But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7
Nevertheless, 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. 8
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9
concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11
concerning 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.13
When 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. 14
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15
All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
As mentioned a few days ago the Holy Spirit doesn’t seem to get as much attention in Reformed circles as does God the Father and God the Son. What does our Savior
say about the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
First, in verse 7 we are told that it is better, more advantageous for the young church that Jesus goes to the Father and sends the Spirit. Look back at 14:12: There
Jesus says greater things shall be done because He is going to heaven and sending the Spirit. Two questions immediately jump out at us: HOW is it advantageous…and WHAT greater things? Let’s take the second question first because it actually answers them both.
What greater things did the disciples do than Jesus?
They healed the sick…but Jesus did that.
They out argued the Pharisees…but Jesus did that.
They opened blind eyes…but Jesus did that.
They raised the dead…but Jesus did that.
What is the greater thing that the Spirit’s coming makes possible? Did Jesus ever preach and have thousands of people repent and put their faith in Him? No. But Peter
did and the spread of the Gospel went from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. That is the greater thing…that is why it is better for the Spirit to come, because He would empower the church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. That’s why Jesus says
another comforter, one like Him, would come…for a new task, for a new day, the gospel, no longer locked up in Israel, but now, to men and women of every tongue, tribe and nation under heaven!
When Jesus appeared to the church after his resurrection, it was just a few folks in a room. Now, wherever you go in the world, you will find Christians, Egypt, Iraq,
China, Peru, Kenya, everywhere…that is because of the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
Second, let’s talk about verse 8. “And when he comes he will
convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…
First, the Spirit convicts regarding sin. When John the Baptist, the last great Old Testament prophet came on the scene, what was his message? What was His starting
point? Repent.
When Jesus came on the scene, what was His starting point, what was His message? Repent.
When Peter preaches his message at Pentecost and the people shouted, what must we do to be saved? What did he tell them? “Repent
and be baptized, every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins.”
But this is not where we start today? Today we often start with, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” We start with man. We start with success
and happiness and how Jesus can make your life all better. We start with telling man how valuable he or she is, instead of how sinful they are and how great is their need. This is interesting. The Holy Spirit seeks to arouse men not to their supposed value,
but to their exceedingly great sinfulness. I heard from a radio preacher that the reason Jesus came for us is that we were so valuable, so worthy that God had to do something, but that is not true at all, is it?
Christ came for us when we hated him, when we were sinners, even His enemies. He loved us not because we were valuable…but so that He might make us valuable in Him!
It is in coming face to face with the power of their disease that men will flee to their only remedy. And yes, the Holy Spirit does this…He convicts and lays us open, that Jesus, the balm of healing might be applied to our wound.
So many Christians fight conviction of sin and try to silence His voice! They listen to God’s word with their head buried and get mad that sin is mentioned, or that
the service has a confession of sin in it, where is the joy, they cry! But brothers and sisters, there is no real joy, until sin is dealt with, until sin has its reckoning in and through the work of Jesus. The Spirit makes this clear.
When you feel that pinch, that conviction, what do you do? I have listened to Xns boldly and proudly assert that the reason they left such and such a church was that
they were always convicted but now at their new church, Feel Good Presbyterian, they never feel that they are sinful. They might as well say, at their new church the Holy Spirit is not allowed in and it makes everyone feel better!
Second, the Spirit convicts of righteousness. This is connected to the Spirit’s conviction of our sin because man doesn’t think he is sinful, at least not THAT sinful.
He therefore thinks, and this is profoundly evident in our day, that he is at the center: I am god, I decide, my desires, my values, I AM good enough. But the Spirit shows us very plainly that
this is a pretended righteousness. He shows us that our righteousness is as filthy rags before God.
If I might paraphrase Tim Keller, Other religions give you advice;
Christianity is essentially news. Other religions say, “This is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever; this is how you have to live in order to earn your way to God.” But the gospel says, “This is what Jesus has done in history for you
because you cannot do it for yourself…God righteousness is completely alien to you, you cannot earn it, buy it, or create it.”
People say, but I feel so badly, I feel like I am just rotten. And they want us to say, NO, no, you are not, you are wonderful! In truth we must say, well…you ARE
rotten, to the core and so am I…BUT JESUS! Listen to Pastor Keller:
“…Genesis chapter 3 tells our story: that we have each
chosen to be our own king. We have gone the way of self-centeredness. There’s nothing that makes you more miserable (or less interesting) than self-absorption: How am I feeling, how am I doing, how are people treating me, am I proving myself, am I succeeding,
am I failing, am I being treated justly? Self-absorption leaves us static…this is the darkness of self-centeredness. When we decide to be our own center, our own king, everything falls apart: physically, socially, spiritually, and psychologically…(and yet)
we all long to be brought back in. This longing is embedded in the legends of many cultures, and though the stories are all different they all have a similar theme: A true king will come back, slay the dragon, kiss us and wake us out of our sleep of death,
rescue us from imprisonment in the tower, lead us back into the dance. A true king will come back to put everything right and renew the entire world. The good news of the kingdom of God is this: Jesus is that true King.”
The Holy Spirit has at His heart to show us that we have no righteousness in and of ourselves and that we must look to the true King.
And then third the Spirit convicts with regard to judgment. The prince of this world, and his greatest ally, death are condemned in the resurrection of Jesus. The
Holy Spirit convicts the world that its prince is no prince at all and that his kingdom will be lost. Think back to the garden, what does the Serpent say, “Eve, you will not surely die…” In other words, Eve, there is no judgment for disobeying God…nothing
will come to you because you have thrown off His rule to be your own ruler…there are no consequences…there is no judgment! That’s right at the beginning!
Same thing in Proverbs 7 when the faithful covenantal father is telling his son about sexual sin. He says that this idea that there is no judgment is exactly what
the immoral woman will try to get you to believe! She will say her husband is away, he won’t be home for a very long time, it is dark…no one will know. What is her message? There are no consequences, there is no judgment for rebellion against God.
But the Spirit brings conviction that sin must be judged, that God is righteous and that sin is evil and therefore everyone must appear before the judgment of this
Holy God and that what a man sows a man reaps. However, let me ask for you to look at this a bit differently, because the Spirit not only convicts that sin is to be judged but He points us to WHERE sin has been judged.
We read in the prophet Isaiah that when the Messiah comes He will come to save us “with divine retribution.” But where do you see Jesus smiting people? He is not running
around with a sword, slaying people on behalf of the Father, in fact, He isn’t taking over the world He is serving the world!
So where is the divine retribution, where is the judgment the prophet spoke about? And the answer is that Jesus didn’t come the first time to bring divine retribution;
he came the first time to bear Divine retribution!
On the cross, Jesus would bear our judgment, the right and perfect judgment due to sinners. He would suffer and hang on that Roman cross for you, in your place, instead
of you…all of God’s righteous and holy anger poured out on Him instead of you…So that He who knew no sin would become sin so that you might be the righteousness of God in Him.
The Holy Spirit is concerned to convict us of that fact…to draw us back over and over again to Jesus who bears for sinful mankind, the punishment that was ours that
we might be God’s sons and daughters! That is the work of God the Holy Spirit!
To be continued…
Prayer: Gracious Father, may Your grace open my ears and my heart to hear the direction of Your Spirit and to embrace the convictions that He brings! Far too often
all I hear is my own voice pushing me to embrace my own wants and desires. Father, still my soul that I may listen and listening that I may walk in the fullness of the Spirit’s guidance giving glory to my Savior, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Holy Ghost Dispel Our Sadness
