{"id":4468,"date":"2021-05-17T15:36:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T15:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/?p=4468"},"modified":"2021-05-17T15:36:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T15:36:50","slug":"when-the-spirit-comes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/when-the-spirit-comes\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Spirit Comes"},"content":{"rendered":"

8\u00a0<\/sup>And when he comes, he will\u00a0convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:<\/span><\/span>\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>concerning sin,\u00a0because they do not believe in me;<\/span><\/span>\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>concerning righteousness,\u00a0because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;<\/span><\/span>\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world\u00a0is judged.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cI still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.<\/span><\/span>\u00a013\u00a0<\/sup>When\u00a0the Spirit of truth comes,\u00a0he will\u00a0guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but\u00a0whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.<\/span><\/span>\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>He will\u00a0glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.<\/span><\/span>\u00a015\u00a0<\/sup>All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:8-15)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n

We will often hear people say, \u201cThe Holy Spirit told me this,\u201d or \u201cThe Holy Spirit lead me to do or say this.\u201d The Holy Spirit says and does different things according to different people. But have we ever stopped to ask, \u201cWhat does Jesus say about the Holy Spirit?\u201d \u201cWhat is the ministry of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We live in a time and place where there is much confusion concerning the Holy Spirit. Many people who try to \u201clive by the Spirit\u201d spend much of their time confused trying to discern what the Holy Spirit is or isn\u2019t telling them at any given moment. Or in other places the work of the Holy Spirit is measured by how much we get a certain emotional fuzzy feeling during worship. But the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of confusion and God is not a God of chaos or disorder. So often the basis for determining what the Holy Spirit is telling us is simply what we feel He is telling us – it is subjective – based on our feelings. That is not to say that there is no place for the convictions of a Christian\u2019s conscience, but it must be informed and taught by the Word of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

While pushing back against the subjectivity of a more charismatic view of the Holy Spirit, we do not deny the present activity of the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes the Reformed position will be criticized for not having a positive doctrine or sufficient teaching of the work of the Holy Spirit. Or it is viewed as a weak point in the Reformed system. This is simply not true. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is a strong point in Reformed doctrine. If you ever read Calvin, he is just gushing with richness concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and the Reformed have much to offer concerning the work of the Holy Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of things that we notice in verse 8 of our text is that when the Holy Spirit comes He will bring conviction to the world. Jesus tells us the work of the Holy Spirit will be to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. People love to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit when they think the Spirit is leading them to do or say something cool; but they don\u2019t so much like to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit when the Spirit is convicting them of sin, and so repent. Now, what I am going to say next, I say as a way of warning the ladies against following the popular teacher Beth Moore. Beth Moore has a famous sermon clip where she is talking about a time when she was on a plane and she says that the Holy Spirit was telling her to go comb some guy\u2019s hair, and she was arguing with God about it, but she did it, and of course the guy was weirded out, but she obeyed Jesus and that\u2019s what matters, she says. Now that\u2019s just weird. But then she turns around and completely disregards a very clear teaching from the Holy Spirit in 1 Timothy 2 that says women are not to teach or exercise authority over men.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Folks, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. People who claim to have all these Spirit lead experiences, yet live in unrepentant sin, are not following the lead of the Holy Spirit. Now, for us Reformed people, we\u2019re sinners, and we don\u2019t always like it either when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. So we will often suppress our repenting because \u201coh that\u2019s just an emotional feeling.\u201d When we are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit there will be emotions that we experience; and there is an objective standard to know if those emotions are right – the Word of God. So we can\u2019t let our subjective thoughts trump our objectively right emotions over our sin. So the Work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s look at each one of these.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerning Sin<\/b><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin, \u201cbecause they do not believe in me.\u201d Here Jesus boils every sin down to unbelieve and a rejection of Him. The reason people sin is because they reject Christ and do not want to believe in Him. The crux of the matter with the world centers on Jesus Christ – will you follow Him and submit to His law, or would you rather follow your own desires and submit to the tyranny of sin? It is certainly better for a society to have some semblance of biblical morality in order to preserve the most life and freedom, but the work of the Holy Spirit is not to come and simply convince men of a better way of outward temporary life. It is to present Jesus Christ as the rock of salvation or the rock of offence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the sin of the Jewish leaders of Jesus\u2019 day. They were outwardly a very moral and religious people – Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Yet they did not believe in Jesus. They rejected their Messiah. And because of their hatred of Christ, their sin drove them to such atrocities as proudly delivering Christ up to death and asking that his blood be upon them and their children. Such insanity is unbelief. And when the world sees the death, resurrection, ascension, and victory of Jesus Christ, they are convicted of sin, whether they submit to Christ or not, Jesus Christ is vindicated and their unbelief is condemned and without excuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerning Righteousness<\/b><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness, \u201cbecause I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer\u2026\u201d Now there are different ways of understanding this passage, but I take it to be that Jesus is talking about convicting the world of the world\u2019s sin, the world\u2019s righteousness, and the world\u2019s judgment. Now, how is convicting the world of it\u2019s righteousness connected with Jesus going to the Father and being seen no more? I think He is simply saying that since that is where He is going, that is why the Holy Spirit will now come and convict the world of righteousness, since Jesus is not bodily on the earth to do so as He did during His ministry when He did physically walk the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

So now you might ask, if this means that The Helper will convict the world of its own righteousness, what righteousness does the world have? Exactly. The unbelieving world does have righteousness, as I mentioned Jesus saying that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Yet the Pharisees rejected Jesus Christ in their unbelief and were covenant apostates. But this accords with what the prophet Isaiah said that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags before the holiness of God. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God comes and convicts the world of sin, saying, \u201cHere is your sin, it is vile and wicked and deserves death. Oh, and if you would think about pointing to your righteousness and good works, I will show you your righteousness. Here it is, it is as filthy rags.\u201d You see unbelief will cling to anything other than Christ in order to justify itself. \u201cYeah, I\u2019m a sinner, but we all are and no one is perfect.\u201d \u201cYeah, I\u2019m not perfect, but I\u2019m a pretty good person.\u201d \u201cYeah, I\u2019m a sinner, but I go to church and try to be a pretty good person.\u201d \u201cYeah, I have sinned, but I\u2019m not nearly as big of a sinner as that person.\u201d Those are no justifications whatsoever and will not stand before the judgment seat of God. The Holy Spirit comes and takes away any righteousness other than Christ\u2019s that we would seek to hold on to for justification. We don\u2019t only need forgiveness for our sin, we need forgiveness for our righteousness. We don\u2019t only need a Savior from all the bad things we have done, we need a Savior from all the good things we have done!<\/span><\/p>\n

There is only One whose righteousness will stand in heaven before a Holy God and all His angels, and it is that of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and all those who are clothed by Him. Any preaching that comforts us in our sin, is of course not of God. And any preaching that comforts us in our own righteousness is also not of God. Holy Spirit preaching points us away from looking to ourselves and directs us toward the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerning Judgment<\/b><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment, \u201cbecause the ruler of this world is judged.\u201d Jesus says when the Holy Spirit comes, the ruler of this world is judged. I believe this is a reference to Satan, the Prince of the Power of the Air, who was the ruler of the old world before the work of Christ, where Christ triumphed over temptation and triumphed over the Prince of the Power of the Air when He was lifted up on the cross, then defeated death in His resurrection and ascended through the air into Heaven, dethroning the principalities and powers from their positions of authority over the nations, as Jesus received the nations and the ends of the earth from His Father as His possession, no longer they being under the jurisdiction of Satan or other powers. 1 John tells us, concerning the first advent of Christ, that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.<\/span><\/p>\n

In John 12, when Jesus was speaking about His hour of crucifixion, of being lifted up on the cross, He says, \u201cNow is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So the judgment that the Holy Spirit brings on the ruler of this world is His being cast out of power and authority. For we know that wherever the Holy Spirit goes, demons and darkness must be cast out. They are not more powerful than God. That was one of the signs that the Kingdom of God was at hand during Jesus\u2019 ministry that He cast out demons. That is judgment, being cast out. And this is still true today, that anywhere the Holy Spirit is heard in the preaching of the gospel, and anywhere that a people are converted, and as Christianization takes place, demonic activity decreases, and is driven out and has no jurisdictional authority. Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit and demons cannot make their home where the Holy Spirit dwells. This is judgment on the ruler of this world – his rule has been thwarted and defeated by the ascension, enthronement, and rule of Jesus Christ. The unbelieving world cannot defeat the Church of Jesus Christ by using the demonic powers of darkness. In this they are convicted of judgment, their time of rule is over. Christians now rule and reign in the world. No matter how lowly in the world\u2019s eyes a Christian may be at any given moment, that Christian is a ruler in this world and has more power in him than all the world has.<\/span><\/p>\n

When did The Helper, The Holy Spirit, come? Pentecost.<\/b><\/p>\n

Looking back at verse 8, Jesus says that when He (The Helper, the Holy Spirit) comes, He will do these things. Now when did the Holy Spirit come? Pentecost. So I want to skim through the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 so you can see how these things here that Jesus says about the Spirit began to happen on that very day when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read Acts 2:1-4. <\/span><\/i>So the Holy Spirit now comes upon them. When Peter begins to preach his sermon in verse 14, he goes on to quote from Joel chapter 2 which says that God will pour out His spirit on them, and Peter says, that is exactly what is happening here today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acts 2:5, \u201cNow there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.\u201d Jesus says that when the Spirit comes He will convict the world. Here we have Jews from all the world in Jerusalem on pentecost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin because they believe not in Jesus. Peter preaching beginning in Acts 2:22 says, \u201cMen of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.\u201d Peter is preaching, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, directly at the sin of his hearers, convicting them of their sin of unbelief, of rejection, and crucifixion of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read Acts 2:33. <\/span><\/i>So here Peter again affirms that this is the promised Holy Spirit that is now being poured out upon them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read Acts 2:34-35. <\/span><\/i>So here Peter quotes from Psalm 110, applying it to Jesus, that He has now ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven. And according to Psalm 110 as Peter quotes it, what is a necessary element to the ascension and enthronement of Christ? It is that His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. He is sitting there until all His enemies are put under His feet. Herein we see just what Jesus was talking about that the ruler of this world is judged. The ruler of this world is not on the throne, but is being put under the feet of Jesus to be His footstool. This is something that is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit continues to empower the mission of Jesus that Christ gave to His Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read Acts 2:37-38. <\/span><\/i>Here we see at the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel, the hearers are \u201ccut to the heart.\u201d I like how the NASB puts it that they were \u201ccut to the quick.\u201d In other words they were convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit did not come and give nice warm and fuzzy emotional feelings. The Holy Spirit came and gave emotional turmoil! They were cut to the heart over their sin! This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. A large portion of what passes for American Christianity is indeed void of the Holy Spirit, not because they are without emotional experiences, but because they are not faithfully administering the preaching of the gospel and the ordinances, and have made the goal of Lord\u2019s Day worship that each person come and have their emotions and spirits lifted and receive a positive encouragement. If that is what we aim for then the danger is that we just might hit it. But if our goal is to exalt and honor the Lord Jesus Christ by boldly preaching the gospel and faithfully administering the ordinances, then we just may be cut to the heart over our sin, and the Holy Spirit might work in us.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does the Holy Spirit convict the world concerning these things? Or what are the means through which the Holy Spirit convicts the world of these things.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n