The advantage of having the Holy Spirit’s help

Sermon for Cantate – Easter 4

James 1:16-21  +  John 16:5-15

It’s Maundy Thursday evening. Jesus and eleven of His twelve apostles are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s told them many things on this night, including the revelation that  they—together with many who come after them—will face terrible persecution in the world. And to make matters worse, He now tells them that He is going away! That has them understandably upset, sorrowful, afraid, and most of all, confused. Where is Jesus going? Why would He leave us, His dear Christians and apostles, to face a hostile world? Jesus tells 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 depart, I will send Him to you. As we now know, Jesus was referring to His going away on the day of His ascension, after His suffering, death, and resurrection, when He would no longer dwell with them visibly. And the Helper Jesus was referring to was the Holy Spirit, whose coming we’ll celebrate in four weeks, on the Feast of Pentecost. In our Gospel today, we learn about the kind of help the Spirit will provide. He will be the One who convicts the world. And He will be the One who guides the apostles into all truth. Both of those works are still of the utmost importance to the Christian Church all these many years later.

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.

Of sin, because they do not believe in Me. To say there are many sins in the world doesn’t begin to paint the picture. Every thought, word, and deed that does not conform to God’s holy commandments is a sin, not to mention the sinful nature that is passed down to us from Adam and Eve. But Jesus reveals that the great sin of which the world will be convicted is not believing in Christ Jesus. St. John writes in chapter 3 that God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. But this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Christ bore all sin, paid for all sin, made satisfaction for the sins of all mankind. Where there is faith in Christ, a person’s sins are not held against him. But where there is unbelief, where people do not repent and trust in Jesus, there sin remains. There the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, and they will have to answer for everything.

Of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. The world thinks that, if there is a God at all, then He will favor those who do righteous deeds, and of course, everyone likes to think that, while I may not be perfect, I’m certainly righteous compared to other people. But Jesus says that the world will be convicted—proved wrong—about righteousness. He, Jesus, is the only truly righteous One. He was vindicated, proved righteous, in His glorious resurrection from the dead, and now He has gone to the Father. Now the righteousness that avails before God is hidden from our sight in Jesus. No good works avail before God for a sinner’s salvation except for the works of Christ, whom we don’t see. And no good works can be done by sinners except those that are done in faith. As the Scripture declares, Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith ties us to Jesus, whose righteousness is counted to us for our justification by faith alone, covering us like a clean robe. And where there is faith in Christ, there He reigns invisibly in our hearts by His Spirit and produces righteous deeds in Christians—deeds of love, for God and for our neighbor. Meanwhile, the same Spirit convicts the world and declares, “You unbelievers have no righteousness to claim before God, no matter how righteous you may think you are.”

Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The world will be convicted of its judgment, of the way it discerns between right and wrong. The world judges by external things. If you’re prosperous, you must be right; if it feels right or seems right, it must be right. On the other hand, if you’re suffering or unsuccessful, you must be wrong; if it feels wrong or seems wrong to me, then it must be wrong. Above all, the world believes that no one has the right to judge them, not even God. On the contrary, the world judges God. They set their reason above His Word. They judge Him to be irrelevant. They make God out to be unjust, while all their ways are right in their own eyes.

But along comes the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Law in the Church, and reveals that only God’s judgment matters. Only what He says is right is right, and what He says is wrong is wrong. Only His Word counts, while human reason counts for nothing. He has judged and condemned the ruler of this world, the devil. And everyone who remains in the devil’s kingdom will share in devil’s eternal judgment in everlasting fire. The great Day of Judgment is coming, and only those who flee to Christ in faith for refuge will be safe.

The world wants to hear none of these things. That’s why the world lashed out against Jesus and still lashes out against Christians with such hatred. But the Spirit must convict the world, nonetheless, because it’s only by showing people how ignorant and how deceived they are that the same Spirit can then bring some of those people to repentance and faith in the Gospel, before it’s too late. Come out of your ignorance!, He calls. Come out of the world!, not by leaving this life, but by abandoning your unbelief. See how lost and condemned you are in sin, and then see God’s love in the Person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, sent to be the Savior of mankind, crucified, risen, and reigning at God’s right hand. Repent and believe the gospel! Repent and receive God’s free forgiveness through faith in God’s only-begotten Son!

Speaking of ignorance, Jesus’ own apostles still suffered from some of that themselves, which is why Jesus also speaks of another vital work of the Holy Spirit: to guide them into all truth.

When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.

This was a powerful and important promise Jesus made to His apostles. Jesus said many things they didn’t understand at the time. But He assured them that, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, they would be guided into all truth. ALL truth. Nothing would be lacking. They would understand everything necessary to go out and to teach the true doctrine of Christ to the world, so that they, together with the Old Testament prophets, might become the foundation of the Holy Christian or Catholic Church, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit didn’t only guide the apostles to understand and to preach. He also guided them to write. And thank God He did, because pastors can make mistakes. Church councils and ministers and certainly popes can make mistakes and fall into error. But in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which were verbally inspired by the same Holy Spirit who guided the apostles into all truth, we have the truth of Christ perfectly and reliably preserved for us.

What’s more, the Apostle Peter made a promise to the crowds gathered on the Day of Pentecost. Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. Not only is the remission of sins promised to all who believe and are baptized, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s the Spirit who creates faith through the Word, as James said in today’s Epistle: Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. It’s the Spirit who strengthens and preserves faith through Word and Sacrament. It’s the Spirit who guides and strengthens in good works, and who comforts and helps us under the cross. The same Spirit who guided the apostles into all truth, the same Spirit who enabled them to preserve that truth in dependable writings, is also granted to all believers, not to invent new doctrine, not to come up with novel, private interpretations of the apostles’ doctrine, but rightly to understand and truly to believe the apostolic doctrine, and to persevere in the confession of the Christian faith, being ready to suffer all things, even death, rather than fall away from it.

We Lutherans have been convinced by a careful study of Holy Scripture that the doctrine confessed in our Lutheran Confessions, specifically as summarized by Luther’s Small Catechism, is nothing other than the common Christian faith, the faith of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. That’s why we train our children in it, that, by the help of the Spirit of truth, they may be able to know and believe the truth, and then to make the good confession.

Samuel, today it’s your chance to do that. You’ve become convinced that the doctrine confessed by your parents is not just a family tradition, not just one truth among many, but the very doctrine of Christ and His apostles, taught by the Holy Spirit Himself. I pray that you’ll pursue the study of Scripture faithfully, that you’ll make hearing the Word and receiving the Lord’s body and blood your top priority always, that you’ll live a life of faith and love, and that the things you confess here today you’ll confess for the rest of your life.

To all of us James calls out, Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Receive the word with meekness, yes! But don’t confess it with meekness. Confess it with all boldness and confidence! Now more than ever, Christians need to be able to stand on the doctrine of the apostles. Now more than ever, Christians need to stand against the devil and his lies, to stand against the world and its unbelief, to stand for the truth of the Gospel, even if it means leaving earthly comfort and security behind.

It’s a daunting task. How can we possibly do it? Ah, yes. The Lord Christ has given us a divine Helper, the Spirit of truth, and that is all the advantage we need. Where the word of Christ is preached and His Sacraments are administered, there is the Spirit, there is Jesus, there is the Father. And there, too, will be faithful Christians who are willing to make the good confession, willing to suffer all, even death, rather than abandon it. May you be numbered among them! Amen.