sermon on john 16:5-15

1. What’s so good about grief?
Jesus again reiterates his imminent departure to the Father in v.5 and implicitly criticises the disciples for not asking him where he is going. In fact, Peter seems to have asked that very question back in 13:36, so what does Jesus mean here? Some suggest that the emphasis is on ‘now’ – they had asked but aren’t asking now. That’s possible but it seems likelier that Jesus is pointing to the fact that, although those words might have been spoken, they aren’t really focussed on where he is going; they are much more concerned about and wrapped-up in their own grief (v.6).

We can, of course, understand the pain and confusion the disciples were experiencing and that would not have been lost on Jesus. But he is rightly, and helpfully, trying to refocus their thinking. They are down in the depths; because of that, they’re not asking the questions that would bring hope and help to them – if they asked about Jesus’ departure, if they listened to what he is saying, their grief would be tempered: it is for their good that Jesus is going away.

We’ll return shortly to why his departure can be spoken of as being for their good but, first, let’s acknowledge that we, too, can be as guilty as these disciples were of becoming too self-focussed in the pain and confusion that we experience in the Christian life. It is all too easy to allow ourselves to become preoccupied by our own feelings and our own concerns, such that Jesus is effectively, though unintentionally, relegated to the sidelines.

Perhaps a helpful test would be to ask ourselves how much time we spend thinking about and praying for our own needs and feelings as Christians and how much we focus on God and his glory. Those two are related but you probably get my drift – the disciples were not mercenary in their commitment to Jesus; of course they had a concern for his glory, but at this time they were suffering unduly through a too-intense and exclusive focus on their own feelings. And we can do that too.

What’s the solution? Ask the right questions; focus on the answers that scripture gives; lift your eyes to the Lord and to his purposes and glory. In this immediate context, the answer to their grief lies in what Jesus goes on to tell them in vv.7,8 – it is actually good for them that he goes away because unless he does he cannot send the Counsellor to them.

The verses that follow will expand on the benefits of the coming of the Spirit but, more generally, we can see that Jesus is making the point that they would miss out completely if he didn’t go away because that would bring the saving plans of God to a halt. Their vision needs to be larger and often ours does too – we need to learn the lesson that Paul put into these words: “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

But in what specific sense is the coming of the Spirit shown here to be beneficial?

2. Convicting the world
In vv.9-11, Jesus speaks of the work of the Spirit in the world. Quite what he means is contested by commentators but as we work through his words, we need to bear in mind what Jesus has just told the disciples. He has warned them of the hostility of the world towards him and so to them also. The world is not a neutral place; it stands implacably opposed to God and his Son and it will quickly turn its fire on those who follow the Son.

Into that situation, Jesus is going to send his Spirit and “when he comes, he will convict the world of guilt”. That would seem straightforward but there is debate about the meaning of Jesus’ words and what they refer to. The term translated here as ‘convict…of guilt’ could equally be translated as ‘prove wrong’ or ‘expose’. And who will be convinced about the guilt of the world – the world itself or the disciples?

When we come to the words that follow, there is also debate: sin, righteousness and judgement are often assumed to refer to the world’s sin, Jesus’ righteousness and God’s judgement – but those distinctions aren’t in the text. So in what sense does the Spirit convict about these things?

Without going any further into the details of those debates, let me outline what seems to me the most likely solution here. The term ‘convict…of guilt’ is also used in 3:20 and would seem to have in mind the exposure of a person’s guilt with the aim of bringing them to repentance (which it might or might not achieve).

And the Spirit will face the world with its guilt in relation to its sin, its righteousness and its judgement. The great problem of sin is unbelief – “of sin because men do not believe in me”. Here is the nub of the issue, the heart of sin: unbelief, the denial of Jesus. And when the Spirit comes he will face the world with its guilt in not believing in the Son of God.

He will also expose the guilt of the world with respect to its righteousness, because Jesus has gone to the Father. The term ‘righteousness’ here probably has more of the idea of justice about it (it is always in the picture) and the justice of the world is going to be shown to be filthy rags – the world’s justice rejected Jesus and handed him over to be crucified; it labelled him a criminal but he was innocent. And he has been vindicated in his resurrection and return to the Father.

Then the Spirit will expose the guilt of the world with respect to judgement because the prince of this world now stands condemned. The world does not know how to exercise true judgement, it can only judge by human appearances (7:24; 8:15). In doing so, it takes the side of the devil – but he now stands condemned, shown up for what he is – a liar and a murderer. And the Spirit makes that plain.

Please notice: these are not neutral matters. The world is guilty of sin, of false and wretched justice and of making the most blatant and foolish wrong judgement regarding the Son of God. And the Spirit has come to expose that guilt, to face all people with the reality of their choice. Is he facing you with that today? What you do about Jesus is not a casual matter, it is urgent and ultimate.

Back to the disciples. Tasked with taking the gospel into the world, yet knowing the world’s hostility to Jesus and the vice-like grip of sin upon it, they could so easily conclude the mission to be useless, with no hope at all of seeing the world won for Jesus.

But not so! When he comes he will expose the guilt of the world in the hope of leading people to repentance and faith. What we cannot do, God can – break the hardest hearts, open the most tightly-shut minds and bring to genuine faith in Jesus.

The mission is not doomed to failure; sin will not have the last word. God will prevail and he will do so through his Spirit applying in power the achievements of his Son.

3. Teaching the disciples
But the usual pattern for the work of the Spirit is that it will be through the life and witness of the disciples, of the church. And so in vv.12-15 Jesus deals with the further equipping of the disciples for the task.

He has so much more to say to them but recognises that they cannot yet bear it – they’re too distressed to take on board what he needs to tell them. But when the Spirit comes, he will lead them in all the truth about Jesus. In fact, as v.15 shows, it will be a ministry of the Trinity in complete harmony – all that belongs to the Father is Jesus’ and the Spirit will take from what is his and make it known to the disciples.

Such is the intimate agreement within the Godhead that the Spirit will not speak on his own; he will only speak what he hears (v.13), just as Jesus only spoke what he heard from his Father (8:28). The Spirit will not disclose new truths to the disciples, things in addition to Jesus, but rather he will lead them into all the truth concerning Jesus – he will take from what belongs to Jesus and reveal it to them and so bring glory to Jesus.

And the reality is that the Spirit did come and did lead the disciples into the truth. And we have the fruit of the Spirit’s ministry in the material of the NT – here is the truth into which he led the disciples, the accounts about Jesus and the reflection upon the significance of his life and ministry and how it brings to a climax God’s saving purposes.

The definitive explanation was given to the disciples and under the inspiration of the Spirit they recorded for us all we need to know.

But we need to acknowledge that we, too, need the same ministry of the Spirit to illuminate our understanding, to help us to grasp more fully what he caused to be revealed in scripture.

We need it because we are slow to learn, because our minds are dark and need to be progressively illuminated. We need his ministry because the world is hostile to God and needs to be confronted with its guilt concerning sin, righteousness and judgement so that it might genuinely repent and turn to Jesus the only Saviour and Lord of all.