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“But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet because I have said these things to you, your hearts are filled with sorrow. But I tell you the truth: 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” (John 16:5-7).
Let us turn our attention to these words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “Now I am going away.” Where does Jesus Christ intend to go? He goes on to say, “I am going to him who sent me.” The Heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ to earth at His appointed time. What goal and what task did He give Him?
The answer can be found in the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God loved the world. We can only reflect on this and marvel at this love: God loved the world.
Why? God's Word tells us that all people on earth were in sin and that not one was righteous among them. For such sinners, God has a love beyond our comprehension—He gives His only begotten Son to suffer, He sends Him to the most terrible death—death on the cross—in order to save us sinful people.
How much we must appreciate His suffering and His painful death, which He took upon Himself to give us life—eternal life. Praise be to You, dear Savior! Christ showed us what a right and holy life must look like by living on this earth in a human body. He fulfilled the task of His heavenly Father.
At the end of His earthly life, shortly before the beginning of His suffering, He spoke to His anxious disciples: “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18). “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever” (John 14:16). The work of our Lord Jesus Christ was not limited by His earthly life. Christ walked the earth in a human body for a specific period of time.
But after He had fulfilled what the Heavenly Father had entrusted to Him, He went to His Father in heaven. However, He said of the Holy Spirit that He would be with us for eternity. Bible readers are familiar with the event that occurred on the day of Pentecost. On that very day, the Holy Spirit, promised by Christ, descended upon those who were waiting. All were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, which the Spirit had given them.
Pentecost is a major holiday for the Israelite people. Let's read some verses from the Acts of the Apostles: "Now there were staying in Jerusalem Jews who feared God from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). I believe that even someone who is not particularly well-educated can recognize that all the people gathered in Jerusalem were Hebrews who had come together from all over Israel to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. They were not Gentiles, as some teachers claim today.
Let us consider the Gospel of John: “The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it, you, a Jew, who ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? For Jews have no fellowship with Samaritans’” (John 4:9). The first Gentiles ever mentioned were from the house of Cornelius. But let us look carefully at how God commanded the Apostle Peter to go to the Gentiles; and also how the other apostles reproached him for having gone to the Gentiles. And only after he explained to them that God had shown him a vision and had sent him himself to Cornelius’ house did they calm down (cf. Acts 10).
To grow in the knowledge of God's word, it is essential to be simple and humble.
When he entered Cornelius's house, he said to them: “You know that it is not lawful for a Jew to associate with or visit a foreigner; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone common or unclean. […] While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the Jewish believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:28, 44-45).
Let us consider this: How did the Jews know that the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles? This is a very important question, and the writer of this Gospel himself answers it: “For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God” (Acts 10:46). Elsewhere in Scripture, it is written that Paul asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “We have never heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” […] And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:2, 6).
What more can be said? From these examples, it should be clear to all believing Christians that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is accompanied by speaking in other tongues, in which we believe, and not only believe, but experience this miracle ourselves in our prayers. For this, we thank God from the bottom of our hearts that He has opened this to us and given it to us in His time through faith in the Gospel.
But why am I talking about this today, and what motivated me to write about it? We live in a time of great progress in science and technology. Even what we say within our own four walls can be heard by both our friends and those who are not our friends. And even more than that—they can record our speech and retell it in a way that exposes anyone they dislike.
Some believers who hear my sermons call them heresy. In such cases, I respond with words from Scripture: "The one born in the flesh pursues the one born in the Spirit." I want to pray for these people, that God may open the Word to them. Someone who wanted to harm me fabricated a text and published it with my photo under my name. May God forgive him! I have never written anything on the internet in my entire life. I don't even know how to use the internet.
I once had a non-believing foreman at work. He was very wise, though. Whenever someone spoke against him, he always replied: “We live among people. The wise will understand, but you can't fool the foolish.” May God help us to be wise. But not merely before people, but what is far more precious, to be wise before God. We should not humiliate anyone, for we must give an account of everything before God.
But above all, regarding God's Word, and especially concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I would like to add something. Don't forget that Christ said: “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven […] either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31-32). The Apostle Paul wrote the following words in his second letter to Timothy: “But understand this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, ungodly” (2 Timothy 3:1-2), and a list of various prophets follows.
But the most astonishing thing is that there are some “who are always looking for new things to learn but are never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Why can these people always learn but never come to a knowledge of the truth? Paul explains this in the following verses: “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men oppose the truth. They are corrupted in their thinking and unfit to believe” (2 Timothy 3:8).
This is the reason: resistance to the truth! In His day, Jesus said to the Jews: “[You] will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Before His Passion, Jesus spoke these words to His heavenly Father in prayer: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).
May God Himself grant to everyone who seeks the truth a thirst to learn from the Word of God. In Him is the truth. So that we may not preach our own wisdom, but rather what the Word of God teaches us, for the revelation of His Word enlightens and gives understanding to the simple.
To grow in the knowledge of God's Word, it is essential to be simple and humble. Everyone understands what the words "humility" and "simplicity" mean. A proud person finds it difficult to admit that they don't understand something. They pretend to be wise, and that is why they find it so hard to grasp God's truth. For God opposes the proud and is gracious to the humble. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).
May God grant everyone who seeks the truth a thirst to learn from the word of God.
Let us return once more to the words Jesus spoke about another Comforter, namely the Holy Spirit: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13). From these words, we hear that the Holy Spirit is not silent, but speaks. He reminds us of what Jesus Christ said.
In the same way, He convicts and instructs us, and He reveals the future to us. Praise be to God for His care for us. It is very sad that many Christians suppress this work of the Holy Spirit and, even worse, do not believe in it and do not accept His voice. The Apostle Paul calls upon the people of God in his letter: “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-21).
How important it is to know and act on this. Do not quench the Spirit or suppress prophecy: if something is unclear to you, pray. God will reveal it to you; it is not a sin. Every Christian has the right to express their opinion on one or another aspect of the Holy Spirit's work. It is only important to do so in the fear of God.
I remember very well a testimony from a brother who was a vessel of God. When he was still living in the Kom area, a comedian came there on business, who made fun of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit filled the brother. He stood up and said to this man, "You will turn like this," and he even showed with his hands how he would turn. But the comedian, to whom the word was addressed, did not accept the words, but only mocked them, replying, "This is how I will turn."
Several days passed after this event. And as he was driving his car down the road, it began to spin. Both the car and he were so badly damaged that he barely survived. How terrible it is to resist God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
A proud person finds it difficult to admit that they don't understand something. They pretend to be wise, and that's why they find it so hard to grasp God's truth.
I remember a lesson given by an atheist. Those of us who are older will surely recall how atheists often gave lessons at work against God and against those who believed in Him. In one such lesson, the lecturer tried to prove that there is no God and concluded by saying: "As a sign that there is no God, let's raise our fists and wave them."
I mean, everyone started waving their fists. Only one old man, sitting in the front row, had his hands folded and sat quietly. When the atheist lecturer saw him, he said, "Why aren't you waving your fists, sir?"
The old man replied, “You are so convinced that God does not exist. To whom, then, is this waving of fists directed? And if He does exist, I am afraid to raise my fists against Him.” I think some of our readers could learn something from this old gentleman.
If you claim today that there are no gifts of the Holy Spirit and you have no faith that they still exist today, then I advise you: Do not raise your fists and do not open your mouths to speak evil words against the grace of God. You run a great danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God.
We Christians who believe in the Gospel do not hide the fact that among God's people, where there are gifts of the Holy Spirit, there is also ignorance. We too make mistakes; there are prophecies that do not come from God, but from people. But to deny and suppress all of this is a great danger.
Therefore, the Apostle Paul writes: “Do not quench the Spirit. […] Test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). We have the right to examine prophecy, but not to ridicule it or belittle God’s gifts. For long ago, God promised through the prophet Joel that in the last days He would pour out His Holy Spirit on every person: “The sons and daughters will prophesy and see visions” (see Joel 3:1).
May the Lord bless these boys and girls. Amen.
Peter Noworok,
Ukraine
All Bible verses are quoted from the Luther translation 2017.
There's a story that's told again and again...
...and although the details change, the moral remains the same: A group of travelers came to a river. A voice said: "Take as many pebbles from the river as you like, then cross the river and continue on your way. You will be happy, and you will be sad."
The reactions varied. Some picked up as much as they could comfortably carry, already burdened by their camping gear. Others were content with a handful. Still others believed they already had enough to bear in life; they felt they needed nothing more.
Once they had crossed the river and traveled several miles, all the pebbles turned into emeralds. They were pleased with the stones they had collected and regretted that there weren't more.
It's the same with devotion. We will be glad for the extent to which we surrendered our lives to the Lord. And we will regret that we did not give more.
From "Take My Life," McDonald's, CLV