Pentecost1 Sunday is celebrated 50 days after Christ’s resurrection and 10 days after the Ascension. It is the Sunday on which the church remembers that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples who were gathered in an upper room (Acts 1:13), waiting for what Jesus called “the promise of the Father” - the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4).
Acts Chapter 2 reflects the historical account of that occasion, when the Holy Spirit came upon those disciples, transforming them from timid, fearful followers to bold and powerful servants of Christ. The Spirit of God who came to dwell with them and in them made all the difference. Compare for instance pre – Pentecost Peter in Luke 22:54ff with post- Pentecost Peter in Acts 2:14ff. Now if the Holy Spirit is sent to empower us (Acts 1:8), then how does He do that? First, some introductory comments and background.
Jesus reminds the disciples that when He goes, the Holy Spirit must come. He promises that He will not leave them as orphans (Jn.14:18). The disciples are understandably anxious at this time (Jn.14:1-6). They are uncertain about a future without Jesus. Therefore, Jesus comforts them with the promise of sending them the Holy Spirit. He would be with them and in them (14:17). But what is it exactly that the Holy Spirit will do in them and among them?
Please notice that Jesus says nothing in these key passages [in John 14:15-26 and 16:7-15] about the giving of spiritual gifts- the frequent emphasis associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit. These are in a sense a secondary issue. There is something far weightier and more primary that the Holy Spirit has come to do. Let us see what Jesus says concerning Him, in terms of His names and His work.
We will not dwell much on the names. He is called
(i) The Holy Spirit - Jn.14:26
(ii) The Helper (ESV) or Counsellor (NIV) Jn.14:16,26;16:7
(iii) The Spirit of Truth: Jn. 14:17; 16:13
We will focus on His work threefold work in terms of
(i) 16:8-11 Conviction
(ii) 16:12-13 Guiding into Truth
(iii) 16:14-15 Glorifying Jesus
16:8-11 HIS WORK OF CONVICTION
The Holy Spirit does the work of conviction (Gr. elencho lit. shaming a convicted person) "When He (the Helper/Counsellor) comes, He will convict the world (16:8). This needs some explanation. A convicting Helper/Counsellor? Is this not a contradiction? No! Why? He is both! He helps and counsels us by convicting us. In order to help and counsel, He must first convict us of that which stands against us – that is our sinful nature! In this regard He does the same work as a surgeon, who in order to help us, must first cut away that which causes us trouble.
This is the primary role which the Holy Spirit fulfills in the whole world. “He will convict the world...” Since He is the Spirit, He is not limited by a physical body, and therefore He can do this work globally. He can be everywhere at the same time. He is omnipresent.
He convicts the world in three ways? i.e. concerning sin, and righteousness and judgment (Jn. 16:8-11). Let's consider these each in turn:
1. He convicts the world of sin, because the world does not believe in Jesus (16:9)
Here we are reminded that all people in this world are by nature sinners.
Genesis 3 explains the origin of sin in man. Sin manifests itself in the fact that (i) all people do sin (Rom. 3:23) and thereby incur God’s wrath, and in the fact that (ii) all people refuse to accept God’s gracious offer –Jesus, the Lamb of God - God’s atoning sacrifice. The truth about us is that we are hardened and self-righteous. Without help we will never see the truth about ourselves. We are dead in our sins and transgressions (Eph.2:1)
Jesus says that we need the convicting work of the Holy Spirit to pierce our spiritual deadness and our spiritual hardness. The Holy Spirit awakens in us a consciousness of true guilt, leading us to true repentance, trusting in Jesus alone for our righteousness and salvation, restoring us to fellowship with our heavenly Father.
We have a wonderful example in the book of Acts 2. The Holy Spirit came in response to God’s promise at Pentecost - the Hebrew Shavuot – The Feast of Weeks, (a feast of thanksgiving for the ingathering of the wheat harvest), which happens 50 days after the Passover (Easter). On this day the Holy Spirit starts His remarkable work of ingathering from many nations that have come to Jerusalem for this feast. He uses Peter to preach a sermon in which 3000 people from among the nations are convicted of sin. They cry out, "What must we do?" (Acts 2:38). The answer is given: "repent and be baptised, every one of you…”. Now, why do they cry out,” What must we do “? It is not simply Peter’s sermon that does it! This is the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, acting upon the preaching of His Word.
The 3000 have been helped by the Holy Spirit to see their sin! Their hearts are exposed by the preaching of the Word. They now beg for a remedy! What does the preacher do? He helps them by looking to the remedy - looking to Jesus – “repent and be baptized, every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”.
Understand then that the preacher cannot bring about true heartfelt repentance or conviction, unless the Holy Spirit convicts the hearers of guilt.
The Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus to convict the world of sin. Those who see, hear and believe are helped and counselled to 'stop being the world'. So then, thank God for sending the Holy Spirit to help us to understand the nature of sin.
Pray that the Spirit of conviction will also rest upon us!
2. He convicts the world of righteousness because Jesus is going to the Father (16:10)
We have seen then that the Holy Spirit convicts the world regarding sin because the world does not believe in Jesus. But, what about this one?
Here is the answer: The religious leaders, and the nation of Israel in general did not regard themselves as sinful, but as righteous - one might say, self – righteous, because they possessed the Law of Moses. They prided themselves to have Abraham as their father. The same is true for the world we live in. When you speak to a person about their sinfulness and of their need for a Saviour, people are quick to respond, "But, I am basically a good person” i.e. “I am righteous…. I am self-righteous.”
You will remember that Jesus frequently challenged this superficial view of righteousness e.g. the story of the rich young ruler (Mk 10:17ff). All of us, by nature are self- righteous, and all of us need to be helped by the Holy Spirit to see this that our self- righteousness will not stand before God.
Now, the reason why the Holy Spirit convicts the world of its ‘righteousness’, is because Jesus is going to the Father where they will see Him no longer (16:10). So, we see that the Holy Spirit continues the convicting work of Jesus - but now on a global level! How does He do that? The Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, proclaimed by preachers of the Word in various settings, acting now in the whole world (even to you today), being the omnipresent Spirit, convicts the entire world of its self- righteousness. God’s word – God’s righteous standard, when preached to self – righteous people, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are helped to see that they fall short of the righteous life that God requires. The result is that they call out, “What must we do to be saved?” The preacher, by the Holy Spirit points them to Christ, whom they must embrace by faith. When anybody comes to Jesus this way they will be saved. And they will be declared righteous.
Thank God for the global work of the Holy Spirit convicting people of their self -righteousness!
3. The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (16:11)
How do we understand this? The world, because of its sinfulness, has distorted standards of judgment. At one point, in John 7:24, Jesus needed to reprimand the Jews (i.e. the world of His day) to “stop judging by mere appearances, and to make a right judgment.”
The grossest misjudgement that our world is guilty of is that it judged Jesus to be a criminal and on that account crucified Him. What a gross, faulty judgment! This shows us how the world's judgment can be so profoundly wrong and so morally perverse.
The Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of its false judgments, which essentially are inspired by Satan and his demons. Satan is the originator of all false judgment, for he is the father of all lies. He is the father of those who echo His values (Jn.8:44).
But now, because of Christ's triumph on the cross, the ruler of this world who governs the faulty thoughts of this world is defeated! He is judged!
The Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of following false judgment - following bad and unreliable guides- all inspired by Satan, who because of the cross is now condemned and defeated. The Holy Spirit teaches us that the only true judgment and infallible authority comes from the Word of God – from Jesus the living Word.
Thank God that the Holy Spirit who is in us and with us, helps us to discern the lies of Satan when we turn to the truth of God’s Word.
16:12-13 GUIDING US INTO ALL THE TRUTH
The Holy Spirit will not speak on His own authority. He speaks, reaffirms and reminds us only that which Jesus has said. See also 14:26. The Holy Spirit will not bring anything new. In Christ God's complete revelation in terms of what we need to know was made known (cf. Hebrews 1:1-3)
16:14,15 GLORIFYING JESUS
Ultimately this is the overarching reason why the Holy Spirit would come: to bring glory to Jesus - by making Jesus and His saving work known! This is clearly stated in 16:14,15 and this is entirely in keeping with the central message of John’s gospel (see John 20:31). Everything else we learn about the work and the person of the Holy Spirit flows from this grand truth and is subject to this principle.
SUMMARY AND APPLICATION
Can you now see why we need to be thankful for Pentecost?
And why we have a duty to remember this event in our church calendar?
Can you now see why we ought to be thankful for the intervening and convicting global ministry of the Holy Spirit?
Despite all this persistent hardness found in our world, the merciful voice of God empowered by the Holy Spirit goes out into the entire world and into entire generations.
None of us would listen, if we had not been divinely prompted and enabled to listen.
The Spirit of God issues the effective call, which the sheep (the elect) ultimately will hear (See John 10:3).
This then is the primary work of the Holy Spirit: To glorify Jesus by bringing a stubborn people like us to faith and repentance, possessed of a true righteousness, and fit for entrance into the presence of the King.
Blessed be His Name!
