[0:00] Amen. Well good morning church. Many organizations, likely the one you work with, has a mission statement that they have and that mission statement that many organizations have helps them know what it is that they remind them of what their overall purpose is and it helps also employees understand, oh it also is a it's a framework to wash all decisions through should an organization do this or do that and if it helps advance the mission the answer is yes or if it doesn't or if it's a distraction from the mission the answer is no.
[0:38] It also helps employees who do mundane work remind themselves why it is they do, why they do. I answer phones, why do I answer phones? Because I'm a part of this bigger thing. Why am I a custodian? I'm a custodian that's in an organization that does this big thing and I'm a part of this thing and it reminds everybody why it is that they do what they do.
[1:00] We as believers in Christ are no different. We have been given a mission from the Lord and and Jesus today in our passage reminds the disciples what it is that is to be incorporated as a part of their mission, what it is that they why they are here and let's remind ourselves where they're at in history. They've been in the upper room with Christ.
[1:25] They have left the upper room perhaps now they're wandering through the streets of Jerusalem on their way here in few maybe a couple of short hours down to the Garden of Egesemony where Jesus will be betrayed and he will no longer be with them and it's Jesus is telling them it's crunch hour. I'm about to no longer be able to be with you.
[1:48] I'm about to die on the cross. I just have a few moments more with you and let's remind ourselves why you're here and so these these this passage needs to be properly understood and interpreted in the context in which we find them and so Jesus is going to basically share two things with his disciples.
[2:07] So if you're following on a little bit of an outline you can say the disciples mission is bigger than the cells. That's what Jesus is going to communicate. It's bigger than you and secondly the disciples mission requires supernatural help so he's going to talk about the Holy Spirit coming.
[2:22] It's going to require supernatural help and that's it's on those two main points that the whole rest of this mission message is going to be hinged upon. So let's see how it is that Jesus communicates these two things. So in order to be effective in mission he's firstly going to communicate you must focus on God's glory not your own needs. Focus on God's glory not your own needs. Look with me in verse 4b through verse 6.
[2:57] I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asked me but where are you going? But because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart. What are the these things that he's just communicated with his disciples that has caused sorrow to fill the disciples heart? Well he's communicated three things. If we begin back in chapter 13 we see that he is revealed to them of his departure. I go to prepare a place for you you remember and where I am going you cannot follow me immediately.
[3:36] Jesus speaks about his death and then he also communicates to them that he has not fully revealed their mission.
[3:50] The passage unfolds with the plan piece by piece and he hasn't fully articulated everything to them. And thirdly he has communicated what are these things that he's communicated that sorrow has filled their heart is that he's communicated to them the world's response to the gospel message because remember last week that they will kill you and think they're doing a service to God.
[4:13] And so adversity and persecution is coming and so Jesus is saying to them I have said these things and because I've said these things to you sorrow has begun to fill your hearts. But notice the point here is must focus on God's glory not your own needs because Jesus gives a mild rebuke in verse five. In verse five we read but now I'm going to him who sent me and none of you asks me where are you going.
[4:44] None of you asks their response was very natural but because just because it's natural doesn't mean it was right and they began to think about themselves more than what lay ahead for the Lord. They never once considered what Jesus was thinking or feeling or what was his purpose and what was taking place. The disciples never didn't think to ask Jesus what are his hopes what is his purposes that he's going to do this for. They don't really consider what this means for Christ and where he's going and they're not thinking about what these things mean for Christ they're just thinking about what these things mean for them and even though that response is very natural it doesn't mean that that response is very is right. Earlier I'm an amateur selfie taker. Earlier this year I went to
[5:46] Washington DC and with Pastor Eric to go to this church planting conference and it was very wonderful and we enjoyed the time. One night after the seminars kind of got a little break in the evening and got over a little early I took the subway in to see the White House and some of the other things that you can see in Washington DC. I'm not from around there and so I went to go see those things and I wanted to give photo evidence to my wife that I had was there and so I took a photo of a selfie. I'm the only one around and so I took my photo and it's just my big face in the photo with this little white building on the side of my head was the White House and I looked at the photo and I thought oh isn't that just like what the disciples were doing. The big deal is the White House. I was there I saw it but I made a big deal in the photo about me and Jesus is communicating this very thing is I've said some things to you to help you understand your mission and what it means for me and what it means but all you ever heard was what it meant for you and how it's going to be costly for you and you didn't pay any attention to the big deal.
[7:11] Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's right and Jesus provides them a mild rebuke in verse 5 and what is he doing in verse 5 why does he rebuke them they were already grieving but why it's not that their grief over his departure was necessarily wrong or their grief was insignificant compared to what was taking it's just that their grief was insignificant into what was going to take place the next day when Jesus would be on the cross Jesus is not demeaning their concern for their future he is lifting their eyes to look beyond their circumstances to something greater and this is what happens on the cross the following day something much more important they're in their own health or their own safety is concerned it's much bigger than them and Jesus teaches his disciples to live for something greater the mission he gives them as witnesses is far greater than their hopes and dreams their mission is worth giving up conveniences and comfort for in fact persecution is coming and Jesus calls us to invest our very lives everything we have for something far greater as disciples today in order to be an effective disciple and remain on mission you must focus on
[8:48] God's glory over your own needs that's principle number one principle number two you must rely on supernatural help in verses eight through eleven we read that but first i'm going to there's a transition verse in verse seven nevertheless i tell you the truth that it is to your advantage that i go away for if it were not for if i do not go away the helper will not come to you but if i go i will send him to you jesus is leaving which is good for them as disciples he is going to go to the cross and ascend to heaven only then the spirit will be able to come to them and the spirit will be sent by jesus to live in as disciples of jesus as they continue to mission of jesus and call others to be disciples and follow jesus as well we need the spirit for many reasons but in the context of this promise is the mission as disciples again there are many reasons why we need the the holy spirit but in the context of this it's for the disciples to remain on mission jesus does not send the holy spirit so that we have this invisible butler to bring us cold beverages as we lounge around the house he sends his holy spirit to empower us to accomplish a mission to courageously declare the gospel in the midst of a hostile world it was true of them and it's true of us today and so what does the holy spirit do the holy spirit will convict the world of sin this is the point of verses eight through 11 we read these verses and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin of righteousness and judgment concerning sin because i do not believe in they do not believe in me concerning righteousness because i go to the father and you will see me no longer and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged when the holy spirit comes jesus is communicating he will prove the world wrong about sin righteousness and judgment and how will they do this the holy spirit will prove the world wrong through the disciples and their preaching and depending upon the world's response either that will bring about repentance and salvation or that will bring about hardening of heart and condemnation either way the world is going to be proven wrong about sin i have been brought to salvation how i thought about sin was wrong or i'm going to be condemned in sin and one day they will find out they were wrong and that's the role of the holy spirit is to convict the world of sin righteousness and judgment so jesus in light of this notice each one of these is given the reason why look with me in verse nine concerning sin because why is the world going to be proven wrong about sin well because they do not believe in me the holy spirit's new ministry will be to convict the world of sin the reason for the holy spirit is to convict the world because they do not believe in christ unbelief is the unforgivable sin and it's unforgivable to not believe in the one who is crucified to forgive sin john 8 verse 24 reads this i told you that i would die for your sins if you do not believe that i am he he will indeed die in your sins what a blessing that the holy spirit convicts the lost world of their sin this informs us in part how we can talk to people with regard to what christ has done oftentimes when i'm in a conversation with someone who may not know the lord i will ask them to enter into that conversation i may ask a question like this what do you think is the a problem that one of the greatest problems that faces the world today and they will just answer so global warming uh various wars human trafficking and on and on and on will go and then i will say well then what was what's the solution that you would bring to solve that problem and inevitably i asked them you know if sometimes they will respond or sometimes i'll ask you mind if i share what i believe to be the world's greatest problem and and i will say sin and the solution to that problem is to believe in christ because christ paid the penalty for sin and if people were believers in christ guess what would happen to human trafficking guess what would happen to all these the wars guess what would happen around the world if people would trust christ things would be very different but you have to see sin is the greatest problem so what i love is when i'm engaging someone in a conversation like this concerning sin i'm working in concert with the holy spirit because this is what the holy spirit is doing he's convicting the world of sin and i get to be one who declares that and works in concert with the holy spirit in sharing christ secondly concerning righteousness because i go to the father and he will see me no more longer how is the world going to prove wrong the uh how is the holy spirit going to be proving wrong the what the world believes about righteousness the world that jesus is talking to speaking into at this time the the the religious leaders think that jesus is sinful we see that with the the manborn blind the the religious leaders think jesus has has sinned as he is the one who is in sin but and so notice concerning righteousness because i go to the father and he will see me no longer so there's something about the resurrection he goes to the father through the resurrection and the and the disciples will not see them any longer so what does that do it vindicates jesus he's sinless he's not sinful he's sinless and he ascended to the father and that act of resurrection vindicated jesus saying he did not sin he was perfect in every way he was without fault trust in him he provided the perfect sacrifice for you so the ascension to the father and the resurrection vindicates jesus as the perfect lamb of god to pay the penalty for sin and he will convict the world of judgment because the the ruler of this world is judged they're following the wrong ruler and the ruler of this world has been judged and and the holy spirit will convict the world in judgment so follow the flow of the passage with me in chapter 15 we talk about abiding in christ and the disciples being his witnesses and bearing much fruit in verse chapter 16 he reveals that their mission will bring suffering and persecution and then jesus reminds them of the importance of their mission that they're going to need the indwelling of the holy spirit so the spirit convicts the world through the disciples bearing witness to christ and this is the role the disciples of jesus are to to have and if you we would put ourselves in the posture of the disciples when we would have heard this on that night it's dark outside you must have thought and i would have thought there's no way i can do that people won't listen to us you said yourself that they would throw us out of the synagogues this is crazy there's no way we can make this work and they were right there is no way they could make this work but Jesus through the spirit's power would accomplish everything he promised and he had commanded to the disciples everything good that has happened in christianity as a result of the holy spirit's power maybe you don't realize this but the spirit's power in your life there are things that you can accomplish without the holy spirit let me cite a few and then i'm going to give the inverse without the spirit's help you can love people who are just like you without the spirit's help you can give an hour and a half a week and sit in a church service without the spirit's help you can attend a sunday's discipleship group without the spirit's help you can put money in an offering plate without the spirit's help you can talk about the gospel but you cannot do some things without the spirit without the spirit's help you cannot love someone who is antagonistic to you and your family without the spirit's help you cannot be on call 24 seven for a person who in need without the spirit's help you cannot meet weekly with a brother and sister and bear each other's burdens confess sin discern rightly the word of god without the spirit's help you cannot give and be generous with the hard-earned money when there is very little left you cannot with the spirit's without without the spirit's help you cannot plead with an unbelieving friend and neighbor to repent and believe without the spirit's help you cannot move your family around the world for the gospel's sake for you to be faithful to the mission in which Jesus has called you you need the spirit and Jesus is informing the disciples of this very thing i'm going to depart but it's to your advantage that i depart for you will receive the holy spirit you need the holy spirit and he comes to convict the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment jesus then communicates another way that the spirit advances the mission through the disciples the second way is the holy spirit will guide the disciples in truth verses 12 through 15 shares this 12 through 15 i still have many things to say to you you cannot bear them now when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you and all that the father is has his mind therefore i said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you imagine being the disciples um jesus could not share with them everything that he desired to or not desired to um he did not declare to them everything but he knew the holy spirit was coming and he said listen to him and he will declare all the things that are true about me and and and so then the the apostles who had seen the resurrected christ these disciples would then codify they would write down the new testament along with past the apostle paul who also had seen the resurrected christ and he is saying to them hey the spirit of truth he will guide you into all truth and they will he will not speak on his own authority that holy the holy spirit he will not do that and whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that would come so trust the holy spirit to do this role but then how do we how do we understand these scriptures for we are not the original audience who would be the apostles who would codify the new testament so to speak or to write down the new testament we today get the teachings of jesus through the apostles that which they wrote down in the new testament that's how we receive this truth the eleven chosen by the Jesus were to be the ones to inscripturate so to speak and i looked it up it is a word to put in written form the truth of jesus along with the apostle paul and notice notice what jesus says in verse 13 when the spirit of truth comes that is and he will guide them into all truth that is when they wrote things down it is without error it is in truth secondly god's word is not only without error it's inerrant but it's also authoritative he'll guide you in all truth and he will not speak on his own authority the holy spirit will not speak on his own authority but only whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come so that is it is authoritative the the holy spirit is authoritative to the the apostles who wrote scripture down and therefore it is authoritative to us the words that he they wrote down to us in the bible and so it's without error and it's authoritative this is what makes star wars sad is their understanding of the force is impersonal the the force has no authority it's not personal gravity it's not moral gravity gravity is a force gravity doesn't care if i sin or not sin it's a force that's the concept of star wars force stuff it's just garbage okay the holy spirit the holy spirit is personal he reveals truth and it's authoritative and therefore it has a it's personal therefore it's authoritative and it has a moral bearing about it because it's the holy spirit is god one of the members of the godhead the father son holy spirit it's inerrant it's without error it's authoritative it's god's word it has authority over our lives god's word therefore is beautiful it is undeniably the authoritative word of god to humanity where god reveals specifically and especially his revelation of what he who he is like who he is years ago i took two years of french and high school and my french teacher took us to paris and to france to to see some things and practice our french and um and so i i visited the if you were to go to paris forget the eiffel tower and the louvre and some of the other things and go to the palace of versailles that would be my encouragement at the palace of versailles it was where um louis the 14th built it uh where the kings of france were there i believe we have an image of it and this is uh paris of versailles and has grounds of thousands of hundreds of acres it's just beautiful and one of the things you can go into every room there and one of them is called the hall of mirrors and the hall of mirrors has windows on one side and on the other side and this is built in the 1600s they they shipped the mirrors from italy and on the other side as just as big as the like 15 foot tall windows or you have 15 foot tall mirrors on the other side and it's where in world war two the after world war one the the peace treaty was signed to conclude world war one in this hall it's of almost the length of a football field at 70 meters okay there's frescoes everywhere when you take a tour you don't even know where to put your eyes because there's just so much to take in and so you you don't even you're looking at the ceilings and the paintings and this and that and and the whole building is like that and you just move from one room to the other and you're informed about this beautiful palace and then you grounds and and it's just hard to take in my point is this so too is the word of god so too is the word of god it we read year after year day after day the same passages that you and i may be very familiar with and the lord is kind to reveal truth to us that is found in god's word it may be your 50th tour through the book of matthew and you see something as if for the very first time that you'd never seen before that you want to stop and gaze at a little bit even preparing today's message i i saw something that i never quite had considered much about before and that is this the reasons for why the the lord convicts the world of sin righteousness and judgment i'll just share with you the things that i learned this week for me even though i'd read this passage many times i have looked at this passage many times i had not considered why sin righteousness and judgment were ever communicated and they then this so when verse nine when it says because they do not believe in me oh he convicts the world of sin because of this reason he convicts the world of righteousness because of this reason and because judgment because of this reason there was reasons behind each one of those of why and how the holy spirit convicts i had not necessarily studied that taking the time to look at it but it was like i was in the parish of varsai and i saw something i thought let me just stop and gaze at this for a little while and that is what the word of god is as a gift to us to reveal what the father is like and what jesus has done and to revel at the glory of god in christ so let us delight in christ through the glories of his word i also want us to see the holy spirit's role verse 14 he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you he will glorify me and he will take what is mine and declare it to you and then all that the father verse 15 all the father has is mine therefore i've said to you that he will take what is mine and declare it to you look with me in verse 14 he will glorify me the holy spirit's role is to put a spotlight on the sun that is the holy spirit's role the holy spirit's ministry is to guide us into truth and that truth will be very chrystocentric christ-centered and christ-glorifying he will set the spotlight on christ the holy spirit's role is not to glorify himself but to christ he is not to lead the focus on our own experiences but on christ when people continually emphasize the holy spirit and their supposed experiences in the spirit they are not filled with the spirit the spirit exalts christ i'm going to quote d.a. carcen and we'll conclude for today d.a. carcen once said this nothing brings more glory to the exalted lord jesus than for his followers to become steeped in all the truth concerning christ glory comes to jesus as the truth of the gospel are established in the lives of men and d.a. carcen is talking about this transformed life that leads us that is to christ-glorifying christ-centered lives the holy spirit this is what i love about how the the the workings of the godhead remember in philippians 2 where jesus is given by the father a name above every name and that the name of jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord and we read that in philippians 2 so the father says look at jesus look what all he has done and then the holy spirit's role is to say look at jesus both the father and the holy spirit are saying look at jesus consider what he has done to forgive sin but then what i love about jesus is jesus in philippians 2 it says and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord and then it says to the glory of the father the father is glorified when we make much of christ in our lives and this is what the holy spirit does he reveals truth guides us into truth and we get to marvel each day of the week and what he has done through the reading of his word may we be a people who glorify christ in our lives and we make much of him and let's pray father we thank you for your word lord i thank you that the holy spirit advances the mission through convicting the world of sin and guiding disciples into truth and i pray that we would be a people who would declare your gospel continually and allow you through your people and through your word through your gospel to do that convicting work in this world and we would be a people who would be people who are discipled in your truth that your word is without error it has authority in our lives and just like the verici palace would we stop and gaze at things that we have not considered and to the glories of who christ is we thank you lord for this day we thank you for the opportunity to worship you and may you receive glory amen