May 19, 2024
Pastor John Hering
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-11
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-11
26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 “But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
Communication is the lifeblood of relationships. However, I hope your communication is not too distracted by the news. You can hear about former President Trump’s trial regarding alleged political hush-money paid to Stormy Daniels—who they reported last week—was able to communicate with the spirits of the dead! Or it breaks our hearts to hear about the war in Gaza or Ukraine. We hear about tragedies, conspiracies, politics and sports player drama. Would you agree with me that when you boil all these various topics down we end up in the same place? Isn’t this all about relationships? When you listen to all this news don’t you just want to scream, “Will someone just tell us the truth and set us straight about what’s going on??!!”
Sometimes you just need someone to set things straight. You get this. When you’re looking for a house or an apartment, you want to know if it’s a good deal or not. Parents sometimes have to step in when a child is misbehaving or confused to set them straight. Perhaps your friend heard a rumor about you that wasn’t true or accurate so you had to have a conversation with them to set them straight. The project you worked on and passed off to others and they messed it up and then you had to step in to clean things up and get them back on track.
Nowhere is it more needed and more important to be set straight than when it comes to your eternal life and relationship with God. Jesus knew that. He knew that every person would struggle to grasp the reality of their relationship with the Lord. Just think about this…how many different religions and religious ideas and philosophies can you think of? How many different ways are there of explaining the world that we live in, and how we ought to live and interact with it and with each other, and what it all means? There are questions like…does God exist? Does God love me, or does he hate me? Is there an afterlife? How do I get there? Can I make God happy? Does God even care? The list goes on and on with all of the different interpretations, misconceptions, misunderstandings, and questions of life & death, faith & fiction. Whether you are just starting your journey of faith with the Lord or you are a long-time Christian…you wrestle with these thoughts. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could just set you straight?! Then rejoice on this Pentecost Day and
Praise Jesus Who Set Us Straight
By Keeping His Promise
They were in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem on the night before Jesus was crucified. After finishing the special Passover meal, Jesus took time to set them straight and prepare his disciples for their lives after his coming death. He encouraged them to remain connected to him in faith, and warned them of hostile treatment from the world, and in the section of Jesus’ conversation that is in front of us today, Jesus gave them this wonderful promise:
“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.”
This promise was the power behind their future task of witnessing the wonderful works of Jesus. Listen: “27 And you also are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” The disciples would be Jesus’ witnesses and he set them straight by telling them they wouldn’t be alone in all of that. Jesus promised to send them the Holy Spirit of God. Today we mark this special occasion known as Pentecost. Remember what John the Baptist told the crowd about this day?
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But the one who comes after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Matthew 3:11
Jesus kept his promise to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples.
This same promise of the Holy Spirit is still true for you and me today! Listen again to Jesus’ words, “26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.” There are two things that I want to draw your attention to in these words of Jesus. First, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth.” In a world that needs to be set straight, who better to do so than the very one who is and knows the real, cold, hard truth about everything. The work of the Holy Spirit is to use the truth of God’s Word to cause people to believe in Jesus as their Savior. St. Paul recorded it like this,
“3 Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by God’s Spirit says, “A curse be upon Jesus,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:3
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit who proclaims the truth. Secondly, Jesus said, “he will testify about me.” The Holy Spirit is a witness of Jesus giving testimony through the Bible that Jesus is true God, what he has done in rescuing you from sin, and what it means for you to be a forgiven child of God. Jesus keeps his promise to us that the same Holy Spirit is sent “from the Father… who proceeds from the Father.” Jesus sets it straight! To really know God, to trust in God, and to recognize his Word and promises as truth, is through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit who points us to Jesus. Praise Jesus Who Set Us Straight by Keeping His Promise to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus continues to Set Us Straight
Through His Powerful Word
On the first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. Lukes records this for us:
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the rushing of a violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak fluently.”
Acts 2:1-4
When you hear this what impresses you the most? The sound of the wind? The flames of fire on their heads? Or that they could speak in foreign languages? What made the biggest difference in the lives of the people? It was Peter who proclaimed the WORD about Jesus:
“36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Gentlemen, brothers, what should we do?”
Through the proclamation of God’s Powerful Word the Holy Spirit set them straight. Three thousand people that day were brought to faith by the Spirit.
Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit would do that very thing. Listen: “8 When he comes, he will convict the world.” I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of being convicted. I’m stubborn and I want to be right. So, when someone proves me wrong, I can get pretty upset. How about you? But here’s the reality, if we don’t get set straight and convicted regarding our wrong and misplaced thoughts and actions, this becomes a wall that separates us from the joy of eternal life. We need the Holy Spirit to set us straight and to “convict us.”
Jesus listed three basic things that every person needs to be set straight on if they are going to have a life with God – sin, righteousness, and judgment. Let’s start with “9 about sin, because they do not believe in me;” You need to understand what sin really is. Sin is anytime that you disobey God’s commands or his will. Seems simple enough to understand, right? Be good. Live the right way. But the hard part comes with the “God’s commands” piece because too often we forget what God commands. Or we would rather write our own code to follow. Add to that the fact that we often like to minimize sin or sweep it under the rug. Sin doesn’t just disobey God; it leads to unbelief that separates you from his love. We need the Holy Spirit to “convict…[us]…about sin” through the powerful Word of God. After the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to the humbling truth that you are a sinner who is swimming in the pool of unbelief, then the Holy Spirit also draws you to the cross where you see Jesus paying the price for every one of your sins so that you are set free from them and the consequences that they deserve.
Next John writes the Holy Spirit “convicts us…10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; So often the world thinks that if we were all more kind to each other and just did more good things, everything would be better. But there’s a problem there. That solution is based upon the efforts of flawed people, who as much as they strive to do good, will never result in “righteousness” or holiness—what God demands we must have in order to get into heaven. We can think that way about our righteousness before God too – I can stand because I’m pretty good, or I try hard. But good luck trying to stand before the holy God with only your own best efforts. That would be like being invited to dinner with the president and showing up in your good jeans and your favorite Stars jersey. That might work for a nice night out in Dallas, but not for standing in the presence God. We need the righteousness that was won by Jesus. Jesus was sent by the Father to carry out his saving plan. Having accomplished this plan through his death and resurrection, & accepted into the presence of the Father. While it was true that people on earth would not see him any longer, the Holy Spirit brings us the righteousness Jesus won for us through faith. That same righteousness is yours through the faith that the Holy Spirit creates in you. “17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed from faith, to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Wear the robe of righteousness that Jesus tailored for you.
Finally, we need to be set straight about judgment. “the Holy Spirit “convicts us…11 about judgment.” Judgment can be a scary thing to think about for the person who is overwhelmed by guilt. That kind of guilt wants to keep you as far away from God as possible. And you have learned where God comes to meet you. So what happens when you avoid things like church, or praying, or reading the Word where God meets you? Guilt gets worse! It might even tempt you to think there is so much evil in the world that there is no hope! But the Holy Spirit sets you straight about judgment through his powerful Word when we hear, “because the ruler of this world has been condemned.” There is the sweet gospel we yearn for. Jesus condemned Satan and sin along with him. That means that your sins, every one of them, big, little, no matter how many or how grievous have been paid for by Jesus. Do not let Satan rob you of the joy of forgiveness. Instead, may the Holy Spirit open your ears to hear the Lord call out to you, “You are not guilty. You are forgiven!” Praise Jesus Who Set Us Straight Through His Powerful Word brought to you by the Holy Spirit! There are plenty of distraction all trying to focus our attention on anything but Jesus. It is the trial of President Trump, the wars in Gaza or Ukraine, tragedies, conspiracies, politics and sports player drama? Remember that the devil is using all these things to distract you from Jesus. Today, on Pentecost, we thank Jesus for Setting Us Straight by sending us the Holy Spirit. We thank the Holy Spirit for bringing our focus on Jesus who Kept his Promises Through His Powerful Word. Our prayer is that God continue to pour out his gift of the Holy Spirit into our lives through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament to keep us convicted of sin, Jesus’ righteousness, and our glorious judgment before God. All for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
