A sermon on John 16:5-15 for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.

In our Gospel lesson for this morning, we encounter a very unique title for the Holy Spirit, from the Greek, “Paraclete,” translated for us here as “the Helper.” Now, that’s not necessarily a bad translation of “Paraclete,” but it’s prone to misunderstanding and doesn’t quite grasp the full intricacy of this title. The Holy Spirit isn’t “the Helper” in that, you know, He helps you out, just lends a hand. Rather, it’s in the sense of Psalm 124:8, which we recite at the beginning of our service, “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” We can do nothing of ourselves, but are entirely reliant upon the help of God.

But the picture that the Greek word “Paraclete” conjures up is a little more complex. In other ancient literature, it’s used to describe someone who in court supports the accused before the judge. So “Paraclete” can also be translated “Advocate,” with the idea of a legal advisor or legal counsel.

And as Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, we see the work that He does and the counsel that He provides. The Paraclete, in this picture, is not our defender before God, but one who provides council in relation to the world. We see that the Paraclete “will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” And we’ll unpack what that means for the world and what that means for us as Jesus’ disciples as the Helper works in our midst.

I. To the World

As Jesus describes the work of the Holy Spirit, He uses some interesting, rather jarring language. The Paraclete “will convict the world.” The interaction between the Spirit and the world is more negative, the Spirit is accusing, holding the world accountable, finding it guilty.

And there are three counts to this charge: “He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Convicting the world of sin is pretty straightforward. The Holy Spirit, working through God’s Law, exposes the faults and errors of this world

Now that’s maybe not earth-shattering news, most people will readily admit that they’re not perfect and can easily identify evil, at least, in the more obvious cases. But the Spirit also convicts the world of righteousness. The world can be self-aware enough to know where it falls short, but the Spirit goes a step further. He not only points out flaws for what they are, but He takes the next step to expose the self-proclaimed righteousness of this world for what it really is. Most people will admit that they have flaws, but still they’ll say, “I’m a good person” on the basis of good deeds that they have done or moral stances that they have taken. But the Spirit convicts the world of righteousness. Shows that God’s standard is perfection and no human deeds can ever fulfill that requirement. The Spirit strips the righteousness of the world away and exposes it for the pride that it is.

Lastly, the Spirit convicts the world of judgment. Sin has been exposed, self-righteousness removed, now the consequence and the punishment. Death in this life and eternal death in hell is what sinners deserve. And all have sinned, all have been shown to be guilty, He doesn’t leave us a leg to stand on.

Now, in this text, Jesus’ disciples are positioned as separate and above the world in a certain sense, but we need to hear and experience this same conviction. Worldly ways of thinking are hard to leave behind, they must be beaten down within us constantly.

We must be convicted of sin. Recognize that it affects and, indeed, infects us all. We can be in a dangerous spot as Christians if we begin to take forgiveness for granted and fail to see sin for the deadly thing it is. We can never take it lightly, never give ourselves a pass, never let our guard down. But so often we do.

We must be convicted of righteousness. Although we as Christians do perform good deeds by the power of the Spirit, that is not what we rely on. Our identity cannot be defined by what we do or what makes us better. But so often it is. Sinful pride boasts in things that are good and then turns our righteousness into sin.

We must be convicted of judgment. Painfully aware of what we deserve. Hell is real. Real people go there. That’s terrifying, and it should be. That is what our sins deserve.

II. To Jesus’ Disciples

But the message of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Paralete, is not doom and gloom or without hope. Rather, as Jesus expands on those three topics, on sin, righteousness, and judgment, He shows how to escape that conviction.

He will convict the world “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” Now sure, it’s phrased more negatively, but see the way out. For those who do believe in Jesus there is now no condemnation (Rom 8:1). No, sins are forgiven. It’s guilt removed. It’s punishment paid for. We are convicted of our sin and receive forgiveness by believing in Jesus.

He will convict the world “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.” In opposition to the self-righteousness of one’s own works, Jesus presents a different righteousness, His righteousness. That Jesus goes to the Father is proof that His righteousness is yours. Jesus died on the cross to take away all of your sins and was raised again to proclaim this not guilty verdict. That Jesus goes to the Father shows that that sacrifice was accepted, that His righteousness has been credited to your account, that we stand before the righteous judge clothed in the innocence of Christ. We are convicted of righteousness, stripped of our own, to be given something better by far.

He will convict the world “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” Again, this sounds like harsh language, but it really is good news. Battling against our Advocate is our Accuser, the devil. Returning to that courtroom scene, he is presenting the evidence, holding up our sins in God’s sight. But we are not judged. He is. Our Accuser has been condemned and we are declared innocent. We are convicted of judgment, aware of what we deserve, only to receive by God’s grace what we do not deserve, forgiveness and life everlasting.

So although the work of the Spirit to the world seems negative—and in a certain sense, it is, it’s convicting—but this work is not without hope. Jesus died to take away the sins of the world. The world has not been judged, only its ruler. There’s still a chance.

As the Spirit works through us to proclaim God’s Word to the world, it’s not that we’re high and mighty and better than everyone else. No, we’ve experienced that same conviction ourselves. The work of the Spirit to the world is not this act of judgment, but this preparatory work of the Law.

Even this act of convicting is full of potential and promise, hoping for conversion, as indeed we have been brought to faith. We pray that this conviction will be convincing, that by proclaiming the Law, exposing the truth of sin and righteousness and judgment, the stage will be set to proclaim the Gospel in its fullness, the comforting message of what Christ has done.

Jesus died to forgive the sins of the world. And He sends His Spirit to proclaim this message to the world. The redemption of the world leads to its evangelization. Proclaiming the truth is hard work. It means convicting, having hard conversations, talking about difficult things. And this won’t always be received the way we hope. But we know that the Spirit is working through us when we proclaim God’s Word. We know that this is how the world is saved, how sinners are brought to faith, by hearing of sin and righteousness and judgment. Both the hard truths and the conviction but also the good news and the comfort that sins are forgiven, Christ’s righteousness is yours, and Satan is the one who has been judged.

“Paraclete” is a word that’s unique to John, he’s the only one that uses it in the New Testament, four times here in this discourse, referring to the Holy Spirit, but also once in his first epistle. He writes, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate–a Paraclete—with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1). Jesus is our Paraclete, our Advocate before God, pleading for our forgiveness on behalf of His death and resurrection. So when Jesus first speaks of the Paraclete in John 14, He says, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,” another Paraclete (16). All this to say that the Spirit, as the Paraclete, does for us now the same things that Jesus did during His earthly ministry. The work of Jesus, our Advocate, is continued by the work of the Spirit, our Helper. We are comforted, led, instructed, shielded, strengthened by the Spirit just as Jesus did for His disciples. By the work of our Helper, our Paraclete, He proclaims His message to us and to the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, by which we are convicted and comforted. Amen.