John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15.                 Guide as to what is true??                                              24/5/15

²⁶ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, ⁵ but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Today we celebrate another important day in the Church year – Pentecost. Now Pentecost is often referred to as the birthday of church; and in many ways, that it is. But here we are reminded that there is much more to this celebration than simply acknowledging a birthday. The greatest aspect to this day is the reminder by Jesus of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gave birth to the Church and of his ongoing work of calling, gathering and making holy the Church down through the ages.

Today reminds us that Jesus wants to give to his Church; us, something that will be able to help us all, where ever we are at. He wants to do what he can to ensure that we are drawn into the Church, and able to live with confidence in the difficulties that we face in this life. To help us live with the same confidence that would be there if Jesus were visibly present alongside us. And to help us in the midst of the anxieties that we face: to help us all as we live in between Jesus ascension and his coming again as Judge at the end of time.

This great gift and helper is the Holy Spirit - who Jesus calls Advocate or Counsellor. And here today I would like us to dwell on this whole aspect of him being Advocate. To help us understand and appreciate what he is here for and to do in our lives, I would like to use the whole courtroom scene which in one way represents life for us.

Think about it. As we live out our life, we are living with the reality that when we die we face the Almighty Judge himself. The Lord Jesus will judge whether we spend eternity in heaven or Hell; and that decision is made in light of what our thinking and attitude is in this life. That then, makes our decisions and what happens in our daily life critical. Now that is a scary thought, were it not for Pentecost: Were it not for the fact that the Holy Spirit is our Advocate. In a number of ways he is like our legal counsel with us every day. It is this image of the Holy Spirit that I will be focussing on today. Here, let us see how this plays itself out in our daily life, in light of what Jesus says here in this text.

Now what happens as we go through life: We are faced with all kinds of decisions and we do all kinds of things as a result of those decisions; both good and bad. But, what is the right thing to do? Is our society right; other religions; our Lutheran church; ‘what I want’; what do we base our decisions and actions on? Can I be sure about which is right?

And remember our decisions have eternal consequences, so how do I ensure that I am thinking and doing the right thing? To add to that the devil and the sinful world around us keeps whispering in our ear a whole pack of lies; and when things go wrong or a tragedy occurs he seek to lead us to despair. On our own, without good help, we are in trouble, if we are going to seek to take life seriously.

Now can you imagine facing the judge on all of the issues and decisions we face in our daily life, without legal counsel all along the way. We would be very anxious indeed. In fact knowing human nature to be what it is we might as well give up right here and now. Sadly this is what many have done. They just live for today and hope for the best.

But thankfully that is why Jesus ascended and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and help us. Here Jesus says that he will be the Advocate in our midst. He will stand with us as we go through life to help, remember and guide us in our decision making: to remind us of what is true and good: to point out what is wrong and the judgement that results: to ever keep before us the truth: and to keep pointing us to Jesus and his death on the cross.

Jesus says here that this Advocate comes to do three things for us in this world.  When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment, about sin, because people do not believe in me;  about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;  and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. Take note of these in light of a lot of contemporary thinking with regard to the Holy Spirit. I would suggest that there are a lot of half-truth and side issues being peddled as the main game.

Firstly we are told that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin. So we are reminded that he is here as ‘chief prosecutor:’ to point out sin for what it is – rebellion against God and deserving of eternal punishment in Hell. His aim is to convict us all that we are ingrained with this nature that wants to try and live independently from God and be self-centred and selfish. Through God’s Law he seeks to point these things out to us so that we understand that we are dead in our sin and need the forgiveness and salvation that Jesus Christ brings. So the Spirit firstly seeks convict us in regard to sin, because men do not believe in Jesus.

That is where Jesus reminds us that the Holy Spirit will then also convict us with regard to righteousness. Because Jesus was going to the Father - where we can’t see him, he sends the Spirit now to remind us of righteousness - the right relationship with God that the Lord Jesus has made possible through his death on the cross. Knowing that we are sinful, with no way humanly out, the Holy Spirit leads us to know that Jesus has died for our forgiveness and he rose again for the certainty of our salvation.

The Holy Spirit assures us that Jesus Christ has done all that is necessary for our salvation, and he leads us to simply trust that this is the case, so that we can go forward with confidence and certainty. The Holy Spirit continually reminds us in the face of our distresses and doubts that, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Then Jesus reminds us that the Advocate’s work goes even further – To convict us in regard to judgment: To remind us that the devil already stands condemned. The Spirit reminds us that the prince of this world did not defeat Jesus when he had him strung up on the cross, instead that there he himself was defeated.

Consequently all who listen to the devil and follow his lies, instead of looking to Jesus and placing their trust in him, will face judgement. In fact they have already judged themselves through their unbelief. Yet all those who look to and place their trust in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross have the assurance that the final judgment will be in their favour.

So there in these three aspects of the Holy Spirit’s work, Jesus reminds us of the work that is done by the Advocate. His is ‘counsel for the prosecution’ of the world. At the same time he is ‘counsel for the defence’ of all believers; and he is witness to and advocate for the truth.

That last point is in many ways the real key to the sending of the Holy Spirit: to lead us and guide us into all the truth. Luther simply and succinctly puts it: the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. He does all that by making us aware of our sin and then pointing us to the truth of all that God has done for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirits work is to give glory to Jesus, and him only. To do that, he uses and does his work through the Word and Sacraments - through the truth that God has already given to us. So wherever the Word is used, read and heard, there the Holy Spirit is; Where the Sacraments are rightly used, there the Spirit is: and there he is at work reminding us of all that is important. There, having done that, he has done his most important work.

Here also remember that these words:  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth, were first spoken to the Apostles. So it reminds us that the Spirit enabled them to write what they wrote in the New Testament. What we have there, in all of its parts, is what God wants us to know and follow. This is important for us to remember as we face people wanting to change and ignore parts of it to suit their own agendas. We need to remember that the Spirit wants us today to allow his Word to guide us in all of our thinking.

This is the great gift that we are reminded here today that Jesus sends to be with us as we go through life. He is here at work among us in this way; and also in our community and world, as this work is done. Yes, the Holy Spirit is here as Advocate, Counsellor, and lawyer. As we look back through the past 2,000 years we can see how he has done this tremendous work; and are thereby assured that he continues to work with power and with truth amongst us even today.

So let us heed him, listen to him and allow him do his work in us and through us to those around about us. In so doing then, all glory will continue to go to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For to him alone belongs all glory and honour, now and always.  AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish