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This is a sermon that was given by Pastor Les on May 15, 2016 at Wayside Community Church.
The
Comforter Has Come
John
16:8, 13-14 (NKJV)
And when He has come, He will convict the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment… 13 However,
when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for
He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will
speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify
Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
Introduction:
Today
is designated as Pentecost Sunday (or Whit Sunday) on the Christian Church
calendar. That
is why I have chosen to speak to you today on this familiar text found in John
16. In
the short time we have today I hope to explain the highlights of the message
that Jesus conveyed to his disciples in these few verses.
The
Comforter (Helper) that Jesus promised to send would minister with two specific
groups: The World (vv. 8-11) and The Disciples (vv. 12-15).
I. The
Spirit’s work in the world.
The
Scripture says that the Spirit’s work in the world will be a ministry of
conviction.
“Convict”
(Reprove, KJV) – various language
scholars understand this word to mean refute,
convince, or show to be wrong. (Thayer, TDNT, Zodhiates, etc.)
The
verse tells us that the Spirit will convict the world in regards to 3 subjects:
sin, righteousness and judgment.
A. Sin … believe not
(RCH Lenski New Testament Commentary) The Spirit's work in regard to sin is to
confront the world with the terrible fact of its unbelief in Jesus, which means
… that only he who believes escapes from his sin. This conviction in regard to
sin naturally operates in two ways. It will crush some hearts so that they will
be frightened at their unbelief and cry out like the 3,000 at Pentecost … and
thus be led to repent and to believe. Or it will further harden those who
resist this conviction; they will go on, convicted though they are, more [stubborn]
than before, fighting against this conviction until they perish.
B. Righteousness … I go to my Father
(RCH Lenski New Testament Commentary) The world is far from freely and frankly
admitting its sin. It, indeed, feels and knows its sin, especially the gross
forms which are too evident to be denied. But it always seeks to cover up its
sin, to excuse it in some way, to make it something less than real sin. The
world everlastingly seeks "righteousness" in some form, either making
itself the judge of its own case, or, when it thinks of God as the judge,
conceiving him as a God who deals gently with sin. Thus men evolve their own
schemes for appearing righteous.
Righteousness
comes to the world only by the judicial pronouncement of God which changes our
status with God. "I go away to the Father," as well as the negative
counterpart, "and you see me no more," refer to the death and to the
heavenly exaltation of Jesus. In these, and in these alone, is righteousness
for the world.
…(the) world's
conscience is to be impressed concerning its own [lack of] righteousness by
what Jesus does in going to the Father…
The
job of the HS is to convict the world concerning righteousness which is only in
Christ and only because He has died, been raised and exalted with the Father.
Part of those will believe and accept that righteousness, while others will
continue in rejection and remain
convicted because they did not accept it.
C. Judgment … Prince of world is judged.
(RCH Lenski New Testament Commentary) … the world's conscience is to be impressed
concerning its own judgment by what has already happened to its own ruler.
Jesus
has summarized the work of the Spirit in the world with regards to these three
subjects.
Now,
he moves to talk about the Spirit’s work with the disciples. (12-15)
II. The
Spirit’s work with the disciples.
A. Guide in Truth
The
Spirit will provide guidance and direction to the disciples as they explore the
truth. This
truth is about Christ (the 2nd person of the Trinity) and it comes
from the Father (the 1st person) in order to emphasize the unity of
the Trinity and that the Spirit does not speak independently.
(Colin Kruse, Tyndale
Commentaries) As Jesus did not speak
independently of the Father, so the Counsellor [Helper, Comforter] will not
speak independently of Jesus.
B. Glorify the Son
(Colin Kruse, Tyndale
Commentaries) Just as Jesus’ purpose
was to bring glory to the Father, so the Counsellor’s role is to bring glory to
Jesus. This he will do by taking what belongs to Jesus and making it known to
his disciples.
(RCH Lenski New Testament Commentary) The Spirit's work is to place Jesus before
the eyes and into the hearts of men, to make his Person and his work shine
before them in all the excellencies of both.
The
Spirit will take the truths about Christ and the realities of His salvation and
teach it to those willing to receive it.
1
Corinthians 2:10-14 (NKJV) 10 But God has revealed them
[i.e., the things God has prepared for us] to us through His Spirit. For the
Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For
what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in
him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These
things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the
Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But
the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
The
New Testament, without a doubt, teaches us the importance of the Holy Spirit
and His ministry in the hearts and the lives of believers. It
is the Spirit that gives us life and power for victory over sin. Yet,
Jesus says that the Spirit will not glorify himself, but he will glorify the
Son. The Holy Spirit will “shine the spotlight” on the Son.
There
have been times when Christians have gotten sidetracked by emphasizing certain
gifts of the Spirit or certain abilities as though they were the “things” we
should be seeking. But the real ministry of the Spirit is to glorify Christ and
help us establish a vital, personal relationship with Him. The
real ministry of the Spirit is to motivate us to be filled with Christ, and
every gift, talent, or ability will be supplied as needed to help us love and
serve Christ better.
Conclusion:
The
Comforter, helper, counselor that Jesus promised did come on the day of
Pentecost. He is working in the world today. The
Spirit of God is available to every Christian believer to fill us with the
presence of Christ and to empower us to live like Christ. Every
believer should earnestly seek to be filled with the Spirit, for to be so
filled is to be filled up with Christ. To be so filled is to live out the life
of Christ in our world.
May
it be so!
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