Good morning friends, it's great to be here at church with you this morning.
We as a church have a vision to grow, St Paul's has a vision to grow.
It's a vision which was put before you a bit over two years ago, or actually about two years ago.
It's not the only time you've had one of these visions, you've had them in the past.
The vision fundamentally is not for people to come from other churches to this church,
but it's a vision for people to come to Christ.
And as you look at that vision for 10 congregations of 100 core members in about 10 years,
when you look at that, do you think it's possible?
Do you think it's possible?
Some of you will be sceptical because of the world in which we live.
It's going further and further away from Christianity.
Some of you are weary of bearing witness to Jesus and having so many rejections,
and you wonder whether it's possible.
Some of you are pumped up and think it's absolutely possible,
because what we'll do is we just bludgeon people until they become,
we just annoy them until they turn to Christ.
And so for those of you who are not discouraged,
I think maybe you should be.
And those of you who are,
these are words of encouragement and comfort here from the Lord Jesus.
And so grab your Bibles and turn to John 16.
You need your Bibles open in front of you.
I'd like you to follow along with me.
John 16, I'm going to focus primarily on verses 5 to 15.
And it was great to have the rest of it read,
but we're going to focus on 5 to 15.
So we're still with Jesus and the 11 disciples
in the last few hours of Jesus' life
in what is known as the farewell discourse.
For the disciples, it seems that it has been mostly bad news up until this point.
Verse 5 indicates that all this talk of Jesus' impending departure of the Father
via the cross has reduced the disciples to virtual silence.
Or as verse 6 says,
They are filled with grief.
The disciples are so self-absorbed that they are not really asking sympathetic questions
about what Jesus is doing, where he's going, and why.
They are so concerned about their problems,
their own feeling of abandonment,
their sense of impending crisis and doom,
that they do not really listen.
They grieve for themselves.
And yet in verse 7, Jesus says,
But I tell you the truth,
it is for your good that I'm going away.
Unless I go away, the counsellor will not come to you,
but if I go, I will send him to you.
Jesus is saying to these grieving disciples,
feeling the sense of abandonment,
it's going to be better for you once I return to the Father,
because once I've gone, the Holy Spirit will come.
How is that possible?
How is it going to be better for them?
I mean, is this just another one of those good news, bad news jokes,
where the good news isn't really the good news after all?
Like the one I heard of the doctor who visited a patient after surgery
and said to him,
I've got some good news and some bad news.
The bad news is we amputated the wrong leg.
The good news is the bad leg is improving.
Now, the good news actually isn't good news.
It's just simply designed to stake the sting out of the bad news.
And is that what Jesus is doing here in verse 7?
Jesus says,
I think at least a couple of things in this section
that makes the coming of the Holy Spirit good news.
This is really good news.
This is especially important for grieving disciples
who have heard a lot of bad news up until this point.
Not only is Jesus departing,
but they've just heard, as we looked at last week when Sam was preaching,
that when Jesus departs, the world is going to hate them for his sake.
I mean, does it get any worse than this?
And so here's the good news in the coming of the Holy Spirit in this section.
Number one, the Holy Spirit will convict the world.
And number two, the Holy Spirit will minister to the disciples.
We saw last week that with the departure of Jesus,
it will be the disciples who will bear witness to him.
But it will be tough because the world is opposed to Jesus.
The word is, they will hate you for me.
Jesus is, in effect, passing on the baton of the task
of telling the world about him to his disciples.
But the good news here is they're not going to do it alone.
They're not alone in this task.
In fact, I think it would actually be more accurate
to say that Jesus is passing on the baton,
the task of telling the world about Jesus to the Holy Spirit.
So in chapter 15, verse 26, just flick back a little bit,
Jesus says,
When the counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father,
he will testify about me.
So the one who is going to testify is no longer Jesus,
but it is the Spirit.
And then if you look into chapter 16, verse 7,
But I tell you the truth, it is for your good that I'm going away.
Unless I go away, the counsellor will not come to you,
but if I go, I will send him to you.
And when he comes, he will convict the world of guilt
in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
That little word convict in verse 8,
I think is the key to understanding verses 8 to 11.
Convict means to bring to light, or it means to expose.
And it has the idea of an exposure which puts to shame.
So the aim of the Holy Spirit's work is not to produce a guilty verdict,
because that is already there according to John chapter 3.
The aim is to help us to see the perilous condition in which we stand before God.
It's like a bright spotlight shining into a dark night,
cutting through the darkness and revealing whatever was hidden in the darkness.
The Spirit comes to shine light into the world.
But what we need to see is it happens as the disciples testify to what Jesus has done,
that the Spirit is doing his work of convicting and exposing the world.
So I'll read again from chapter 15, verse 26.
When the counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father,
he will testify about me.
And then look at the very next verse.
And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
And so the way that the Spirit will convict the world
is as the disciples bear witness to Jesus.
Verses 8 to 11 are the central verses of this section,
and they reveal how the Spirit will convict the world.
He will point the spotlight, if you like,
and he will expose three areas.
The attitudes of the world,
the actions of the world,
and the accountability of the world.
Firstly, when the Spirit comes,
he will convict the world, verse 9,
in regard to sin,
because men do not believe in me.
Sin is where we place ourselves
at the centre of the universe.
It's an attitude that says,
I am the king.
Sin doesn't recognise that Jesus is God's appointed king.
And Jesus says that he will send the Spirit,
and he will be at work in the world,
bringing people to a self-conscious recognition
of personal and collective guilt.
The Spirit will expose the way people reject God,
and the way that they have rejected Jesus.
That they do not believe his claims,
that they do not accept his teaching,
that they do not turn to him for salvation
or discern their need of him.
The Spirit will come,
and as disciples speak,
he will convict the world of their sin,
of rejecting Jesus.
Secondly, the Spirit will expose the actions of the world,
and this has to do with the moral side of sin.
In verse 10,
in regard to righteousness,
because I am going to the Father,
where you can see me no longer.
It is quite amazing that,
as you read through John's Gospel,
to see how often Jesus clashed
with religious people,
with people who thought that
they were doing pretty much okay.
But as Jesus interacts with them,
what he does is he exposes them
as to being complete fakes,
as being shams.
And so the conviction in regard to righteousness here
has an ironic edge to it.
People of the world
do not normally think of themselves
as lost,
as sinners.
We struggle with that.
We have a much better view of ourselves
than we ought.
We naturally think of ourselves
as essentially righteous
until you have Jesus standing beside you.
I used to play tennis every week.
And after a while,
I started to think
I wasn't too bad at the game.
When you play with people
who are 10 to 15 years older than you,
it's not hard to think,
generally.
You pick your opponents well.
I knew I wasn't the best of the game.
I could see that.
But I certainly had my fair share of on days
and a few off days as well.
It wasn't until I did wedding prep
with a guy once,
I went there before going to tennis,
and I had my tennis gear,
and he said,
you play tennis?
I said, yeah, I do.
And he said, fantastic.
Fantastic.
After a few weeks,
he said, I play the occasional game of tennis.
We should play one day.
Awesome.
So this guy was younger than me,
so I thought at the very least,
I'll get some exercise.
And so we get up there,
and the first service told me
that I had made a grave mistake.
This guy was an A-grade tennis player.
And so I'm standing there.
I'm seeing him serve.
I know the ball's going to go to the right.
He does a beautiful kick in his serve.
I dive to the right,
and the ball goes to the left.
There's no...
What?
This guy could make a tennis ball do magic.
It was amazing.
Eventually, I'd just stand there
and just let me watch you play.
You know,
and in the end,
he thrashed me.
I got no point from him.
He didn't even make a mistake
in order for me to get a point.
He thrashed me.
And so the next time,
he said,
we should do this again someday.
Yes.
When I get over this demoralising defeat,
I will do that.
Next time,
I brought in someone else,
and we played doubles against him.
And he thrashed us both.
And so the way to handle that
is just never invite him back again.
And that's what we did.
You see,
after playing with him
for a very short time,
I realised I wasn't such a hotshot.
Perfection does that for you.
It exposes
your weaknesses
and your inadequacies.
And that is what
the perfect life of Jesus did
with everyone he met.
Compared with Jesus,
even the good things that we do,
which are mixed with
bad motives,
are like filthy rags
beside Jesus.
Until a person
who is satisfied
with their own righteousness
perceives its inadequacy,
its self-centredness,
its shortcomings,
its imperfections,
it is difficult
to perceive
how the good news
of the gospel
will ever be received
as good news.
The good news is
that in trusting Jesus,
not only is our sin
placed on Jesus,
but his perfect righteousness
is placed on us.
It becomes ours.
But if it is just
the work of the Holy Spirit
to show up
the false righteousness
of the world,
now that Jesus
returned to the Father,
what part do the disciples
play in that?
If we are walking
with him
and he's our partner
in this,
we know it is the Holy Spirit
who's bare witness,
but the disciples
must also bear witness.
In a sense,
we join the Holy Spirit
in preserving
the presence of Christ
in our Christ-rejecting world.
The Holy Spirit
in part discharges
his witnessing responsibility
by transforming
the righteousness
of the disciples.
The Holy Spirit
works
in the disciple
of Jesus
to produce
deep
biblical
righteousness
which convicts
the world
of its unrighteousness.
Our lives matter.
Our righteousness
matters.
the world
ought to be
convicted
of their
unrighteousness
by our righteousness.
So whether it is
through
his own
secret operation
or through
the disciples
of Jesus,
the Spirit
is actively
transforming.
Through the disciples
of Jesus,
he's actively
transforming,
he confronts
the world
with the
inadequacy
of its
own
self-righteousness.
The third
exposing work
of the Holy Spirit
is that he will
expose the world
to accountability.
People are not
right with God
because they have
rejected Christ
and therefore
they deserve
God's
punishment.
And the Holy Spirit's
job is
in effect
to pull our
heads out of
the sand
so that we can
recognize
the grave danger
that we are in.
the Holy Spirit
helps us to see
that we are on
a collision course
of judgment
with God
and that on
that process
of that collision
course
that all our
judgments
about Christ
and about God
and about the
spiritual realm
and about life
and death
are all wrong
judgments
without the
Spirit.
And so how
does the Spirit
do that?
Verse 11
He will expose
the world
of judgment
because
the prince
of this world
now stands
condemned.
He's talking
about Satan
when he talks
about the prince
of this world.
One of the first
things that happened
when Hitler
was overthrown
was that all
his cronies
apart from those
who committed suicide
and those who were
captured
they headed off
to South America.
Hitler had fallen
and their own
downfall
and their own
judgment
was a certainty
as a result.
And so as Jesus
goes to the cross
he sets in motion
a sequence of events
almost like a
domino effect.
Because Satan
has been judged
then the overthrow
of every individual
who belongs to him
is a certainty.
If your attitude
to Jesus
is one of rejection
then you are
in fact siding
with the prince
of this world.
And your eventual
overthrow
like his
your eventual
judgment
is a
dead certainty.
And so the
Holy Spirit
shines the light
of the gospel
of our Lord
Jesus Christ
in such a way
that our hearts
and our minds
our judgments
are all
exposed
for what they
are.
False.
Fake.
You see
having cotton
onto the
onto the fact
that our attitude
is one of rebellion
having seen
our actions
as like filthy
rags to God
it is clear
that we are
accountable to God
and that my friends
is not the work
of your intellect
it is the work
of the Holy Spirit.
Without the work
of the Spirit
shining
that into your
heart
and into your mind
you are not
capable of seeing it.
The world
is so depraved
left to our own
devices
we are so
depraved
we fail
to discern
what sin
righteousness
and judgment
really are
and only
by the Spirit's
deep convicting
work
can we ever
hope to recognize
the magnitude
of our misconceptions
and our gross
unbelief.
And so
these verses
I believe
serve to
foster
a quiet
confidence
in the heart
of every
believer
as we face
the responsibility
to bear witness
to Jesus.
These verses
firstly
humble us
and realize
what we are
not capable
of doing
and secondly
they are there
to foster
a quiet
confidence
in the heart
of every believer
with the
responsibility
to bear witness
to Jesus.
we look
around the
world
and we
wonder
how we
can ever
persuade
people to
believe in
the gospel
of the
Lord
Jesus
it just
seems like
nuts
on the
surface
we know
we don't
want to
stoop to
gimmicks
and playing
tricks
and manipulation
and we
know that
in the
end
intellectual
arguments
why they're
helpful
they alone
don't guarantee
anything
because it's
not a matter
of the
intellect
we know
of people
who know
certain facts
about
Christianity
who
probably
even know
the right
facts about
Jesus
and yet
who refuse
to trust
Jesus
we often
wonder
how will
we ever
penetrate
the wall
of unbelief
how will
we ever
penetrate
the wall
of unbelief
in Chatswood
let me
tell you
I would
quit
Christian
ministry
immediately
if I
was not
convinced
that it's
the Lord
Jesus
who is
building
his
church
and if
it wasn't
that the
father had
given people
to his
son
and that
the Holy
Spirit
is working
in the
world
to convict
the world
of its
sin
and its
righteousness
and its
judgment
I have
no confidence
that on
my own
I could
successfully
persuade
anyone
including
my
children
and I
can
persuade
them
of most
things
I have
no confidence
on my own
that I could
successfully
persuade
anyone
of their
deepest
need
and of
the truth
of the
gospel
of the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
and therefore
I find
this passage
comforting
I have
not
been
abandoned
to do
the task
of bearing
witness to
the Lord
Jesus
such a
perspective
feels my
labour
and ought
to feel
your labour
for Christ
with such
a supreme
significance
that it
ought to
obliterate
any fear
of failure
because
your work
for the
Lord
is not
in
vain
but wait
there's
more
there's
more to
come from
this
passage
I was
tempted
to leave
it there
but we'd
only
probably
filled
in 15
minutes
some of
you may
say that's
enough
there is a
second ministry
the Holy
Spirit
and it
is linked
and it
is very
precious
it's
there in
verse 12
I have
much more
to say
to you
much more
than you
can now
bear
and so
there is
a sense
where
these
eleven
can't
take
any more
from
Jesus
because
their
confusion
and grief
they are
experiencing
and there's
also a
sense
where they
can't
fully
grasp
it
until
after
the
death
and
resurrection
and
ascension
of
Jesus
there's
not
clarity
to what
Jesus
is saying
at this
point
for them
and so
here's
the second
aspect
of the
Holy
Spirit's
work
he will
complete
the
revelation
of God
in Jesus
Christ
verse 13
but when
he the
spirit of
truth
comes
he will
guide you
into all
truth
he will
not speak
on his
own
he will
speak
only
what he
hears
and he
will tell
you
what is
yet
to come
chapter 14
in chapter
14
Jesus
promised
that the
spirit of
truth
will remind
the
disciples
of everything
that Jesus
taught
them
now he
is promising
something a
little bit
more
the 11
disciples
will be
led
into a
true
understanding
of the
saving
events
which are
about to
take place
they will
get clarity
on the
death and
resurrection
and ascension
of Jesus
and they
will be
given
glimpses
of the
future
the final
climax
of world
history
will
partially
be
unveiled
to them
so that
they will
be able
to get
a glimpse
of the
sweep
of God's
enormous
plan of
salvation
and the
central
part
that Jesus
plays in
it all
that's a
promise
for a
confused
bewilding
disciples
but in
leading them
to this
truth
the Holy
Spirit
was not
going to
speak
on his
own
Jesus
insists
he will
speak
only
what
he
hears
the
spirit
will
only
speak
of
what
he
hears
verse
13
but when
he
the
spirit
of
truth
comes
he
will
guide
you
into
all
truth
he
will
not
speak
on
his
own
he
will
speak
only
what
he
hears
and
he
will
tell
you
what
is
yet
to
come
he
will
bring
glory
to
me
by
taking
from
what
is
mine
and
making
it
known
to
you
all
that
belongs
to
the
father
is
mine
that
is
why
I
said
the
spirit
will
take
from
what
is
mine
and
make
it
known
to
you
and
so
what
these
verses
saying
is
that
the
general
subject
matter
of
the
spirit
is
restricted
but
it
is
a
glorious
restriction
the
spirit
will
take
that
which
is
Jesus
is
and
make
it
known
to
the
disciples
of
Jesus
and
so
the
focus
here
is
entirely
on
Jesus
even
when
the
spirit
comes
the
role
of
the
spirit
here
is
to
bring
glory
to
Jesus
as
it
says
it
was
necessary
for
Jesus
to
be
glorified
by
going
to
the
father
by
way
of
the
cross
but
when
he
leaves
it's
not
time
now
for
the
spirit
to
receive
glory
but
for
Christ
to
receive
more
glory
through
the
ministry
of
the
spirit
and
that
of
his
disciples
as
Jesus
took
that
which
belongs
to
the
father
and
made
it
known
to
his
disciples
so
the
spirit
takes
that
which
belongs
to
Jesus
and
makes
it
known
to
us
nothing
brings
more
glory
to
our
Lord
Jesus
than
for
his
followers
to
become
steeped
in
all
truth
concerning
him
let me
just say
that
again
nothing
brings
more
glory
to
our
Lord
Jesus
than
for
his
followers
to
become
steeped
in
all
truth
concerning
him
of
course
the
acquisition
of
that
truth
is
intellectual
but
it
is
not
merely
intellectual
so
if
you're
down
the
line
which
says
we
need
to
abandon
intellectualism
in the
Christian
faith
you
need
to
feel
stuff
about
the
spirit
you're
wrong
if
you're
down
the
other
line
and
says
what
we
need
to
do
is
sit
and
contemplate
and
just
intellectualize
this
stuff
and
not
be
moved
to
worship
out
of
the
heart
you're
wrong
as
this
truth
is
truly
absorbed
by the
followers
of the
Lord
Jesus
it
transforms
us
enabling
us
to
reflect
the
righteousness
and the
glory
of the
Lord
Jesus
and
thereby
bring
praise
to his
name
glory
comes
to
Jesus
when
the
truths
of the
gospel
are
established
in
our
lives
in
such
a
way
that
we
are
overwhelmed
to
the
point
of
praise
and
overflow
in
righteousness
and
so
the
bad
news
the
disciples
are
grieving
over
here
is
that
Jesus
going
to
the
cross
is
in
fact
actually
the
good
news
it
really
is
good
news
it
is
good
news
for
us
and
it
was
good
news
for
them
and
it's
in
fact
good
news
for
the
rest
of
the
world
and
so
can
I
say
I
just
want
to
praise
God
that
we
are
not
left
alone
to do
this
work
of
bearing
witness
to
Jesus
in
Chatswood
and
beyond
Chatswood
we're
not
left
alone
to
that
task
if
you
feel
inadequate
to
that
task
I
think
you
probably
should
praise
God
that
the
spirit
is
at
work
in
this
world
bringing
conviction
as
we
faithfully
and
boldly
speak
out
the
truth
of
the
gospel
praise
God
that
the
work
of
the
spirit
is
bringing
the
truths
of
Christ
into
my
life
and
I
pray
that
he
will
continue
to bring
transformation
to me
and to
you
so that
we shine
forth
not just
the truth
of the
gospel
but the
life of
righteousness
as well
so may we
consistently
here at
St. Paul's
rely upon the
spirit for
empowerment
to lead us
into all
truth
and for
that truth
to bring
transformation
to our
lives
and for
that
transformation
that
truth
to have
an
impact
in
such
a
way
that
we
bear
witness
to
this
world
and the
spirit
will bring
conviction
to people's
lives
for their
great need
for Christ
for his
glory
forever
and ever
Amen