“The Ministry of the Holy Spirit, Part 1” (John 16:5–11)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 16:5–11

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: September 8, 2024

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

Back in 2015, we were in Savannah, and the teaching pastor of our church left. This was a sad time for us, and there was much grieving. However, we noticed in the next few years that he was posting information that was tending in the “woke” direction. This isn’t an exaggeration or hyperbole: he was recommending the author of a book called Woke Church. When the COVID lockdowns came, he supported church closures. The downgrade was sad to watch, but we were ultimately glad that he had left.

Now, that’s an imperfect illustration. Jesus was and always is the perfect companion and shepherd. He never leads us astray. So, we can understand why the disciples were so sorrowed over His physical departure from them — though their sadness wouldn’t last for long.

The context here is Jesus’s farewell discourse. His disciples are overwhelmed with sorrow because of His imminent departure. They are too focused on the loss of His physical presence to understand the full benefits of what He is about to reveal. Yet, Jesus assures them that His departure is to their advantage because the coming of the Holy Spirit will bring profound blessings to believers as well as unbelievers.

Today, we’re considering what the Lord has promised concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now, these promises actually extend into v. 15, but because we’re only going through v. 11, we’re considering this sermon a part one. So, we’re simply noting two aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry this morning. First, the Holy Spirit comforts believers. Second, the Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers. Let’s consider the first of these.

The Holy Spirit Comforts Believers (vv. 5–7)

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. But 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 repeats the important point that He’s sent of God and returning to the Father (John 7:33; 16:10, 17, 28), and the disciples are grasping that their Master is talking about leaving them. So, He says that “none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ”

Some have wondered if this creates a difficulty in the text. Those of a more theologically liberal persuasion have suggested that this represents a seam in the text, that the Apostle John stitched together different accounts of what happened. The explanation is far more simple — at this moment, the disciples don’t care where Jesus is going. As DA Carson has noted here,

A little boy, disappointed that his father is suddenly called away for an emergency meeting when both the boy and his Dad had expected to go fishing together, says, ‘Aw, Dad, where are you going?’, but cares nothing at all to learn the destination. The question is a protest; the unspoken question is ‘Why are you leaving me?’ The disciples have been asking several questions of that sort; they have not really asked thoughtful questions about where Jesus is going and what it means for them.

They simply want Him to stay, so they’re currently down, perhaps in a depressive state. They should be happy; As He said back in John 14:28, “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” Instead of rejoicing, though, they are sad instead.

So, Jesus acknowledges their grief. It’s a great comfort to know that the Lord meets us where we are. We don’t always understand His plan, nor are we always willing to yield to His wisdom. Yet, He understands when sorrow has filled our hearts (v. 6), and He does what is best to provide that comfort and guidance we need.

Part of that is getting us to see our need for Him. The disciples had previously asked where He was going (13:36; 14:5), but now, in the depth of their sadness, they are no longer concerned with His destination, which is what He points out in v. 5.

Consider their state in v. 6 again. He says that sadness “has filled your heart,” and the verb there is in the perfect tense. Sadness is the complete state of their inner being. However, Jesus wants their grief transformed to joy. Sorrow has filled their heart now, but they will soon be filled with the Holy Spirit. Later, in Ephesians 5:18, we see the command for believers to be “filled with the Spirit,” the same term as here. They were under the control of sadness at this point, but soon they can be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

He begins v. 7 with these words: “But I tell you the truth.” Regardless of their current state of sorrow, they needed a word of truth, as we all do when our emotions get the better of us. His words here are a variation on the “Verily, verily” theme. This, too, is an important statement for them to hear and believe.

What are those words? He tells them that “it is to your advantage that I go away.” They have not understood that His departure is actually to their benefit. It’s the longing of every believer to see the Lord now, and even more so to these close disciples. Yet, it is to the advantage of every believer that Jesus has departed back to the Father.

Why? Well, we’ve seen some of this. As one study notes, Jesus’s departure would enable Him to prepare a place for them (14:2), enable them to do greater works than himself (14:12), grant them greater knowledge (14:20), and He would be closer to them in the Spirit (14:28).” The last point is what Jesus focuses on here.

Because His going paves the way for the coming of the Helper, the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Greek word for “Helper” can be transliterated Paraclete, and it’s rich with meaning. We can also translate it as “Comforter,” “Advocate,” “Intercessor” or “Counselor.” This title emphasizes the Holy Spirit’s role in supporting and guiding believers.

He explains this in two conditional statements. The first is negative: “for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.” They would miss out on the ministry of the Paraclete. It’s not that the Holy Spirit could not come and was not already at work, but He would not come in the nearly the same manner. Moreover, the Spirit fulfills an Old Testament anticipation about the time of the Messiah. The New Testament promises would need to unfold differently if Jesus did not go and send forth the Holy Spirit.

The Lord’s second conditional statement is positive. He promises that “if I go, I will send Him to you.” He said the Father would send Him “in My name” in 14:26, and here, He places Himself on equal footing with the Father, as He did in 15:26.

Jesus outlines specific blessings of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to believers in vv. 12–15. Here, however, Jesus leaves His disciples with the impression that the Holy Spirit will help them with their sadness. Jesus is sending the Spirit directly to them, not to the rest of the world. Though they are sorrowful now, the Holy Spirit will come to them. This means that they can be filled with joy instead of melancholy.

Consider this. Unlike Christ's physical presence, which was limited to one place at one time, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, providing continuous and intimate fellowship. There would be a connection between them unlike what they had before.

Jesus’s departure, therefore, was necessary. If He remained physically with the disciples, the Holy Spirit’s full ministry could not begin. But once Jesus ascended to the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to continue Christ’s work, dwelling within believers and empowering them for service.

The application here is powerful: Though we may long for the visible presence of Christ, the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence is even better. Through the Spirit, Jesus is not only with us but within us. We must remember that the Spirit’s presence is a sign of God’s grace and favor. Though sorrow may fill our hearts at times, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, always pointing us back to the hope we have in Christ.

Yet, the Spirit’s ministry to believers doesn’t stop there, and we’ll consider more next time. For now, our Lord takes us in a different direction. We’re now going to consider what the Holy Spirt does for the unbelieving world.

The Holy Spirit Convicts Unbelievers (vv. 8–11)

And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

There’s no doubt here, no conditional statement; Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come! Though Jesus says in v. 7 that He is sending the Holy Spirit to believers, that doesn’t mean the Spirit lacks ministry to the rest of the world. He comes bringing conviction.

While conviction can mean salvation for some, it means exposure for others. Either way, all will eventually know that they have been wrong about Jesus. This conviction will come either through the Spirit-inspired word or through preachers proclaiming the Word of God, but it results in personal illumination of the truth in some manner. For the elect, this means convincing them of their need to come to Christ for salvation.

This is a work that unbelievers need if they are to come to Christ. As one commentator notes,

No one can be saved apart from the Spirit’s convicting and regenerating work. The Bible teaches that all people are by nature rebels against God and hostile to Jesus Christ. They are “dead in [their] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1); “by nature children of wrath” (v. 3); “darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart … callous [having] given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (Eph. 4:18–19); “and alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds” (Col. 1:21); blinded by Satan so that they cannot understand spiritual truth (2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Luke 8:5, 12). In that condition, they are helpless; they are unable to believe the truth and are even guilty of suppressing it (Rom. 1:18–32). In John 6:44 Jesus declared, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

This means that these verses have implications for any ministry that claims to be filled with the Holy Spirit, especially if it is an evangelism ministry. In these verses, we see that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of unbelievers, convicting them like a prosecutor in three areas. These areas are sin, righteousness, and judgment. Let’s consider the first of these.

The Holy Spirit Convicts Unbelievers Concerning Sin (v. 9)

The Spirit convicts the world of its sin. Sin is missing the mark of God’s holy standard; it’s lawlessness (1 John 3:4). It’s not and “a mere slip or animal instinct or devoid of moral responsibility or evil” as some scientists and psychologists (Freudians and behaviourists) seem bent on insisting. It is anything that goes against God’s law and created order.

Unbelievers must hear that they are sinners, especially since most think of their sin only in terms of personal mistakes and whoopsies. They need to see that they are violators of God’s Word. When pastors like Joel Osteen say they don’t like to use the word sin, that they just want to be more positive, they admit that their ministry isn’t guided by the Holy Spirit. There are those who hate Ray Comfort’s approach to evangelism because they think they have a better way than the Holy Spirit. May it never be; the Spirit says He comes to reprove the world of its sin.

In fact, the specific sin here highlighted is the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ. The greatest sin is not merely the breaking of God’s law but the rejection of God’s Son. Jesus says that the Spirit will convict the world “because they do not believe in Me.” This conviction is not just a general awareness of wrongdoing but a specific exposure of the sin of rejecting Christ. The Spirit brings clarity, showing people their need for a Savior.

The Holy Spirit Convicts Unbelievers Concerning Righteousness (v. 10)

The Spirit also convicts the world of righteousness. This describes “right actions and being in right standing with God.” It seems strange to say that the Spirit convicts “concerning righteousness,” but He is convincing us of what is right about Jesus’s ways and how we’ve been wrong about them as unbelievers.

This righteousness possibly means that the Spirit will convict the world that they have not believed that Jesus is the Righteous One (8:46; Acts 3:14; 7:52; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:1). More broadly applied, this could mean that the Spirit will expose the world to the darkness of its unrighteousness (John 3:19–21; 7:7; 15:22, 24). Either way, in the case of those whom the Father draws, they will see that their own righteousness is like filthy rags and that they need the applied righteousness of Christ in their lives. The condemned will see their error in crucifying Christ, thinking that He was unrighteous rather than them.

Jesus then says something that may not seem connected to you. He says this is because “I go to the Father, and you no longer see Me.” This fact vindicates the righteousness of Christ, though. As Habakkuk 1:13 says, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor.” The world condemned Jesus as a criminal, but the Spirit reveals that He is the Righteous One who is accepted at the right hand of the righteous Father.

Those who realize they are sinners realize another need. They need righteousness to stand before a holy and righteous God, but they have none of their own to give. So, for those who are being saved, the Spirit opens their eyes to see their need for Christ's righteousness, which they can only receive through faith in Him. They need it to avoid the coming judgment, which we see in the next verse.

The Holy Spirit Convicts Unbelievers Concerning Judgment (v. 11)

Lastly, the Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment. The unbelieving world made a judgment about Jesus, but it was wrong. On the other hand, Jesus already warned judgment is upon this world (John 12:31). Moreover, we each innately know that there is eternity before us (Ecc. 3:11), and there must be a penalty for sin.

The Holy Spirit illuminates to us that this is “because the ruler of this world has been judged.” At the cross, Satan was decisively defeated, and the world’s false judgments were exposed. The Spirit reveals that judgment has already been rendered against the powers of darkness. This serves as a warning to unbelievers: if they persist in their rebellion, they will share in Satan’s condemnation. But for believers, it is a source of comfort, knowing that Christ’s victory over Satan is secure.

So, in these verses, we see the Holy Spirit's role in confronting the world with the reality of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This ministry of conviction is essential for the work of evangelism. As we proclaim the gospel, it is the Spirit who convicts hearts, leading some to repentance and others to rejection. We must rely on the Spirit’s power as we witness, knowing that He alone can bring about true conviction and conversion.

Conclusion

In this passage, we see two key aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry: comforting believers and convicting unbelievers. For those who are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is our Helper, guiding us, comforting us, and empowering us for service. For the unbelieving world, the Holy Spirit acts as a divine prosecutor, exposing sin, revealing righteousness, and warning of judgment.

As we reflect on this passage, let us be encouraged by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He’s our Comforter, even in the midst of sorrow and trials. So, let’s trust Him so we can be faithful in our witness, trusting the Spirit to convict hearts and draw people to Christ.