“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26–27, ESV)
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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 go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:4a–15, ESV)Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
In a way, you must admire our Christian brothers and sisters in the Pentecostal churches. Their movement was brought about by a desire to uphold the Trinity. They (Pentecostalists) begin with an emphasis on the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. They hold fast to the promises given here by Jesus. After all, the Holy Spirit’s working in the Church is profound and necessary.
Jesus says it,
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speakWhat Jesus is saying, is that when God speaks the Spirit is necessary for a proper understanding of what he says. To say it simpler, faith is required to properly understand the Word of God, and faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Where Pentecostals get it wrong, is an over emphasis on the work of the Spirit. They push feelings above truth. They push the presence of the Spirit above the presence of Jesus. One example is the practice of Speaking in Tongues. According to them, a true full Christian will do this. As it turns out, the babbling isn’t understandable and tends to glorify the self rather than Jesus. There are many more that I could mention but for Pentecostals, when the Holy Spirit is at work, you can feel his presence. It becomes an emotionally charged atmosphere. People perform miracles, speak in tongues, handle deadly serpents, and are “slain in the Spirit”. All this activity and emotion is manifested to show the presence of the Holy Spirit, to prove he is at work in the church.
And while there is some biblical basis for most of their practices, what they often lack is an emphasis on Jesus and his life, his cross, his forgiveness, his resurrection, his ascension, and his ruling over the church on earth. What they tend to emphasize is the Christian rather than the Christ. They push the idea that Christians who don’t do these things, aren’t complete Christians.
The work of the Holy Spirit is much simpler than that (although emotion can be a part of it). In this text Jesus emphasizes,
But if I go, I will send [the Holy Spirit] to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
First concerning sin: The Holy Spirit is necessary for the Law to have its full impact on people. Without him, the law wouldn’t have the effect of convicting sinners. Sinful people, by nature, set aside the full impact of their sin. What they see clearly is the sin of other people and minimize their own. The Spirit pushes the guilt of sin onto the hearer. It is the SOS of the law. The Holy Spirit Shows us Our Sin. He shows us our hopelessness to do anything about it before God. That’s what Jesus means when he says,
Because they do not believe in me
Without seeing the depth of our sin, we would never turn to him for forgiveness.
As C.F.W. Walther says,
In the second place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Law is not preached in its full sternness The full sternness of the Word, through the work of the Holy Spirit plows the hard ground of the heart to prepare it for the sweetness of the Gospel. As Walther continues, and the Gospel not in its full sweetness Second, regarding righteousness: Jesus says, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longerThe Holy Spirit is present in the church to continually show us Jesus’ righteousness. That’s the SOS of the Gospel. It (through the Holy Spirit) Shows us Our Savior. We are saved by Good Works, just not our own, but those of Jesus. We are declared righteous before God because of Jesus. When the Spirit gives the gift of faith, it is faith in Jesus. Without faith we can’t see Jesus as our savior. Martin Luther says the two most important words in Scripture are “for you”. When you hold on to all that Jesus did for you, that is directly from the Holy Spirit. When you see that Jesus life, that is all the good works that he did, are for you, that is faith in Jesus. When you see that Jesus death on the cross pays the punishment of sin for you, that is faith in Jesus. When you see Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of the Father is to plead your case of forgiveness for you, that is faith in Jesus. When you see that Jesus is coming again to raise all the dead, and you see that that is for you, that is faith in Jesus. It is the Spirit who pushes that faith into your heart.
And finally, concerning judgement:
Jesus says, because the ruler of this world is judged Here we look to Luther’s most famous hymn: Though devils all the world should fill, All eager to devour us, We tremble not, we fear no ill; They shall not overpow’r us. This world’s prince may still Scowl fierce as he will, He can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; One little word can fell him.That one little word is Jesus. When the prince of this world, Satan tries to convict you of your sin, when he disrupts your sleep saying, “God can’t forgive you for what you did to your family” or “Your sin is too big for only Jesus.” When he brings to mind you failing at work; Your inactive prayer life; Your thick tongue when you should proclaim God’s Word in public; Your selfishness in regard to your neighbor; and your quick response in hate rather than love; It is the Holy Spirit who brings to your mind that one little word Jesus. He is the one who prompts you to remember that, because of Jesus,
… if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.He is he who prompts you to remember your pastor’s words on behalf of Jesus,
The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the forgotten member of the Holy Trinity. We like to say, the hidden member of the Holy Trinity. When he does what he does, your focus is on Jesus and the forgiveness he won for you. Your focus is on Jesus and the truth of all that he teaches. And it happens with or without emotion. It is true for you whether you feel him working or not.
Consider the small country church where God proclaims the truth of forgiveness to stoic Lutherans without a hint of emotion. Or the large Lutheran Church where emotions are high. You know the Holy Spirit is at work, not because of the level of emotion but because of the focus on the work of Jesus, his cross for the forgiveness of sins and the truth of the Word. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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