and thus far the reading of God's holy word. Have you ever been in a situation where you wished a certain person was with you? If only our star player was here, we would be able to win the game. Or if only my dad was here, we would know what to do. Or if only R.C. Sproul were still alive, then we would know how to deal with this theological problem. Well, forget about R.C. Sproul, or Hodge, or Calvin, or Luther. What about Jesus? Have you ever thought, if only Jesus were here, then we would know what to do, what to say. If only Jesus were here, we could solve this problem. If only Jesus were here with us, we would not fear or we wouldn't worry. We would be at peace and at rest. Well, imagine for a moment how the disciples must have felt. They were expecting Jesus to lead them to victory, including victory over the powerful Romans. But instead, Jesus tells them that he's going to leave them. He's going to go where they cannot follow, at least for now. He's going to be betrayed by one of them. He will suffer and die. Jesus also told them that the same will happen to them. That just as the world hated and persecuted him, so they will hate and persecute you, because a servant is not greater than his master. And so they will be put out of the synagogues and some of them will even be killed. So here, Jesus tells his disciples that they are about to face tremendous opposition and they will have to do it without him, their fearless leader. What were they thinking? What were they feeling at that moment? I can only imagine. But apparently their inner turmoil was beginning to surface and to show on their faces because Jesus says to them in verse six, but because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. The disciples were undone. They thought perhaps all was lost. What is going to happen now? Jesus, why are you leaving right now? This is when we need you the most. What are you saying? What do you mean you're leaving us and going away? Now it's at this point that Jesus says something quite extraordinary. Verse 70 says this, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. Notice carefully, Jesus doesn't say, it is to my advantage that I go away, but it is to your advantage that I go away. Now certainly his going away is to his advantage. He had said in chapter 14, if you love me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to the Father. If we love someone, then we will be happy when something really good happens to them. We will rejoice with them. Well, something is about to happen that's going to be fantastic for Jesus. He's going to the Father. And if they loved him, they would have rejoiced with him in that. And of course, we understand how departing and going to be with Christ in heaven is to their advantage. It is better that we depart and go to be with Christ. And so it's to Jesus' advantage, certainly, that he leaves this fallen world and goes to be with the Father in heaven. But Jesus is not talking about his own advantage. He's talking about their advantage. It is better for them, and of course for us, that Jesus is not here with us, but that he is in heaven. But from the disciples' perspective, it doesn't look like an advantage at all. It looks just the opposite, like the greatest disadvantage that they could have. It looks like the worst thing is happening to them at the worst possible moment. That's why Jesus prefaces his comment here with these words. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. He wants them to know that despite how improbable this is going to sound, he really is telling them the truth. It really is true that it is better for me to leave you. Now, how could that be the case? Well, he tells us how in verse seven. 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 needs to go. He needs to suffer and die and rise again from the dead, and then ascend to heaven to the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, so that from there, he can send the promised helper. And as we saw in chapter 14, the term helper is the Greek word paraklete. Jesus, of course, is our paraclete, our helper. But when he goes away, he's going to send, as he said in chapter 14, another, just like him, another paraclete or helper. And that helper, of course, is the Holy Spirit. And he is Christ's spirit. He will be a helper to us, just like Christ. He will be Christ to us, indeed. And he will carry on the work of Christ in this world. And so Jesus is saying, it is better for us to have the Spirit than it is for him to remain here on earth with us. Now, why would that be better? Well, it's better because now Jesus is able to minister to each one of us in a very personal way by means of His Spirit. He is able by means of His Spirit to counsel us individually, to guide us, to teach us. By Himself, of course, Jesus is limited by His humanity. He can only be at one place at one time. We all couldn't have Jesus personally teach, guide, and counsel us. It just wouldn't be possible. Indeed, many people in large churches don't ever talk to their pastor. How hard do you think it would be if Jesus were here for us to be able to go and see him and talk to him and ask him questions or counsel for what we are to do or to say in any kind of situation that we might be facing? It would be, we would have to travel for one thing, no doubt, to some faraway land or across the world to go see him. But imagine the line that there would be for people wanting to go and talk to Jesus. We wouldn't even see him, let alone talk to him. But Jesus is able to be with each one of us and abide in us, transform us, and minister to us by his Holy Spirit. And the Spirit that abides in us and that is working in us is the same Spirit that empowered and guided Jesus in his own ministry. Think about that for a moment. The same spirit that was at work in Jesus and that rose Jesus from the dead is at work in you and in me. That's why Paul prays that God would open our eyes to see the measurable power that is at work in us, that rose Jesus from the dead is at work in us. Indeed, it is better that Jesus goes away as to our advantage, because then we have the Spirit. And we can see the difference that the Spirit makes when we consider the dramatic change that takes place after Pentecost when the Spirit comes, both in terms of the disciples themselves and the church as a whole. Now before Pentecost, the disciples' understanding of who Jesus is and his mission was limited at best. As we've been seeing throughout this gospel, they really don't get it. They don't fully understand what Jesus is doing. They are often confused. They are selfish, arguing who's going to be the greatest. They're soreful, they're fearful. And at the moment, Jesus says, they can't bear to hear all that he wants to say to them. They will all flee when Jesus is arrested. Peter will deny knowing Jesus. But then after Pentecost, and with the Spirit, they will understand. Jesus and the gospel. They will boldly declare it. They will stand up to the world, the local authorities who oppose Jesus. They won't run and hide. They won't fear man more than God. No, they will obey God rather than man, even to their own hurt. They will indeed suffer and die for Jesus. J.C. Ryle put it this way. After the Lord Jesus went away and the Comforter came down on the day of Pentecost, the religion of the disciples became a new thing altogether. The growth of their knowledge and faith and hope and zeal and courage was so remarkable that they were twice the men they were before. They did far more for Christ when he was absent than they had ever done when he was present." Isn't that true? But also consider the church. Before Pentecost, the band of disciples was relatively small. At one point, Jesus did have a large following, but that dwindled to a small group by the end. And of course, to make matters worse, the group of disciples are going to be persecuted just like Jesus. And so by all accounts, at least from a human perspective, you would think that they don't stand a chance. They're just going to be another blip on the screen of world history. I mean, how is the kingdom of God going to grow when you look at its beginning? How will the church indeed blossom? And yet it does marvelously after Pentecost, indeed on the very day of Pentecost. Many people were cut to the heart by Peter's preaching, and about 3,000 people were baptized and added to the church. That very day, 3,000. And the church, of course, grew from there. The gospel spread from Jerusalem to all Judea and to Samaria and to the end of the earth and continues to do so today. And the Holy Spirit is the reason. He turned the hopeless, incompetent disciples into world changers. The Holy Spirit used them to build the foundation of the church. And the Holy Spirit continues to use the church and to use us to build the kingdom of God. So no wonder Jesus said, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. And in the rest of our text, we do learn how the Spirit made such a difference by the work that He did and, to a great degree, continues to do today. And there are two things to note in this regard of the work of the Holy Spirit here on earth. And the first is this. that the Holy Spirit guides. I'm taking them in reverse order that we find them in the text. But first, I do want to consider the work of the Holy Spirit in that he guides. Facts don't speak for themselves. Facts always need to be interpreted. Take, for example, a man walking into a house. How do we understand what's taking place by that simple fact of a man walking into the house? Is it the case that that's the owner walking to his own house? Or is it the case that that person is actually a burglar, and he's walking into that house to steal the TV, the computer, and other valuable things? Or is that person a friend, walking into the house to see his best friend? How do we understand the simple fact of a man walking into a house? There are many ways that you could look at it, or it could be understood or interpreted. Well, the same is true, of course, with respect to the great redemptive acts of God in history. And we need God to tell us what they mean. We need God to interpret these incredible things for us so that we understand them correctly and properly. So we have the fact that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was crucified. What does that mean? How should we understand his death? Well, how did the Pharisees, or the world, understand it? How did they interpret that fact? Well, they believed that Jesus was a blasphemer, and he got what he deserved. They believed that his death meant that he was cursed by God, and therefore, definitely not the Christ. He was an imposter. That's how they interpreted the death of Jesus, the man from Nazareth. Well, how did the disciples understand his death? Well, they did believe that he was the Christ, but his death confounded them. It made no sense to them. They didn't understand why he was crushed and crucified. And so they themselves were crushed by it. They fell into despair because of it, at least for a moment. And many people today consider Jesus's death as simply an unfortunate incident, a miscarriage of justice. But that is it. There was a good man, a man who founded a religion, but unfortunately, he was unjustly killed. And that's how they view his death. But what about his resurrection? Does that change things? What does that mean? Well, some people will even dispute that fact and they won't say that the disciples stole the body or that he didn't really die or some other kind of explanation they will give. But even if people do admit to the resurrection, they could simply say, well, yeah, he rose from the dead, but you know, strange things happen in this strange world and there's nothing significant about it. It's just, just the fact that he, he rose from the dead doesn't mean anything to you or to me. You see, the facts don't speak for themselves. They have to be understood. They have to be interpreted. And even though Jesus was teaching his disciples about the meaning of his great redemptive work through his death and resurrection, even though he was telling them the proper interpretation of these things, they still didn't really understand. They didn't get it. In fact, there were many things Jesus wanted to tell them, but they were not yet ready to receive them and to understand them. But that's okay. Because as Jesus says in verse 13, he will send to them the spirit of truth, and he will guide them into all the truth. The spirit will teach them the truth about Jesus and his mission. He will teach them about the meaning, the proper meaning of His life, His person, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. The Spirit will enable them to understand what these great redemptive acts mean. Indeed, the Spirit will teach them exactly what Jesus wants them to know about Him. Just as Jesus did not speak independently from the Father, so the Spirit will not speak independently from the Son. Whatever He hears, He will speak to them, and He will guide them into all the truth about Jesus that Jesus wants them to know and understand. So the Spirit will glorify and exalt Jesus by bearing witness to and declaring the truth about Jesus to and through these disciples. So Jesus doesn't teach them all that they need to know. They can't really bear it now. But the Spirit will, and He will do it for Jesus and Jesus' glory. Now, it is important for us to understand, as we consider these things, the unique position of these first disciples. They were eyewitnesses to the person and work of Jesus. They were personally instructed by him. They were, as 1527 says, with Jesus from the beginning. And they were, of course, therefore living during a unique time in history, the time when the great redemptive work of Jesus has just been accomplished. And so his death and his resurrection will need to be interpreted and declared to the world. It will need to be authoritatively interpreted and proclaimed. Thus saith the Lord about the person and work of Jesus is needed so that we might know the truth about Jesus and his work. Otherwise, the truth about him will be drowned in a sea of competing interpretations and opinions about his death and resurrection and his saving work. Because as we've already seen, the facts don't speak for themselves. And so who's going to give to us this authoritative and infallible truth about Jesus? And of course, this infallible and authoritative witness about Jesus will have to be written down so it can be preserved and propagated and used to know the truth throughout the ages and to the ends and the end of the age. Now Jesus was leaving, so he's not going to do it. Instead, he commissions his disciples that were with him from the beginning to do it. They will be his witnesses because they have been with him from the beginning. That's why they're able to be witnesses, because they were there. They were with him. They were taught by him. They witnessed these things. And now they become witnesses of these things and of Jesus to the world. And Jesus will equip them for that task by sending the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Again, as we've already pointed out, they're not yet up for that task. They don't understand what Jesus has taught them and they can't handle any more. But when the Spirit comes, he will guide them into all the truth. He will teach them all things and bring to their remembrance all that Jesus had said to them. In 1526, Jesus says that the spirit of truth will bear witness about him. The spirit will bear witness about Jesus. But then in the very next verse, Jesus says the same thing about the disciples, those who've been with him from the beginning. You see, the Holy Spirit will bear witness about Jesus with and through the disciples. The Spirit doesn't testify about Jesus by speaking from heaven or from a burning bush. No, he speaks through these disciples. The Spirit's message or witness is the disciples' message or witness. And he confirmed, the Spirit confirms his message or witness through miracles that these disciples perform, which Paul refers to them as signs of an apostle. Just as Jesus's message was confirmed through signs, as we've been seeing throughout the Gospel of John, so the same will be confirmed with the message of the disciples. And their authoritative message and witness, Spirit-inspired authoritative message about Jesus, is now complete. It is finished. As Jude says, the faith has once and for all been delivered to the saints, and it's been written down for us in what we now call the New Testament Scriptures. That's why there's no new further revelation. And so what the Spirit says, or what Jesus says here about the Spirit's work of guiding applies directly to these first witnesses, to these first disciples. And it resulted in, of course, the books of the New Testament. But of course, this doesn't mean that the Spirit doesn't guide us today in the sense of teaching us the truth about Jesus, which has been recorded for us in the scriptures. We do need the Spirit to teach us so that we can understand and know and believe the gospel. John says that in 1 John, where we have the anointing, that we might understand and know these things. But the Spirit teaches us by means of the authoritative witness of the New Testament itself and not apart from it. He doesn't speak to us new things. No, he speaks to us through the books he wrote in tandem with these early disciples. Remember, their witness is his witness. So the first work of the Spirit that we learn here is that the Holy Spirit guides, He guides. The second work that we see is that He convicts. Jesus says in verse eight that when the Spirit comes, He will convict the world. Now as we noted last time, the world refers to those who are in opposition to God and to Jesus. And the primary reference is, of course, to those who are seeking to put Jesus to death, in particular, the Jewish leaders here. And Jesus says that the spirit will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. And then he explains what he means by these three things in verses nine and 11. And he says, he will convict the world concerning sin because they do not believe in me. This seems to be the sin of unbelief, the sin of refusing to believe that the Father sent Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Even though the world, these Pharisees and Jewish leaders, saw Jesus, they heard him teach, even though they saw the signs and miracles, even though they couldn't convict him of any sin, they still refused to believe him. God in the flesh before them, and they refused to believe in him. They indeed rejected him and hated him and put him to death. So the spirit convicts the world of the sin of rejecting Jesus, the Lord of glory. but you also convict the world concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer." Well, this seems to refer to Jesus's justification for vindication. The world, these Jewish leaders, believe that Jesus was an imposter, a false prophet, a blasphemer, a Sabbath-breaker, of the devil, and certainly worthy of death. But God vindicated Jesus from all these charges by raising him from the dead. He justified him, as it were, and declared him to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, as Paul says in the beginning of Romans. You see, Jesus is no longer with us because he has gone to the Father. He has been exalted to the very highest place in the universe. And the Spirit now witnesses to the world that Jesus has been exalted to the highest place in the universe, that he has been vindicated by the Father, that he is the righteous one, the one in whom the Father is well pleased, that he is the Christ, the one whom the Father has sent, the one whom the Father has honored. And then thirdly, the Spirit will convict the world concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Satan is, of course, the ruler of this world. And as we noted earlier in this gospel, Jesus has come to cast out the ruler of this world. He's now condemned. And because the ruler of this world has been cast out and condemned, the world itself is condemned along with him. In other words, the kingdom of darkness has been broken and crushed, and the kingdom of God is now on the move. 1 John 2.8 says, the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Jesus now is Lord. He has gained the victory. Now he has all authority and power in heaven and on earth. He has been exalted to the highest place, so he rules over all principalities and powers and dominions. And the Spirit testifies and convicts the world of this tremendous and incredible truth, that Jesus is Lord of lords and the King of kings, and that he will judge the world. And he has indeed condemned and judged the ruler of this world. And of course, he also testifies and convicts the world that you need to repent and turn to Jesus in order to be saved from his judgment. Now, the way in which the Spirit will convict the world of these great truths is, of course, as we've already noted, through the disciples. And we see that happening in the book of Acts. And in particular, we see it in the very first sermon on the day of Pentecost through Peter. We see how the Spirit, through Peter, convicts the world of sin. When he proclaims in Acts 2, verse 23, you by lawless hands have crucified and put him to death. The Spirit convicts the world through Peter of Christ's righteousness. In Acts 2, 22, Peter says, attested by God to you. In verse 24, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. And the Spirit, through Peter, convicts the world of judgment. Peter declares that Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God, and that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucify, both Lord and Christ. Indeed, we also see it in Acts 17, where Paul is preaching and teaching to the Gentiles, and declares that God has appointed Jesus to judge the world, and he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. And of course, the Spirit continues today through the preaching and teaching of the gospel to convict the world, all those who oppose and rebel against Jesus and God, to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. And it's by means of the Spirit's work through the teaching and preaching that Christ is glorified, that people are converted, and the church grows. Although it seemed like it couldn't be true, at least to the first disciples, they soon learned how true it was. It is better that Jesus has left us and gone to the Father's side in heaven. because that means he has sent the spirit to be here with us and in us here on earth. And so there is no reason to worry or to wonder if the church will make it or if the church will grow or if we will make it and run to the end because the spirit has come and Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. Christ has sent the Spirit, and He will continue to do the work that Christ has sent Him to do. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, how we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this promise and this reality that the Spirit has come, that He abides in us and is working in us, and that Christ, through His Spirit, is ministering to us individually and together. We pray, O God, that you would open our eyes, that we might behold the immeasurable power that is at work in each one of us, and that we know, O Lord, that he's at work in the world, and that your kingdom will come. We pray that it will, and that Christ will be glorified in our midst, and throughout, and to the ends of the world. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.