St. Paul Lutheran Church
Sermon by Pastor Balogh

MAY 11, 2008 - listen to this sermon in mp3!

 John 16:8-11: When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in
regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because
men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going
to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment,
because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

 There is a portion of this text that is absolutely challenging because
it really makes us reassess and humble ourselves before the Almighty God.
 Do you know what verse I am speaking of?  It is not in the highlighted
text before us but is in the larger gospel reading that we heard.  I
would give you all a moment to grab your bulletin and reread the gospel
lesson to see if you could pick out which verse I mean but since so many
of us follow along in the printed version of the sermon you actually know
what is coming.
 The verse I'm speaking of is John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth: It is
for your good that I am going away."  First note that Jesus tells us
point blank that what is going to happen is for our good.  What he is
referring to is his going to heaven and the fact that he will no longer
be physically present with his disciples.  We know that Jesus has indeed
ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father.
But the thought that Jesus' going away is for our good goes against our
human grain.  The way we see it is that it would be better if Jesus had
stayed.
 Don't we want to think that way?  If Jesus were still in the world
wouldn't that be better.  If Jesus were now 2,000 years old and still
looking young and vigorous wouldn't that be a boost for the faith?  If
Jesus were here where we could converse with him and check to see if what
we are teaching is right and good wouldn't that be better?  If Jesus were
still doing miracles and producing great displays of power, wouldn't that
be better?
 Yet Jesus says, "I tell you the truth."  He is speaking to us as God,
the God who knows what is best and right in any and all situations.  He
is speaking to us of what he knows to be a fact.  And the fact that he
points to is: "It is for your good that I am going away."  God always
knows what is best.  God always does what is best.  God always makes
things work for our eternal good.  This little verse is one of the most
wonderful challenges of faith I can think of.
 Why?  Because you must first humble yourself!  You must first realize
that God is wiser and has greater knowledge, greater understanding of all
things than you do.  Secondly, as you humble yourself you must be willing
to place your life, your very soul into the hands of God.  You must
believe what God says even though you do not understand it.  You must
trust in God, in many cases trust him blindly and confidently because
there will be many instances when your own mind and your own world will
rationalize, yes, even try to contradict what God has done or declared.
 So, if God says that this or that is the way something is, then we are
to believe that such is the case.  If God says (as he did) that Jesus
ascending and leaving this world is for the good, then so it is despite
the fact that your mind might say, "Well no, I think it would have been
better for Him to have stayed."  Or when God says that sin is destructive
and he makes it clear in his word that some sins he considers of greater
destructiveness than others, we must believe Him even though the world
might say, "That's just old fashioned and foolish to think that way."
 What this verse does is set before us the very challenge of true faith.
Either we believe God or we don't!  Mind you, I am not talking about what
you want to believe about God but rather I am talking about what God's
Word clearly and precisely reveals about God.  Either we believe God or
we don't.  That is the heart of faith.  That is the base of the church,
believing what God says.
 Jesus says that his going away is for the good.  I don't fully
understand that, but I believe it.  I believe that because he went away
he did send the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the Holy Spirit came with a
purpose and goal in mind.  I believe that purpose and goal is the gift of
faith in Jesus.  Let's then look at the words of our text for this
morning and consider them under the theme: THE SPIRIT'S WORK.  1st.
Convincing of sin.  2nd. Convincing of righteousness.   3rd. Convincing
of judgment.
 There is so much to be said of these words before us.  Please note that
once again these words were spoken by Jesus on the night of Maundy
Thursday as he and his disciples were sitting in the upper room.  Jesus
was preparing them for what was to come.  His greatest goal was to teach
his disciples to clearly and firmly rely on his words.  They had come to
know that Jesus had been sent by the Father and that Jesus and the Father
were one.  They had come to know that Jesus was powerful in deed and did
not waver, ever, in his goal and purpose.  Now they needed to grasp that
Jesus was and is powerful in his Words.  What Jesus says is true.  What
Jesus reveals is fact, even though they may not understand or clearly see
what he speaks of.
 I can tell you that as Jesus spoke of this work of the Holy Spirit he
was going to send the disciples probably didn't get it.  All along in his
life Jesus has been teaching his disciples that his coming, at least his
coming this time, was for spiritual purposes, for the purpose of taking
care of man's greatest problem: sin.  But they didn't get that.  So it is
no surprise when Jesus in speaking of the Holy Spirit's work says that
the first thing the spirit will do is "convict the world of sin."  Here
is where faith has to start.
 Please note in my theme and parts I use the term "convince."  That is
really the force and intent of the word before us.  The Holy Spirit of
God has the job of convincing the world of the reality and nature of sin.
 Why?  Because souls are at stake!
 Sin is the very thing that separates us from God.  We are not just
talking some little flaw in man but rather we are speaking of a
devastating, deeply destructive, disease in man.  It is a disease so
destructive that it brings death, not just physical death but eternal
death and separation from the Lord God.  Just look at how sin abounds in
the world.  Just look at how sin so deeply touches each one of us in
thought, word and deed.  In my confirmation classes I try and help the
kids see the horror of sin by telling them to think about a ball on a big
hill.  That ball is supposed to go up, that's the goal, but the ball if
left on its own will go down (naturally) and pick up speed.  That's the
impact of sin in our lives.  Headed down, getting worse!  And the worse
it gets the more mankind will kick and fight against God.
 Why?  Why is this knowledge and grasp of sin so important?  Because of
this simple fact: If you don't believe in sin and its destructive nature,
then what is the point of Jesus?  Why did Jesus die on the cross?  Why
did Jesus have to come?  If we do not understand the nature of sin we
will not grasp the truth of Jesus and the importance of Jesus.  That's
why Jesus in this description of the Holy Spirit's work says, "in regard
to sin because men do not believe in me."  If you don't grasp sin you
don't and can't grasp Jesus.  If you want to clearly see this in action
then go and take a look at any church where such things as this passage
are ignored and rejected.  There is one TV preacher who publicly and
proudly proclaims he never speaks of sin.  But he also never speaks of
Jesus as the crucified and risen Savior from sin either.  Does his
attitude sound like he's doing the work of God's Spirit?  How sad that
God's Word should be so disregarded and souls put in such danger!
 Next Jesus says the work of the Spirit will: "convict the world
concerning righteousness."  The righteousness being spoken of here is a
reference to what God has done and declared.  So many churches take this
term and word to mean: to bring about the right life.  However, that is
not the proper definition.  The proper definition is "to declare someone
right."  It is a Greek courtroom term that is the equivalent of our
phrase: "We find the defendant not guilty!"  We are declared righteous in
Christ Jesus.
 That's the whole point of what Jesus came to do.  He came to atone for
our sins, to pay the price of our salvation.  Spiritually speaking, we
owed God billions and on a yearly salary of two cents we were never going
to pay that debt.  But God sent Jesus to pay the debt for us.  God sent
Jesus to be righteous for us by his perfect life.   And then our Heavenly
Father in the greatest act of love ever known sent Jesus to the cross and
to hell to pay our debt of sin.  It is because of what Jesus has done
that we can now be declared righteous.  The evidence is against us, the
law stands opposed to us, but with Jesus on our side we are pronounced
innocent of sin.  In Jesus God the Father sees us as perfect and holy,
yes, as righteous.  This is God's gift in Jesus.  This is what Jesus is
all about.
 And we know all of this is true...How?  That's right, because Jesus rose
from the dead and ascended into heaven!  Both of those things happened so
that we could be assured that Jesus is our redeemer and Savior, so we
could be assured of the truth of the righteousness declared in God's
Word.  It is the whole picture of Jesus' work given in this word.  That's
why Jesus describes the work with the phrase: "in regard to
righteousness, because I am going to the Father where you will see me no
more."  Remember Jesus said his leaving is for our good!  His leaving
demonstrates the perfect completion of his work.  In other words, the
message of redemption is ours in the work of Jesus.
 Finally there is the last piece of what the Spirit will do.  Jesus says,
"He will convict the world concerning...judgment...in regard to judgment
because the prince of this world now stands condemned."  It is this
description of the work of the Holy Spirit that sets up the issue of
faith.  Ever since the fall into sin Satan has indeed been the prince of
this world.  But Satan has been defeated, thoroughly and completely
defeated by Jesus.  Jesus is now the new Prince.  What this statement
does is lay before you the option.  You can follow the defeated prince or
you can follow the victorious prince.  You can chase after the ways of
the world and buy all of its lies, its disregard for God and his truth or
you can follow Jesus.  Once you know the truth of sin and the wonder of
Jesus' righteousness for you why would following Jesus be a problem?  Yet
so often we can be so easily lead astray into the world's way of
thinking.
 The world's way is filled with the lies of Satan.  Though defeated Satan
works hard to present a good face.  The world's way is to deny the
destructiveness of sin. The world's way is to deny the power and
redemptive work of Jesus.  The world's way is to make you think that it
doesn't matter what you believe.  God's way is Jesus.  Either you believe
Jesus the Prince or Satan the prince.  The Holy Spirit will help you see
the truth of God.  The Holy Spirit will help you believe in Jesus and
win.
 Thank goodness for the truth of our Savior.  Thank goodness for the
revelations of God's Word.  Thank goodness for a faith that stands firmly
on the Word, on what Jesus declares is the truth.  May we rejoice that
this Counselor has been sent.  Amen.