The Sermon Notes of Harold Buls


The Sermon Notes of Harold Buls

On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia

Text from John 16:5-15

Easter IV

1. The text consists of three parts:

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.


The Sermon Outline of Harold Buls

On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia

Text from John 16:5-11

Easter IV

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

II. WHAT THIS THREEFOLD WORK OF THE SPIRIT IS

Vs. 8. He will convict and convince the world, all men, of three things:

The Sermon Outline of Harold Buls

On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia

Text from John 16:12-15

Easter IV

Second Sermon

THEME: Jesus Foretells the Sending and Work of the Holy Spirit

INTRODUCTION

The Father sent His Son to save the world. When this had been accomplished the Son ascended to Heaven to ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to guide and inspire the Apostles to write the NT and preach the Gospel. The Spirit says only what Father and Son instruct Him to say. Through the written Word the Spirit still guides, leads and comforts the Church until the end of time.

I. THE SPIRIT'S WORK IS CLEARLY APPARENT IN THE BOOK OF ACTS


This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by Cindy A. Beesley and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.

E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu

Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
Phone: (260) 452-3149 . Fax: (260) 452-2126


Sermon Notes Home Page