John 15:26-27, & 16:4b-15
WHEN THE HELPER COMES…
15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
16:1 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. 5 "But now I go away 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 depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
OF WHAT KIND OF SPIRIT ARE YOU?
No we are not having a séance, but the person who wrote the book of Acts also wrote the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of the Spirit. Doctor Luke mentions the Holy Spirit and the human spirit 21 times in his Gospel, which is more than any other Gospel writer. This same writer wrote in the book of Acts in Chapter 2:1 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come…” and most will know the rest…the Holy Spirit came on the disciples first and then into the hearts of those listening to Peter’s great sermon on that day…and so the NT church was born.
Luke also records an interesting saying of Jesus:
Luke 9:55 “But He (Jesus) turned and rebuked them (James and John), and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.’ ”
According to my version of the NT, this is the only place that this saying of Jesus is recorded. Jesus challenges His disciples James and John and asks us to examine our own hearts as to what kind of spirit we are from.
In his Gospel, Luke was writing a book to record Jesus’ ministry on earth. In the book of Acts he carefully records what happened after Jesus’ prediction about the coming of the Holy Spirit whom He would send from heaven. In Luke and in John’s Gospel in particular, Jesus predicted that He would go back to the Father in heaven. As a result of that event, which we call the Ascension, Jesus promised He would send the church a Gift. And the Gift that He promised was the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts chapter 2, Luke wrote down the events that fulfilled Jesus’ prediction and so we have the Day of Pentecost recorded in detail. But it is on the verses in John 16 that are set down for today that I want to concentrate.
First of all, as Jesus said in John’s Gospel: “…these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” (Jn 16:4)
The time Jesus refers to is the Day of Pentecost and the birth of the NT Church and all that flowed from that.
A little further on in that same passage, Jesus tells us that there are three things that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, came to bring…
Conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, and conviction of judgment.
8 “ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (Jn 16:8-10)
So the three things we are looking at today are conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness and conviction of judgment.
CONVICTION OF SIN
“Conviction of sin” because people do not believe in Christ, says Jesus.
Jesus Himself goes so far as to say that if you do not have the Spirit you are not in God’s kingdom.
If you are not of that Holy Spirit you are not of Christ.
Only those who have God’s Holy Spirit are born of God and are one of His disciples. “‘I am telling you the truth,’ replied Jesus, ‘that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.’” (John 3:5)
The Apostle Paul follows this with these words: Rom 8:9 “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
The Spirit of whom Jesus speaks is very different from the spirit of the world. Take spiritualism for example. Spiritualism is everywhere. People like to be regarded as spiritual. Themes on TV rely on the mysterious to bring viewers on board. Spiritual themes attract viewers, not turn them away. Many programs have spiritualism woven into them. ‘Medium’ (TV3 Fridays 8.30pm) is one such popular TV program that you might know. Spiritualism is seen in ‘Midsomer Murders.’ Last year there was Psychic Medium, Colin Fry as TV’s ‘6ixth Sense,’ and there’s a NZ version of such a program where people ask the “experts” if they can discern things about them. They ask mediums and spiritualists if they can discern what each candidate’s past experiences have been without many clues being offered.
Your zodiac sign and what it says about you in the horoscope are more important than ever to many ordinary people.
People speak of being ‘spiritual’ rather than Christian or Muslim or Jew or whatever. People in NZ are generally more interested, in fact, very interested in the spiritual as long as it is NOT Christian!
Do you know why this is?
Because people think being spiritual is safe!
If I am thought to be spiritual, it sounds as if I am good or at least aspiring to something better than this mundane existence. This is acceptable in the world’s eyes. Maybe they are Christophobic?
Being spiritual calls for no particular commitment from me, to me, or of me to anything in particular.
Being spiritual does not expect anything of me. There is no definite commitment to any one thing or anyone. I become a free spirit.
I am assured by its teachers, such as Colin Fry, that if I die I will be fine…in fact he believes and I quote:
"Life is an eternal process...you cannot die" – Colin Fry (Colin’s homepage: http://www.colinfry.com)
Everything will be fine. I have just “passed over,” out of sight. Our loved ones who have died and gone before us are fine, no matter! Do not worry about them and do not worry about your death. If you have lived a good life you will be fine!
Is this true? The Bible says in HEB 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”
Jesus said the Spirit of truth; the Helper was to come at Pentecost. The Spirit of truth brought conviction of sin through the Apostle Peter’s preaching: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36)
This resulted in a reaction among the hearers so that people called out in conviction of sin: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37)
What shall we do? What must you and I do? We must repent of our sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to believe in Him is sin. Sin which separates us from God. We must come to Him humbly, and to believe in Him, accepting His way and not our own. PROV 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
God says: Choose life! Come to me and I will give you life!
CONVICTION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Jesus also said that with the Spirit’s coming there would be conviction of righteousness.
Jesus said The Holy Spirit “will convict the world…of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;” (v10)
Conviction of righteousness because Jesus Christ went to the Father and was seen no more by His disciples on earth.
How does that work?
The people of Jesus’ time rejected His work and His claim to be their Messiah. The events of Pentecost showed as Bishop J.C. Ryle says: “that Jesus Christ was not an imposter, or a deceiver as they had said (MT 27:63) but the holy One of God.” (J.C. Ryle, “Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, on John 16:8, page 158)
It also means that since Jesus was soon to leave His disciples He would send Someone else to do that work for Him.
Jesus certainly went away, back into heaven, and He certainly sent the Holy Spirit or Helper…
Conviction of righteousness can be thought of as Jesus saying:
“My righteousness will become apparent to all when the gospel is preached. When my disciples take my message and preach it to the people, then they will raise up my Name and I will be honoured by Spirit-filled preaching!”
And that is exactly what happened on the Day of Pentecost.
The Day is not special or even spectacular because of the extra-ordinary signs of wind, tongues of fire, and tongue speaking or even the experiences of the disciples, but it is spectacular for the clear preaching of the gospel by the Apostle Peter and the results of that preaching.
Acts 2:41 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”
Peter’s preaching of Christ resulted in repentance for sin, in people believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and in an instant growth of the church by 3,000 people in one day!
Have you gladly received the word of God? Have you received the Holy Spirit and been added to the church?
CONVICTION OF JUDGMENT
(8)He will convict the world… of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (11)
Conviction of judgment because the ruler of this world is Satan and He is already judged, found guilty, sentenced and doomed. (See Rev. 12:9; 20:2; Luke 10:18; Rom 16:20)
By calling him ruler of this world Jesus does not mean absolute ruler. Far from it! Only Christ is “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev 19:16). Jesus told His disciples these things to forewarn and to encourage them. They would face opposition, suffering and even death but they were upheld by His grace and power.
Satan is allowed to tempt, to corrupt, to spoil but not obliterate God’s image in people… for a while… and then the sentence of God’s judgment will fall heavily on him and all who follow him.
As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ remember that the devil is doomed. Though you may face opposition and suffer for being a believer, Jesus’ grace and power will be yours.
(Illustration)
I don’t know if you have noticed in court cases, particularly overseas ones but even in our own courts, some people have been tried and found guilty but the conditions and length of their sentenced is delayed. For example, their sentence has not been set and there is a delay because of an appeal.
While this long procedure continues they exist, they wait out the time before they are locked up.
They are powerless to continue their normal lives.
Well, it is like that for the Devil. His power is limited as he lives under the sentence of death.
“The ruler of this world is judged.” (11) says Jesus, ‘have no fear, but rather speak up in my Name, and rescue others from the Devil’s grasp.’
That too is what the disciples declared on the Day of Pentecost. As Peter said in his sermon: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” (Acts 2:34-35) Christ is the righteous, victorious One. A victory He shares with those who are His.
The Apostle Peter preached declaring the freedom that comes from believing in the Lord Jesus Christ: “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21) This Jesus "whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." (Acts 2:24), this Jesus is my righteous One and has judged the Evil One already.
This same victorious Jesus will set you free too!
Bishop Ryle points out that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the faithful church, would “raise up a standard of morality and purity and knowledge of which formerly men had no conception.” (Ryle, ibid. p. 159)
This was seen in the days immediately following the birth of the early church. The church had a tremendous impact on society.
About 375 years later, on August 24th 410 AD, the city of Rome fell to the Visigoths. Various reasons were given for this. St. Augustine, who lived at the time, believed that the immorality of the people brought the downfall of the city of Rome: “To Augustine’s way of thinking, the fall of Rome was less important than it seemed to most of his contemporaries. What was really going on was a far deeper warfare--the war between God’s kingdom and man’s; if God’s kingdom was not clearly distinguishable in this world, it is because not everyone who says they are a Christian really is. To the heathen who blamed Christianity for the downfall of the Roman Empire, Augustine showed that pagan practices actually were at fault for the weakness of the empire.
In book Two, Chapter four, (of the City of God) Augustine asked, ‘...Why were the (pagan) gods so negligent as to allow the morals of their worshippers to sink to so low a depth?...why did not those gods...lay down moral precepts that would help their devotees to lead a decent life?’
In chapter twenty-one of the same book he notes: ‘However great and good your natural gifts may be, it takes true piety to make them pure and perfect; with impurity they merely end in loss and pain.’”
http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2002/08/daily-08-24-2002.shtml
The spiritual and moral power of the church has had great effect down through history until the Great Awakening which led to the vast missionary outreach of the church up until our own time.
But it all began with Jesus Christ and the birth of His church on the Day of Pentecost.
What effect has believing in Jesus had on you?
Has believing in Christ changed you morally? Or do you still do exactly as you did before you put your trust in Jesus?
And do you behave much as those around you who do not believe in Jesus Christ?
Let me conclude with the words of John’s Gospel:
JOHN 3:16 “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” AMEN. Let us pray…
