Brothers and sisters, please open your Bibles with me to John chapter 16. John chapter 16. Because this week is Pentecost, as I'm sure you're aware from the morning service, the hope is this evening, just as this morning, to consider the work of the Holy Spirit and the promise of the Holy Spirit. We'll read from John 16, verses 5-15. We'll focus in on those same verses. Hear the word of the Lord. 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. 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 when he comes. He will convict the world concerning sin. And righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe 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. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the father has is mine. Therefore, I said he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Thus far, God's holy and inerrant word, brothers and sisters, let's go before the Lord in prayer. Lord, we pray that you would help us to understand by the work of the Holy Spirit. We pray. That you would open our hearts. Convict us. Show us the righteousness of Christ. Remind us of the coming judgment. Teach us all things, Lord. Through your Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the context of the passage before us this evening, Jesus has given the disciples seriously discouraging news. He's spoken to them about betrayal. He has told them that one of the most trusted disciples among them, a Judas Iscariot, would turn traitor. He has spoken to them about cowardice and told the disciples that every single one of them would run away. He has spoken to them about denial. That one of the greatest disciples, Peter, would three times deny Jesus that very same night. He has even spoken to them about suffering. Telling them that the world will I hate them. There will come a day when people will kill Christians thinking that they're doing God a service. I think, friends, in some sense, that the disciples would be ready to endure all of this with joy if they knew that Jesus would be with them. They would have gladly endured all things. if the Savior would be by their side. After all, He was their Savior. He was their Master. He was their Lord. He was their Friend. He was the Worker of miracles, and He was their powerful Preacher. And so if they had Jesus with them, and even if the whole world was against them, I think that the disciples would have been okay with receiving this news. But the worst news of all. The worst news, the worst blow that they received that night was that Jesus told them that He was going to leave them. At least in a physical sense, He was no longer to be with them. He was going somewhere and they could not, at that moment, follow. They were left feeling as if Jesus was abandoning them to their fate. And though over the course of John 13-16, what we have is Jesus trying to comfort His disciples, nonetheless, they're left in despondency. And I think, friends, that if we were to examine our own lives in the midst of trial, that we would find that we can be very much like the disciples here. There can be times where we feel as though Christ has abandoned us. In temptation. In difficulty. In backsliding. And sometimes, just in everyday life, it feels as though Jesus has ascended into heaven, and maybe He's forgotten about us. In His exalted position, He's abandoned us. Do you feel this way, friends? Are there moments in your lives where you feel as though you've been abandoned by God? Well, friends, it is in the face of this sadness of the disciples that Jesus speaks to His disciples and He tells them something that should astound and surprise us. He tells them something that should be very surprising. In fact, I think if it did not come from Jesus' mouth, I think we would have trouble believing it. Jesus says that it is better that he go away. He says this in verse 7. It is to your advantage. that I go away. How can this be? How can Christ say that it's better for me to leave you? The answer, if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you. Let's examine then tonight why the presence of the Holy Spirit is better than the physical presence of Jesus Christ. He gives us ultimately in our passage this evening two things. First of all, because the Holy Spirit convicts. And second, because the Holy Spirit teaches. The Holy Spirit convicts, and the Holy Spirit teaches. We begin with this first idea that the Holy Spirit convicts. Look with me at verse 8-11. Jesus says, when He, that is the Holy Spirit, 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. This passage is, friends, at first glance a little complicated. But Jesus is making one central point in these verses. He is saying that the Holy Spirit, when He is sent, will bring the world to conviction. He will bring the world to conviction. The unbelieving world in all its wickedness will be confronted with the truth of Jesus' life, with the truth of Jesus' holiness, with the truth of Jesus' death, and they will be led to repent of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ. To put it another way, friends, Jesus is telling the disciples that the Holy Spirit will work to save the wicked people, from their sins by confronting them with Jesus Christ. And that means us, dear friends. That God by the Holy Spirit works to convict us. Examine these verses closely with me and you'll find that this is the case. First, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin. He says this in verse 9. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Brothers and sisters, when Jesus Christ first came into this world and demonstrated who He was, time and time and time again, as He did miracles, as He proclaimed the Gospel, as He pointed to Himself as the only Savior, He spoke of Himself as salvation. And He commanded people to trust in Him to be saved. He commanded them to believe in Him. John 3, verse 16, that perhaps most famous of all verses, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 6 says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, And he who believes in Me shall never thirst." John 11 says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Christ said plainly the truth. But did the world embrace Christ with open arms? When Jesus began to preach in the temple, did the priests and the scribes and the Pharisees, did they come to Him in humble submission and repentance? Well, no. The scribes, the Pharisees, the high priest himself, they all conspired to condemn Jesus Christ. Herod would have nothing to do with him. Pilate washed his hands and handed him over to the mob. The world's unbelief against Jesus Christ was palpable. But when the Holy Spirit was sent into the world, friends, what do we see? The unbelief of the world turned to faith because the first action of the apostles under the influence of the Holy Spirit to convict people for their unbelief. Acts 2 tells us that when the disciples first preached, filled with the Holy Spirit, 3,000 were added to their number that day. Soon after, another 2,000. At every turn, the Holy Spirit convicted the people that heard the gospel. To such a point that a common question that we hear in the book of Acts is what must I do to be saved? Friends, in the same way, the Holy Spirit continues to work today by the preaching of the gospel to convict the world of their sin. Many of you, I hope, know this firsthand. Having sat under the preaching of the Word, there have likely been times where you have heard from the preacher's mouth the very sins that you've committed. The Holy Spirit works among His people to convict them of sin. He breaks the hearts of the Christian when they see how unbelieving they've been. In the second place, however, friends, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will come to convict the world of righteousness. He says this in verse 10. Look with me there. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Now, Jesus Christ, friends, is perfectly righteous. There was never a spot on Him. There was never any imperfection or any sin. And for this reason, John calls Jesus the light of the world, which shines in the darkness. This is the reason why Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He alone is perfectly pure. And even His greatest enemies could find no accusation that would stick against Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, the world would once more not trust in, or rather, not recognize the righteousness of the Savior. The scribes and the Pharisees and the leaders of the people of Jerusalem and the leaders of the Jewish people would not recognize Christ's righteousness. This while Christ was on the earth. But when Christ returned to the Father, and when Christ sent the Holy Spirit, what takes place? The picture changes. The Holy Spirit working on the wicked world begins to show the world their wickedness and to teach them and to compare them to the righteousness of Christ. Acts 6 tells us that a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. So, so many of the people who had even condemned Christ were convicted by the Holy Spirit of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In the same way, friends, the Holy Spirit continues to work to convict us, yes, of our sin, but to also convict us of the righteousness of Jesus. Because when we read God's Word, or when we hear it preached, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts. He sets up us on one hand, and our Savior on the other. And He shows us, yes, how vile we are, and how often we fail, and how many times we sin, and how weak, and how unable to do anything we are. But the Holy Spirit also convicts us of righteousness. Because even when Jesus Christ is by the right hand of the Father, and even when we don't see Him physically, When we read His Word, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and says, look at how wonderful Jesus is. Look at the One who is perfect. Look at the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is perfect. And we are not. He is pure and we are not, but when we go to him in repentance and in faith by the work of the Holy Spirit. He promises forgiveness. And finally, Jesus says here that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of judgment. Verse 11, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. You see, friends, the world condemned and judged Christ. They sneered at Jesus. They mocked Him for His righteousness. They beat Him and said, prophesy who it was who struck you. They put purple on Him, declared Him the King of the Jews, led Him to the cross, and there He was crucified, and the world laughed to see it. This while Christ was upon the earth, the people were not convicted by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. They were not convicted by the beauty of our Savior. And so they judged and condemned Christ. But friends, they did not recognize that while Christ was judged, it was the devil and all his works that were condemned. At Christ's death, it was quite the opposite of what they expected, because at Christ's judgment, the ruler of this world was judged. By Christ's death, the ruler of this world destroyed. The head of the serpent crushed at Christ's burial, that our sin was put in the grave, and death itself was destroyed. And when the Holy Spirit was sent into this world, this is what He convicted the world of. The Holy Spirit preaches to those who are in the world and tells them that there comes a judgment. That we must face that judgment clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, or clothed in our own filthy rags. Dear friend, have you by the work of the Holy Spirit come to conviction of the weight of your sin? Has the Holy Spirit worked in your heart to realize the depths of your wickedness, and not believing and trusting in Christ? Have you compared yourself to the righteousness of the Savior? Have you trusted in Christ Jesus, the righteous One, alone? If any of these things have been done, friends, then consider this. It's only because of the work of the Holy Spirit. You were part of the world. And I was a part of the world. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses and our sins. that we followed after the Prince of the power of the air. If you and I have received any grace, if we've received any hope, if we've received any joy in the good news of Jesus Christ, it is only because of the work of the Holy Spirit who applies these truths in our hearts. It is He who convicts us of sin. It is He who convicts us of the righteousness of Christ. It is He who convicts us of the coming judgment. Shouldn't this, friends, teach us to rejoice? And listen to me carefully. Shouldn't this teach us, yes, to rejoice that Jesus Christ has gone away? Certainly, we can wish and hope that Christ will return soon. We should be praying that Christ would return. Certainly, friends, we can and ought to desire to be in the presence of our Savior, physically with Him, seeing Him face to face. But friends, until that moment comes, we ought to recognize that when Jesus says, it is to your advantage that I go away, He means it. Because unless He would go away and send the Holy Spirit to us, we would not be convicted of our sin. We would not be convicted of the righteousness of our Savior. We would not be convicted of the coming judgment. Friends, we see in the second place here that the Holy Spirit teaches. The Holy Spirit teaches. Look with me at verse 12-15. Jesus says, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take what is Mine. and declare it to you. Congregation, Jesus wants to see His disciples become strong, powerful, holy. He wants them to understand deep truths about Himself. But as of this passage, as of the moment that they're in this upper room, or rather heading out, friends, these disciples are far from strong in the faith. On the contrary, they were weak. They were only partially aware of Jesus' divinity. And to make matters much, much worse, their lives are still marred by pride and by self-seeking. The disciples entered into the upper room that night, bickering over who would be the first among them. And as Jesus was teaching them and preparing them for His crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension, as He sought to point them to salvation in Him, constantly, they were arguing with Him. When Jesus says, where I am going, you know the way. They respond, well, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? How will these weak disciples become strong, friends? This is a question I think that we can ask ourselves as well. How can we go from weakness to strength? How can God take us from being weak and pitiful followers of Christ to make us strong? If Jesus is leaving the disciples, and if we're not physically present with Jesus Christ, how can we, in fact, grow in the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God? If Jesus is not physically with us now, how will we come to know those riches? Well, the answer is to be found once more in the Holy Spirit. He says here, when that One comes, He will lead you in all truth. He even mentions the Holy Spirit by a special name here. He doesn't call Him the Spirit. He doesn't call Him the Holy Spirit. He doesn't call Him the Comforter. He refers to Him as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus says, that He will lead you in all truth. And there are certain things furthermore, friends, that Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will teach. He will teach only the words that He has given. This is what the first half of verse 13 says. That the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own authority, but He will say that which He hears. That is to say, He will receive a certain message from the Father and the Son, and bring that message to the disciples. When Jesus leaves the disciples, then He's not leaving them alone. As Jesus says in John 14, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. And therefore, friends, Jesus is, in a sense, giving them someone who will continue to teach them. Someone who will bring them to a greater understanding of the truth of the gospel. Boys and girls, some of you have Sunday school teachers. And right now, you're not in Sunday school, of course. But every year, you go into class and you learn something, often from the catechism. And when you go into a class like that, sometimes maybe you don't understand everything that you have to memorize. There are some words that are a little difficult. Or maybe some ideas that you're not quite getting. But as you grow, you begin to take those things that you've heard and to apply them to your life. Well, in the very same sense, friends, there is a sense that Jesus is like that Sunday school teacher who began to catechize His disciples. Began to give them what they needed. Began to teach them. And yet, these disciples, well, they've been catechized, but they're still young in their faith. They still only understand the basics. But the Holy Spirit, He comes as a preacher. He draws out the truths that the disciples have heard. And in the same way, friends, when we consider the Holy Spirit and His work in our hearts, well, we may read the Word of God. And we may only understand so much But then the Holy Spirit brings it back to our memory again and again. Bringing us more and more understanding, a deeper knowledge of the truth that we have. Certainly it would be a wonderful thing to sit at Jesus' feet and to hear Him as He taught. And certainly we ought to hope for this and wait for this, but brothers and sisters, even if we're sitting at Jesus' feet, if we don't have the Holy Spirit to guide and to interpret and to bring those words to our understanding, well, we'd be just as lost as the scribes and the Pharisees and the priests were in Jesus' day. The Holy Spirit teaches. And only the words that He's given. Second, it says here that the Holy Spirit will teach us that which is to come. That is to say, the Holy Spirit will once more guide the disciples and us in such a way that we will know what to expect of the future. This is not to say, friends, that the Holy Spirit teaches us to buy lottery tickets. This is not to say that when we read something here that it refers in guiding to us into all truth that we suddenly will know how to fix an airplane. No, the point that is being made here, friends, is that the Holy Spirit will prepare us for Christ's return. that He will prepare us to know what we need to know and be ready and have our eyes turned heavenward. The Holy Spirit who continues to turn our eyes away from the things of this world and to wait for our Savior. Finally, friends, the Holy Spirit will teach us and glorify Christ. This glorification will be because the Holy Spirit will once more bring those words of Christ to us. And we see this in verse 14. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. The point of Jesus here, that the Holy Spirit will take the Word of God, the things that Jesus has taught, so that we look forward to the fulfillment He will apply it in such a way that we remember and we turn our eyes to Christ. Glorifying God because of the understanding of the salvation that we have. Congregation, while the Holy Spirit does not now produce prophecies and Scripture, nonetheless, and I can't emphasize this enough, He has not stopped working in our day. The Holy Spirit did not come for a few months or for a few years and then leave us behind. The Holy Spirit did not preach for only a couple decades while the disciples, the apostles, began to establish the church. No. The Holy Spirit and the promise of Scripture for every believer today is that the Holy Spirit indwells us. Constantly with us. Constantly convicting us. Constantly teaching us. Constantly bringing to mind the words of Jesus Christ. Constantly turning our eyes away from our sin. Constantly pointing us to the Savior. Constantly glorifying Christ. constantly reminding us so that we cannot be left alone, that Christ is the Savior for sinners. Constantly sanctifying us. This is something that the disciples did not have in its fullness until Christ went away and sent the Holy Spirit to us. Yes, they heard Jesus preaching the Word. Yes, they could ask questions. But when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and when He sent down the Holy Spirit to fill the people of God, then they had a Comforter who was with them constantly. Then they had One who taught them. Brothers and sisters, It is to our advantage that Jesus Christ went away. He sent His Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, to convict us of the righteousness of Christ, to convict us of the coming judgment. He sent the Spirit of Truth to continue teaching us, to prepare us for the future, to show us the glory of the Savior. Certainly, yes, there will be times when we wish that Christ had never physically left us, But when we consider the work that the Holy Spirit does in pointing us to the Savior, in guiding, in building us up, can we despair? Can we truly lose hope? Or can we truly feel as though we've been abandoned by Christ when Christ sends the Holy Spirit to be with us? It is to our advantage that Christ went away. Let me briefly apply this to our hearts and our lives. Friends, if these things are true, when we have need, let us ask our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to continue working through His Holy Spirit in us. When we are tempted, let us go to the Lord and say, Lord, give me more of Your Holy Spirit. to turn away from temptation. When we have some failure, or some injury, or some illness, let us ask that the Holy Spirit be with us. And likewise friends, or in the same way, if these things are true, let us not think of the Holy Spirit as some minor partner in the Godhead. As if He is a secondary part of the Trinity. If these things are true, He too deserves to be honored and worshipped. He too deserves to be praised. And if there is anything good in us, if there is anything praiseworthy, if there is anything lovely, if there is anything worth rejoicing in, well, it is from the Father, through Jesus Christ's death, and by the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Let's pray. Amen. Lord God, we come before you today and we pray for the Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, that He would continue to convict us of our sin, of Christ's righteousness, of the coming of judgment, And Lord, we pray that the Holy Spirit would continue not only to convict us, but also to teach us. There is much more, Lord, we know that this passage does not address regarding the Holy Spirit. How He sanctifies us. How He regenerates us. How He gives us life. We pray, Lord, therefore, that we too would honor and worship the Holy Spirit. We pray that we would not quench the Holy Spirit. We pray that we would not blaspheme. Against the Holy Spirit. But in all things, Lord, we pray. That you would be glorified by the Holy Spirit's work. In our lives. And we pray that the Holy Spirit would be glorified. by our lives in Christ Jesus. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.