https://assets-cdn2.dropwave.io/086174f0-efbe-400f-a3e9-b91549a26ab7/media/Cantate Domino_ Fourth Sunday after Easter AD 2026.mp3

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[Jesus speaks the truth]

Jesus says: It is to your advantage that I go away (John 16:7). Jesus speaks words that cause His disciples to be sorrowful. Jesus says that they are sad because of the word He has spoken. That doesn’t make sense to us. Wouldn’t Jesus want His disciples to not be sad? Shouldn’t He want them to rejoice? Because I said these things to you, now you are sad (c.f. John 16:6). Even more, I think, Jesus said these things knowing it would make the disciples sad.

What things has Jesus said? Persecution and suffering is coming. Jesus will die. The disciples will follow Him. They will be mistreated on account of Him and His Word. Jesus says all these things because He knows that they need to hear the truth. Lies will not sustain them as He departs from them. False words will not strengthen them to face their coming trials. But the truth will. That’s why Jesus says I tell you the truth (John 16:7).

Jesus wasn’t just predicting the future. Jesus was saying all these things because He wants His disciples to know the truth. They must know that if Jesus doesn’t die, the Scriptures will remain unfulfilled. The Holy Spirit cannot give the victory over sin and death to anyone unless Jesus first wins that victory. What God’s people have longed for will not be given. But if Jesus does accomplish all the Father has given, the Holy Spirit will come to you. He will work in you. He will fill you with comfort and courage and concord and peace.

What Jesus promised was true. Jesus would go to the Father. Now His work is completed. Jesus has suffered and died. His death has taken away the sin of the world. Now Jesus is risen from the grave, never to die again. Your sin — every sin — is atoned for. You have peace with God.

Jesus speaks the truth because only the truth gives true peace. False doctrine and error steal away peace and leave you afraid. Lies hurt. But God doesn’t lie. He never will. He only ever speaks the truth. Jesus Himself is the Truth. So when Jesus promises to send the Spirit of Truth, we should understand He is promising to send the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus takes what belongs to Jesus and declares it to you. Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of Truth — speaks the truth.

[The Holy Spirit will speak the truth]

So when the Spirit of Truth comes, everything becomes clear. Even though we won’t observe Pentecost for a few more weeks, Jesus has already sent the Spirit of Truth to us from the Father. Our translation says it this way: When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13), but that’s not really the best translation. To be guided into something implies that you are on the outside — and it's true — the Holy Spirit does lead those outside the truth into the Truth, but Jesus here is specifically talking to the apostles. They already have the truth. So it would be better — and more faithful to the text — to say the Spirit will guide you in all the truth. That is — the Spirit of Truth will guide you by means of the truth. The Spirit of Jesus will guide you by means of Jesus. And that's actually what we see in the text. The Holy Spirit comes in order to convict the whole world - He comes to convict us, too — of sin and righteousness and judgment.

[Concerning sin]

Concerning sin, because we are born into it. This is the root sin — the source of all other sin: unbelief — not believing in Jesus. Every sin at its root is idolatry. Every sin springs from the fact that we do not trust that God is good and that He will provide. Every other sin grows out of this rotten root: idolatry, disobedience, murder, adultery and fornication, theft, slander, covetousness. According to our natural fallen knowledge, we try to hide from this truth. We learn our sin not by feeling it, but by believing it according to the Holy Spirit’s preaching. He convicts the whole world of sin. The only remedy to this conviction is repentance and faith in Christ.

[Concerning righteousness]

So, having convicted the world of this truth, the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness, because [Jesus] goes to [His] Father, and you see Him no more (John 16:11). The unbelieving world does not, and cannot, produce the righteousness of God. But Christ, by His death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father, is vindicated as the Righteous One. The Holy Spirit therefore convicts the world that righteousness has been accomplished by Jesus on the cross. Jesus has died for the whole world's sins; every sin is paid for. The Spirit comes proclaiming this truth. Righteousness is not something you work up in yourself. You receive it freely for the sake of Christ.

[Concerning judgment]

Though all sins are paid for, not everyone believes. Salvation is a gift, and the nature of a gift is that it can be refused. But that also means that there is no ‘accepting’ it or earning it. Freely given - there is nothing for faith to do but reap the rewards and benefit. So the Spirit convicts the world that all are born sinful. He convicts the world that in Christ every sin has been atoned for.

But what if the Gospel is refused by unbelief? Then the Gospel itself becomes a testimony against those who refuse the gift. They will be judged along with the ruler of this world. The devil is a liar from the beginning; he and his lies are judged and condemned by the Spirit of Truth. In the judgment, you will be fully and forever free from his lies. Satan is judged; you, by faith in Christ, are acquitted.

Now the Holy Spirit has come. He has guided the Church in all Truth, and He has glorified Christ by taking what belongs to Jesus and declaring it to you. Now He takes what belongs to Jesus and the Father by nature, and He declares it to you — gives it to you — by grace.