Introit (Psalm 98)
St. John 16:5–15
In the name of the Father and of the + Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Cantate!
That’s Latin for, “Y’all
Sing!” Sing to the Lord a new song! Here
we are, starting the fifth week of Easter and we’re still singing. It never gets old. It’s what the Church
does. But it’s worth asking, what is
the cause or basis of this song? What’s
the reason behind this call to sing? Our
Introit antiphon answers that too: Sing
to the Lord a new song, for He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of
the nations. So now we really should ask, where is this righteousness
revealed? What does it look like and
how does it happen? And the answers
to those questions are given by Jesus in our Gospel reading.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the
night when He was betrayed, spoke these words, during that last meal with His
disciples: Now I am going
to him who sent me… But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has
filled your heart. By this point it seems that the disciples had come to
the realization that Jesus was going to die. They didn’t know exactly when or
why and they didn’t want it to happen. The thought only filled them with
sorrow. So imagine their confusion when Jesus says, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away. They
did not understand it then, but we know the truth better now. It was to our
advantage that Jesus went away – that He died. Because He didn’t just go away
into the blue. He went to the Father with His body and blood as the perfect
sacrifice for sin. The death of Jesus is to our advantage, and to the advantage
of all sinners, because Jesus has laid down His life in the place of sinners. His
righteousness was substituted for our sin. His holy blood was poured out to pay
our debts. This is what we call the vicarious atonement. Jesus made atonement
for sin. He satisfied God’s demands by a perfect life according to His Law. He
satisfied God’s wrath over sin by His perfect suffering. And He did it
vicariously: He did it for us, in our place, so that it won’t be required of
us. Jesus’ death, His going away to make His offering to the Father, was to our
advantage. It is our very salvation. And this is really what the Psalm is
referring to when it says that the Lord’s right
hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. Jesus is God’s
right hand and He alone achieved salvation.
And there is more to our
advantage. With salvation accomplished by Jesus the Holy Spirit can come. Jesus said: 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 go, I will send him to you. This doesn’t mean that
Jesus had to get out of the way so the Spirit could come do His thing. But
Jesus’ going away, His atoning death, makes it possible for the Spirit to come.
Jesus’ death provides the Spirit with something to give us. The forgiveness
that Jesus accomplished for us is now delivered by the Holy Spirit in His Word.
And there are three parts to the Spirit’s Word, three convictions that come by
hearing the Spirit speak. When
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, comes, he will convict the world concerning sin
and righteousness and judgment. And by these three convictions the Spirit
of Truth guides us into all the truth: the truth of our sin, the truth of God’s
righteousness, and the truth of God’s judgment.
The first part of the Spirit’s
Word is that He gives you a conviction about sin. All that is ours is included
here, for all that we are is sin. The Spirit doesn’t try to convince us that we’re
worth it or that we deserve better. He doesn’t give us a conviction to improve
our self-esteem. He doesn’t affirm you, flatter you, or build you up, because
He is not the Spirit of lies and delusions, but the Spirit of Truth. And the
Truth is that man doesn’t even know the real problem. Man doesn’t even really
know what is sin and what isn’t. But worse than that, man doesn’t know the root
of sin, the true cause of evil actions, words, and thoughts. We think we’re
going to fix things by more laws, more regulations, more efforts. We have the
wrong problems so we make up our own wrong saviors – whether it’s government,
wealth, other gods, or love and tolerance – we keep looking to things that
can’t save us.
Man doesn’t have a true
conviction of sin, so the Spirit must give us one. He must reveal the root of
the problem, and that is unbelief. We sin because we do not perfectly believe
in the one true God. We sin because we do not listen and check ourselves by His
Word. Even Christians, continue to be rebels and disbelieve, and so we must be
convinced by the Spirit. The Spirit must tear us open, reveal our evil hearts,
and break our stubborn wills. This is a work of the Holy Spirit too. He’s not
all that pleasant. He is a holy fire and we must feel the terror of His
burning, and learn the knowledge of our sin and the danger we are in on our
own. If this hasn’t happened to you, if you’ve never known the conviction of
your sin, then maybe you’ve been listening to pastors and teachers who fail to
preach the Law clearly to you, who waffle on sin and its consequences, and
maybe I am included in this group of pastors at times. But also, if this hasn’t
happened to you, if you’ve never been concerned of your standing before God,
whether your faith and life match up with His Truth, then maybe it’s because
you reject the Spirit’s conviction, and you don’t listen to the Law because you
think it’s mean or unloving. Repent. We can never take God’s Word seriously
enough. We must believe that it is always a matter of life and death, what we
and others believe and then also what we and others do on the basis of those
beliefs. Listen to the Spirit’s Word and be convinced of your sin. He will
reveal it you, so that you may know your desperate need for the Lord’s
salvation.
Thankfully, the Spirit has another
revelation, another conviction. This is the second part of the Spirit’s Word:
He gives you a conviction about righteousness. And this revelation is the Good
News that causes so much singing in our Psalm. Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has revealed His righteousness in
the sight of the nations. The Holy Spirit has this conviction of
righteousness to give because of Jesus. Remember, it was to our advantage that
Jesus died and sent His Spirit. He revealed His righteousness on the cross by dying
for sinners. And now He reveals His righteousness in the Spirit’s Word of
forgiveness. The Word of Absolution, breathed by the Spirit, preached and
spoken by men, now delivers Christ’s righteousness to sinners. It declares the
sinner to be holy and righteous on account of Christ. Without the death of
Jesus the Holy Spirit could only convict us of sin and that would mean judgment
for us. That would only be cause for weeping and gnashing of teeth. But because
of Jesus’ death for us the Holy Spirit can give us a conviction about Christ’s
righteousness. And this conviction is that Christ’s righteousness is given to
us as a gift. We are not saved by our own righteousness, for our righteousness
is nothing but sin. We are saved by Christ’s righteousness, His perfect life in
our place, His holy blood in our place. That is what the Spirit also convinces
us of by His Word. The Holy Spirit works faith with His Word so that we can say
with conviction, “I believe in Jesus Christ my Lord. He has revealed His
righteousness and given it to me in exchange for all my sin. This is most
certainly true.” That is the conviction that saves.
The third part of the Spirit’s
Word is that He gives you a conviction about judgment. This judgment can go two
ways. Jesus said in John, chapter 3: God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in
order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name
of the only Son of God. If you will not hear and be convinced by the
Spirit’s Word, if you will not repent of your sins and trust in the
righteousness of Christ, then you will receive the same judgment that God has
made for the ruler of this world, the devil – condemnation. This is the
Spirit’s work too and He also does this with His Word.
The topic of excommunication
recently came up in conversation and this is really what it is. Excommunication
is telling someone with the Word of God that because of their sin they are
under judgment and unless they repent they will stay there. Some might think,
this doesn’t happen much anymore. That’s probably true, and shame on your pastors
for not doing it. Shame on me! And shame on all of us who think it’s not
important that we do this. First, Jesus commanded this be done. And second, it
is truly a most merciful and loving thing to tell someone, to warn them, of the
judgment they’ve brought upon themselves by their sin.
Now, remember I said this
judgment from the Holy Spirit can go two ways. For all who do believe, who have
heard the conviction of their sin and received the conviction of faith in
Christ’s righteousness, then the judgment of God is against the devil and this
evil world and it is joyous news. For you have been judged righteous and the
devil has been judged guilty. His time is short, his doom is set, and death
itself will receive its punishment as well. Sin, death, and the devil are
finished because Jesus died and the resurrection of Jesus is their judgment. Their
power is gone, life has won. Jesus is risen, the verdict is in. You are set
free from your sin and you will rise from your grave. The devil, your own sin,
and death will be locked up and cannot harm you.
And that is cause for singing. Jesus’
going away is not a cause for our sorrow. It is the cause for our joy! He has
gone to the Father with His blood as the sacrifice for sin. He has died and is
alive again. He has gone to the Father and yet, still, He is here. Because the
Spirit of Truth sings the Word of Christ. The Spirit’s song is of our sin and
Christ’s righteousness. And so in that song of Truth, in that Word of
conviction, the righteousness of Christ is declared to be yours, and the body and
blood of Christ are given for you. And as we learn this new song from the
Spirit, we sing it back to Him, praising our Lord as His little mockingbirds, happy
in His righteousness that He gives us, happy with the words He teaches us. Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, with
exultation springing, And with united
heart and voice and holy rapture singing, Proclaim the wonders God has done, How His right arm the victory won.
What price our ransom cost Him! (LSB
556:1) Make a joyful noise to the
Lord, all the earth; Break forth into
joyous song and sing praises!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
