Equipped for Battle
Text: John 16:5-15
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day – and I always take some time to pause on that and think about what so many have given in service of their country.
Let me just take a moment to give you a little glimpse into the experience of a veteran.
You are a young man or woman. You’ve signed up to serve your country. You’ve gone to basic training and then your MOS school… that’s the training for the job you’ll be doing – whether that’s a mechanic, or cook, or medic, or serving in the infantry – in combat. And maybe even some other specialized training, like Jump School, You’ve gotten all this training, your nation has invested a lot of money in that training – it’s really not sufficient, but it’s functional. And then one day you get the call – you’re being deployed.
You are sent to a foreign land.
It’s different than home. The people are different, the culture is different, languages, religion, EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT. And you’re thrust into this different environment and told to do the job you were trained to do. There’s no adjustment period. There’s no “easing into it.” And hopefully you’ve been well equipped and well trained, because that’s what you’re going to default to – the level of training you’ve received, and what you’ve been equipped with. Your skills, your weapons, your body armor, and the guy next to you.
And what happens is – you’re sent to this foreign country and you are there fighting for democracy… or fighting against some tyrant… or fighting for the interests of our nation… or whatever it might be, and you believe that your cause is the righteous one, and good one, and moral one. That it’s going to make the world a better place.
But then something happens.
The people you are trying to help, tell you they don’t want you there. They tell you that they don’t want your ideals, or your culture, and they don’t value the things you value. They might want some help against the enemy that’s afflicting them currently, but they don’t care to change their culture, or ideals, beliefs and world views. They don’t understand that their beliefs and culture is what brought about and caused the problems they are facing in the first place.
Now I want to ask you all one question before we get to our text, and here it is:
Was I just describing what it’s like to be a Veteran, or what it’s like being a Christian?
Because it’s kinda’ the same thing right?
The world is not our home. We are called soldiers of Christ. We are told to fight the good fight. We are sent out to people who really don’t want our beliefs, don’t hold the same moral and spiritual values that we do, who don’t want anything to do with our religion or even the culture and society that such a belief system creates. And so, very similar to a veteran, deployed to a dangerous location, we find ourselves relying on our training, our equipment, and the guy or gal next to us… Our training – our discipleship, our knowledge and understanding of God’s Word, of doctrine… You can’t share it or teach it if you don’t know it… Our brothers and sisters in Christ – the Church, who is alongside us in this mission… and what we have been equipped with… or rather… I should say, WHO we’ve been equipped with – meaning the Holy Spirit.
We’re in John 16:5-15 this morning, if you’ll go ahead and open your Bibles to that passage, we’ll read through it and unpack it together. (READ TEXT).
This passage is talking about the coming of, and the working of the Holy Spirit.
And if you remember, Jesus has just told the disciples what to expect from the world. Persecution, hatred. He told them they would be put out of the synagogues, and killed by zealots who thought they were serving God. Just like, when a soldier is going overseas into combat, they should know that there is an enemy who wants to kill them.
And Jesus warns the disciples here – that is the case… but they aren’t going unequipped.
In verse 7 He says, “It’s to your advantage that I’m going away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.”
Now there’s a lot within just that one verse.
So first of all – it’s to our advantage! Each and every believer has the Holy Spirit residing within them. He is present with us right now… and as we go about our day… and as we eat our meals, and watch TV, and go to the football or basketball game. He is with us when we wake up in the morning and when we lay down. He is God the Spirit… He is ever present. OMNIPRESENT. And ever present help in times of trouble. And like I said, He is within every single believer…. He’s here with us in Slapout Oklahoma… He’s with believers in OKC and Dallas. Believers in Phoenix Arizona and Richmond Virginia. He’s with believers in London England, and Edinburgh Scotland… Manilla and Cape Town… If you are a believer – you have the Holy Spirit residing within you.
That is the third Person of the Trinity – God the Holy Spirit – residing within you.
THAT IS AMAZING!
Now… in verse 8 Jesus says, “And when HE comes…”. The Holy Spirit is a HE. He has personhood. The Holy Spirit is not just some “force”, or the impersonable power of God. He has personhood. He teaches, He speaks, He intercedes, and He can be grieved. He has all the attributes of personhood. And He is God. He is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14), He’s omnipresent (Psalm 139:7), omniscient (1 Cor. 2:10-11). He knows the mind of God (1 Cor. 2:10-11). His Name is used interchangeably with the Name of God (Acts 5:3-4, 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). He was involved in creation (Job 33:4), He resurrects (Rom. 8:11).
Let’s go back to verse 8… because when the Holy Spirit comes – He’s coming for a purpose.
“When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” And He goes on, “Concerning sin because they do not believe in Me.”
And that’s exactly what happens… think about it with me. On the Day of Pentecost Peter gets up and preaches a short sermon, and the people are convicted. And if you look at that sermon… it’s in Acts 2, basically Peter says, “You didn’t believe in Jesus, so your crucified Him! You didn’t believe He was the Savior and Messiah. You didn’t believe He was the promised Son of David. You didn’t believe… even though He was attested to by all the prophecies and miracles.”
They didn’t believe, but they heard the Word of God proclaimed, and the Holy Spirit convicted them to their hearts and they believed and repented and were saved. How does that happen? God does it! The Lord does it! The Holy Spirit does it… Acts 16 where we read about the conversion of Lydia – it says “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul preached.”
Romans tells us that faith comes by hearing and the hearing that produces faith comes by the Word of Christ. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
Through the preaching of the Word, He shows us that we are sinners in need of a Savior and the only Savior is Jesus Christ! He convicts us of our unbelief and works faith in our heart.
The next thing Jesus says here is that the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness because He is going to the Father.
Now I’ll try to explain this, and pray that you’re following me. Jesus says it’s because of righteousness BECAUSE He goes to the Father. And if you think to the crucifixion… how many who were there that day, saying “Away with Him! Crucify Him! Give us Barabas!” How many of them believed that Jesus was righteous? THEY DIDN’T! Some might have thought He was a good teacher… some might have even thought He was a prophet, or miracle worker… but none of them saw Him as righteous or the One who makes us righteous before God.
But Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning righteousness BECAUSE He is going to the Father.
In other words – If Jesus isn’t righteous. If Jesus isn’t without sin. If Jesus is just a man, or just a good teacher, or just a prophet… He stays in the grave. There’s no resurrection.
But if He is the righteous sacrifice. The Lamb of God, without spot or blemish, then He is the propitiation for our sin. His death propitiates God’s wrath. It satisfies God’s requirements for both sin and righteousness! And that’s exactly what Jesus did. And God rasied Him up for our justification… That’s Romans 4:25.
So the world… The Jews and Gentiles, the Roman officials and the Sanhedrin, and all the people said one thing about the crucifixion… but God had something else to say. Jesus was raised up because of our justification. He accomplished everything that needed to be done in order to fulfill the law and God’s righteous requirements, and make us righteous before our holy and just God.
And finally, the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. It was the promise given way back in Genesis… God told Satan, “You’ll bruise His heel, but He’s gonna’ crush your head.” And that’s what Jesus did on the cross.
THE WAR HAS BEEN WON! But there are still battles being fought. The enemy is defeated, but there are still those who are loyal to him. And we… just like soldiers in an occupied country, might say to them, “Hey there’s a better way. You don’t have to be slaves to sin any more. You don’t have to be in bondage to that habit, or that lifestyle, or that way of life anymore.” And there are some who will see it and say, “Yes, I want Jesus.” And then there are some who will say, “No. I don’t want Him, or anything to do with Him. I like my sin.”
The war is won, but battles rage on… and will continue to rage on until He comes.
And the Holy Spirit equips us for these battles. He arms us with the Sword of the Spirit… and places upon us the whole armor of God, so that we can stand in this present evil age.
Now really quickly – Jesus says, “He will guide us to all truth, and He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you things that are to come.” These guys wrote the New Testament… How? By inspiration of the Holy Spirit – 2 Tim. 3:16. And then Jesus says, “He will glorify Me.”
Church, understand this – the Holy Spirit’s mission, and ministry is to glorify Jesus! It’s to make much about Jesus! It’s to show the world that IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
CLOSING
