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"Work of the Spirit"

September 25, 2022 Speaker: Pastor Bob Davis

Passage: John 16:4b-33, Isaiah 26:1-6,16-21,

Link to worship service:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhDRMdoNEZY

Work of the Spirit

John 16:4b-33

September 25, 2022

Read John 16:4b-33

This is the Word of the LORD. 

Today we conclude the portion of John in which Jesus was teaching the disciples.  This is, in fact, his last pre-crucifixion teaching.  Next week, we look at his High Priestly Prayer in Chapter 17, after which he will be arrested in the garden by the mob led by Judas.

We have been looking at this last time with the disciples for more than a month.  For what it is worth, we have not gotten bogged down; rather, this material is so rich and deep and powerful that each section has more than enough to cover in a sermon. Today is no different.  Let me do a quick summary of where we have been in order to set the context for what we are covering today:

After concluding his public ministry in Chapter 12, Jesus moved into an intense period of teaching and fellowship with his closest disciples.  In Chapters 13 and 14, when they gathered for the Passover meal, Jesus washed their feet – including the feet of Judas, who would soon leave to betray him.  Peter’s exclamation of loyalty was met with Jesus’ prediction that Peter would deny knowing him three times before the next morning.

After comforting them for what was about to take place and telling them about the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “Rise, let us be on our way.”

In Chapter 15, on their way to the garden that was familiar to the disciples, Jesus continued to teach.  We talked two weeks ago about the vine and the branches, and about Jesus’ command that the disciples love one another as He loved them.  All of that was the setup for last week’s, “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.”

Throughout this whole final discourse to the disciples, Jesus had been clear about the conflict between the world and the kingdom of God.  A number of times, he had declared that the world hated him and the Father.  He said that the world did not know him or the Father.  In short, the world rejected both Jesus and the Father.

Now, this week Jesus returned to what God was doing, how they could understand what was about to happen, and how they should prepare to go forward through these events.  There are five paragraphs: the first two are about the work of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus would send, the third is about his crucifixion, the fourth is about Jesus’ relationship with the Father; and the final is about their scattering upon his arrest -- and his declaration of victory, “I have conquered the world!”

Obviously, there is a lot going on here. Let me work a little out of order because I want to spend most of our time on the work of the Holy Spirit.  I am going to begin with the third paragraph, detailing his crucifixion.

               A Little While

There they were walking along to the garden.  The disciples may have thought they were going to a safe place because this was a spot where Jesus had often met with the disciples.  They were distressed because he was talking about leaving them, but they did not appreciate just how imminent that departure was going to be.  John recorded the disciples’ confusion: how they simply did not understand what Jesus was saying.  Jesus resorted to the illustration of a woman in labor to describe what they were going to experience.

This is something fresh in our minds.  (No, I am not going to use this as an opportune moment to drop in some recent pictures of Quinn – though the thought crossed my mind.)  Just as Jesus described, so was our experience watching Brooke through the course of her pregnancy.  As the baby grew, Brooke’s level of discomfort grew.  Then, labor occurred and – I’m not sure this qualifies as a spoiler alert – she was in pain. Her hour had come.  It was painful.  Then, Quinn was born and the anguish turned to joy.

We are grateful for Quinn’s birth and celebrate God’s goodness.  Yet as I look at our text today, I have to say honestly that we were not all that surprised – we were expecting her birth.  In contrast, the disciples did not know what to expect.

For the disciples, Jesus’ illustration of the woman in labor was still confusing because they did not appreciate, understand, or foresee what would be the joy they should anticipate.  Even Jesus’ stating, “and again a little while, and you will see me” did not make sense.  What did that mean?  On this side of the resurrection – when John wrote his gospel – we know and it makes a lot more sense.  At that point, however, Jesus was telling them what was happening and going to happen before it happened; and they did not understand.

Even though they could not understand, we can.  Jesus promised that their joy would be permanent.  It could not be taken from them.  Having defeated death, having reconciled with God those abiding in him, Jesus could return to the promise of “ask anything.”  We talked about this a few weeks ago (September 11), noting,

He meant that praying according to God’s will – known by abiding in his love – will yield manifestations of the power of the kingdom of God into which believers are living.  “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” … The “ask anything” is not for personal gain – it is for personal sacrifice.  “Use me for your glory, Lord.”

In the crucifixion, we see Jesus’ obedience for God’s glory.  We are sorrowful that it was necessary.  In the joy of the resurrection, we see the ultimate power of the kingdom of God revealed.  Our joy is (and will be) complete in seeking to see the fullness of the kingdom of God revealed.  Our joy is permanent because it is eternal. By abiding in Jesus now, we live into eternity now.

               Jesus’ Good-bye (for now) and Exaltation

The fourth paragraph of our text today was both Jesus’ good-bye as his time of departure approached and also a declaration of his exaltation.  “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”

Perhaps the best way to understand what Jesus was saying comes from the great Christ-hymn in Philippians 2, where Paul wrote,

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.  Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name…

That “therefore” was a statement of all that Jesus achieved and accomplished in his incarnation.  Jesus’ return to the Father – sitting on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, in glory – was the validation of all Jesus said and did.

For the disciples and for us, the significance of Jesus’ exaltation is the intimacy with the Father.  “On that day you will ask in my name;” that is, we will ask The Father “anything” out of our abiding in Jesus as the vine.  Our communion incorporates us into Jesus’ intimacy with the Father.  In the garden with his disciples that night, Jesus was describing a restored intimacy with God; the intimacy that had been lost in the first garden when Adam and Eve rebelled.  Because Jesus was returning (and returned) to the Father, we can walk and talk and live and abide with God because, “the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

               Peace, Persecution and Victory

That brings us to the fifth paragraph of our sermon text today.  When Jesus said he was returning to the Father, the disciples thought they had understood everything.  They did not - not yet.

Their error was thinking that Jesus was about to pull off a miracle of Mosaic proportion; parting the Red Sea, inflicting plagues on the Romans, restoring Israel to prominence on the world stage.  Things would be different, for sure.

They said, “You know all things, and do no need to have anyone question you, by this we believe that you came from God.”  Just like Moses; yes, Jesus!  That’s what you are saying.

Jesus’ response showed them just how much they did not understand . “Do you now believe?”  It was kind of an incredulous question because he – quite literally – was about to be handed over to the mob and arrested.  There was no Red Sea.  There was an escape, but Jesus was not taking it.  He was walking toward his arrest; not away from Pharaoh’s army.  There was not going to be a restoration of Israel as a political entity on the world stage.  “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered.”  In short, “Boys, this is it.  We are here.  We are at the hour for which I have come.”

Even here, though, Jesus gave a word of encouragement.  No, it was not that they were going to scatter and desert him.  And, no, it was not the promise that the world would persecute them.  Both of those were true; however, Jesus comforted them that their failures would not diminish or thwart the victory that God had won.  “You will leave me alone.  Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.”

The significant part of this statement is that God was with him.  Jesus was being isolated against the world.  He was going to be faithful to the Father, to the very end; he was going to be obedient knowing that he would stand alone, the Father with him.  

The direct conflict with the world was where we circle back to the work of the Spirit.

               The Work of the Spirit

Jesus taught that there were three aspects to the work of the Spirit whom he would send:

Jesus said, “when [the Spirit] comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.

Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

Jesus said, “He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

If you wonder why the Spirit would not be doing those things as Jesus spoke, it was because Jesus’ work was not yet complete.  It is not as if the Spirit was absent; rather, things had not progressed to the point in God’s plan when the work of the Spirit would commence.  When Jesus’ work was complete, Jesus would go to be with the Father and would send the Holy Spirit to the disciples.

God is a God of order.  God was not winging it as things went along.  Jesus was not making things up along the road.  God had planned and foretold all of it.  That said, even Jesus’ closest friends could not see the fullness of God’s plan past the immediate next step.

How similar that is for us.  As things in the world look more and more disastrous – we know that Scripture has revealed how the story ends.  Yet, for the life of us, we are having a difficult time seeing the path from here to there.  We cannot imagine what God would have to do – short of Jesus’ second coming, for which we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come!” – we cannot imagine what God would have to do to turn things around.

That is how God intended it, however.  God did not run his plan by us – or by some committee of us – so that we could see and consult on his decisions.  He did not invite us or open for us the insight into how all these things would take place.  For us, that means that we need to trust God step by step, rather than assessing whether the larger plan is pleasing in our sight. 

I am sorry if this is displeasing to you; I am sorry how frustrated I get by not knowing. Yet it is how God has set things in place and – rather than protesting against how God has structured things because that is beyond what we are intended to do – we should learn to conform ourselves to how God has created us to be.  How?  That would be the work of the Holy Spirit.

               The Spirit will convict the world

The first thing the Spirit will do is prove the world wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment.  Please note the finality of what Jesus said.  The Spirit was not coming with an ambiguous or nebulous purpose, he was coming to prove, convict, or establish those things.

In other words, the Spirit was not being sent to negotiate.  The outcome is not in doubt.  The clarity of the judgment is not in question.  The acceptance of the outcome does not alter the outcome itself.

The standard by which the world is judged is the answer to the question, “Who do you say I am?”  The rejection of Jesus, the refusal to believe in him, would be (and is) a case-in-point determination against the world.   The world is wrong to reject Jesus. The world is wrong to hate Jesus.  The world is not to be coddled in its error; nor is it to be “tolerated” or coddled for its “feelings” about whether God is being fair.

The work of the Spirit is to make judgment clear to all.  Regardless of whether the world wants to accept God’s judgment, the truth is that by the power of the Holy Spirit, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  Period.

The Holy Spirit also will convict the world regarding Jesus’ righteousness.  When Jesus said he was going to the Father and they would no longer see him, he was speaking of his exaltation.  In order to be eligible to ascend into the presence of the Father, Jesus had to be without flaw or blemish.  His crucified body had the scars and the stigma of the cross; but on his resurrected body those things would be glorious.  In short, by his obedience unto death on the cross Jesus fulfilled and became our righteousness.  The only righteousness God will see is that of Jesus’ – his righteousness reckoned to us by faith.  There is no alternative.  There is no other. Jesus is not relatively better than other ways; Jesus is qualitatively different: Jesus is unique.  His exaltation in righteousness will convict the world of its error.

The conviction of error is judgment against the ruler of this world.  The devil’s rebellion was fully and finally condemned through Jesus’ obedience through suffering, through the cross, through death, and finally by Jesus’ vindication in his resurrection. Jesus won.  Judgment went in favor of Jesus and against the devil.  There is no appeal.  It is final.

All of this is to say that the world is still wrong when it comes to Jesus.  All the things the world looks to substitute – loyalty to institutions, money, fame, power, legacy, peer pressure, social pressure, success of any kind that leads to pride – they are all lies.  All those lies fall short and have no lasting or eternal value.  The Holy Spirit will convict the world and prove it wrong.

The first thing the Holy Spirit will do will be to prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.

He will guide you into all the truth.

The seccnd thing Jesus said about the work of the Holy Spirit is that “he will guide you into all the truth.”  How?  “He will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and will declare to you the things that are to come.”

Just as Jesus was obedient to the will of God, just as he declared what he had heard the Father said, so the Holy Spirit does and will do.  In contrast to the conviction of the world, the Holy Spirit will guide believers into the truth.

Guiding believers into all truth may not be as mysterious as it sounds.  We have almost two millennium of history to review to see where the Spirit may have left some evidence of his work.  One major piece of evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit is that the testimony of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is available to us.  The Bible that we read, we study, and we discuss is available to us because God has kept it available to us.  There are variations in the manuscripts for scholars to debate; but overall, the Scriptures have been maintained consistently to a remarkable – if not supernatural – extent.  That we can read what has been faithfully transmitted to us is amazing; that we are moved to be faithful in our transmission of this testimony to the next generation is the work of the Holy Spirit guiding us.

The Westminster Confession (part of our confessional standards) includes the following:

[The Holy Spirit] is the Lord and giver of life, everywhere present, and is the source of all good thoughts, pure desires, and holy counsels in people.  By him the prophets were moved to speak the word of God, and all the writers of the Holy Scriptures inspired to record infallibly the mind and will of God.  The dispensation of the gospel is especially committed to him.  He prepares the way for it, accompanies it with his persuasive power, and urges its message upon the reason and conscience of people, so that they who reject its merciful offer are not only without excuse, but are also guilty of resisting the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.

He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The final thing that the Holy Spirit will do rises out of the first two: he will glorify Jesus. What God has done in Jesus Christ is worthy of all our praise.  The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus by leading us into truth – when we see and appreciate what God has done in the big picture; when we see and appreciate what God does moment by moment in guiding, sustaining, and protecting; we are led into worship.

So many people struggle understanding what is the meaning of life.  They get caught up in looking at themselves and trying to maximize their potential into eternity.  The Holy Spirit points us in a very different way.  By showing us Jesus, the Holy Spirit reveals to us how great is God’s love for us and how worthy God is of all of our praise. The meaning of life – or as the Westminster Shorter Catechism begins – the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

               Conclusion

So what should we take from this last part of Jesus’ final discourse with the disciples? Hope.  We should take hope.

  1. We have hope in his love despite our failing. “You will be scattered, and you will leave me alone,” he told the disciples. He could say the same to us.  “Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.”  God is not dependent upon us for his victory over the world.
  2. We have hope in his victory. “In the world you face persecution.  But take courage; I have conquered the world.”  He gives us the victory.  In Jesus, we are more than conquerors.
  3. We have hope because Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth. We walk into the unknown future with a known God who has promised us victory.

In the face of the very worst the world could do to him, Jesus final teaching was a word of victory and hope.  Thank God.  Praise God.  Go, tell someone. Amen.

 
Questions:  

  1. What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Have you seen evidence of this work in your life?  How does the Spirit’s work influence or shape your relationship with the world?
  2. Why was Jesus’ return to the Father so important? Why does it matter to you and me?
  3. Knowing that the Holy Spirit will convict (convince or establish) the world regarding sin, righteousness and judgment; does that help you to be a witness – sharing what you have received, experienced, heard and known?