How the Helper Helps
John 16:5-11 (ESV)
July 11, 2021
Pastor Jimmy Houck

My name is Jimmy Houck. I have the great joy of being the high school youth pastor, here. I have been for the last year. Before that, I was the middle school youth pastor. It’s a great joy to be with you guys this morning. We are currently working through a series on the Holy Spirit. As Pastor Ritch said, yes, we are Baptists, but we believe in the Holy Spirit. Amen? (Amen!) Last week, Pastor Ritch took us to John 14:16-18 and he highlighted six truths about the Person of the Holy Spirit. So this morning, we are going to be looking into the work of that wonderful Helper. We’re going to be looking at John 16:8-11.
As you’re turning there, I have a question for you. Have you ever started a project or started a task thinking you could handle this, only to be confronted with the stark, discouraging reality that you were in way over your head? As my wife could tell you, that pretty much happens every time I try to do anything around the house. But some of us are made to be preachers and networkers, and some of us are made to be handy. I am not of the second group. I actually had an experience like that a couple years ago when we moved up here. We were moving from Kentucky and so I knew that I was going to need some help. We had a lot of stuff. So I hired a moving company to help us pack up in Kentucky and drive us up to Illinois. But going across state boarders, I had to actually hire another company to meet us here at our house and unpack for us. So it was helpful. I didn’t have to bother the church and try to get a bunch of people to meet me there to help me. I thought, “I’ll take care of this myself. It’s no big deal.” Well, everything worked out great. We got all the way up here. We were actually early. So we’re looking at the time and the moving company never showed up. They never answered my calls. So I was fixing to give up for the night and maybe try to round up some people the next day, but I had a great helper. He was not the Holy Spirit. He was my father-in-law. He was like, “We can do this.” Between the two of us and the very gracious truck driver who saw the problem we were in, between the three of us, we were able to get everything moved in before dark that night.
As we look at our passage this morning, I can only imagine that the disciples of Jesus, as they are sitting around the table with Him, are experiencing their own “I’m in way over my head!” kind of moment. In the upper room discourse, which if we look at the book of John, John 13-17 is this great upper room discourse. What Jesus is doing in these chapters is He is preparing His disciples for His departure. They’re beginning to realize that their leader in whom they have placed all their hopes is going away. It’s becoming more and more clear to them, though Jesus has told them, that He is going away by dying. If you think about it, how could these guys not feel overwhelmed?
These are not the cream of the crop rabbi followers. Those guys were following Gamaliel and the rabbi’s. These were fishermen. We’ve got Matthew, the tax collector. We’ve got Simon the Zealot. These guys have been following Jesus for three years and one thing I guarantee you they learned is the crowds weren’t coming to hear them preach. One thing they learned is the crowds weren’t coming to have them lay their hands on people, at least not yet. So they’re hearing that their leader is going to leave and yet, they’re expected to carry on and to continue the mission. That’s also the theme of the upper room discourse. Jesus is going but they are to continue on being fishers of men. They are to so create community and love one another that the world will look at them and say, “Those are disciples of Jesus.” They still have work to do.
Not only do they have work to do, but Jesus has another piece of information that He has just told them a few verses earlier, moments earlier for them, in John chapter 16. They’re going to face persecution. They’re going to face fierce persecution, the likes that they have not yet faced under Jesus’ leadership. If that’s not being in over your head, I don’t know what is. That’s a little bit worse than not having the moving company show up, right? How does this relate to us this morning? Well, brothers and sisters, we are the spiritual descendants of these men. As disciples of Jesus Christ living in the 21st century, do you know that we have inherited the great commission? We have inherited the commission, the responsibility of Matthew 28:16-20. We too are called to make disciples. We’re called to make disciples in our own backyard, in our own families. But we are to make disciples across the entire planet, so much so that there is not one square inch of this globe that we are not to feel concern for, that there are disciples there.
I don’t know about you, but when I honestly take into consideration that responsibility that is on me, it’s a little overwhelming. It’s overwhelming when I jump on social media and people who I have worshiped with are now walking away from Christ. It’s overwhelming when at 34, I consider how much our government in the United States has changed and shifted in a mere twenty years. My dad used to talk to me about how much the country was changing and I used to roll my eyes. I don’t roll my eyes anymore. I don’t know about you, but it can be a little bit overwhelming when I consider the 10/40 window and when I consider just how much work is left in the world. When I consider how many languages still don’t have the written Word of God translated into their language. When I consider how many villages in the world don’t have a single Gospel-preaching church. You know, we are fortunate to live in central Illinois. We are blessed! I could rattle off ten to twelve immediately, and I’m sure there are more, Gospel-preaching churches right here in our region. They have faithful pastors and elders and are surrounded by faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, meeting in other congregations just like us this morning. But there are towns that don’t have anything like that for miles around. We have work to do. This, at least for me, can be overwhelming. It can be overwhelming when I consider the work to do in my own children’s lives, the Great Commission with them.

But here’s the good news. I didn’t come up here this morning to discourage you. I’m here to encourage you. I think this Word is here to encourage you. I believe with all my heart that this same word of encouragement that Jesus offered His disciples in the upper room is the very same encouragement that we need this morning to get at the work that Christ has called us to do. Turn with me to John chapter 16, or look in your laps. Jesus said to the disciples,
5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
This is an interesting statement because just a couple chapters earlier, Peter asked exactly that question. But there is a type of asking that Jesus is looking for. They are very much asking, “Where are you going? What’s going on?” But they’re asking about themselves. They’re discouraged. Jesus wants them to ask where He is going for the strategy, for the mission. That’s what Jesus is here talking to them about at this upper room discourse. He has a mission for them and He wants them to ask where He is going about that. He says
5 …none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away,
Let’s pause there and think. Is it going to be to their advantage circumstantially? No. He just said they’re going to be persecuted. They’re going to be kicked out of the synagogues. No, it is not going to be to their advantage circumstantially. But it will be to their advantage when they’re considering the mission. He says
7 …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. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Jesus’ word of encouragement for these overwhelmed disciples and for us is this. For them He said, “The Spirit is coming.” For us He says, “Brothers and sisters, the Spirit has come.” His word of encouragement for you today, for me today is this. The Spirit’s work makes our work possible. So we should begin by asking this morning, what is the Spirit’s work that makes our work possible? What is it? In a word,
1. The Spirit’s Work is to Convict the World.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

I want to consider for a few moments this morning with you this word “convict.” It’s a very important word when we consider the work of the Holy Spirit. The word which the ESV and the NASB translates as “convict” comes from the root Greek word elegcho. Now, one Greek dictionary defines elegcho in this way. It means to, on the one hand, show someone his sin. That’s what we would expect. That understanding naturally rises from the word “convict.” But it doesn’t mean just that we show someone his sin. It also means that we summon him or her to repentance. It’s both. Therefore, it is not merely the prosecution of sinners, though it is that. It is also, brothers and sisters, this wonderful invitation to sinners.

The root word elegcho shows up also in Hebrews 12:5. In that passage, we get this really beautiful picture of how the conviction or reproof from God can be visualized for us this morning when we think about the work of the Spirit and His convicting.

Hebrews 12:5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

I want to remind you that the book of Hebrews was originally a sermon. So this is being spoken to a congregation like us, but in the 1st century. Then the writer of the book of Hebrews quotes a Scripture passage that says

Hebrews 12:5 “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

“Reproved” is related to the root word elegcho.

Hebrews 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Here’s the picture of Hebrews 12:5-6 and I think the picture of the Holy Spirit’s convicting work. It’s a picture of a father with his son. I have a little boy named Sully. Part of our relationship, not always, but sometimes there are experiences that go something like this. He does something. I shake my head and I say “go to your room.” I say that because I need to draw him away from whatever is going on and I need to have a heart to heart with him. Mano y mano, man to man, I need to level with him. Now, there are various things, depending on the situation, that may happen up in that room. But no matter what discipline I’m going to be bringing, I always have two goals.

The first goal is it’s really important to me that before I discipline my son in any way, I want him to know why he is being disciplined. I want him to understand what he has done and the significance of what he has done. I want to convict him in that way. But you know, I have a second goal. My long term goal for my son is that he will grow up to be a man of God, a man of integrity, a man who walks with Jesus. So when I discipline my boy, I want him to understand that I want him to grow up to be a man who is blessed and flourishes with God. I want him to have an idea of the life that I’m calling him to. I want to convict him of both his sin and the life that is better.

Brothers and sisters, as the people of God, it should be very clear to us that the Holy Spirit’s work of convicting the world should work in tandem with our work of discipling the world. It should work together. I think there are a couple traps that we can fall into. On the one hand, when we are trying to evangelize, we can fall into the trap of never really confronting our loved ones and our neighbors and our co-workers and our friends with their sin. If we never confront them with their sin, with their particular, specific sin, we are not working in tandem with the Holy Spirit because that is part of what it means to convict. But on the other hand, it’s not enough to think that the Holy Spirit is working through us if we are randomly calling out sin on Facebook, for instance, or social media. No, we must do more than that. We must follow the Spirit’s example and lead people towards life. Brothers and sisters, do we not know where life is found? Life is found in a real relationship with the risen Lord Jesus Christ. So yes, we have to talk very frankly, not in judgment but in a heart of grief, with people about their sin. But then we don’t leave them there. We call them to something better. We call them to a life with God. We call them to the way of Jesus, who said in John 14, also in the upper room, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

If the Holy Spirit’s work is to convict the world, then the next question is how does the Holy Spirit do that? We think about the picture of me sitting with Sully on his bed and trying to convict him, but the question is how in the world do you do that? How in the world do you help someone’s eyes to open to where they are at and where they need to be? In a phrase, the world is convicted through the wisdom of the Gospel.

2. The World is convicted by the Gospel.

The wisdom of the Gospel is the channel by which the Spirit works. Let’s look again at verse 8 in order to unpack three different aspects of the Gospel’s wisdom, which are used by the Spirit to convict the world.

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

This is how the Spirit convicts.

a) The Spirit convicts the world concerning the sin of unbelief.

Why does the Spirit convict the world concerning sin? Look at verse 9. Jesus says

9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

This is the deep sin that the Holy Spirit is working to convict. If we’re not careful, brothers and sisters, sometimes we don’t even think unbelief is a sin. We can be tempted to think that it’s just a state of being, that it’s just where people are at, when in reality, it is rebellion against God to be in a state of unbelief. Brothers and sisters, it was unbelief that was at the root and preceded Eve’s sin when she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She was deceived and she believed a lie. She believed that she couldn’t trust her creator. The sin of unbelief was right there at the very beginning.

Brothers and sisters, it was the sin of unbelief in the world that led to the crucifixion of the Son of God, the perfect life, the light. There has never been a man more holy and good and innocent. And what did the world do? What would you and I have done apart from the saving work of the Holy Spirit if we had lived at that time? What the world did is they took Him and they murdered the Son of God. But it all comes back to the sin of unbelief. In John 12:48 we see that the sin of unbelief itself is worthy of judgment. Jesus told the crowds at that point,

John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

But on the other hand, we are taught in John 1:12 that to truly repent of the sin of unbelief and to believe in Jesus is to be saved. The Apostle John wrote

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Do you know that there are sins that the world is convicted of and that they even repent of, but not unto salvation? I was once talking with a Hindu teacher. He was a teacher at a Hindu temple. We were talking about the concept of sin. Do you know what? He agreed with me that looking at a woman that was not his wife, lustfully, was sin. He agreed with me. He agreed with me that he had committed that sin. But what he would say is that he repents of that. He turns away from that sin. But that man’s repentance of the sin of lust did not lead to salvation. There is one sin that when we repent of it, we are saved. That is the sin of unbelief. That is the sin that the Holy Spirit is working all around us to convict the world about. The world has passed over the one Son of God. Here’s a second aspect of the wisdom of the Gospel.

b) The Spirit convicts the world concerning its inability to match the righteousness of Christ.

Why does the Holy Spirit convict the world because of righteousness? Look at verse 10 with me. Jesus explained that the Spirit is going to come and convict the world

10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;

I don’t know about you, but when I read that, for a considerable amount of time, I was thinking, “I don’t understand what is being said, here. I’m really having a hard time connecting conviction regarding righteousness and Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. How does that play?” Well, here’s the logic. Brothers and sisters, the resurrection of Jesus and His ascension to the throne of God was visibly seen by a crowd of witnesses. It’s a historical anomaly that those who don’t believe in the supernatural resurrection of Christ struggle to this day to deal with. Mass hallucinations don’t happen. That doesn’t happen. Mass hallucinations certainly don’t happen in exactly the same way three times, which is what is recorded. So it’s a very strange thing that even unbelievers who are true biblical scholars, those who understand historical criticism, those who reject Christ, they struggle with that. But this resurrection and then the following ascension to heaven, we need to understand that this is God’s authoritative approval of the life and the teaching of Jesus. It is as if God said when Christ ascended to heaven, “This is the way. This is the life. This is my standard.” This is the appeal that the Holy Spirit is making throughout the world today. Jesus Christ is the standard of righteousness.

Now, every culture, every sub-culture in America and cultures all across the world have various standards of righteousness. But people don’t find peace as they are trying to achieve those standards of righteousness. As the world goes about seeking self-help programs, it is to no end. There is never a time when peace, the peace of righteousness, can flood into their souls unless they meet the standard of heaven. What is the standard of heaven? The life of Christ. So we do not please God by being known as a kind and all-around good person. We don’t please God by being better than most people. We don’t please God by avoiding major sins or dutifully following a list of religious rules, no matter what list that is. The Holy Spirit convicts the world through the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, that there is only one way to please God, and that is to measure up to the righteousness of Jesus. The question is not are you better than most? The question is not are you as good as Mother Theresa was? That’s not the question. The question from God is “How do you measure up against my Son? I resurrected Him like no one else and ascended Him to sit at my right hand. He is the standard. How do you measure up to Him?” Friends, the world around us is struggling because the Spirit is working and they know they’re not matching up to righteousness. They might not use the word “righteousness,” but they know that they are not okay. It’s going to take us to step into their lives to speak the Gospel, that they might know the way that they might attain the righteousness of Christ.

Here’s the problem. The righteousness of Jesus, matching Him cannot be achieved by sinful man. It cannot be achieved! It only takes one sin. One sin and it is over. It is game over! I don’t know about you, but I have sinned this morning, whether through commission or omission, whether through my mind or through my heart. Just this morning! If this was the only day I lived, I have failed to meet the glory of God. I have fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:21-22 tells us that this goal of meeting the standard of Christ is impossible by sinful man. Here’s the Gospel, here’s the good news, it can only be received by sinful man. It is received by Spirit-birthed faith that takes our life and unifies it with the perfect, all-pleasing life of the risen Savior, who is alive today. He is in heaven at the right hand of God.

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

This is what the Holy Spirit is working in the world to do. He is constantly overthrowing every false standard of righteousness that human beings may raise up. The third aspect of the wisdom of the Gospel that the Holy Spirit is at work in our world using to convict, is this.

c) The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning the inevitability of judgment.

Why does He do that? How does He do that? Well, let’s look at verse 11. This is what Jesus said. The Holy Spirit will come to convict the world

11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Here’s the logic. There is a ruler of this world that has ruled underneath the allowance of God, and that is the devil. In Christ’s conquering death and resurrection, that devil has lost the power of death. He has lost his authority. Here’s the logic. If the devil himself has been judged, how much more certain is it that those who are of the devil’s kingdom and are counted as the devil’s children are judged? That’s a hard word! If you’re a friend here this morning and you’re following me, you just heard me say that if you’re an unbeliever, that you are a child of the devil. I don’t mean to say that to offend you. I mean that because that’s what I was once. That’s not where I have remained and that’s not where you have to remain. But that hard saying, I think we need to back that up with Scripture, don’t we?

Ephesians 2:2 is where we would do that, where it says that we were made alive in Christ. But before we were made alive in Christ, it says that we were all following the prince of the power of the air. That is the devil. Colossians 1:13 teaches us that it was needed for God the Father to deliver us from the domain of darkness and He transferred us. We needed to be transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son, into the kingdom of Christ. Then finally, 1 John 3:10 as John is want to do, he pulls no punches, stating that people who are not born of God, who do not truly love as Christ loved, they are children of the devil. All human beings are part of one of two families, either the family of God or the family of the devil. The Spirit is now at work in the world warning of the coming judgment that is clearly spelled out in Revelation 20:10. We need to hear that coming judgment. This is what it says in Revelation 20 verse 10 and then we’ll read verse 15. This was a vision, so it’s spoken in past tense, but it’s truly future tense.

Revelation 20:10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever

Revelation 20:15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Brothers and sisters, since the Holy Spirit has come, I am convinced that He is doing His job. I’m convinced that He is convicting the world about this. You might say, “Hold on! I know a lot of people that don’t believe in hell and don’t believe in judgment.” They believe in some sort of judgment. They may not call it hell. They may not believe it has anything to do with God or a god. But tell me, when our world is so terrified, brothers and sisters, that there are many who don’t want to have children because of the global warming that our globe is experiencing, tell me that that’s not fear of judgment. Certainly, it is! Do you know what it takes? It takes people like you and me to enter into those who are fearing some sort of judgment. You need to keep talking until you find out what it is. We need to enter into their lives and explain to them, “Listen, this fear that you have is actually the Holy Spirit. The problem is, you’re not afraid enough and you’re not afraid of the right thing. There is something much, much worse than our rising global atmosphere, heat or whatever. There is something much worse than that. It’s the lake of fire.”

Brothers and sisters, we need to know what the Holy Spirit is doing in the world and how He is doing it. We need to know because we can’t possibly do our work of making disciples if we don’t know what His work is of convicting the world. In fact, if we’re not careful, we might be practicing forms of discipleship and evangelism that actually depart ways with what He is doing. We need to ask ourselves questions like do we treat unbelief as sin or merely as a helpless condition in which people find themselves? If we treat it as simply a helpless condition, then what we think is, “This person I love, they are not a believer because they haven’t heard the right arguments yet.” I’m not saying that God doesn’t work through logic and reason and arguments. He does. But that’s not their problem. Their problem is they have not yet been broken by having their eyes opened to their sin of unbelief. They might have their heart broken on other things, but they have not been broken by the fact that God sent His Son to love them and to lead them and they have been ignoring Him and rejecting Him. Being broken on that is what brought us into the kingdom, brothers and sisters, being broken by the fact that we have been ignoring the precious one of heaven. When that breaks you, you are born again. That happens by the work of the Spirit. We read that in John 1:12.

Secondly, we need to ask ourselves do we warn people of God’s standards of righteousness? Or do we act as if God only demands righteousness from the Church? I want to say this gently. I will confess to you that I’ve said this and I wonder if you’ve said something like this. I’ve heard it many times. “We can’t expect the world to act like Christians.” Brothers and sisters, listen to me. That is exactly what God expects! God expects all human beings to submit their knee to His Son and act like Christians. That is exactly what He expects. That is what God expects of the world and we are to help them see that. Whether they are willing to accept it or not, there is a God out there who has an expectation that they are not meeting.

Thirdly, we need to ask ourselves, do we warn people about the very real danger of Hell? Again, I don’t mean like a mean, cruel, “I’m happy you’re going to hell.” I mean a broken, “You’re my son or my daughter and I love you, but there is a very real danger and that is that you will die and pass from this life apart from Christ. After that point, there is no hope.” Praise God that the thief on the cross teaches us that until we stop breathing, there is hope. But there is a point when the hope will end. We have to warn people of that. We have to! We have to talk about it because it’s true. And we have to talk about it because that’s what the Holy Spirit is convicting them about. If we don’t talk about it because we want to be nice, then we are digressing from the Holy Spirit’s work.

Brothers and sisters, this morning we’ve considered the work of our Helper. We’ve considered His work because even when we are failing to work, even when we are stumbling along, He is still working. Even when we are weak and when we’ve messed up in our discipleship of those around us, He is still perfect and His strength is still there. If we aren’t overwhelmed at some level by the great commission, we’ve lost what it is. We’ve forgotten what it is. We’ve forgotten that that is the goal of our life. That’s why we’re still here. It’s because the job is not done. But we have great encouragement that though this job is big, though this job is massive, though this job is going to take everything that we have, we have a helper whose work makes it possible for us to get it done and take the next step forward. It’s an expanse of the kingdom of Christ over all the world.

I want to share with you a story found in 2 Chronicles 20. It’s a story of a good king named Jehoshaphat. He was terribly in over his head. He had the responsibility of going into battle with his army and protecting the nation of Judah, but the problem is that their enemy was not one kingdom, but two. The kingdom of Moab and the kingdom of Ammon had joined together into a mighty force that totally dwarfed the size of Jehoshaphat and his army. I imagine that there was incredible fear. I know that I would have been afraid. But King Jehoshaphat was a good king who believed in the Lord, and so he turned to God in prayer, and this is what he said.

2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them?

In other words, will you not come and do your work?

2 Chronicles 20:12 …For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

This is why we’re considering the work of the Holy Spirit. By considering the work of the Holy Spirit in John 16, we can say, “O God, our eyes are upon you.” God responded to this king’s humility and when his troops arrived to the battlefield do you know what they found? They found a dead army. They found an army of corpses because on that day, God had already done His work. In our mission to make disciples and to advance the Kingdom of Jesus, we need to have the heart of Jehoshaphat. I’m challenging you brothers and sisters, have the heart of Jehoshaphat.

Just as this good king still had the responsibility to muster the troops and to march them into battle, we must faithfully proclaim the Gospel. We must be mouthpieces for the Holy Spirit. But ultimately, the battle for the hearts and minds of our friends and our neighbors belongs to the Lord. He is the one convicting the world. He is the one opening eyes to the reality of sin, the sin of unbelief. He is the one helping people see the need for the gift of righteousness. He is the one opening hearts to the reality that judgment is inevitable. By considering the work of the Holy Spirit this morning, we can pray to our Lord and God and say like Jehoshaphat, “Our eyes are on you!” Because our eyes are upon Him, brothers and sisters, we can be encouraged because His work makes our work possible.