“Something Wonderful!”
Pastor Thomas Kock Pentecost Sunday June 12, 2011
Come Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Your people, and kindle in us the fire of Your love. Amen. The Word of God for our consideration is taken from the book of John, chapter 16. In order to understand it, we need to know the context into which it’s spoken. These words will come in the midst of a lengthy discussion by Jesus on Maundy Thursday. In other words, it’s the day before Jesus’ death.
The week has been amazing for the disciples – Palm Sunday had to be simply energizing, as the crowds were crying out, “Hosanna!” What excitement and joy must have filled the hearts of the disciples! This must have been the right moment, when Jesus was going to really take charge!
On Monday, Jesus had driven the money-changers and merchants out of the temple area. Can you imagine how the disciples’ hearts must have been stirred as they watched Jesus do this? What joy, that they had a “master,” a “rabbi” who was serious about the worship of God! Who wanted nothing to stand in its way!
Jesus had confronted the trick (or “tricky”) questions of the various groups who were trying to manufacture a reason to put Him to death. Again, how the disciples’ hearts must have flown with joy and excitement as they heard good answer after good answer, and as one after another the enemies had taken their leave.
And of course, all of those events were added to the list from the last several years, as they’d seen Jesus do miracle after miracle, heard Him tell all the different parables, seen Him put the Word of God into practice perfectly. Joy upon joy upon joy!
But tonight Jesus has said, “I’m leaving.”
How would you have reacted to that? Not surprisingly, the disciples are highly disappointed! They’re filled with grief (our text will tell us that). Perhaps there’s even anger! “You mean we spent the last several years with you and now you’re leaving?!?” Yep, leaving.
But Jesus has told them all this in order to get them ready for something … even better, something wonderful! Let’s check out our text now:
“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
What’s the “even better thing” to which Jesus points them? It’s Pentecost, and the work of the Holy Spirit! Yes, according to their human eyes, Jesus is “going away.” But, that’s not a bad thing. Rather, it’s going to be a good thing, a beneficial thing for the disciples, and for you and me. For what reason is that going to be even better? Because Jesus is going to be sending the Holy Spirit!
Let’s review quickly. The Holy Spirit is God. He’s just as powerful as God the Father and God the Son, He’s everywhere (just like the Father and the Son), He knows all things (just like the Father and the Son.) Sometimes the HS is called “the quiet member of the Trinity,” because the HS’s job is to point away from Himself, and to point to us to Jesus. In short, we generally give credit to God the HS for working faith in our hearts.
And that’s why the HS is so important for you and for me! God says, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the HS.” If you are sitting here today because you believe in Jesus, that’s proof positive that you’ve been given the gift of the HS. Very cool!
But perhaps sometimes when we hear about the work of the HS, we get nervous, or we get uncomfortable. There are some churches who teach things like, “When you get the HS, you’ll really feel it!” And perhaps you and I think, “I’ve never really felt anything like that. Did I really get the HS?” Or we hear about groups which teach that, if you have the HS, you will be able to speak in tongues. And perhaps we think, “I’ve never done that. Do I really have the HS?”
The text in front of us today will help us tremendously, because in our text, Jesus tells us what it is that the HS is going to do. Jesus focuses our attention on three things: that the HS will convict the world (and us) of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. What does all that mean? Let’s take them one at a time, first considering that the HS is going to convict the world in regards to sin.
Several years ago I was talking with a pastor who had served most of his ministry in the West. (Oregon, I think.) He told a story about one of the fellow pastors in the area, who was preaching at a funeral. It was apparently a pretty big funeral, with lots of visitors. The pastor made some very simple points about sin, about how death is on account of sin, how each of us is sinful and in need of a Savior, etc. To his great disappointment, some of the people were angrily shaking their heads, “No!”
Part of the horror of our sinful condition is that in spite of the obvious reality that we sinful humans are, well, sinful humans, we don’t want to admit that truth. In spite of the fact that we see violence, lying, thieving, adultery, fraud, anger, and death, we still want to think that we’re good people, that the human race is getting better, that we are masters of our own destiny.
So what do we need? We need the Holy Spirit to convict us. We need the HS to convince us that those thoughts that I have – they’re NOT okay. Those words that I spoke – they’re NOT okay. Those things that the world laughs at or even encourages – that’s NOT okay. In fact, doing those things, saying those things, even thinking those things makes us deserve to be sent to hell. And when the HS does that, it may not feel so hot, for it makes us to feel guilty, to see our own weakness, to see our own mortality.
Closely connected to that is the second point, that the HS will convict the world in regards to righteousness. God’s standard to get into heaven is perfection, that we live in a perfectly righteous way. And, guess what? We sinful humans think that we can do it! We think that we can please God by doing our very best!
We can see vestiges of that thought all over the place. When we were down at pastors conference this past week, we had Wednesday afternoon off, so Beth and Adam and I went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was pretty amazing! Seeing all the rockets, seeing the space shuttle on the launch pad, hearing about the work it took to make it all work – it was pretty amazing! There were video clips from many of the former astronauts, and one of the themes of those video clips was, “Never say never! Don’t say anything is impossible!” One astronaut encouraged school children to cross the word “impossible” out of their dictionary.
Now, it’s certainly proper to try to do our best, to try to make the most out of the talents and abilities which God has given to us. All of that’s true.
But it’s NOT true in regards to what really matters – the spiritual, the eternal. In regards to those things, we’re in horrible trouble if left to ourselves. We CANNOT live up to what God demands if we are to get into heaven. We cannot be that righteous. The HS has to convict us of that. And, again, that causes us to be uncomfortable.
But it’s also vitally necessary, because when we see our weakness, see the utter impossibility of our own efforts to please God, it’s then that we’re ready to hear that in the Gospel a righteousness is revealed which is by faith from first to last! In other words, when I throw up my hands in despair, I’m then ready to hear, “But God has saved you!” When I realize that I CAN’T do it on my own, it’s then that I’m ready to hear, “Jesus has lived the perfect life which you need. And, He’s proven that it worked, because – look! – He’s gone back to the Father, who has welcomed Him in! And so the very fact that we CAN’T see Jesus becomes wonderful encouragement for us, because it tells us that the righteousness which we need has been won for us!
Which brings us to the final point. The HS convicts the world (and us) in regards to judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. When Jesus died and rose, Jesus defeated the devil. As we talked about a couple weeks ago, Jesus made it clear that He had won by descending into hell, by walking down hell’s main street, and the devil couldn’t touch Him. Jesus had won!
And that gives you and me security! Our #1 enemy has been defeated! Our #1 enemy has been judged already! Yes, the devil can still fuss and fume, but he can’t win! He can’t win because Jesus has defeated him! And because of that, you have nothing to fear in the final judgment. In the final judgment you will stand confident, because Jesus died for you, rose for you, and claimed you as His child.
Now, do you believe those things? Do you believe that you’re a sinful human being? Do you believe that Jesus has rescued you by His life, death, and resurrection? Do you believe that Jesus’ perfection has been given to you? If so, then you have the fullness of the HS! The HS has done in you exactly what Jesus promised that He would do. You don’t have to go looking for some further “feeling,” you don’t have to go looking for tongues-speaking.
Instead, thank God for what you have! You’ve been convinced that, as a sinner, you needed a Savior, that Jesus is the Savior whom you need, that His righteousness has been given to you, and that you’re on the way to heaven. You have the fullness of the HS! And Jesus was right! It’s wonderful! For in convincing me of those things, the HS made me an heir of heaven! And that’s wonderful!