Easter4 (Cantate) - St. John 16:5-15 - May 3, 2015
Order of Holy Communion (pg.15)
Opening Hymn #231 "We Now Implore God the Holy Ghost"
Sermon Hymn # 387 "Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice"
Closing Hymn #195 "Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands"
Readings
Isaiah 12:1-6
James 1:16-21
St. John 16:5-15
Collect of the Day
O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest and desire what Thou dost promise, that among the manifold changes of this world our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
Sermon
Opening Hymn #231 "We Now Implore God the Holy Ghost"
Sermon Hymn # 387 "Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice"
Closing Hymn #195 "Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands"
Readings
Isaiah 12:1-6
James 1:16-21
St. John 16:5-15
Collect of the Day
O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest and desire what Thou dost promise, that among the manifold changes of this world our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
Sermon
1) During
the Easter season the Lord teaches us about the benefits of His death and
resurrection which He desires to give to us. The Lord has taught us about the
forgiveness of sins that He has earned with His wounds and the peace that He
speaks directly to us through His Office of the Holy Ministry first given to
the Apostles. The Lord comforts us in our distress when He teaches us that He
is our Good Shepherd, laying down His life for the sheep and taking it back up
again, so that He can always be gathering us into the sheepfold of His church and
feeding us in the green pastures of His Holy Word. Then our Lord teaches us
comfort in our own trials and crosses in life by promising that they will last
only a little while as His trial and cross lasted only a brief time. Today
Jesus teaches us about another wonderful benefit He procures for us in His
death and resurrection. Jesus says, “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.” (John 16:7) Jesus’ death
and resurrection is advantageous for us in many ways but today Christ teaches
us especially about the gift of the Helper. The King James translates the word “Comforter,”
which I like better. In Greek, Jesus calls this gift the Paraclete, which means
helper, comforter, advocate, or intercessor. Generally speaking it is someone
who appears in another’s behalf to give aid. The Paraclete is God the Holy
Ghost, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Paraclete, God the Holy Ghost,
is the benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection of which Jesus wants to teach
us today, for He is given to be our Helper, our Comforter and our Advocate.
2) The Paraclete, when He comes, will do three things. It is important that
we understand these three works of the Holy Ghost, especially in our day when
the charismatic heresy has become so prevalent. Jesus says, “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.” (John 16:8-9)
The task the Holy Ghost will undertake is that of convicting, or reproving, the
world about these three things. First, the world must be convicted of sin,
chiefly the sin of unbelief, “because
they do not believe in Me.” The world is full of unbelief. Unbelief is the
root of all other sins. It is the soil from which every sin arises in our own
hearts. When we are tempted to sin a sin against the second table of the Law
and we fulfill our wicked desire, are we not disbelieving what St. Paul says in
Galatians 6:7-8, “God
is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows
to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who
sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” When we are tempted to sin with our eyes in lust do we not think little
of the words of Jesus, that lust is adultery that takes place within the heart?
When we are tempted to think hateful thoughts about our neighbors, our family
members, and those around us that displease us or make our lives more
difficult, we do not believe that Jesus called hateful words and thoughts
murder which makes us liable for the fire of Hell. When we entertain covetous
thoughts about the things and lives of others we are not believing that the
Lord is good and gracious and gives us “every
good gift and every perfect gift” that St. James tells us of this morning.
Unbelief is the root of the world’s wickedness. Unbelief in God’s threats in
His law is the cause of our society’s putrid plunge into immorality. Unbelief
is what makes each us the sinners we still are and will be until we breathe our
final breath. When we sin we do so because we do not believe God and His Word. The
first work of the Holy Ghost must be to convict us of our unbelief and show us
just how unrighteous we truly are, not just in thought, word, and deed, but in
the heart.
3) The world will fight this reproving and claim its own righteousness all day
long against the preaching of the Holy Ghost. The world revels in its unbelief
as a pig loves the mud. But not so with you. The Christian doesn’t fight the
conviction of unbelief and sin when it happens. The Christian welcomes this
work of the Holy Ghost. The Christian does not hold up his own righteousness
and alleged good works to God and say, “I’m not unbelieving. I go to church. I
tithe. I do my best!” The Christ accepts this conviction the Holy Ghost brings
and grieves his sin, laments his iniquity and sorrows over his transgression.
The Holy Ghost uses the Law as a hammer to smash our own righteousness to
pieces and powder so that we might repent of our sins and confess them to God.
Then the Holy Ghost does His second task, to convict the world of
righteousness. Jesus says, “of
righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.” (John 16:10) The Holy Ghost convicts us
of this: that our righteousness is worthless, like filthy rags and unable to
earn us anything before God except punishment.
4) But He also reproves us concerning where true righteousness is to be found.
That is in Jesus and His “going to the Father.” When Jesus speaks of “going to
His Father” He speaks of His suffering and death. After His resurrection it
means His ascension into heaven to rule the all things as God and Man. All of
it is His work done on our behalf. Christ assumes human flesh to bear our sins.
Christ becomes man so that He can live our life under the full weight of the
Mosaic Law. Christ lives righteously on our behalf. He dies on our behalf,
bearing the sins of the world. In His perfect life and His spotless death He
earns for all men a righteousness that avails before God, so that all who
believe in Christ will have that righteousness imputed to them. Faith receives
what Christ earns and believes that because of Christ we have a gracious God
who receives us into favor, not for the sake of our own righteousness and our
own good works, but because of Christ’s righteousness earned for us in His life
and death. This is the second work of the Holy Ghost, our Paraclete, who
comforts us with the Gospel, that Christ gives us His own righteousness and
covers us with it whenever we confess our sin to Him.
5) The final work of the Holy Ghost is to convict the world of Judgment, “of judgment,” Jesus says, “Because the ruler of this world is judged.”
(John 16:11) This work is
simultaneously terrifying while offering the utmost comfort. The fact that the
ruler of this world is judged will terrify the impenitent, those who align
themselves with the world and its lusts and desires. The world does not want
its ruler judged and condemned because that means all who disbelieve face the
same fate as their ruler. This is why the world hates the true church and its
doctrine, for they belong to Christ, the One who has judged the Devil and all
his angels. The world persecutes the faithful, sometimes with violence of
words, sometimes with violence of force, all because it cannot bear the verdict
that God the Holy Ghost brings through the Law and Gospel of Christ. But to the
baptized faithful, this word of conviction is the highest comfort. The ruler of
this world is Satan. Satan is a liar and murderer, Jesus says. In Revelation
12:10 a voice from heaven calls Satan, “the
accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night.” In
Zechariah 3, Satan stands at the right hand of Joshua the High Priest to oppose
Him in God’s heavenly court and point out to everyone Joshua’s defiled
garments, which were a symbol of Joshua’s sin and the defilement He had brought
to the priesthood. This is what Satan does. That is what Satan means in Hebrew,
“accuser.” It is the Devil who is continually pointing to our sins, not so that
we repent, that is the duty of the Holy Ghost, but so that we despair about our
sins and fret over them with an evil conscience. Satan can only bring up past
sins which have been absolved already. Then He lies about them, telling you
that they are not really absolved, that they are not really removed, and that
God still holds wrath over you for those sins. Otherwise He accuses you saying,
“How can you call yourself a Christian if you have done such awful things?” so
that you eventually learn to despair of Christ’s mercy to all sinners, even to
those who consider themselves chief.
6) Against the accusations of the Evil One stands the Paraclete, the Helper,
the Comforter, the Advocate, the one who comes forth to bring us aid and
consolation. He is given to us so that He might fortify our faith in the midst
of such accusations. He strengthens us in the midst of an evil conscience by
convicting us that the ruler of this world has been judged. The accuser stands
accused and convicted. The ones he accused stand acquitted because Christ’s
righteousness is their own by faith. This is the work of God the Holy Ghost in
the world and in us. The world sees His work as Law, as condemnation, because
that’s what it is. The world unbelieves Christ. The world wants to have its
righteousness and good works count for something. The world wants to uphold its
ruler. But these things are all condemned by the Law and the Gospel. But for
the Christian, the work of God the Holy Ghost is a helping work, bringing us to
repentance. His work is a comforting work in the time of distress and a helping
work in the time of despair of an evil conscience. For the world, He is not a
Paraclete, a helper or comforter. For the Christian He is all these things.
7) He brings us the help and comfort that Jesus earns for us in His perfect
life and His bitter sufferings and death. He brings us the only help and comfort
that will suffice in this world, which is the comfort and help of the Holy
Gospel. That is why Jesus says that the Spirit, when He comes, will guide us
into all truth, not new truths, but into all truth, which is Jesus, for He is
the only way, the complete truth, and true life. That is also why Jesus says, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of
what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are
Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
(John 16:14-15) The Holy Ghost
will only and ever speak to you of Jesus and help you with His Gospel. He leads
us into holy living and good works but even those proceed from faith and joy in
the Gospel of Jesus. This is what makes Him our true helper, our true
comforter, our true advocate, our faithful Paraclete. Amen.