It Is to Your Advantage

John 16:4b–15  – That You May Believe
Day of Pentecost   – June 8, 2025 (am)     

I’ve shared with you a number of times before what a blessing it is to see how God works in His people through the systematic exposition of Scripture. It could seem to us like just moving through books of the Bible from beginning to end would put us out of step with whatever is going on in the world. But I’d say that’s just not true for a couple reasons. First, the exposition of Scripture never happens outside the context of our lives. We’re always going to hear God’s timeless truths in our particular historical moment, and we’re going to be shaped by it as we face whatever it is that’s before us in that moment. And second, God in His providence is going to put particular passages before us on particularly appropriate days. We already saw that in this series as John’s telling of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem landed on our Palm Sunday.

We have another amazingly appropriate text before us on this Sunday when we celebrate Pentecost, the giving of the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of God’s promise of a new covenant relationship with Himself, the Sunday I’d love to see us celebrate on the same scale as Christmas and Easter. In our passage today, Jesus gives the final two words of instruction regarding the role of the Holy Spirit, and those two words form our outline for this morning. Those two words come in vv.8-11 and 12-15 (Carson 1991 534), but each part of our outline is going to draw from the passage as a whole. There are two targets of the Spirit’s work here.

The Work of the Spirit in the Disciples.

If we were taking this passage in order, this would actually be part two (12-15). But Jesus is speaking to His disciples all the way through this section (cc.14-17). Here, right on the heels of His telling them that He’s going to send them out on mission to bear witness to His life and work and teaching because [they’]ve been with [Him] from the beginning (15:27), but even so they’ll be hated (15:18) and persecuted (15:20) in that work—in fact, an hour is coming when whoever kills [them] will think he’s offering service to God (2)—right on the heels of having told them all that, He turns back toward reassuring them that He’s not abandoning them, even though it had to feel to them like He was! He admitted that He’d known this was coming all along but He’d withheld it from them because He also knew that as soon as He 6 … said these things to [them], sorrow [would fill their] heart and it would be hard for them even to process it. Also, 4 … I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. It would’ve just been distracting, unhelpful, to say them any earlier. Plus: As long as Jesus was with [them], the world focused its hostility on him. Once he is gone, however, it will be a different story (Mounce 586). So, there’d have been no benefit in knowing these things (4) any sooner.

But now it’s needful to know them because these things (4) are at hand. They’re going to start playing out before these guys go to bed this very evening, and it’s already night! (13:30)

What they most need to realize is that 7 … it’s to [their] advantage that [Jesus will] go away, for if [He doesn’t], the Helper, the [Holy Spirit], will not come to [them]. But if [He does] go, [He’ll] send [the Holy Spirit] to [them]. That’s huge. It’s key. The next stage of life and ministry in this world for them is dependent on their receiving the Holy Spirit. And in that mission, they and all who believe through their witness, will be better off having the Holy Spirit than they would be if Jesus were still present. That’s hard to grasp, but it’s true. 12 I still have many things to say to you, Jesus continued, but you cannot bear them now. 13 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. The Spirit will enable you to obey Me much like I have obeyed the Father. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. So, the Son won’t displace the Father. But His disciples’ relationship with the Father will still be through Him (14:6), the Son, helped along by the Spirit.

The Work of the Spirit in the World.

That’s the work of the Holy Spirit in the disciples, but Jesus also talks here about the role of the Holy Spirit in the world, seeming to mean that it would be brought about by their witness. It’s described in a very concentrated way in vv.8-11. 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. This seems clear enough, but it’s not at all easy to decipher just what this means (Carson 1991 534).

There are five distinct possibilities for how to take it (Carson 1991 535-7). But don’t worry, this isn’t a Greek exegesis class! So, let’s jump right to what I think it does mean. First, the verb, the action: the main work the Spirit will do is to convict the world (8). The typical definition of this word in all eighteen of its NT appearances is [to show] someone his sin, usually as a [call] to repentance (Carson 1991 534). Jesus has been exposing sin like this all along. Way back in c.7, before He started teaching His disciples these things (6) He’s teaching them now, He said: 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. Now, as Jesus departs, the Holy Spirit will continue that work—he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment (Mounce 587)—and he most commonly [will do] so through the witness of disciples (Carson 1991 537). But how do we understand more about this work through the amplifications of vv.9-11?

What does Jesus mean when He tells them that the Spirit convicts the world 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in [Him]? He’s not just meaning that the world stands guilty before God because they do not believe in Jesus, although that’s true. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus has been teaching that 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 10:26 but you do not believe, He said, because you are not among my sheep. They need God’s intervening help to believe. They need to become Jesus’ sheep in order to believe and hear [His] voice and follow [Him], and apart from the Spirit’s convicting work, that’s not going to happen on a broad scale in this world.

What does Jesus mean when He tells them that the Spirit convicts the world 10 concerning righteousness, because [He goes] to the Father, and [they] will see [Him] no longer? This is the only appearance of this word righteousness in this Gospel (Carson 1991 537). And initially it can sort of confuse us here, standing as it does in parallel to sin (8, 9) and judgment (8, 11). But, bottom line [the people of this world] are wrong with regard to righteousness (Mounce 588). Jesus is saying the Spirit will convict the world regarding its own self-righteousness that sits in judgment of Jesus even while it is filthy rags before God (Isa.64:6 niv). And the Spirit will do this because Jesus is no longer present in this world to [accomplish] this task (Carson 1991 538).

What does Jesus mean when He tells them that the Spirit convicts the world 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged? Way back in c.5 we heard Jesus say my judgment is just (5:30) and in c.8 my judgment is true (8:16). And in between those two, He instructed the crowd saying: 7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. This world’s judgment is profoundly wrong and morally perverse (Carson 1991 538). This world sat in judgment of Jesus and put Him to death. And now Jesus is saying: through that soon coming death on the cross and following, the ruler of this world [will be] judged, the fountainhead of all this perverse judgment, the father of lies (8:44), will be exposed and judged. If he stands condemned by the triumph of the cross, the false judgment of those who follow in his [wake] is doubly exposed (Carson 1991 538). The Holy Spirit will open the eyes of this world to the depth of their own sinful judgment.

Conclusion

So, what does all this mean for us? So often we think of the Holy Spirit in rather personal terms, even selfish terms, as though His primary ministry is to individual believers toward facilitating their intimacy with God and their understanding of His Word. And surely there are many blessings of the Spirit that do strengthen us in spirit and in our relationship with God and with other believers. He does, after all, dwell within [us] (14:17). And part of His work is to bring to [our] remembrance all that [Jesus has taught] (14:26), and so guide [us] into all truth (16:13).

But that’s not the whole picture. In fact, as we saw back in c.14, part of bringing to our remembrance all that [Jesus has taught] includes the Holy Spirit’s work to produce the NT scriptures themselves (14:26). Then, in c.15, we saw that 15:26 … when the helper comes…, he will bear witness about [Jesus]. And Jesus adds: 27 … and you also will bear witness…. This turns our eyes back toward the immense and grand-scale work of the Holy Spirit on the far side of Jesus’ death and resurrection which most helps us understand, along with His disciples, how exactly they were better off having Him return to the Father.

Jesus was localized. The eternal Son of God took on flesh in order to provide a suitable and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of God’s image-bearing creatures who’d been severed from a relationship with Him because of their sin. But (undiminished deity though He is) His incarnation also limits the scope of His ministry in this world. If He doesn’t return to the Father and send the Holy Spirit, He can only help those in His immediate presence. The Spirit, through the church, takes the message of the gospel to the very ends of the earth as they, we, the church, continue the work of Jesus enabled by His Spirit.

Net result, not only are we the beneficiaries of the very personal work of the Spirit, we receive those blessings only because of the convicting work that He’s done in us as part of that global, grand scale work He’s pursuing. He’s shown us our sin so that we might believe in Jesus; He’s exposed our self-righteousness so that we might recognize and embrace the righteousness of God; He’s freed us from bondage to our own perverse judgment so that we don’t fall under the same judgment as the devil. In other words, we have to be recipients of that grand-scale work of the Spirit before we’ll know any of the joys of His personal work within us.

What a sweet reminder this is on Pentecost Sunday of the amazingly rich and indescribably sweet ministry of the Holy Spirit in this world. Give thanks to God for His Gift of the Spirit today, my friends. The Holy Spirit is the confirmation of our saving belief in Jesus, and He is the promise of God that His full and final salvation will surely be delivered (Eph.1:13-14). Praise God from Whom the Spirit flows.

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Resources

Arnold, Clinton E., gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 2, John, Acts. John, by Andreas J. Köstenberger, 2-196. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Barclay, William. 1975. The Daily Study Bible Series. The Gospel of John, Revised Edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. John, by Andreas J. Köstenberger, 415-512. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Bruce, F. F. 1983. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

                  , Gordon D. Fee, & Ned B. Stonehouse, gen. eds. 1995. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Gospel According to John, Revised Edition, by Leon Morris. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Calvin, John. 1553. Commentary on the Gospel According to John, trans. by, William Pringle. Logos.

Carson, D. A., gen. ed. 1991. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. The Gospel According to John, by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

                  , R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. John, by Donald Guthrie, 1021-1065. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Clendenen, Ray E., gen. ed. 1996. The New American Commentary. Vol. 25, John, by Gerald L. Borchert. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 4, The Message of John: Jesus, the Son of God, 101-122. Wheaton: Crossway.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on John, 2015-2072, by Andreas J. Köstenberger. Wheaton: Crossway.

Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Luke-Acts. John, by Robert H. Mounce, 357-661. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Martin, Ralph P., & Lynn Allan Losie, NT eds. 1999. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 36, John, Second Edition, by George R. Beasley-Murray. Dallas: Word.

Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 2003. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 4, John, by Colin G. Kruse. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Osborne, Grant, ed. 1993. Life Application Bible Commentary. John, by Bruce B. Barton, Philip W. Comfort, David R. Veerman, & Neil Wilson. Wheaton: Tyndale.

Tasker, R. V. G. 2000. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Vol. 4, John. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Tenney, Merrill C. 1976. John: The Gospel of Belief. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 

NEXT SUNDAY: I Have Overcome the World, Joh.16:16–33