Sermon Tone Analysis

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The Sermon Notes of Harold Buls

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*The Sermon Notes of Harold Buls *

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*On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia *

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*Text from John 16:5-15 *

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*Easter IV *

1.

The text consists of three parts:

a. Vss.

5-7, Jesus stresses the fact that He must go to Him who sent Him (suffering, death, resurrection, ascension).

If He does not go, the Holy Spirit will not come to mankind.

b.

Vss.

8-11, the Holy Spirit prosecutes the sin and sinfulness of man, especially unbelief, comforts repentant sinners with the righteousness of Christ, and protects Christians from the devil, the ruler of this world;

c.

Vs. 12-15, the Holy Spirit harmoniously comes, guides, speaks, hears, announces, glorifies and receives from Jesus.

These vss.

speak of the Holy Spirit's part in the reciprocal glorification of the members of the Trinity.

All three are the true and whole God.

All three lead mankind into all Truth, the very opposite of the devil who is nothing but lies, Jn. 8:44.

Truth can be found only in the Word of God.

2. Jesus' departure made the disciples sad.

Even though they are believers their dull selfishness shows itself.

All of us are like them.

But, He says, unless He goes away the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will not come.

When Jesus went away He sent the Spirit on Pentecost, the writing of the New Testament and He is still coming to us today.

3. The work of the Holy Spirit through God's Word is remarkable.

Through the Law He convicts and convinces us of our sin, vs. 9.

The mother of all sins is unbelief, the rejection of Jesus Christ.

"He that believeth not shall be damned."

Mk. 16.

But the Holy Spirit, through the Gospel, comforts us with the righteousness of Christ.

Christ attained righteousness for us by going to the Father, by suffering and dying.

Read Rom.

4:25 and 5:12-21.

In Adam all men sinned and died.

In Christ all men gained the righteousness of God by faith.

The fall of man was total.

The justification of man was total.

All has been done.

It only needs to be proclaimed.

Thirdly, vs. 11, the Holy Spirit convinces us that the ruler of this world has been judged, defeated, conquered.

At.

Jn. 12:31 Jesus said that through His suffering and death the ruler of this world is thrown out.

Satan, the father of lies and murderer, is a nothing because of what Christ did.

What a comfort!!

4. In vss.

12-15 Jesus speaks of Pentecost, the Spirit's guidance of the Apostles in Acts, the composition of the NT by inspiration and the activity in the Church throughout the NT era until the end.

5.

A Lutheran scholar wrote: "The work of the Spirit, when He comes upon them from on high, shall be to shed a new light upon all things and to guide them into the fullness of divine truth.

And we have the fruit of this work of the Spirit in the apostolic writings, in which the Church possesses all that is required for the present and for the future.

But if the apostolic witnesses have been guided by the Spirit 'into all truth' according to this express promise, then we are the possessors of God's infallible Word in the written instructions which they have left."

I Cor.

2:9ff.

6. Meditate on the importance of this text.

In the four Gospels the Spirit recalled for all time what Jesus had said and done.

In Acts we can see how the Spirit guided Peter, Paul, John, James, Barnabas, etc., in all necessary Truth.

Think how He guided them at the Jerusalem Conference (Acts 15) when the Judaizers maintained that Gentiles would have to become Jews before they were worthy recipients of the Gospel.

Think of how the Spirit guided Paul to teach the article of justification in Romans, of faith alone apart from the deeds of the Law in Galatians, of the *Una Sancta* in Ephesians, of the deadly heresy which attacked the church at Colossae which heresy could be combated only by the correct teaching about Christ (Colossians), of the manifold problems presented by the congregation in Corinth and how Paul handled these problems.

The Triune God revealed all this to Apostles who recorded it for us in the NT.

7. The humanity and divinity of Jesus are very plain in this text.

He has everything that the Father has, vs. 15, and yet He is going to the Father, Divinity and humanity.

The "future things" vs. 13 are the activity of God's Kingdom on earth until the end of the world.

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*The Sermon Outline of Harold Buls *

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*On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia *

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*Text from John 16:5-11 *

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*Easter IV *

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*First Sermon *

*THEME: The Threefold Work of the Holy Spirit *

*INTRODUCTION *

In Jn. 15:26-27 Jesus had spoken of the Holy Spirit who would come and testify of Christ.

Then in 16:1-4 He tells the disciples why He has spoken Jn. 13-15, to prepare them for the preparations which were coming.

Then in 16:5-11 He bids them farewell and tells them of the threefold work of the Holy Spirit.

The Father sent the Son into the world.

When the Son ascended He sent the Holy Spirit.

*I.

WHY THIS THREEFOLD WORK OF THE SPIRIT IS NECESSARY *

A. Grief fills the heart of mankind.

Vss.

5-6.

The world is a valley of sorrows and tears.

Mankind acts happy but is not really happy.

Even the disciples, who had been with Jesus three years, on this occasion were sorrowful.

Even though Jesus was doing what was necessary for them the disciples were sad.

Even though they were believers they were full of pain.

Isn't that the way it is with us?

We so easily give way to sorrow, to sadness, to grief.

And that is why the threefold work of the Spirit is so necessary for us.

B. Mankind does not understand the dealings of God with man.

Jesus says: "If I do not go away the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you.

But if I go I will send Him to you."

Jesus was explaining what was necessary for their salvation.

It is easy for us to criticize the disciples for their dullness, unhappiness and grief.

But are we not the same way?

One time Luther's wife dressed in black and wore a black headdress.

Luther asked her why she did that.

She said: "The way you act, God is dead.

I'm getting ready for the funeral."

That made Luther aware of his sinful grief.

He was not letting the Gospel comfort him in God's dealings with Luther.

*II.

WHAT THIS THREEFOLD WORK OF THE SPIRIT IS *

Vs. 8.

He will convict and convince the world, all men, of three things: