The Work of the Spirit
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When we last left Jesus and his followers, Jesus was telling his disciples that it is to their advantage that he go away… that he ascend to the Father and not remain on earth.
Though the disciples do not yet understand, it is to their advantage because of everything the ascension accomplished and mean. .
The ascension allows us too join Jesus in the presence of the Father in glory.
If Jesus did not go back to heaven, we would have no hope of going to heaven when we die
If Jesus had not gone to the Father, he would not be enthroned as King over all, nor would he be our high priest who intercedes for us when we pray.
In every way it is better for us, and better for the disciples, that Jesus went back to the Father.
However, in our passage this morning there is a specific reason Jesus provides as to why it is to our advantage that he ascend to the Father, and that reason is mentioned in verse 7
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.
Jesus says, that for him to send the helper he must first ascend back to the Father.
When Jesus speaks of the helper is is speaking of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
If the Holy Spirit is going to come in full power, Christ must first be enthroned.
For it is with the power of the ascended and enthroned Christ that the Spirit comes.
This is good news for the disciples who are feeling deeply anxious about having to face the persecution of this world alone.
Jesus assures them, that they will not be alone, but that the Spirit of truth will come to them.
We could spend a lot of time exploring the scriptures concerning the person and work of the Spirit of God.
We could start all the way back in Genesis 1 where we see the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters before creation.
We could look at the pillar of cloud and fire
We could look at King David and the other great warriors who were filled with the Spirit of God.
We could spend months looking at Pentecost and what it meant for the Spirit of God to fall upon the church.
The power of the Spirit is remarkable.
The Spirit of God is faithful to minister in our lives and communities in astounding aways.
He produces in us the fruit of the Spirit
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
From him we receives gifts as seen in Eph. 4, Romans 12, 1 Cor. 12, and other places.
The Holy Spirit is living and active
he works in us as we study God’s word,
he applies the promises of Christ, and the work of Christ, and the hope of Christ to the lives of his people.
Paul says We are sealed with the Spirit.
And Jesus says is the Spirit who causes us to be born again.
The Spirit of God comforts us, encourages us, and empowers us.
The Spirit of God is always at work in the lives of God’s people
But in our passage this morning we see that the Spirit will be with, and work in the disciples in a very specific and potent way.
Perhaps one of the more surprising things we discover about the Holy Spirit when we study him from the scriptures, is that one of the Spirits favorite things to do is start fights.
Just ask, Elijah, or David, or Samson (Who, i need not remind you, is the most spiritual man in the OT).
look how the Spirit worked in John the Baptist’s life, who was filled with the spirit in the womb.
See how the Spirit drove Paul to disrupt the status quo everywhere he went
See how the Spirit drove Joshua to conquer the land, or Elijah to war against the prophets of Baal and the evil queen Jezebel.
See how the Spirit works in the book of Revelation bringing war against those who stand opposed to the Risen Lamb.
We often think that its the enemies of the church that pick the fights… but thats not the case. The Spirit empowered Church is always picking fights.
Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword. to set brother against brother, mother against daughter, father against son.
And following its Master, the church likewise provokes the hostility, hatred, and resentment of the world at every turn.
This has been one of the major themes in John’s gospel.
Everywhere Jesus goes he provokes, he fights, he stands against hatred and hostility.
This is not some flaw in the church’s ministry, but the opposite.
When the church is faithful, it announces judgment of this world (John 12:31),
It announces the universal corruption and disorder of humanity (Rom. 1:18–32),
And she never tires of declaring the defeat and overthrow of the prince of this world.
We have the Spirit, who is given to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:1–11).
When this happens, we cannot help but start a fight.
And we see this proving itself to be true throughout the book of acts, the early church, and all of church history.
Look with me at John 16 8
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
The convicting work of the Spirit is put in law court language. Jesus speaks of the Spirit as the Divine Prosecutor who brings undeniable charges against world.
To convict means to expose, reprove, condemn, punish and put to open shame.
This is the work the Spirit does to the world!
not just the gentile nations, but the nation of Israel as well,
he will convict the whole world, all those who are outside of Christ, concerning:
Concerning Sin
Concerning righteousness
Concerning judgement
And the Spirit does this convicting work through his people… through the proclamation of the gospel
John the baptist is a great example of this
John was known as being full of the Spirit.
This was part of who he was, the angel promised his Father that he would be full of the Spirit even in the womb.
And John spent his ministry as a prophet convicting, through the power of the Spirit, the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement.
He spoke out against Herod for the sin of taking his brother’s wife as his own.
This conflict led John to lose his head.
Paul speaks against the sins of the culture,
Jesus spoke against the sins of the people,
This is a common theme of those who are posses the Spirit of God, they are used by God to convict the world of their rebellion against God.
And this is what the Spirit continues to do after the ascension of Jesus, and this is what he continues to do today throughout the whole world.
He works through his people to bring conviction to the world regarding, sin, righteousness and judgement.
And this convicting work is a call to the world to repent and follow Christ. lest you die in your sin.
As Paul says,
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The Spirit works through the People of God to bring conviction to the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgement.
So we need to ask what does this mean?
Verses 9-11 speak to each one of these specifically.
Starting in verse 8 we read,
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.
So lets start by looking at verse 9,
concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
So Jesus says that the Spirit of God is going to convict the world concerning sin
Scripture spares no details in giving us a full orbed view of sin. The depravity and sinfulness of sin is seen all throughout:
Sin is described as,
refusal to follow and obey God
Moral or ethical failure
It can be attitudes of the heart, or words of the mouth, or works of the body.
Its the breaking of the God’s law and a rejection of his goodness, truth, and beauty.
Sin expresses itself in our lives in the Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life
We see in the epistles lists of sins that characterize the sinful traits of those who are opposed to Christ
In Proverbs we see the seven sins that are an abomination to him.
Paul warns that anything not done by faith is sin.
Sin is curse, its like a rot or a sickness that get into our bones.
We recognizes the seriousness of sin in our own lives. We can all share stories about the sickening affect sin has had in our lives
The Bible says we are to wage war against sin
And we are told what we are to do when we fall into sin
Which is why when we gather each week we take time to confess our sins, both individually and together as a body.
We confess because the Spirit of God is at work in our lives.
The Spirit is faithful to bring conviction, to opens our eyes and hearts to see where we have rebelled against God, and he points us to Christ, the high priest and sacrifice for our sins.
This is true, and this must never be neglected.
However this sort of individual conviction of sin is not what Jesus is talking about here.
Jesus tell the disciples that when the Spirit comes (speaking of Pentecost) he is going to convict the world of sin.
And what is the sin that he will convict the world of?
The sin of not believing in him.
What does this mean?
The world’s deepest misery and lostness [do] not come from its moral imperfection but in its estrangement from God.
The greatest sin, and the sin that all other sin flows from is refusing to bow before the True King in faith…
The wicked laws that are past regarding abortion, or taxation, or queer theory… all flow from a people who refuse to believe in Jesus.
Universities and schools that are twisting and perverting the truth for their own agenda do so because they refuse to bow the knee to Christ.
This convicting work of the Spirit is both just, because the world is guilty, but it is also gracious.
It is gracious because without the convicting work of the Spirit, without the church speaking truth into a wold that is blinded by darkness and lies, there would be not hope for world to repent and believe in Jesus.
If the Spirit left the world alone, they would blindly continue down the path of depravity.
However the convicting work of the Spirit calls people to confess their sins, and repent and believe in Christ.
We must be bold and empowered by the Spirit to be his instruments to call a rebellious world to repent and follow Christ.
Jesus then says in verse 10,
concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;
The greek word for rightousness is the same word for justice.
Our world right now that is obsessed with trying to determine what is just and unjust. What is righteous and what is unrighteous.
Social justice, distributive justice, relational justice, and so on are all attempts for unrighteous man to become the curator and architect of righteousness and justice
The desire for justice, the desire for righteousness and vindication are part of who we are as humans.
We desire righteousness and justice as much as we desire food or relationship.
The problem the world faces is that there is only one source of righteousness and justice.
And its not found in the french philosophers, or the social justice movement, or in the identity politics of our day.
The source and standard of justice and righteousness is found at the right hand of the Father.
Where Christ sits and rules upon his throne, and the foundation of his throne is righteousness and justice
Speaking of the coming Messiah the prophet Isaiah wrote,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Or as David wrote,
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
the futile attempts of self-righteousness in our world will be exposed by the Spirit through the Church.
There is only one righteous standard and Christ is that standard.
All our righteous acts are like filthy rags before him.
no amount of hard work, virtue signaling, or advocating for some sort of social justice will bring us an inch closer to the standard that is Christ.
And the Spirit of God like a prosecuting attorney will pull back the layers of lies and deception in this world so the world will see that the risen and ascended Christ, the justified and vindicated one, is the only source of justice and righteousness.
So the Spirit of God will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and finally in verse 11, judgement
concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The Spirit came with such power as to not only convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, but he also comes convicting the world of judgement because the ruler of this world is judged!
That is, he is already defeated, his head has already been crushed, his powers has been taken, he has no been put to open shame.
Because the evil one has been judged upon the cross there is now no hope for him.
There is no hope for the father of lies, that great dragon, the ancient serpent.
the serpent who led Adam and Eve into judgement has been judged by the second Adam.
When the Serpent tempted Eve, Adam should have taken that thing by the neck, cast him to the ground and crushed his head on the spot.
Adam should have judged the Devil when he led his bride into sin…
But he didn’t, instead he went to the tree and partook in the rebellion
However, where the first Adam failed to judge, the second Adam succeeded.
The second Adam also went to a tree. Not to rebel against God, but to judge the evil one.
And the Spirit comes announcing this judgement to the world.
To stand opposed to Christ is to stand with the Devil.
There is no neutral ground here.
And to stand with the Devil is to be judged by the risen and ascended King.
This is the fate of all who side with the ruler of this world.
And the Spirit will bring this all to light.
And let me echo for you what Jesus tells his disciples,
This sort of convicting work that the Spirit does in and through you in the world is enough to cause the world to hate you.
When the Spirit works through his people he likes to pick fights with those who stand opposed to Christ.
But that is ok. The Spirit gives us the strength of Christ, he gives us the wisdom and the mind of Christ, he gives us the courage and hope of Christ.
For he is the spirit of Christ who works in you to form you into the image of Christ…
Jesus goes on verses 12-15
“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.
My friends, this is the work of the Spirit
The Spirit will:
convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement
He will guide you into all truth
He will declare to you the words of Christ
He will glorify Christ
The Spirit takes hold of all that Christ has accomplished he he applies to your life.
The Spirit brings you into union with Christ, he gives you the mind of Christ, he leads you into all truth… which is a greater freedom in Christ…
The Spirit is always looking to glorify Christ in you,
And the Spirit will remind you of all that you have and all that you are in Christ.
My friends,
The Spirit of God is at work in our day. Through his church and the eternal word of God, he is transforming this world from one degree of glory to the next.
He is waging war on the dark powers that try and lay claim on God’s good world.
He strengthens his people to laugh and fight, to rejoice and sing, to be strong and courageous, to feast and celebrate, for Christ is victorious and evil has already been defeated and judged.
Let us live with such a spirit empowered confidence of Christ finished work.
Lets pray.