The Comforter Has Come

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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 2^nd person of the Trinity) and it comes from the Father (the 1^st 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!