Cantate, the 4th Sunday after Easter + John 16:5-15 + April 29, 2018

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus tells His disciples that He goes away to God the Father. He speaks this on Maundy Thursday, the night in which He was betrayed. Sorrow fills the disciple’s hearts, and understandably so. But Jesus consoles their troubled hearts, “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.” Jesus promises the Helper, who is God the Holy Spirit, whose coming we will celebrate in three weeks on Pentecost. In some translations the word is translated “Comforter,” while others transliterate it: “Paraclete.” As Christ says this to His disciples, He approaches His suffering and death for the sins of the world. He will accomplish the atonement and declare from the cross “It is finished” (John 19:30). Christ runs His course. He atones for the sins of the entire world. But then He must go back to God the Father and send the Comforter so that the benefits Christ earns on the cross can be distributed to all who hear the Gospel and trust in Christ. This is why Christ calls Him the Comforter. It’s His chief work, His proper work, to comfort sinners with the Gospel and apply Christ’s benefits to them through faith.

But before the Comforter can do His proper work and comfort sinners, He must do what is sometimes called his “alien” or “foreign” work. Before the Holy Spirit can comfort anyone He must first convict them. Jesus says, “And 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.” The Holy Spirit’s job is first to convict the world of sin. But of all the sins that there are in the world, Jesus specifically says “of sin, because they do not believe in me.” He singles out unbelief because unbelief is the root of all other sins, just as faith is the root of all good and God-pleasing works. The world doesn’t believe God’s commandments, nor does it believe God’s threat to punish all who violate His law. Most people who are of the world don’t even believe there is a God. The world makes us is own theology of the universe and calls it “evolution,” not because it’s scientific, but because it protects unbelief. Others claim that there is a God, but imagine Him to have the same sensibilities as themselves, believing Him to be a permissive, senile being who is just happy that people think of Him from time to time. The Holy Spirit convicts sinner’s unbelief through the preaching of the Law, so that some might repent and turn from the false gods of their own imagination to the true God who made the cosmos.

The Holy Spirit will also convict the world of righteousness. The world believes that it is righteous by its own works and deeds. The world imagines that if one leads an honorable life and achieves some of his goals, then he is a righteous man. But that’s a pretty low bar for righteousness and most think they attain it. They’ll tell you so and call themselves “good people.” But the righteousness of the world ignores the heart, the thoughts, the motivations, basically anything on the inside that others can’t see. So many imagine that anger, lust, impatience, faint-hardheartedness, and doubt aren’t sins as long as they don’t act on those impulses. The Holy Ghost convicts the world of its sham-righteousness. He says in the Scriptures that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He tells us that our hearts are wicked and deceitful, and it is out of our hearts and thoughts that all our external sins flow. The Holy Spirit preaches to us about Christ, the only One who is truly righteous in every thought, word, and deed. By showing us what true righteousness looks like, the Spirit shows us that every attempt at self-righteousness is a failure. The Holy Spirit testifies to all men, through the preaching of the Gospel, that the only righteousness that avails before God in heaven is the righteousness of faith, the righteousness that God gives us when we flee to Christ for mercy and forgiveness of our sins.

Here the Christian must be on guard. All who trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, God declares them righteous in His sight. But we must not imagine, as so many do today, that the faith which justifies can coexist with deliberate sinning. We are justified by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s merits which He earned upon the cross. Justifying faith will then work to suppress the sinful flesh’s desires so that those desires aren’t acted upon. Justifying faith cleanses the heart and brings forth the new man in all who believe, fighting sin through the Holy Spirit’s power. If the world must be convicted of its self-righteousness, Christians should be on guard against the flesh’s influence, lest by deliberate sinning we push the Holy Spirit from our hearts and lose our salvation.

Finally, the Holy Spirit will convict the world of judgment. Everything the world judges and good and valuable, the Spirit judges and sinful and worthless. He goes so far as to say that “the ruler of this world is judged.” If the ruler of this world, that is, the Devil, is judged, then so are all His works, His ways, His temptations, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Everything the world exalts and magnifies, such as great wealth, success, power and influence, is all rubbish in the sight of God who lifts up the humble and gives grace to the lowly of heart. There is no real help to be found in great wealth, honor, and influence. There is no comfort in the pleasures of this life or in the sinful delights of the world. All these have been judged as inadequate.

Once the Holy Spirit convicts the world through His word and sinners repent of their ways, then He is able to do His proper work, His helping and comforting work. St. Paul says that “the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses” (Romans 8:26). The Spirit gives us faith in Christ and His merits, that is, all His benefits. He helps us, strengthens us through the promises Christ makes to us in His Word and in His Sacraments, so that even though we are beset by great weakness in this life, we are able to firmly believe that we have God’s grace for Christ’s sake. To all who repent of their sin He does His comforting work. Jesus says that the Comforter will guide us into all truth. “He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you.” And what are things of Jesus? His mercy toward sinners who repent. His compassion toward those who seek mercy from Him. His sufferings and death to pay for the sins of the world. Jesus’ things are the gospel which is the only true and lasting comfort that us poor sinners have in this life. That is what the Spirit declare to us. He declares us to be children of God in Holy Baptism. He declares us absolved by words spoken from your pastor as if from God Himself. He declares you fully forgiven in Christ’s supper of His true body and very blood. The Spirit is not given to teach us new things, but to ever teach us Christ and His Gospel, to declare to us all the blessings and benefits that Christ earns for all mankind and bestows on all who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, flee to Christ for mercy. It is for our advantage that Christ has ascended to the Father. He has sent us the Helper, the Comforter, to convict us our sins so that we may repent and receive the comfort Christ earns for us. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.