins you hunters will like is, ἁμαρτία, which
means missing the mark, missing the bulls eye. The world has a natural
knowledge of the law of God (Ro 2:14, 15). They know that it is wrong to lie,
or to kill, or to steal, etc. Their own God-given conscience tells them this.
But, their conscience is no longer perfect. It has become blinded and corrupted
by sin (Ro 1:28–32). Above all, the unbelieving world doesn’t realize that its
greatest sin lies in its own unbelief, its failure to believe in Jesus as the
Savior from sin. Without faith in Christ it’s impossible to please God (Heb
11:6). Without faith in Christ people are still in their sins (1 Co 15:17).
Only the Holy Spirit can convict the unbelieving world that the greatest sin is
unbelief. Only he has the power to turn the heart of sinful man to faith in
Christ (1 Co 12:3).
7.
Then the
Spirit convinces the world of righteousness. This righteousness isn’t our own
righteousness, for we are unrighteous. All our righteous acts are like filthy
rags (Isaiah 64:6). Instead, that Spirit seeks to convince the world of
Christ’s righteousness. He seeks to reveal that Christ alone is righteous, that
He’s the only answer for our sin, and that He has perfectly fulfilled the
Law in our place and is our substitute. Even as the Spirit convicts us of sin,
He convinces us of who Christ is— the Righteous One who atoned for our sins.
8.
And the
Spirit convicts the world of judgment. But, the judgment here isn’t the
judgment on the Last Day when Christ comes again. It’s the judgment of the
ruler of this world, the devil. The devil has been overcome; Christ has
triumphed over Him by His death on the cross. The devil is condemned. One
little word can fell him. Those who reject Jesus are condemned, for they’re
following the ruler of this world who has already been condemned. Jesus did go
away and He did send the Spirit as He promised. Now the Spirit of truth leads
us into all truth. He declares the truth that He has been given to speak. The Holy
Spirit has declared to us the truth about ourselves— we are sinners. The truth
about Jesus— He is the righteous one. And the truth about the devil— he is
judged and condemned.
9.
The coming of
the Helper was conditional; it was dependent upon Jesus’ departure. “I tell you the truth,” He says, “If I do not go away, the Helper will not
come to you.” It was necessary for Jesus to carry out the full program of
redemption by His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension before the
Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit could be given. For it was the glorious
message of redemption that the Holy Spirit was to apply to the hearts of men.
That’s why it was necessary Jesus suffer before the Helper could come. And
praise be to His name, Jesus kept His promise: “But if I go, I will send Him to you.” It was only 10 days after His
ascension into heaven that Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit upon His faithful
few who were assembled at Jerusalem. And what a difference did that first
Pentecost make (Acts 2)! The Helper had come! And from an unknown room in the
city of Jerusalem, there issued forth a little group of men, the apostles—
fearless, bold, courageous men— who were soon to turn the world upside down for
Christ.
10.
Let us never
forget that this same Holy Spirit gives power to all faithful Gospel preaching
to this very day. Through the preaching of the Word and our hearing of it, He
still convicts the world of unbelief, He still bears witness to the only
righteousness that benefits in the sight of God (the righteousness that’s ours
by faith in Jesus), and He still proclaims the judgment that Jesus has forever
overcome the powers of darkness. To this day, the Holy Spirit gives power to
the sermon of the humblest preacher who preaches the Gospel of our Savior. Do
we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit for our pastor every time he preaches?
Do we pray that the Holy Spirit would bring the light of the Gospel into the
hearts of those who haven’t yet learned to know their Savior? And do we pray
for the warming, cheering, and enlightening influence of the Helper in our own
lives? Let us do so now.
11.
Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, come! Let Thy bright beams arise; Dispel the sorrow from
our minds, The darkness from our eyes . Revive our drooping faith, Our doubts
and fears remove, And kindle in our breasts the flame Of never- dying love . Convince
us of our sin, Then lead to Jesus’ blood, And to our wond’ring view reveal The
mercies of our God. Amen . (TLH 225:1–3 )
