Sermon - Cantate 2024 - John 16:5-15

Dove of the Holy Spirit, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Saint Peter's Basilica, 1660

The Evangelical Work of the Holy Spirit

1. The need for Evangelism

2. The Holy Spirit guides us into the truth of Jesus

3. The Holy Spirit works through Christians to evangelize

4. The truth convicts and convinces the world concerning:

1. Sin

2. Righteousness

3. Judgment

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Evangelism is, to put it simply, telling another the truth of Jesus as it applies to their life. Evangelism is therefore a central work of the Holy Spirit. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the 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. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” While it’s simple enough to determine that the Holy Spirit’s work is evangelism, what’s more difficult for us to come to terms with is the reality that the people around us are in need of evangelism. 

Broadly speaking, more than half of Iowans attend church less than once a year, and only about a third of Iowans are in church at least once a month. Rural Iowa especially has changed dramatically in the past ten years. Palo Alto County has seen a 20% decline in religious adherents in the past ten years. Those kinds of numbers are surprising, but not very personal. It’s easy enough to say that two-thirds of the people around us are in need of evangelism. But let’s make it more personal. Look at your own family and neighbors, how many of them are in church only seldom or less than once a year? Those individuals are all in need of evangelism. That is hard to admit because it means their current state of salvation is in the best case scenario in serious danger. But only when we come to terms with that hard truth can we begin to address this grave situation.

Having come to terms with the fact that evangelism is needed for the people around you, the question you need to answer is how this evangelism takes place. Namely, it happens through the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit evangelizes through the truth of Jesus. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the 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.” What Jesus is explaining here is, in part, that the Holy Spirit is going to work through the apostles specifically to write the holy scriptures. God the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostles to speak the truth, and that truth is among us today as recorded in the Holy Bible.

Evangelism today begins with the Bible. Maybe it seems counterintuitive to you, but before you do something public you have to do something private, or in other other words before you can tell other people the truth of Jesus, you need to personally know that truth. I know I say this on repeat, constantly reminding you to read the Bible, but that’s because I want the Gospel of Jesus to spread and that only happens when you first know the Bible. So if you only take one thing away from this sermon, if you only learn one thing about evangelism and the Holy Spirit’s work, then let that be that we should read the Bible more because it is the truth that the Holy Spirit guides us into.

Next, once we’ve come to terms with the fact that the people around me, whom I know, need to be evangelized, and that evangelism is a work of the Holy Spirit guiding us into the truth of Jesus in the scriptures, the next thing to realize is that the Holy Spirit works through Christians to speak the truth. This doesn’t mean that all Christians are meant to be pastors, or ministers, or missionaries, but it does mean that all Christians are meant to be Christians.

What do christians do? In Ephesians it says: “No longer walk as the Gentiles do… be renewed in the spirit… put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…” Then, “let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.” Christians do two things: they behave like Christians according to scripture, and they speak the truth to their neighbors. A christian is a christian through actions and words.

The truth that the Holy Spirit gives a Christian to speak is meant to convict and convince the world. “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” Now we are getting extremely practical in what the truth is that a Christian is to speak when a Christian is evangelizing others.

Firstly, understand that your speaking the truth is going to be convicting to those who need to be evangelized. Our hope is that they are convicted in such a way that they are convinced of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus for them, but it will be convicting them regardless of whether they believe it or not. Even if you say the truth in the kindest tone, with the most gentle language, it will convict the hearer. Be prepared for that.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin. A good example of this is when Jesus confronts the woman at the well for her adultery. Jesus was quite direct with her, she was convicted of her sin, and yet she was convinced of the Gospel and came to faith. Much of evangelism is confronting people in their sins, because ultimately the Gospel is that Jesus forgives us our sins. So only when the hearer knows his sins, can he believe that Jesus died to forgive him his sins. Today this means we have to convince the hearer that he is a sinner who can only be forgiven in Jesus. For some people this may mean that you have to first convince that there is such a thing as right and wrong, or for others you have to know them well enough to expose their sins to them which they previously didn’t realize, or for others who know their sins it means showing them Jesus who alone forgives them.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness. Jesus did this regularly with the Pharisees, explaining that they were whitewashed tombs, outwardly righteous but not truly righteous before God. Evangelism is revealing that a person’s self-righteousness isn’t true righteousness in the sight of God. Our desire is that they would believe that they are declared righteous not by their own merits but by the merits of Jesus. This faith in Jesus declares a person truly righteous. This means that when you’re evangelizing your hearer, they need to understand that in terms of their eternal salvation it doesn’t matter if others think they’re righteous, or if they think themselves to be righteous, it only matters that God declares them to be righteous. For the sinner who feels convicted of sins this is very comforting, but for the self-righteous this is frightening.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment. In fact, Jesus has already judged the ruler of this world, the devil, when He was crucified and risen, and the devil and those who belong to the devil are condemned to hell. Too many today are only concerned with the judgment of man, and pay no heed to God’s judgment. Thus, they would rather be judged worthy by the world’s standards. Therefore the work in evangelizing them is to show them that the devil and this world is judged and condemned already, this world is not as holy as they think it to be, and that they should beware the allure of the world so that they may not also be judged along with this world.

Of course this work of evangelism must be done with kindness, compassion, and love. But don’t let that prevent you from speaking the truth to your neighbors and evangelizing to them. These are people for whom Christ has bled and died, people who have either fallen away from the faith or perhaps never even knew the faith, and they need to hear the truth of Jesus so that they may be saved. You must become disillusioned with the idea that everyone is going to heaven regardless of their faith, or that people will go to heaven just because they were at one time an active Christian. People who don’t believe will go to hell. Let that hard fact, let your compassion and love for them, and let the power of the Holy Spirit guide you into all the truth of Jesus so that you may speak that truth to others and convict and convince them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit is your helper, your advocate and comforter, so be unafraid and may the Holy Spirit speak through you.

Remember what this is all about:

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!