4TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In this same beloved Savior, my dear hearers.

The most common reason why from olden times and also in our days it is claimed that no one wants to recognize Holy Scripture as God's Word, and why no one is able to accept it as God's Word is because it clashes so completely with the usual thoughts, views, and judgments of men. People conceive a certain idea, for example, of how God, had he wanted to reveal himself, would have to do it; however, in Scripture one finds the very opposite of their ideas. That which Holy Writ has revealed to us of God's essence, of his will and his decrees, of the nature arid destiny of man, of that which God has done for man's salvation, and of the way by which man is to be saved, is at variance with man's thoughts on these subjects. Not only has no studious scientist who knows nothing of the Bible found these truths, but everything is so strange, and all things seem so foolish also to those to whom the revelations contained in the Bible are preached, that one thinks he has the greatest right to reject Biblical doctrine.

However, are these really grounds for refusing to consider Holy Writ as God's revelation? I say no! On the contrary, if man himself could say how God would have to reveal himself, he he wanted to reveal himself, then the miracle ofa . direct revelation would be unnecessary; man would not need it. Moreover; if Holy Scripture would contain only such doctrines, and if particularly its essential, most important doctrines would be such which would not appear strange to man, and which he himself could find with the help of his reason, then Scripture would contain merely a repetition and confirmation of the revelation of reason and not a special revelation from God; for a revelation is simply the promulgation of things previously unknown. And finally, if the truth of Scripture would not seem contradictory, if we couldperceive their mutual connection and agreement with the remaining incontestable truths and with the true conception of God, his essence, will, and works in every respect, then this would be a clear proof that these truths would not have come from a world unknown to us, not from a holy of holies into which the eye of our spirit was allowed not one glance.

Not the correct use of reason but the natural love of self and man's innate hatred of God it is which moves him' to deny the divine origin of Holy Scripture because of the doctrines it contains which he regards as strange and incomprehensible. Just that is our sin; that we do not want to accept God as he is and wants to be known to us, but that we want to create a God in our thoughts and God should be as we want him to be.

Even our reason tells us: a divine revelation must uncover areas of knowledge previously unknown to us, that it, it must contain doctrines which we would not have known without it and whose connection we could not perceive here below. Miracles, prophecies, things entirely new to men, mysteries incomprehensible to him, and the exposing of his errors - these are the very marks which make something a revelation and by which it must prove itself as God's revelation. God himself, therefore, appeals to this in the Prophet Isaiah; he says there in chapter 42, "Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them." V. 9.

Yes, a divine revelation can also.serve to confirm and place beyond doubt many things which we already know by nature; however, not these things, but those very teachings which are completely new to us, which we can know only by direct revelation, which supplement and correct our natural knowledge, yes, above all, which uncover to us where we by nature err and which, therefore, oppose our accustomed thoughts, views, and judgments, these are the most important teachings to which we must above all pay attention; and these are the treasure in which above all our salvation lies.

In our today's Gospel Christ mentions three main points in which the revelation of the Holy Spirit opposes our natural judgment. Let us therefore now direct our attention to these.

The text. John 16:5-15.

When Christ had disclosed to the apostles that he would soon leave them and go to the Father, they were all most downhearted. In order to comfort them, he not only told them that unless he would go to the Father the Comforter could not come to them, but he also gave them the promise that, after he had gone to the Father, he would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to them. This induced Christ to show them what the Holy Spirit would do; namely, he would reprimand or convince the world that sin, righteousness, and the judgment is something entirely different from what it thinks they are. Therefore, permit me now to speak to you on:

THE GREAT DIFFERENCE EXISTING BETWEEN THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD AND THE JUDGMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I. Over Sin.

II. Over Righteousness, and

III. Over the Judgment.

Oh Lord God, Holy Spirit! We have all fallen into sin and thus we have become vain in our thoughts and our foolish heart has become darkened;, thinking ourselves to be wise we have become fools; therefore, oh Heavenly Light, shed light into the darkness of our souls, show us our folly, and help us to become wise unto salvation. Give us grace so that we will be subject to your judgments, follow your guidance, and finally reach the goal by your direction. Hear us, oh highest Comforter in all trouble for the sake of your faithfulness. Amen.

I.

In promising the disciples the Holy Ghost, Christ in our Gospel says first of all, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin." V. 8. Christ, says the first thing which the Holy Spirit will do when he comes into the world will be this, he will reprove the world because of sin. From this we see Christ's religion is not, as is so often taught today, a religion of the virtue of man; it is not a summary of rules of how man should use his innate powers and live virtuously; it is not instruction on how to awaken the good lying and slumbering in man; no, the first salutation with which Christ's teaching greets the world is a general reprimand of all men; it is the earnest declaration: You are all sinners! No one dare excuse himself. Whoever is a human being is also a sinner. No matter what the world may call you, king or beggar, rich or poor, great or humble, old or young, wise or ignorant, slave or free citizen, saint or sinner, virtuous or unvirtuous, your name, your station, your worth before God reads: a sinner.

This very preaching with which the Holy Spirit comes among men is a preaching which the world has not expected. The moment those who must carry out the office of the Holy Spirit come to the world with this declaration, this is enough to make people angry, refuse to admit that all men are sinners, and angrily turn away from it as from a malevolent preaching which degrades and shames mankind.

However, the world often agrees with the verdict of the Holy Spirit that all men have sin; but wherein man's sin. really consists, that is the point in which above all the great difference between the verdict of the world and the verdict of the Holy Spirit reveals itself.

Now what does the world call sin? There are people especially in our day who no longer regard even manifest sins as fornication, hatred, vengeance, deceit in business, and the like, as sin. Nevertheless, most people still have this much of a conscience that they regard the outward gross outbreaks of sin, obvious vices, and the crimes which are punished by also the state as sin, such as murder, adultery, and fornication, drunkenness, robbery, theft, lies, perjury, cursing, blaspheming, and the like. But how many other transgressions not so apparent are there even of the Law written in the heart of all men which countless number's do not regard as sin I How strange it seems to most if their downright sinful or idle words are made sin and even the evil thoughts of their heart are reproved! Immediately most think: Oh, one word is no arrow! Thoughts are tax free!

That the Holy Spirit judges differently over sin than these blind people who regard only the outward gross outburst as sin indeed need not be mentioned.

As you know there are also among the world, that is, among those people who still are not true Christians, those who know and confess that all which is against God's Law is sin, whether it be in deeds, or in words, or in looks and attitudes, or merely in the faintest desires and thoughts of the heart. Now can the judgment of the Holy Spirit over sin be a different one? Should the Holy Spirit not declare all transgressions of the divine Law as sin and punish them? Yes, my friends, even so the judgment of the Holy Ghost over sin is an entirely different one than the judgment of the world. For how does Christ speak in our Gospel? He says, "And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on me." V. 9. A noteworthy judgment! Is unbelief, therefore, according to the judgment of the Holy Spirit the only sin of the world? In a certain sense, yes! True, the Holy Spirit calls every transgression of the Law sin, but the chief sin, the source, mother, root, and the climax of sin, the sin of all sin, he says is unbelief, that is, not believing in Christ.

And, will you ask why? My friends, for this reason: all men are indeed sinners by nature but that is why God's Son became a man, suffered and died on the cross; and thus he atoned for the sins of all men, bore and paid the punishment of sin, and now he invites all men in the Gospel to believe in him; whoever believes in him, not only are his sins forgiven so that God looks at him as though he had never sinned, but through faith such a believer also receives a new heart which hates sin and can forsake it.

Therefore, the judgment of the Holy Spirit now reads thus: Listen, all you people, it was a great sin that in Adam all of you fell from God and lost the image of God after whom you were created; but behold, God's Son came into the world and has atoned for your fall and regained everything which you had lost in Adam; therefore, though all of you ate fallen people, this will not be. counted against you, if you believe in Christ, but that you now reject even this help, by your unbelief, that, that is your real sin.

It is true: you are in a tragic situation the moment you enter the world;

for you are all, conceived and born in sin, and you cannot help yourself out of your sinful ruin, you are dead in sin; but that will not harm you, for the moment you believe in Christ who was born as a human child for you, you will be born again, receive a new heart, and the Law will be written in your mind; that you do not want to believe, that, that is the fundamental sin,,the source of all your other sins.

Finally, it is horrible indeed that you have lived in opposition to God's Law, that you have despised God's love which he has shown you in your creation, and that to the present time you have gone the way to hell, trifled away heaven, and in God's eyes have heaped sin upon sin and guilt upon guilt; however, God has decreed that you should not be lost on account of your sins; for he has given you his Son to be your Redeemer from sin and through him has built for you a new heaven of grace; you need but believe in him and all your sins are wiped out and heaven is again open to you; that you now do not want to believe, that is your most frightful sin; that by your unbelief you despise even your glorious redemption, even this incomprehensible love and grace of God in Christ, this dearly bought new salvation, even this medicine for your soul-sickness, reject it, and trample it under foot, that now you turn your back on God when he does not want to remember your sins and wants to hurl them into the depths of the sea, even violently push aside the hand which wants to save you, that you have not only sinned against the stern Law but now also against the sweet Gospel which preaches grace, that is too much, that is sinning too greatly,that is your true sin, that is the highest point of wickedness to which you can climb; in short, that is the sin of all sins for which there is no grace and no forgiveness to all eternity.

You see, that is the judgment of the Holy Spirit upon sin, oh, blessed is he who accepts this reproof and forsakes the sin of unbelief, then he has been; helped from all his sins; but woe to him who remains in this sin; he will not be saved even from one. For he who believes is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he does not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

II.

My friends, as different as is the judgment of the world from that of the Holy Spirit in regard to sin, so different is his judgment also in regard to righteousness. Secondly, permit me to speak to you of this.

That man must have a certain righteousness in order to stand some day before God is denied not even by the world, if it still believes in a God and in a future retribution. For our reason certainly tells us: since God is holy and righteous, he naturally cannot save the unrighteous and cannot possibly give heaven as a reward for sin. But which is that righteousness, with which the world hopes to stand before God?

The world judges thus: If a person does those good works which are commanded in the Ten Commandments, and if he forsakes evil works which are forbidden, in them; if he does as much good as is within his powers to do; if he refrains from all gross sins and dissipation and does not live in any vice; if he gives everyone his due and is generous to the poor; if he is a good citizen, a faithful spouse, a diligent father of a family, a peaceable neighbor, a scrupulous business man, and indeed also a zealous church-goer, and if he lives in all things in such a way that he cannot be reproved by others but is regarded and praised as an honorable, honest, upright, and virtuous man, he is a righteous man. To put it simply, the world, therefore, regards a blameless civil respectability and righteousness as that righteousness which some day will avail before God.

That this is true is beyond doubt, for thousands and millions comfort themselves with such a righteousness and hope that in this way they will assuredly enter heaven.

But what is the verdict of the Holy Spirit concerning this? Christ says in our Gospel, "He will reprove the world of righteous, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." V. 10. A noteworthy judgment!

From these strange sounding word's we perceive at least this much, that the Holy Spirit must reveal an entirely different righteousness than that upon which the whole world relies. What? Will the Holy Spirit reprove people living in an honorable, upright, moral, and virtuous life and will he praise people living in manifest sins? Absolutely not! God also wants us to be good citizens, diligent heads of families, scrupulous business people, peaceable neighbors, and the like. But as praiseworthy and profitable as this is for this life and for the social relationships among men, nevertheless, according to the judgment of the Holy Spirit this is not in the least that righteousness which avails before God. Yes, if a person steps before God with his civil respectability and virtues and dares to want to stand with them before God, then the Holy Spirit rejects and condemns such righteousness of the Law as a filthy torn garment in which no person could" and dares to appear before the most holy God.

But, you will say, did not God himself give the Law and say, "This do, and thou shalt live"? And did not Christ confirm it when he answered that young man, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments"? Mt 19:17. This is true, my friends, but remember: God will indeed give eternal life to him who keeps his Commandments but only to him who really keeps them, who keeps them perfectly. One does not keep God's Commandments when he does this or the other work which is demanded and forsakes one or the other sin forbidden in the Commandments. No, only he keeps God's Commandments whose heart, first of all, is as pure and holy as the Law demands; only he who willingly, without an inner resistance does or forsakes what he does or forsakes according to the Law; only he who in what he does forsake according to the Law has neither the intention of being praised by men nor being rewarded by God for it or escaping his punishment; only he who does not become proud in his heart when he has done everything but before God regards himself as an unprofitable servant; only he who makes no exception in any sin which he is to hate and forsake and in any virtue which he is to love and practise; in short, only he keeps God's Commandments who in truth can say: I am without sin, without shortcomings, without a fault, even without a weakness; I am holy, I am perfect.

Now tell me: Who can speak thus of himself? Who has a perfectly pure heart? who does all good and forsakes all evil without an inner resistance? who never has the purpose of being praised by men and being rewarded by God and escaping his punishment? in whom does no secret pride raise itself when he has ' done something good or conquered some evil? who makes no exception in any virtue, if to practise it is ever so difficult, and in any sin if to struggle against it is ever so hard? in short, who dare say with Christ: Who of you convinces me of sin? who can say: I am holy, I am perfect?

Alas, no person! If everyone examines himself accordingly, he must join in the confession which even the saints have made, "There is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom 3:22,23. "Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." Ps 143:2. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Is '64:6;

You see, that is why the Holy Spirit reveals a different righteousness; that is, he as we read in our text, reproves the world "of righteousness, because

I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." What does that mean? That means that the Holy Ghost calls to the world: If you want to be righteous before God, do not seek it in your works, not in your life, not in your fulfillment of the Law; all your efforts are still spotted with sin; before men you can indeed stand in them but before God who sees into the heart, never. Oh, therefore, hurl away the rages of your own righteousness and look to Christ; he has traveled a great, difficult, bitter way, that is, he has gone through this world amid suffering and disgrace, then he went to Golgatha and offered himself on the cross, and finally through the death of an eternal reconciliation he has gone out of the world and after his glorious resurrection entered into the house of his Father by his majestic ascension; he traveled this way for your benefit; what Christ did and suffered on this way he did and suffered for you and in your place; therefore, keep to this way in faith, comfort yourself with this way; then you have the true righteousness which avails before God, a righteousness with which no one can find fault, for it is the righteousness of God's Son; then you have a righteousness of which no one can rob you, for it is the righteousness of him who has all power in heaven and on earth; then you have a righteousness which stands firmly forever, even though you may stumble and fall and of which you are certain even though you may see and feel nothing of it, yes, see and feel nothing but unrighteousness, for this righteousness is outside of you, over you, in heaven, before God's throne.

Oh, blessed is the man who rejects his own judgment of righteousness and accepts in its place the judgment of the Holy Spirit! He can be happy in temptation, happy in death, yes, happy in the day of judgment, for he can rejoicingly exclaim with Isaiah, "In the Lord I have righteousness and strength!" Is 45: 24, and sing with the little children:

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress;

Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head. (371,1)

III.

My friends, we hurry to the close.

There is still one more point over which, according to our Gospel, the judgment of the world is different from that of the Holy Spirit, namely, in the third place concerning the judgment.

Many of those who belong to the world, that is, to the non-christian, simply do not believe that there really will be a judgment; especially in these last times in which we have come to the dregs of the entire time-span of the world, the teaching of a Judgment Day is a joke and a butt of mockery to many. They are not ashamed to write openly that no one will be judged, that here everyone already receives what he has deserved, the final judgment of the world is the story of the world, that is, posterity holds the final judgment upon the dead by remembering them either with honor or with disgrace.

Yet, through ever so many may consider the teaching of the terrible final Judgment a fable which was indeed believed in the dark ages of bygone years and by which one lets himself be frightened but which is laughed at in our enlightened times as a child's fairy tale, as long as God's Word is preached--and it will be preached until the end of days-so long will the Holy Spirit also testify: the Day of Judgment is coming when everyone will receive what his

deeds deserve; and through the Word God's Spirit will continually knock at the hearts of even the most impudent mockers and cause them to feel against their will that the truth nevertheless is what they would so gladly deny.

However, my friends, even among the children of this world there are not a few who dare not deny that there will be a judgment of the living and the dead; but which people does the world believe will some day be judged and condemned? It believes this most of all of gross criminals, of thieves, robbers, and murderers who have ended their lives at the place of execution; but that also an honorable child of the world could enter into judgment, and be eternally rejected, that it does not believe.

Yet how entirely different is the judgment of the Holy Spirit on this point! Christ says of it in our text, "He will reprove the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged." Hence, what is the judgment of the Holy Spirit? Since he testifies that the prince of this world is judged, he in so doing testifies that also all who are in his kingdom are judged with him, yes, are also already judged.

A fearful, frightening judgment! From this we see: though a person may walk ever so honorably, ever so uprightly, ever so famously, ever so blamelessly before, the world, if he still belongs to the world, if he is still a friend of the world, if he still clings to the world, and if he still lives with the world and in the manner of the world, he is already judged, already rejected with all his wisdom, piety, and righteousness, and with all his highly praised works.

Thus the Holy Spirit confirms the word of Christ, "Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." Mt 7:14,13. "For many are called but few chosen."

Oh my dear hearers, let us therefore not be secure! Let us not follow our own false judgment! Let us accept the judgment of the Holy Spirit, for all men and also our own heart are liars, but God's Spirit is a Spirit of truth, his judgment is true and will some day become true before our eyes. Let us, therefore, also forsake the kingdom of this world in which the prince of darkness rules and in order that we can do this pray to God that he would give us his Holy Spirit so that he will not only reveal to us the sin of our unbelief but also show us that righteousness which Christ has earned for us by his bitter going to the Father; then in the deepest knowledge of our sins let us pray for faith, but then also in faith work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Finally, let us never forget the great day of Judgment but keep ourselves in readiness so that when this day will appear suddenly like a snare and fall upon the secure world and the Judge will appear, we will be able to enter in with him in joy.

Ah, Lord Jesus! You do this good thing in us; deliver us from this evil, wicked world and draw us into your blessed communion; preserve us and let nothing, nothing tear us out of your hand. And when the world with its princes will be publicly judged, free us by virtue of your wounds which once were given you for our sakes. Amen. Amen.