Sermon Series The Gospel of John. Part 31 When The Spirit Of Truth Comes

Transcription

1 Rev. William J. Shields St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois The Baptism of Our Lord (The First Sunday after Epiphany) January 11, 2015 Gospel Lesson John 16: Sermon Series The Gospel of John Part 31 When The Spirit Of Truth Comes 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, Where are you going? 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 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. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 16 A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me. 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, What is this that he says to us, A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me ; and, because I am going to the Father? 18 So they were saying, What does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about. 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

2 2 You know, they passed a new parking law up in Minnesota, in the little town where my Uncle Ole and Aunt Lena live. It took effect on January 1 st. It has to do with parking and snow removal. Whenever there is a snowfall of 2 or more inches on an even-numbered day, everybody has to park their cars on the right side of the street, so that the snowplows can drive down the left side. And if it s an odd-numbered day, they have to park on the left side of the street, so that the plow can go down the right side. And if anyone is confused about overnight parking, the local radio station will make an announcement at 9:00 p.m., telling you which side of the street to park on. So a little over a week ago, they had their first snowfall of the new year, and Ole and Lena couldn t remember which side to park on. So they listened to the radio at 9:00 p.m. and they guy told them to park on the left side. And Ole put on his coat and hat and gloves, and went out and parked the car on the left side of the street. A few days later, it snowed again and, again, they listened to the radio. This time the guy told them to park on the right side. So Ole went out and moved the car to the right side of the street. But then a couple of days later, it snowed again, and Ole and Lena were watching a TV show and they completely forgot to listen to the radio. They were getting ready for bed at about 10:00 p.m. when Ole suddenly remembered. He said, Lena, we forgot to listen to da radio tonight! How are we going to know which side of da street to park on? Lena thought about that for a moment. Then she said, Well, we don t want to park on da wrong side of da street and get a ticket. So maybe we should just leave da car in da garage tonight. I think Ole and Lena were a little confused about the new law. And that confusion caused them to worry, when they didn t really need to. And that s kind of what we have going on in our Gospel Lesson for this morning, from the 16 th chapter of John. The Disciples are confused, and in their confusion they are worried. And this is all because of the words that Jesus had just spoken to them in the previous chapter. Now remember, this conversation, which begins in chapter 13 and goes all the way through chapter 17, is taking place all in one night. It s the night before Jesus died on the Cross. And Jesus and his Disciples are having a long conversation over supper a supper that would eventually come to be known as The Last Supper. In this conversation, Jesus is trying to prepare the Disciples for what is about to happen. Jesus knows what is coming the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension all of it. But if he tried to explain all of that to the Disciples, they would never understand. In fact, they would probably get in the way. They would probably try to prevent it. They would not understand that the Cross was part of Jesus plan. So Jesus can t explain it to them. The best thing that he can do is to try to prepare them for it, emotionally. And he does this in two ways. First, he tells them in chapter 13 that he is going away. He doesn t go into detail. He just tells them that he has to leave. And when they hear that, they start to get worried. And then, in chapter 15, he drops the other bomb. Pastor Breum talked about this in his sermon last week. In chapter 15, Jesus tells the Disciples that, after he is gone, they the Disciples are going to be harassed and attacked and persecuted. He tells them that once he is gone, and the religious leaders and the forces of evil don t

3 3 have Jesus to attack anymore, they will then turn on the next best thing his Disciples. So now the Disciples are not just confused and worried. They are also scared. When they started following Jesus, they did not know that they were signing up for persecution. But in their confusion and worry and fear, Jesus has a powerful message of comfort for them. And it s not just for them. It s for us too. The title of my sermon is When The Spirit Of Truth Comes. Jesus was promising the Disciples that, when he left them and went back to Heaven, he would not be leaving them alone. He would be sending the Holy Spirit to live in their hearts. And the Spirit would give them the courage and strength that they would need, to live as Disciples of Jesus Christ in a sinful and hostile world. Now the Holy Spirit does a lot of things for us, to help us in our Christian walk. But there are three things in particular that Jesus talks about in this text. Number one it this I. The Holy Spirit Will Convict The World Jesus saw the sad and confused looks on the faces of the Disciples and he said to them in verses 5 and 6, 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. John MacArthur suggests that we really see the tender heart of Jesus in this comment. On this night, Jesus was hoping to talk with his Disciples about some deep subjects. He was kind of probing, seeing how much they could handle, wondering if he could go into more detail about some of the things that were on his heart. But instead, when he sees the look of confusion and fear on their faces, his heart goes out to them. And he completely changes course. Jesus is about to suffer the agony of on the Cross, but he s more concerned about his Disciples. So he says 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. And then he says this in verses 8-11, 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. Now there s a lot of stuff in that passage. In fact, I once preached an entire sermon on just these four verses, But we re trying to cover the entire Gospel of John in this series and if we slowed down and looked at every verse, it would take us about five years! So let me just summarize what Jesus is saying here. Jesus can see into the hearts of his Disciples. He knows what they re thinking. They re thinking, If Jesus goes away, what are we going to do? How are we going to go out into the world and convince people to believe in Jesus? It s too big of a job for us! And what Jesus is saying here is that, convincing the world to follow Jesus is not our job. Our job is to tell people about Jesus. Our job is to show people the love of Jesus in the way that we live our lives. And the Holy Spirit will do the convicting. He will do the convincing. I once read a story about a man whose heart was as hard as nails. His faithful wife always tried to get him to go to Church with her, but he refused. Finally, one

4 4 Sunday, he agreed to go, just to make her happy. And his wife was hoping that, on that Sunday, the pastor would preach on some powerful Scripture passage that would touch her husband s heart and change his life. But when they got to church, she was just crushed, because the pastor was preaching a series on the book of Genesis and on that Sunday, his text was Genesis 5. Genesis 5 is a genealogy just name after name after name. It s a passage that I would have skipped over in a sermon series. But during that sermon, the woman looked over at her husband and was shocked to see tears rolling down his face. And after the service he went and talked to the pastor and gave his life to Jesus Christ. And when she later asked him what had happened, he said, I listened to the pastor talk about all of those men. Some of them lived to be 900 years old. But the last words that the pastor said about each one of them was, And he died. And I suddenly realized that I was going to die someday and I didn t know where my soul was going to go. That was the work of the Holy Spirit. The Disciples were worrying about what they were going to do after Jesus was gone. They were wondering how they were going to continue the Jesus movement. They were wondering how they were going to convince the world that Jesus was the Messiah. And Jesus was saying, It s not your job to change the world. It s your job to tell the story in your words and in your actions. And the Holy Spirit will change the hearts. The Holy Spirit Will Convict The World. And then the second thing that Jesus says about the Holy Spirit in this passage is that II. The Holy Spirit Will Guide You Into All The Truth When I was on the Jeopardy! game show in the year 2000, do you know what my greatest fear was? My greatest fear was that I was going to be up on that stage, with the audience on my left and Alex Trebek on my right, and they were going to unveil the first set of categories, and it was going to be a bunch of stuff that I didn t know anything about Ballet, Soccer, French Cuisine stuff like that. And I was just going to stand up there with a blank expression on my face and an unused buzzer in my hand. So imagine my relief when the first two categories on the board were Religion and Baseball! It was like God was feeding me the answers! Well, Jesus describes something like that in verse 13 of our text. He says, 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. Jesus was saying, When I leave you and go back to the Father in Heaven, I m not going to send you out into the world clueless. I m not going to send you out with no information. The Holy Spirit is going to come to you. He is going to live in your heart. And he is going to speak the truth to you the truth that comes directly from God. Martin Luther said that the main way the Holy Spirit speaks the truth to us in our day is through the written Word of God in the Holy Scriptures. That s why Pastor Breum and I are always stressing that every Christian needs to find some way to be in the Word of God on a regular basis. You need to be reading a daily devotion. You need to be in a Sunday School class or a Bible Study. And you need to be in Church. We don t say that you need to do these things because that will make you more pious or that will earn you brownie points with God. No you need to do these things

5 5 because it is through your reading and hearing the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit speaks to you. He uses the Bible to speak God s truth into your heart and into your mind. I love what David says in Psalm 19, verse 7. He says, The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. You may not be able to debate foreign policy on the floor of the Senate. And you may not be able to discuss chemistry with a Harvard professor. But you have access to the most profound spiritual truths in the universe! Scientists are trying to figure out how to cure cancer, so that people can live on this earth for a few more years. But if you can recite John 3:16, then you already know the way to eternal life in Heaven! Human knowledge is a good thing, and people should pursue it to the extent that God has given them the brain power to pursue it. But if you really want to know the most important things in the universe the spiritual things then you need to be in the Scriptures. Because it is through the Word of God that The Holy Spirit Will Guide You Into All The Truth. So we have now heard the promise of Jesus that the Church is not alone in this world. We have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us! And if we will be faithful in sharing the Gospel, through our words and our actions, then the Holy Spirit will do the heavy lifting for us. The Holy Spirit Will Convict The World. And we have also heard the promise of Jesus that, through the Holy Spirit, we have access to the greatest spiritual truths of the universe. We have the true Word of God in the Bible. And the more that you learn that Word, and study that Word, and internalize that Word, the more the Holy Spirit will speak to you. The Holy Spirit Will Guide You Into All The Truth. And then, finally, the third thing that Jesus tells us in this text is that III. The Holy Spirit Will Turn Your Sorrow Into Joy I ve always been amazed at how a little child can bump his head or knee or something and just cry at the top of his lungs, like it s the worst pain in the history of the world. And then five minutes later, he s running around again, laughing and playing. Well Jesus tells the Disciples that they are about to experience something similar to that. He says in verse 16, A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me. He s talking here about his death and resurrection. In a little while only about 12 hours or so Jesus is going to be dead on the Cross. And the Disciples are going to be devastated. They re going to feel like their whole world has collapsed around them. And they re going to be racked with guilt, because they re all going to run away from him and desert him when he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus says, in verse 20, You will weep and lament. But then he says this. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When the Disciples see Jesus after the resurrection, it s going to be an immediate change, from the lowest low to the highest high. Jesus compares it to childbirth in verse 21. He says, When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Now, I don t think that a woman completely forgets the pain, but you get the point. That immediate transformation from suffering to joy is what the Disciples will feel on Easter Sunday.

6 6 But it s more than that. It s also what we will feel when we open our eyes for the first time in Heaven. It is going to be so awesome that all of the pain and suffering that we have endured in this life will pale in comparison. Paul talks about this in Romans 8:18. He says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And when we know this, when we believe this, when we trust in this promise from God, something amazing happens in our lives right now. We are able to have joy in our hearts now, even if we are suffering, because we know that Heaven is in our future. I like to call this The Eternal Perspective. And this eternal perspective comes from the Holy Spirit, living inside of us. You know, one of the things that I really miss from my trips to Sudan with Bob Yarbrough are the testimonies of the men and women who attended the conferences that we taught at. And one testimony stands out. I ll never forget it. It was the testimony of a pastor who had grown up as a Muslim and then converted to Christianity as a young man. And that is a very dangerous thing to do in a Muslim country. It s one thing to be born and raised a Christian in Sudan. You ll be persecuted for that. But the greatest persecution is directed at those who convert. They really get it bad. Well, this guy became a Christian and he felt that God was calling him to evangelize in the Muslim community. And that got him into trouble. Finally, one day, a group of Muslim men attacked him. They dragged him around to the back of the building where there was a hose attached to a spigot. And they subjected him to a horrible form of torture. They pushed the hose down his throat and forced water into him, until his belly was all distended. And then they took small pieces of hose and proceeded to beat him across the abdomen. Usually, when this torture is done, the stomach wall will burst, causing the water to gush out internally, and the person will die an excruciating death. So they beat him for a while, until they were sure that he had burst, and then they left him for dead. But he didn t die. After they left him, he was able to expel some of the water and he survived. As he finished his story, a big, wide smile spread across his face and he said, I am so happy that God saved my life, so that I could continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ with my Muslim brothers and sisters. People, the joy that I saw on that man s face was not a natural joy. It was a supernatural joy. It came straight from the Holy Spirit. And if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then that same Holy Spirit is living inside of you right now. And you can have that same joy, no matter what trials and tribulations you may be going through. Last week, Pastor Breum prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit here at St. Mark in And I want to pray for that again today. Let s bow our heads. Heavenly Father, fill this Church with your Holy Spirit today. Where we are wrong, convict us of our sin and change our hearts. Open our minds to the profound spiritual truths of your holy Word and may your truth guide us in everything that we say and do. Give us your supernatural joy, which is greater than all of our sorrow. May that joy be our witness to the world, as we proclaim the sacrificial death and the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen.