The Spirit of Truth

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. John 16:5-15

“‘Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Send, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, that He may rule and direct us according to Thy will, comfort us in all our temptations and afflictions, defend us from all error, and lead us into all truth, that we, being steadfast in the faith, may increase in love and in all good works, and in the end obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen. 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, modern Christianity wants to reduce our Lord + Jesus down from His throne at the right hand of the heavenly Father to be our buddy and friend. They want to turn our Lord + Jesus into just another one of the guys. The person one can hang out with like we do with other friends. This is why in the worship of modern Christianity there is an entire lack of reverence. Their worship is nothing more than a show for them to watch. They are not attending a church Service, but are attending a rock concert. This is because they have reduced our Lord + Jesus into just another man like them. And in their defense, our Lord did become Man so that we poor, miserable sinners might readily go to Him without the fear of trying to approach an unapproachable God.

But when our focus is directed solely toward the humanity of our Lord + Jesus continually, we lose something. We lose the ability and desire to show Him the due reverence that His Name deserves. We neglect His divinity—His Divine Nature—wherein He sits at the right hand of God the Father judging the quick and the dead. The same Lord + Jesus Who will come again in great glory upon the Last Day to take those who believe on His Name to be with Him in their eternal homes, and to send those who refuse to believe on Him to the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels.

It is for this reason that our Lord + Jesus in the Gospel reading from the Apostle and Evangelist St. John tells us that it is to our benefit that He goes to the Father. If our Lord + Jesus had remained with His Apostles after His death and resurrection in the flesh; if He continued to be with the Church even after the Apostles were dead and gone, faith in Him would dwindle in the world. For they would only see a Man. If our Lord + Jesus was still with us today bodily, would we still believe that He rose again from the dead? Would we believe that He had been crucified, dead, and buried? That chances are that we would not, for we would see Him as just a Man. Sure, a man that had lived a long time, but we would not see our Lord + Jesus according to His Divine nature.

This is why He must go to the Father; why He must sit at the right hand of the heavenly Father, so that our faith may grow and be strengthened. The Apostles believed what they saw, to what they were eyewitness. We believe their testimony even though we have not seen what they have seen. Our faith is greater because we believe what we have not seen. We believe only what we have heard. Therefore, our faith is greater. As our Lord + Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and still believe.”

Furthermore, our faith is strengthened because we believe in a Lord and Savior Who is not only Man, but is also the Lord God. It is easier for us to see His divinity when He is not bodily before us. This is what the Holy Ghost does for us. This is why He is the Comforter. He comforts us with the truth that our Lord + Jesus is indeed both the Lord God and Man. This is what our Lord + Jesus tells His Apostles what the Spirit of Truth will do. He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

The sin that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, convicts men of is the sin of unbelief. For this is the only sin which deserves eternal condemnation. All sins can be forgiven through repentance and faith. But when faith does not exist, there can be no forgiveness, for faith produces repentance. It produces in us a desire to humble ourselves and place ourselves under our Lord’s grace and mercy. Unbelief does not produce repentance. It produces rejection of the One Who can provide forgiveness, for the unbelieving man still looks to his own works and powers to save himself. This is why when our Lord + Jesus was bodily on this earth, the Jews did not believe Him to be the Messiah, because they could not associate Him with being the Lord God. They only saw the man from Nazareth. They did not believe that the Lord was with them in their flesh. Therefore, they did not need Him, they did not need another man, when they had themselves and their own work to save them.

That the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, comes to convict the world of its unbelief—of our unbelief—is to our benefit, because we do not see the Lord + Jesus as just another Man, but we see Him in His true self: as both God and Man. And in this we show Him due reverence. For no man could do the things that He did. No man could atone for sins. No man could fulfill the Law perfectly. No mere man could offer His Body and Blood in bread and wine for Christians to eat. No man could be the God who is in all places at all times; who is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present. This is why we bow down and worship Him with bended knee, for we see Him as both God and Man, Who is the only One Who is worthy to be called righteous.

The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, convicts the world of also. For, the righteousness that our Lord + Jesus is talking about is His righteousness, which the unbelieving world rejects. While the Lord + Jesus was on the earth bodily the Jews rejected the righteousness of the Lord + Jesus. They accused Him of blasphemy, of having a demon, of being a “Samaritan,” that is, a corrupt individual. They refused to see His righteousness. They refused to see that He was without sin, and that because He was without sin, because He took upon Himself our sin upon the tree of the holy cross, He could atone for the sins of the whole world, so that all those who believe on Him might have everlasting life.

The world today is also convicted of righteousness, for Christ’s righteousness covers over our sins. The Church shines forth the righteousness of the Christ. We are a beacon of righteousness in this world. And the world rejects us for it. They show their unbelief by rejecting righteousness, by rejecting the Law of Him Who fulfilled the Law for them. They call us hypocrites, and sinners just like them, because they refuse to see that our righteousness comes from our Lord + Jesus. He covers over our sins with His righteousness. Therefore, they reject Christians, Christianity, and the Church. They reject the Church, because they reject the Bridegroom of the Church, our Lord + Jesus. He is the only One Who is worthy to be praised for His righteousness. He is the only One worthy to be judged righteous, for He is the One Who by His death judged once and for all that the devil, and all his horde, are to be condemned to the fires of hell. 

This judgment, the Spirit of Truth also convicts the world. For the ruler of this world has been judged. Satan is not the ruler of this world by some right. He did not earn the rule of this world. Rather, mankind gave him the rule by their rejection of the true ruler of this world, our Lord + Jesus. The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, teaches us that the Lord + Jesus is the true ruler of this world, because He rose again from the dead. This is the judgment of the devil and his angels. No longer could the devil hold us in bondage with sin and death. For by our Lord’s death, He has atoned for sin, and by His resurrection, He shows that He has defeated death as well. We now have life and immortality through faith in Him. And all those who reject the Lord + Jesus in unbelief, will end up in the same place that was prepared for the devil and his angels.

These things are taught us by the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who leads us into all the truth. The truth is that our Lord + Jesus is both the Lord God, and Man. We can see Him as both God and Man because He is not here with us bodily. He is here with us by His Holy Ghost, by His Spirit. We believe, even as we confess in the Creed, that our Lord + Jesus sits at the right hand of the heavenly Father, and that He will come again to judge both the quick and the dead. It is this Lord + Jesus, the One Who sits on His Father’s throne, Who we worship with all due reverence. We bow before Him and bend the knee, for only He is worthy to receive this glory and honor and worship. 

When we make our Lord + Jesus out to be our buddy; make Him out to be just another man and friend, we do ourselves a disservice. For we diminish our Lord’s divinity. We diminish the fact that He is ruler over all things, especially over life and death, over sin and the grave. And then, our worship tends to reflect what we believe, that our Lord + Jesus is just another man with whom we can become friends, and so we can treat Him like another man and turn our worship into a rock concert, where the focus is not upon the Lord + Jesus, but upon us and our actions.

This is why, my dear friends, we worship our Lord + Jesus with all due reverence. For He sits at the right hand of the heavenly Father judging and ruling all things. But He also intercedes to the heavenly Father, through the Holy Ghost, for us poor, miserable sinners. We recognize His divinity. We recognize that He set aside His divinity to take upon Himself our flesh, so that he could do what we are unable to do. He perfectly fulfilled the Law, and paid the penalty of our sins in our flesh. Now, He has returned to the heavenly Father, to let His full divinity shine once again while at the same time still bearing our human nature. For this reason, at the Name of the Lord + Jesus, every knee should bow of those on the earth, and under the earth, and by those who dwell with Him on high in heaven. Let us show our Savior the due reverence owed to His Name, for He has saved us from sin and death, and through the faith created in us by the Spirit of Truth, will grant us forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation in Him. Thanks be to our Lord + Jesus! In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!