Fourth Sunday after Easter, 2010
Text: St. John 16:5-15

The Rev. Jerry Kistler

St. Stephen’s Reformed Episcopal Church

Montrose, Colorado

“Of Sin, of Righteousness, and of Judgment”

What is the worst possible sin that a person could commit?  What is the absolute worst thing that someone could do in God's sight?  The first thing that pops into most of our minds is probably the sin of murder – taking the life of another human being.  A crime like that has to be the worst sin, doesn’t it?  But there is something that is even worse than murder in the eyes of heaven.

In today's Gospel, we hear Jesus tell his disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit.  He describes to them and to us what the Holy Spirit’s role would be when He came.  He calls the Spirit the Paraclyte, which has the familiar but secondary meaning of “helper” or “comforter.” But its primary meaning in the Greek culture of Jesus day was “a witness” and “a prosecutor.” You see, in Greek law the two roles—the witness and the prosecutor— were all rolled up into one. The individuals who showed up in court to testify were the people who actually did the prosecuting, accusing and convicting a person of a crime. And so Jesus takes up this connotation of the word Paraclyte as he applies it to the work of the Holy Spirit. He says the Spirit will be in the business of convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

First, Jesus says, He will convict the world of sin, “because they do not believe in Me.” What is the most damnable sin there is?  Not to believe in Jesus.  There is nothing worse than that. And that may sound strange even to our ears. But you see, the real problem with the world and with fallen human beings is not simply that society is immoral and greedy and violent; those are but symptoms of the real problem.  The root of the matter, the heart of the situation is that people don't love God or trust in Him or have faith in His Son whom He has sent.  They don't worship the Father and acknowledge Him as the source of every good and perfect gift.  They don't receive Jesus as the only Savior of their souls or rely on His all-atoning for the forgiveness of their sins.  Instead, they believe in themselves and consider themselves to be the master of their own self-chosen destiny.  They pat themselves on the back for getting where they've gotten in this world.  They figure that, if they keep their nose clean, they can earn their way into some eternal reward by doing more good than bad.  They may be religious, but their spirituality is self-focused and self-reliant.  God is just a part of their formula for achieving worldly happiness.  They've got no real need for a Jesus who is a Savior; maybe a Jesus who is a counselor or an advice-giver, but not a Savior from sin.

There is no greater insult and affront to God than to treat His Son in that way.  Jesus didn't take on your flesh and blood, and sacrifice His life on the cross, so you could think of Him as just one more motivational speaker to give you principles for successful living.  Jesus came to give you a whole new life—His own.  Those who love their own lives, who have justified themselves and their behavior on the relative scale of “I’m-not-so-bad-as-those-people” in their hearts have rejected Jesus and the life He came to give.  It is this sort of self-centered, self-satisfied, self-justified way of life that is the greatest rebellion against God and the most grievous sin.

St. Paul says in Romans 14, "Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin."  You see, since everything we are is, by nature, tainted and infected by the Fall, none of us can do anything that is truly good apart from faith in Christ—apart from holding to Him and His saving grace.  No matter how good a person may appear to be outwardly, if he or she is not a believer in the Christ of the Scriptures, it is all “dung” before God—to use the Scripture’s own word.  Why? Because it proceeds from a heart that believes there could be a “good” independent of Him. But only Christ is Good. And therefore only works done “in Christ,” only works done in and through His work, only works that are sanctified—washed clean of the taint of sin by His blood—are good works in the sight of God.

So let’s be consistent in our thinking about Christ, and about the need for every person in the world to be in a relationship of faith with Him, and not think that as long as they’re “good people,” they’ll be alright. Let us rather be like St. Paul, who, although he kept the law of God perfectly before His conversion, said that He counted it all rubbish and refuse, "that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."

This is the second part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Having convicted the world of sin, having brought us to repentance and to the point where we see our need for Christ, He then proclaims and gives out the righteousness of Christ to those who put their faith in Him.  This is the heart of what the Holy Spirit is about.  Jesus said that the Spirit will "take of what is Mine and declare it to you."  That is the Holy Spirit's job: it’s not to point to Himself or to glorify Himself, but to point to Jesus and to glorify Him, and to take the gifts of righteousness and salvation that Jesus won for you on the cross, and make them yours.  Without trying to sound too flippant, the Holy Spirit is the delivery person of the Holy Trinity—the One who brings the blessings of the cross of Christ to you in the packages of the Word and the Sacraments, so you may receive them by faith. 

You know, the Holy Spirit is the real preacher in the Church. He is the One who preaches the Gospel to you that you may be led into all truth, which is to be led into Jesus, for the truth is in Jesus.  St. Paul declares, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. . .  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed."  Through the words of the Gospel the Spirit reveals and gives to you Christ's righteousness.  He creates faith in your heart, so that the heavenly Father no longer sees your sin and corruption but only the holiness of His Son. The Spirit takes what belongs to Christ and declares it to you, namely the verdict that He won at the cross: “not guilty,” “paid for,” so that there now is no condemnation for you who believe in Him.

This is the message of the Holy Spirit you need to cling to with all your heart.  Don't be tempted to look at yourself and say, "There's no way God can forgive or accept someone like me." That is to commit the most grievous sin of all: to believe that somehow you’re some special case; that not even the atoning death of the Son of God is sufficient for you; that you, of all people, need something more than the cross to make you right with God. Say instead, "Even though I don't deserve it, I know and accept that God is merciful and compassionate, and that He has atoned for all my sins by offering up His Son in my place."  Don't look to yourself; look only to the righteousness of Christ given to you by faith. For in Christ you’re so righteous that not even God can find fault with you. That’s the essence of the Gospel.

But at the same time be prepared for the devil and the world to oppose you because you have such faith in Christ.  The world portrays those who follow Christ and take God's Word seriously as being a bit whacko and on the fringe of society.  They say, "Who are you to suggest that only those who believe in Jesus can be saved?  What about all the other good people and religions in the world?  Don't my efforts at moral living count?  You Christians just want to impose your thinking on everybody else."

To all of this Jesus here says, "Take heart and be of good courage; you must not let the opinion and judgment of the world affect you.  For ultimately their words come from the father of lies, who is the prince of this world.  And he cannot help but condemn and persecute Christian faith and the righteousness of Christ.  Do not fear or waver, for the prince of this world is judged.”  

This is the third part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the defeat and the judgment of Satan, the ruler of this world.  Christ conquered him forever by His cross and resurrection.  Jesus has the upper hand when it comes to judging, no matter how wise or powerful the people of the world appear to be.  Jesus alone is wise and righteous, while all others are fools.  In the end He will have the last word on the last day.

So then, it is indeed to our advantage that Christ went away to the right hand of the Father.  For only in this way could our righteousness have been won for us.  Only in this way is the Holy Spirit now poured out on us to rescue us from unbelief and to bring us to saving faith in Jesus.  Only in this way is the world convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. God grant you to know ever more fully and deeply this help and comfort of the Holy Spirit, to Whom, with the Father and the Son, belongs all honor and glory, now and forever.  Amen.