Why does Manchester need the Holy Spirit?

As you look around at the church, you may understandably feel we are: irrelevant; a tiny speck; pointless.

We are a miniscule organisation in a sea of nearly 3 million people who live in Greater Manchester.

What could we possibly have, that those people need? We don’t have money. We don’t have numbers. We don’t have resources.

As we head toward Pentecost, we’re in a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14-16.

And even though John’s language is quite different to that of Matthew, Mark and Luke, he’s talking about Jesus’ kingdom just as much as those Gospels are.

These chapters are one long conversation with the disciples.

And Jesus is contrasting the world —that’s the world we see, where Satan rules through power and might with the church —his invisible kingdom where Jesus rules through the Word and Spirit

And he warned them in 15:20:

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

And immediately before our passage today, Jesus has just warned his disciples, that as Christians they will be persecuted, lonely, and shunned by others, v. 2:

They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

That is a hard message to hear, and so now Jesus encourages them.

Yes, they’ll face loneliness, rejection from others, and apparent failure, but his disciples won’t be truly alone as that happens.

Jesus will send them His Spirit —who the very world that rejects them desperately needs to receive.

And we are in a very similar position to Jesus’ disciples… …because we feel irrelevant; tiny; and lonely.

But, we are not alone. You are not alone. The Spirit is here, He is with you every day. And people in Manchester desperately need to receive Him.

So why? Why does Manchester need the Holy Spirit?

Well, Jesus gives us two answers here in this passage:
1) The Spirit is convicting people through Scripture
2) The Spirit’s power is in the positive message of Scripture

So how does the Spirit work here in Manchester, in this place that doesn’t believe it needs Jesus at all?

1) The Spirit is convicting people

Please look again at vv. 5-6:

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

The disciples are sad because they have different priorities to Jesus. They care about what they can see, about an earthly kingdom. And so Jesus’ going away makes no sense to them.

And he continues, v. 7:

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus says that him going away is “to your advantage”: because the earthly kingdom they want isn’t actually in their best interests.

What is truly good for the disciples is Jesus’ spiritual kingdom.

And his death and resurrection are necessary so that he can send them the Spirit, the one who actually spreads Jesus’ kingdom over the earth.

So, Jesus explains who the Spirit is, and what will he do in v. 8:

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

This is the key thing the Spirit does: He convicts people. And this is not just an idea in John’s Gospel:

In 1 Thessalonians 1:5 the Apostle Paul wrote:

our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

So, here in John, Jesus says he will send the Spirit to bring conviction as people share his Word.

And in Paul’s letter, he describes how the Spirit brought full conviction as he shared Jesus’ Word.

But, there are lots of people here in Manchester, making completely different claims about what the Spirit is doing and how.

They claim the Spirit’s role is things like:
—to bring ecstatic, worshipful experiences,
—to bring success, health, and wealth
—to bring signs and wonders
—to make Christians sinless or perfect in this life
—to unite all religions or churches together, regardless of their beliefs or teachings.

And they claim the Spirit does these things through things like:
—extra revelations outside the Bible
—emotional music and long periods of singing
—heartfelt prayer and waiting

But what does Jesus say here? Two things, v. 8

when he comes, he will convict the world

And, v. 7:

if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you

The Spirit’s role is to convince people of things. And the means through which he does that is the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And if you just walk outside and talk to anyone in Manchester, you’ll see instantly why they need the Spirit to do this.

People do not see, feel, or understand their need for Jesus at all. And Jesus says the Spirit convicts people in three ways: concerning sin, righteousness and judgement.

And he explains these things in the next three verses.

v. 9:

concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

The Spirit convicts the world of sin, because the heart of sin is unbelief: an active distrust in God’s goodness and mercy. And what Jesus says here is all over the Bible:

The serpent’s craftiness in Gen 3 was to convince Eve that God is not good and trustworthy.

Romans 14:23, Paul writes:

whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Hebrews 11:6 says:

without faith it is impossible to please him,

Psalm 78:22 God’s anger is against Israel because…

because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

Psalm 95:7-8, Israel’s disobedience in the wilderness is described as the model of sin and rebellion against God, and the heart of that is:

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

And earlier in John’s Gospel, in 3:18, Jesus said this:

Whoever believes in [the Son of God] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The next thing the Spirit convicts the world of is in v. 10:

concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;

It is a natural fundamental human belief that we prove we are right, good, and nice people by who we are and what we do.

But, the Spirit convicts us of righteousness, because true righteousness, God’s righteousness is something that comes to us from the outside as a gift.

This belief offends our natural pride. Our belief we’re naturally good. That’s why we need the Spirit to give us hunger for God’s righteousness.

And, again, what Jesus says here is all over the New Testament.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul summarises the Gospel like this:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And in Romans 10:3 Paul explains why people resist the Spirit:

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

And finally, the last aspect of the Spirit’s work, Jesus explains, v. 11:

concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The context is the world’s rejection of the disciples.

The judgement that the world is convicted of is their condemnation of the Gospel and the church. But, Satan—who himself is the accuser—has already been judged.

Again, Paul says exactly the same thing in Colossians 2:13-14:

God made [us] alive together with [Jesus], having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

So, this is Jesus’ first point: The Spirit is convicting people

And here’s why this is important: because this is what you, I, and everyone in Manchester most needs:

to be convinced
of sin: our need for Jesus
of righteousness: of the unconditional gift of Jesus
and of judgement: that we should stop fighting against Jesus.

I was talking recently with someone who identifies as non-binary. And since being asked, I have consistently used their preferred name and pronouns without questioning or challenging them.

All I have consistently told them, is that while, it’s true that God’s Law does say something different to their view about the nature of gender and identity, God unconditionally loves them, cares about them, is looking after them, wants the best for them, died for them, has forgiven them.

And yet, still, that individual describes this as hateful, abusive, and transphobic.

This is the aggressiveness, the hostility of the world that Jesus describes: That simply to say “While I don’t have the same opinion as you, I love you unconditionally, and will adjust all my language to respect and be consistent with your views.” Is falsely labelled as aggressive and hostile.

But it’s not just out there—you and I do this too: by nature we create false hostility to protect ourselves and set ourselves up as righteous victims.

So how does the Spirit break down these walls of hostility that people put up around themselves all over Manchester?

2) The Spirit’s power is in the positive message of Scripture

Please look again at v. 12:

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

The Apostles had a special role in Jesus’ mission. To be sent to bring his good news to the world.

But, they weren’t ready for that yet. because they are still clinging emotionally to the idea of worldly success. As Luther explains:

It is too heavy for you to bear, what has been said and still is to be said of this; for it is all quite contrary to your thoughts and hopes.

In other words, they didn’t yet have the heart to receive the Gospel. The book of Hebrews describes this as spiritual immaturity 5:13:

You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

But, spiritual maturity does not come from clever arguments, or even from preaching the Law.

This is probably the biggest misunderstanding among people who call themselves “evangelical” about the Bible’s message: That you need to convince people they are sinners using the Law before you can tell them the Gospel.

But, while the Law does expose sin, and we do always speak God’s Law and Gsopel together: it is the Spirit who convicts people through the Gospel.

Jesus says to the Apostles

“you cannot bear it now“

The Apostles are focused on what they see, experience and feel. Spiritual maturity is inner, emotional, strength, to let go of my self-righteousness and receive from Jesus. The Spirit gives us that strength to let go of our self-righteousness through the Gospel, not through the Law.

And so, Jesus gives them this promise in v. 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 guide the apostles into the truth of the Gospel, and they will give that Gospel truth to us.

Jesus describes the Spirit’s office to the Apostles because his office is parallel to the Apostles’ office.

The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own authority. The Apostles won’t speak on their own authority.

The Spirit’s words have the authority of the Father and Son. The Apostles’ words will have the authority of Spirit, Father and Son.

And so in vv. 14-15, Jesus explicitly describes how the Spirit works:

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.

This is way God works, through God’s Word: declaring is sharing.

At the beginning of his first letter, John reminds his readers of this idea, 1 John 1:3:

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

The Apostles are Jesus’ eyewitnesses, and the Spirit is speaking through them. So that as they share their Word, the Spirit works through their Word.

The Spirit’s power is in the positive message of Scripture

The Bible was written by the Spirit. The Apostle Peter says that so clearly in 2 Peter 1:21:

no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament he spoke through the Prophets to promise the Gospel.

In the New Testament he spoke through the Apostles to give us the Gospel.

And so sharing the Word of God is not an intellectual exercise in persuading people using evidence and hard facts. Because the world’s problem is its hard heart of hostility.

But, as people hear this Word, the Spirit powerfully works through it in their hearts.

The Spirit, v. 14:

will take what is mine and declare it to you

Declaring is sharing.

It is not us who convict the world of sin, of righteousness of judgement It is not the Apostles. It is the Spirit who does this.

And the means, the method, he does this by is through the Gospel. The positive message of Scripture.

All the Father has, which Jesus gives us by going away and sending his Spirit.

By dying for sins, rising for our justification, and giving us faith through the Gospel.

So, Why does Manchester need the Holy Spirit?

Well, 1) The Spirit is convicting people

Of sin: people need to feel their need for Jesus.
Of righteousness: people need to feel hunger for God’s gift to them through Jesus
Of judgement: people need to stop feeling hostile toward Jesus.

This is the work of the Spirit: Convincing people in Manchester that they need Jesus and that they want to freely receive Jesus. And convicting people to let go of their hostility to Jesus.

And how does the Spirit do that?

2) The Spirit’s power is in the positive message of Scripture

As people hear the good news
that God is in a good mood with them,
that God the Father loves them and cares for them
that God the Son died and rose for them,
that God the Spirit wants to work in them…

…the Holy Spirit works through that positive message.

Declaring is sharing.

The Spirit led the Apostles into the full truth of the Gospel, and we have their Word, right here, in Scripture.

This message, this truth, is the power of God, the Spirit’s means.

So, just think about this question: What will you do with this Gospel this week?

Everything God has, everything Jesus gives, is given by the Spirit through this Gospel to me, to you, to Manchester:

All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.