John 16.5-15
Easter 4

✠ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    Ever since we were little, we all were taught the importance of telling the truth and not lying.  We maybe even learned the saying, “Honesty is the best policy.”  And that’s what we want and expect from others.  We complain when our elected leaders stretch the truth or when spouses and friends and co-workers lie to us or deceive us.  But if we’re completely honest with ourselves, we’ll have to admit that the truth is something we’re not always entirely comfortable with.  For while we’ll agree that telling the truth is good and maybe even quote the Bible that “the truth will set you free,” in reality we find it easier to bend the truth, to spin and re-shape it to our advantage, to tweak it here or there.  That’s really where we try to find our freedom–not in honest truth-telling, but in telling our version of the truth, the truth as we want others to see it, the truth according to the way we think it ought to be.

    But in all our dancing around and playing with the truth, what we forget is that truth ultimately is not a series of facts or a virtuous concept.  Truth ultimately is a person–the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.   After all, doesn’t Jesus say, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”?  He is Himself the Wisdom and the Logic of the universe, the One in whom all things hold together.  So if He is Truth in the flesh, then everything that is true and good finds its substance in Him.  And if He is the Truth, then to tinker with and distort the truth is to tinker with and distort our Lord Jesus.  And so when we bend the truth for our own advantage, we are offending not just our values but our Lord; and we are recalibrating not just our moral compass but our faith; and we are playing games not just with the facts but with our Savior.

    He who is the Truth incarnate, our Lord Jesus, says in today’s Gospel, “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 depart, I will send Him to you.. .  When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.”

    So the work of the Holy Spirit, then, is to guide you to Christ.  And how does the Spirit do that?  First of all He does that by helping us to see the uncomfortable truth about ourselves.  For the truth is that we all have blind spots when it comes to our sin.  In one way or another, we all have become comfortable with justifying our sin or making exceptions for it in this case or that.  In other words, we’ve gotten used to lying to ourselves about sin.  We can see it clearly in others and identify their hypocrisy, no problem.  But the Holy Spirit has to convict us so that truly learn of our need for a Savior.

    So for instance, it’s easy for us to see the lies on which transgenderism is built and its rejection of the basic truth of our humanity as male and female.  But do we then go along with the lie by referring to a “he” as a “she,” or vice versa, or engage in all the pronoun nonsense so as not to offend?  We recognize (hopefully!) that same-sex marriage is in truth no marriage at all but a perverse caricature and mocking of marriage.  But do we then attend our friend’s ceremony or send a card just to be nice?  We rightly denounce when someone has an affair and commits adultery.  But do we then treat a couple living together or having sex before marriage as not really a big deal–especially if it’s someone we like or are close to?  In truth, we think it feels a little extreme to call out that form of adultery, even though God hasn’t joined those two people together yet.  And then we even justify our own lusts that are fed in the books and movies we consume.  It’s easy for us to see and decry the pollution of the culture, but it’s not so easy for us to see and confess the pollution of our own hearts.

    That’s what the Scriptures mean when they say that the Spirit of truth “will convict the world of sin.”  The Holy Spirit must hold up the mirror of the Law in front of us so that we confront reality–that our old nature really doesn’t really desire the freedom from sin that Christ brings; that we lie because we care more about what others think about us than what God thinks about us; that we don’t want to let go of our old ways and our worldly loves.  Our old Adam hates the truth of Christ that makes us truly free.  And so the first preaching of the Spirit is that we all must repent.

    However, our Lord Jesus, does not send His Spirit only to convict us.  For the Spirit of our Lord Jesus comes not to lead us to despair, but to lead us into all truth.  And so the Holy Spirit’s primary preaching is about Christ, who is all Truth.  The Spirit’s ultimate work is to empty us of ourselves so that He might then preach into our hearts the truth of Jesus and fill us with His righteousness.

    That is the second part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Having convicted and brought us to repentance, He then pardons and saves us by giving us the righteousness of Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father.  That is what the Holy Spirit is all about.  Jesus said that the Spirit will “take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”  That is the Holy Spirit’s job, not to point to Himself or glorify Himself but to point to Jesus and glorify Him, to take the gifts of life and salvation that Jesus won for you and dish them out to you.  Just as the Son of God was sent to reveal the Father, so now the Holy Spirit is sent to reveal the Son, and in that way to bring you back into fellowship with God, the Blessed Holy Trinity.  

    Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will convince the world of righteousness “because I go to the Father and you see Me no more.”  Since you can’t see Jesus and won’t see Him until the Last Day, the Holy Spirit preaches Christ and His righteousness into you through the Gospel, so that you may be led into all truth.  

    St. Paul declares in Romans 1, “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 Jesus’ righteousness.  So the truth about you now in Jesus is that you are right with God, fully and completely.  This is how the Helper, the Comforter comforts you.  All of your sins, regardless of how many and great, are canceled, forgiven, covered, and not reckoned to your account because you believe in Christ who made full atonement for them on the cross.  

    That, by the way, is also why Jesus said “it is to your advantage that I go away.”  If He didn’t go away to the cross, and through death and the grave to the resurrection of the body, then there would be no salvation and forgiveness for the Holy Spirit to deliver to you.  So even though it meant temporary heartache for the disciples, it meant eternal joy for them and for us all that Jesus did so.

    Whoever has faith in this Christ, even though it be weak, is declared righteous before God apart from works and merits.  Your righteousness is not based on the uncertainties of your own doing but on the certainty of Christ’s doing.  It doesn’t come from within you but through faith in Christ from outside you.  And therefore it is sure and true.  It is written, “Having been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Cling to that message of the Holy Spirit with all your heart.

    For there is one who hates the truth, who is the father of lies and all false teaching, namely the devil.  He is the author of our culture’s foolishness regarding gender and sexuality, who lures the world to scoff at how the Creator has ordered His creation.  Satan is the one who tries to convince you that it’s no big deal to engage in half truths and in self-promoting propaganda.  And above all, he will do his level best to get you to doubt what Christ has done for you, or to make you disbelieve that Christ’s righteousness is really yours.  

    And so the third and final part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to proclaim the judgment of the devil.  Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will convince the world of judgment, for the ruler of this world is judged.  The Spirit of Truth unmasks the devil and exposes him for the liar that he is.  Through the Word, the Holy Spirit convinces and persuades us to believe that Satan, who rules this world with his distortion and deceptions, he who is the enemy of the truth of Christ is judged; the deed is done.  The devil’s deadly reign is over, finished on Good Friday, destroyed Easter morning.  And so even though Satan may rage and fume and spew his infernal lies, he can harm us none.  The victory is won–given to you in your baptism, and confirmed and strengthened in you as you receive the risen body and blood of Jesus who came to destroy the devil’s work.

    In Christ we have Him who is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  So then, let us not dance around the Truth.  Instead, let us walk in step with Him.  And let us not fear the Truth.  Instead, let us rejoice in Him.  And don’t run from the Truth.  Instead, embrace Him who is the Truth and love Him; for in Christ the Lord’s anger has been turned away from you.  God is your salvation.  Trust in Him and be not afraid.  For the Lord God is your strength and your song, and He has become your salvation.  

✠ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(With thanks to John Fenton)