The Spirit Does Unnatural Work

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The Spirit Does Unnatural Work

Do work to get to the work. One of the truths about life is that there is work you have to do to get to the work you want to do. Before you harvest the fruit and vegetables from your garden, you have to fertilize, plant, water, and even prune. Before a pastor gets to preach a sermon he has to spend hours studying. God’s word this morning God’s word lays out the same sort of pattern for the work the Holy Spirit does. There is work the Holy Spirit does so that he can get finally get to the fun work. In John 16, we read: “⁵ but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (John 16:5–11 NIV11-GKE)

Jesus tells his disciples an important truth. The Holy Spirit will come. And what is his work? His work is to convict, crush, and condemn people in their sins.¹ This is a strange topic to take up on Pentecost Sunday. For, on this Sunday we’re used to hearing about this amazing work the Holy Spirit does to create faith in us and convey forgiveness to us. But here Jesus takes a different path. He lets us know that there is work that Jesus has to do ahead of time. He has to prepare people. And the way he prepares people for faith and forgiveness is by crushing them with their own consciences. And here, in these words, we have examples of this. First, the Holy Spirit convicts them because they do not believe in Jesus. There is no excuse. People saw him preach. They heard his word. They have no excuse. And we c0uld say the same of every person of every age. There are those who hear of Jesus and what he has done for them. But they stubbornly push against this truth. Second, the Holy Spirit convicts them because of righteousness. The Holy Spirit lets them know that the path and plan that Jesus had was the only one that could pay for their sins. But they wanted to get into heaven their own way—a way that does not involve repentance. So the Holy Spirit has to convict them of their sin. And third, the Holy Spirit convicts them because the ruler of this world is condemned.² Here the picture is of a battle field. Imagine you had a horrible, unjust, wicked leader. Let’s say you make the mistake of going out with that wicked leader onto the battle field. That’s the first mistake. But would you follow it up with a second mistake? Would you stay with your wicked leader when he loses the battle? Would you be condemned along with him? Jesus has risen from the dead. Satan stands condemned. Yet the world still clings to and follows Satan. So the Holy Spirit has to expose this stupidity. And as often as the Holy Spirit does this work, the world pushes back. It should be obvious that there is at the very least some sort of creator out there who made people as male and female. But yet the world pushes back and says that male and female are just made up words. It should be obvious that marriage is a gift and that people should not pretend to be married. But the world, on the one hand, allows marriage, but yet, at the same time devalues and dismantles it. And as often as the Holy Spirit uses their consciences to show that this is wrong, the world pushes back.

That is the work the Holy Spirit does. And it is unnatural work. It’s not the work the Holy Spirit wants to spend all his time in.³
But it’s necessary. It is necessary preparing work. It’s necessary for the world. And it’s necessary for each one of us. For each one of us needs this rebuking too. Each one of us says we believe Jesus but then we carry out actions that show that we really don’t believe in him. Each one of us wants redemption for our sins. But we really don’t want repentance. Each one of us likes to follow our sinful desires. So the Holy Spirit crushes us too with our very own consciences. And, my dear friends, this is good, necessary work. For it prepares us for what follows. The Holy Spirit does this unnatural work of crushing us with our own consciences. But the Holy Spirit then graciously and thankfully comforts us with his word.

Now, my dear friends, notice what I did not say. I did not say that the Holy Spirit uses our consciences as the primary tool to comfort us. You see, there are times our consciences can become too dull and weak. I remember years ago I worked on a Paint crew. And the guys who worked on that paint crew used bad language. Stage one was that I was exposed to it day after day. Stage two is that the bad language didn’t bother me like it used to. Stage three was that I started using that bad language myself. And finally, the conscience that should have been my ally was unreliable.

But it can also go the other way. Yes, our consciences can be too weak and dull. But they can also be too sharp. The Holy Spirit moves us to repent of our sin. And we do. The Holy Spirit proclaims to us that Christ’s righteousness is now our own. The Holy Spirit proclaims to us that our faith is in him. But then what happens? Our conscience comes along and says: “You aren’t forgiven. If you were forgiven, you would feel different than this.” And so, our conscience remembers what the Holy Spirit forgets. Our conscience clings to what the Holy Spirit has forgiven.

That, my dear friends, is why we need God’s word. That is why we read it. That is why we listen to it. That is why we cling to it. For there are times when it alone can speak to us the truth. It alone can tell us that we are forgiven. It alone can convince us that we are forgiven.

And so, there is this unnatural work the Holy Spirit does. He needs to prepare us by crushing us with our own consciences. This is unnatural. But it is necessary. And look where it leads. It leads to the Holy Spirit comforting us with his word. Throughout your lives then, treasure this work. Humble yourselves and repent when your conscience crushes you. And when your conscience crushes you when the Holy Spirit promises that you are forgiven, cling to God’s word. For that is true even when there are times our conscience is not. Amen.

¹ “ⲉⲗⲉⲅⲝⲉⲓ” (John 16:8 GNT-ALEX)

² “ⲟⲁⲣⲭⲱⲛ…ⲕⲉⲕⲣⲓⲧⲁⲓ” (John 16:11 GNT-ALEX)

³ Isaiah 28:21