Pentecost.
May 15, 2005
John 16:5-11.

The Work of the Advocate.

  Pentecost is obviously concerned with the Holy Spirit. Certainly the event we call Pentecost was entirely dependant upon the Holy Spirit. If the he had not come upon the disciples with tongues of fire and caused them to speak in languages they did not know, there would not have been a Christian Pentecost. In fact, there may never have been a Christian Church! So it may come as a surprise for me to ask the question, “Was the Holy Spirit really the focus of Pentecost?”

  We read last week that before Jesus ascended to heaven, he ordered his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit because then, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8). Then on the day of Pentecost, there was the sound of a violent wind, tongues of fire and Galilean men speaking many different languages. Peter explained all of this, not with an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, but on Jesus Christ. Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36). The disciples witness to Jesus Christ was the main point and the very reason the Holy Spirit came!

  For many Christians, the Holy Spirit is a great source of confusion. There are many false ideas about the Holy Spirit and what he does. For sure, the Holy Spirit is a mystery. God is a mystery! Yet that does not mean that we cannot understand the work of the Holy Spirit.

^16:5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. (NRS).

  That is only a part of what Jesus said that night about the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Yet in those few words we see what the Holy Spirit was going to do. He would be an Advocate for the disciples who would enable them to understand Jesus’ word, trust in him and bear witness to him. And that is what the Holy Spirit continues to do to this day. He causes us to understand Jesus’ word, believe in him and bear witness to him.

  Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Advocate”. The general sense of the term is a helper in court who might speak on behalf of the accused, an advocate. John uses the term of Jesus himself in a verse that we probably all know. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (John 15:26-16:2).

  In other words, in these passages, the main work of the Holy Spirit is to support the disciples in their witness to Christ. And that was the exactly what the Holy Spirit did on Pentecost. He transformed a group of timid men, hiding in locked rooms, into fearless witnesses. Peter and the others clearly proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the saviour of the world. Then they went out and preached and healed in Jesus’ name. All that they did in the power of the Holy Spirit. And there we see what Jesus meant when he said, It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

  It is not easy to bear witness to Jesus because that testimony confronts the world with the issues of sin, righteousness and judgment. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit would confront the world with sin, because they do not believe in me. Jesus is not here thinking about our numerous sins, things like lying and cheating, hurting and stealing. He is thinking about how we break the First Commandment, how we do not fear, love and trust in God above all things. Specifically the world rejects Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of the world.

  So on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit confronted thousands of people in Jerusalem with their sin of refusing to believe in Jesus. In their sin they crucified him. But then God raised him from the dead, took him into heaven and sent the promised Holy Spirit. And that proved that Jesus is Lord. Therefore, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38).

  The Holy Spirit also confronts the world with the issue of righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension prove that he was righteous. In fact he is called the Righteous One. It means that he was right. He did the will of God right; he spoke the word of God right; everything he said and did was right, exactly according to the will and nature of God. He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father because he is the Righteous One.

  The world hates this testimony that Jesus is the “right one”. The world reacts violently to the fact that God has a standard of “rightness” that only Jesus meets. It gnashes its teeth when it hears the Holy Spirit say, This Jesus is “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.” There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12). But that is what the Holy Spirit said to the rulers in Jerusalem. And that truth is our hope. We too will go to heaven simply by calling on his name!

  Then the Holy Spirit confronts the world with judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. God condemned the serpent, i.e., the devil that deceived Eve. He destroyed his power at Jesus’ death and resurrection. He will throw him into the lake of fire when Jesus returns. The world needs to pay attention. If Satan cannot escape God’s judgment, how will mere mortals? Our curses and insults and denial will only make it worse. And so the Holy Spirit caused the disciples to speak in many different languages so that people could hear of the power of God and the defeat of Satan and turn from the power of Satan to God.

  This is perhaps already obvious, but note that the Holy Spirit does not work independently. He does not float around in the air like Casper the Ghost and convict the world of sin. He does his work through Jesus’ disciples, Peter, you and me. On Pentecost, no one heard the Holy Spirit’s voice. They heard Peter’s voice speaking the word of God. Today no one hears the Holy Spirit’s voice. They hear your and my voice speaking the word of Christ. And in that way, they hear the Holy Spirit, the Advocate Jesus sent to us.

  Immediately following today’s reading Jesus says, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-15).

  I cannot overstate this important point: the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God! He does not come to us and work because we sit out in a field for hours smoking pot and saying, “Om”! He doesn’t work through our dreams and gut feelings or intuition. He works through the Word. That’s what we see on Pentecost and from then on. Some attributed the miracle of speaking in other languages to wine. The apostles were drunk and thus ecstatic like some pagan prophet. What did Peter say? This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel!

  That is how the Holy Spirit worked. He made Peter understand the Word of God and recognize its fulfillment. And that is exactly what Jesus said to his disciples. The Holy Spirit would make them understand Scripture and his word. The Holy Spirit speaks the word of the one God just as Jesus did. Jesus himself said, My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. (John 7:16). Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. (John 5:19).

  God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is one. He is not a man that he should change his mind or get confused. What God has said, that he does. So it should be of no surprise when Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears . . . he will take what is mine and declare it to you. That is how the Spirit confronts the world with sin, righteousness and judgment. He moves the people of God to proclaim the Word of God!

  Brothers and sisters, this applies to you and me. We received the Holy Spirit when we were baptized. He is our Advocate given to each one of us. He enables us to understand Jesus’ word. Then he moves us to repeat that word to the world around us. And as we speak the word, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Then he calls them to faith in Jesus. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!

  Depend on the Advocate Jesus has given you. Let him speak to you through the word of Christ. Then let him speak that word through you to the world.