St. John 16:5–15
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Christians, one and all rejoice,
With exultation springing,
And with united heart and voice
And holy rapture singing,
Sing to the Lord a new song, Alleluia, For He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. Alleluia (Introit, Psalm 98). The Holy Spirit sings God’s Word to the Church, and He bids us join in this new song of God’s new work.
Proclaim the wonders God has done,
How His right arm the vict’ry 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! (Introit). Christians sing. Not just because it’s fun. Not just because we like the tune or it makes us feel good.
Christians sing because God has done wonders. His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him (Introit). He Himself paid the ransom price for sin, He gave His dearest treasure (LSB 556:4). He gave His only Son into bitter death, so that He could save all of sinful mankind. This is why Christians sing.
But we cannot truly sing unless we know that God has done His wonders for us, for me, for you. This means we cannot rightly, fully sing except from the standpoint of faith—from a heart and mind and mouth that knows that the love and mercy of God is for me. In order to learn the new song about God’s new salvation, you have to have a new heart. The most expert and enthusiastic singer can make the most amazing music and yet, without faith in Jesus for their only hope, they will not be making a joyful noise to the Lord—He will tune that racket out. But on the other hand, the most tone-deaf, stuttering Christian who knows the true joy of trusting in Christ for full atonement for all sins, even their song (no matter how flat or screechy it might be) their song will be the new song of springing exultation and holy rapture that delights the heavenly Father’s heart, and glorifies the Son’s sacrifice and victory, and blends perfectly with the singing of the Holy Spirit.
Christians sing with faith. Christians sing with conviction. And since we are by nature sinful enemies of God, we can only gain this faith and conviction by the Holy Spirit giving it to us. On that last Thursday evening with His disciples, Jesus delivered His final sermon. John 14, 15, & 16 are beautifully summarized by Luther in the last four stanzas of his hymn that we sang, Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice. Those words capture the warnings, commands, promises, and blessings that Jesus spoke that night to His disciples, and that He still speaks to us in these Scriptures.
The central promise of this sermon was Jesus’ promise to send to them, and to us, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And He told them, and us, what the Spirit would do: when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Now the Spirit has come—we have Him in our Baptism and in His Word. And we have the conviction that the Spirit gives. So, we can sing with this conviction, this confident trust and hope. And that means we also sing with the Spirit about sin and righteousness and judgment.
When the Spirit comes, He will convict the world… concerning sin, because they do not believe in Christ. You see, the worst sin of all is not pride or murder, cheating on your taxes or robbing a bank, homosexuality or abortion. The worst sin of all is not believing in Jesus—that is rejecting the only way to be saved from all the other sins.This doesn’t mean that the other sins don’t matter—they do. In fact, they go hand in hand with the worst sin.When we commit any sin, we are not believing in Jesus. When we commit any sin, we are determining for ourselves what is good, what we should have, what we should be able to do. When we sin, we are not believing in Jesus and that what God tells us and gives us is good. Sin and faith are not completely separate things. And willful, deliberate sin, without repentance, drives away the Holy Spirit and it will kill faith.
Daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me (556:2).
Those who go to hell in the end already put themselves in hell during this life. By following their own desires, they rejected their God and Savior.
Christians, convicted by the Spirit, recognize this awful reality. And by the power of the Spirit, we confess it, even in our song. Music is good for the soul, sure. What’s really good for our soul is to sing the truth about our sin, our desperate need for God’s mercy, our inability to save ourselves.
My own good works all came to naught,
No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God’s judgment fought,
Dead to all good remaining (556:3).
From sin our flesh could not abstain,
Sin held its sway unceasing;
The task was useless and in vain,
Our guilt was e’er increasing (555:4).
All our knowledge, sense, and sight
Lie in deepest darkness shrouded
Till Your Spirit breaks our night
With the beams of truth unclouded.
You alone to God can win us;
You must work all good within us (904:2)
Only when we sing the conviction of our sin, can we truly sing about our Savior. Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me (611:1).
That brings us to the next conviction. When the Spiritcomes, He will convict the world… concerning righteousness, because Jesus went to the Father, and we see Him no longer. This is what all Christian songs are truly about—the cross of Jesus, His holy blood and death that cleanses us of all sin, His glorious resurrection that has opened the way to everlasting life. Jesus told His disciples, It is to your advantage that I go away. He died for us, in our place and for our benefit. It’s as if He said,
Though he will shed My precious blood,
Me of My life bereaving,
All this I suffer for your good;
Be steadfast and believing.
Life will from death the vict’ry win;
My innocence shall bear your sin,
And you are blest forever (556:8).
The Holy Spirit convicts us of Christ’s righteousness. By His Word, He gives us faith in Jesus, and God counts our faith as righteousness. We do not become righteous and good and holy in our own right, but we have the righteousness, goodness, and holiness of Jesus. We are still sinners, and yet by faith in Christ we are perfect.
This is the new work of salvation that God has done for us. This is the greatest wonder, His most marvelous deed. How then can we Christians not sing about this?
God loved the world so that He gave
His only Son the lost to save,
That all who would in Him believe
Should everlasting life receive (571:1).
By grace! This ground of faith is certain;
As long as God is true, it stands.
What saints have penned by inspiration,
What in His Word our God commands,
Our faith in what our God has done
Depends on grace—grace through His Son (566:4).
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head (563:1).
The righteousness of Jesus covers all our sin and makes it possible for us to come and live in God’s presence. His death is the source of our life, our joy, and all our singing:
Thou hast suffered great affliction
And hast borne it patiently,
Even death by crucifixion,
Fully to atone for me;
Thou didst choose to be tormented
That my doom should be prevented.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto Thee (420:6).
Lastly, Jesus said that when the Spirit comes, He will convict the world… concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. That means the devil is done. When Jesus died, the devil lost, and when Jesus rose again, all of the devil’s power was taken away from him. The devil can no longer accuse us of sin, because all our sin has been paid for. He cannot control us if we belong to God. He cannot harm us or rob us of the salvation Jesus won for us. Jesus says to His Christians:
I am yours and you are Mine,
And where I am you may remain;
The foe shall not divide us (556:7).
This also means that none of our other enemies can win either, no matter how much they rage and rail against us. Sin doesn’t get the final word. The world cannot destroy us. Death is not our end. Because Jesus is on our side.
This conviction, this boldness is the source of many magnificent Christian hymns. These are the songs of defiance. The songs of a people who know they are victorious even now, even while they wait for this victory to be revealed on the Last Day. When the devil throws our sins in our face, we can throw them right back at him:
Satan, hear this proclamation:
I am baptized into Christ!
I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation,
I am not so soon enticed.
I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I’ve traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me! (594:3).
When the evil world tempts us and attacks us, we can dismiss it because Jesus is our priceless treasure:
Hence, all earthly treasure!
Jesus is my pleasure,
Jesus is my choice.
Hence, all empty glory!
Naught to me thy story
Told with tempting voice.
Pain or loss,
Or shame or cross,
Shall not from my Savior move me
Since He deigns to love me (743:4).
And when a Christian dies, still we gather around their casket and sing, I know that my Redeemer lives! What comfort this sweet sentence gives! (461:1). And we confidently proclaim:
I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave thy victory?
I triumph still if Thou abide with me! (878:5)
As I mentioned earlier, those last four stanzas of Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice, are a summary of Jesus’ final sermon. And the hymn seems to end a bit abruptly with Jesus saying, This final word I leave you. But this is where we find ourselves, in history and in life. We no longer see Jesus with physical eyes, but instead we listen to His Word. We are left with this warning from Jesus:
But watch lest foes with base alloy
The heav’nly treasure should destroy;
This final word I leave you (556:10).
But we are also left with Jesus’ promises and with His Spirit. The Spirit of truth gives us conviction, so that we can be absolutely sure of our salvation. The Spirit glorifies Christ, because He takes what is Christ’s and declares it to you. All that the Father has is Christ’s; therefore Jesus said that the Spirit will take what is His and declare it to you. By His Word, by His conviction, the Spirit delivers the gifts of the Father and the Son. He gives us the wonders that God has done for us, and He provides us with the new song to sing. This is why Christians sing. This is why we say Alleluia—a word that literally means Praise the Lord!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
All hymns are from Lutheran Service Book, CPH.
