"Calls" 4-24-22
Overview
The Holy Spirit Calls Us to Faith
The Holy Spirit is not a "what" but a "who"—the third person of the Holy Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son, neither subordinate to nor separate from them. Jesus promised in John 14:26 that the Advocate would teach the disciples and remind them of all He had said, and in John 16:8-14 that the Spirit of truth would guide them, glorify Christ, and take what is His to declare to us. The Spirit's work is always bound to the gospel of Jesus Christ; as Jesus says in John 15:26, "He will bear witness about me." Any voice claiming to be the Spirit that contradicts God's Word is not the Spirit, and any teaching that demands a particular dramatic experience as proof of true faith leads us into a pit of despair rather than the truth.
The Spirit's first work is to call us to faith—to make us Christians. Apart from Him we cannot do this ourselves, for we are born with a problem we cannot escape: sin. Scripture is unsparing about our condition. We are spiritually blind, for "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" 2 Corinthians 4:4. We are spiritually dead, "dead through the trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1; cf. Romans 6:23). And we are enemies of God, for "the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God" Romans 8:7. Left to ourselves there is no hope.
But the Spirit calls. "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" Romans 10:17. When the gospel is proclaimed—that Christ took our hostility, our blindness, and our sin upon Himself—the Spirit plants the seed of faith and kindles our hearts to believe. Just as Jesus stood at the tomb and called, "Lazarus, come out" John 11:43, the Spirit calls us by name out of the darkness of death and into the light of life in Christ. As Luther confesses in the Small Catechism's explanation of the Third Article: "I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel."
This calling comes through tangible means of grace: the Word preached and read, the water of baptism splashed over our heads, the bread and wine of Christ's body and blood that we taste and see. In baptism we witness the Spirit sealing a person as God's own forever. Through these means the Spirit reaches in, turns us from sin, and joins us to Christ. Take heart, then: if you trust in Jesus, you have not arrived there by your own strength. God's own Spirit has called you, sealed you, and continues to keep you in true faith. Live in that freedom, worship the One who called you, and share the good news with those still waiting to hear their name.
Transcript
In the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter, Jesus tells his disciples the advocate, the Holy 2s
Spirit whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of 11s
all that I have said to you. 18s
In the 16th chapter, Jesus continued saying, and when he comes, he will prove the world 21s
wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. 28s
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. 33s
For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare 38s
to you the things that are to come. 44s
He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 48s
The Holy Spirit, the advocate, the helper, the one who was sent, the one who comes. 56s
But what is the Holy Spirit? 69s
Ah, ah, there's the first question. 73s
The Holy Spirit is not a what? 78s
The Holy Spirit is a who? 82s
The Holy Spirit is a who? 86s
We don't hear much about the Holy Spirit except on Pentecost. 89s
When we talk a lot about the Holy Spirit and we read and hear of his activity in the disciples, 95s
in the apostles' lives and how they are filled with the Spirit and go out. 103s
But we don't preach on the Holy Spirit and we don't teach on the Holy Spirit a lot. 110s
And there can be confusion that grows because of that. 118s
So there are a couple of dips or pits that we can fall into because if we don't preach the Holy Spirit, 124s
if we don't teach the Holy Spirit, then oftentimes we will turn to other churches that teach or preach the Holy Spirit. 134s
And this is where we can fall into some pits. 146s
There are some churches that teach that the Holy Spirit only works in dynamic, active ways, like speaking in tongues and prophesying and making a big show of it. 149s
And that if you do not have a big show of the Holy Spirit in your life, then your faith may not be real. 163s
And we fall into a pit of despair because we question if we have a valid faith. 173s
And then there are churches that teach that the Holy Spirit can only be heard in the inner voice, in the feelings, in the experience of being internally moved. 186s
But sometimes my feelings move me to think or speak or act in direct contradiction to God's word. 202s
And that cannot be the Holy Spirit. 217s
And we fall into a pit of false belief or false teaching. 222s
So how does the Spirit promise to be in our lives? 231s
How does the Spirit promise to be active in our lives? 236s
Because it does indeed have that promise. 241s
Well, I'm very glad you asked that question because I have an answer for you. 245s
How do we know that the Spirit is active in our lives? 251s
We are going to turn to the small cataclysm to the third article of the Apostles' Creed, which we just shared as a congregation, which we confess our faith in those words week after week after week. 254s
The third article says, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 270s
What does this mean? 286s
Martin Luther gives an explanation. 288s
He writes, I believe that I cannot, by my own understanding or effort, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, 291s
or come to Him. 299s
But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel and lightened me with His gifts and sanctified and kept me in true faith. 302s
In the same way, he calls, gathers and enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. 312s
In this Christian church day after day, he fully forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. 324s
On the last day, he will raise me and all the dead and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life. 331s
This is most certainly true. 340s
Over the next several weeks, we are going to dive deep into or with the Holy Spirit. 345s
We are going to dive deep into a sermon series, the Centuan. 354s
Understanding how the Holy Spirit works in our lives, what the role of the Holy Spirit is. 360s
The first thing that we need to understand is that the Holy Spirit's work is always bound to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 370s
The Holy Spirit is always bound to the revelation of Jesus the Christ. 384s
In John 15, Jesus says when the advocate comes, he will bear witness about me. 393s
The Holy Spirit will always testify of Jesus. 402s
We will always testify of the second person of the Trinity. 407s
When we think of the Trinity, it's very easy to think father, son, Holy Spirit. 413s
But the Holy Spirit is not subordinate to the Father or to the Son. 423s
The Father, son, and Holy Spirit are one. 428s
They are co-equal. 431s
None is subordinate to the other. 433s
The Spirit is the third person of that holy Trinity. 436s
God's own spirit who speaks to us, the truth of the gospel. 442s
As we read in the small catacysm, the first work, the first role of the Spirit is to call us to faith. 450s
That means he makes us Christians. 465s
The Holy Spirit makes us Christians. 470s
How is this done? 474s
In Romans 10, 17th verse, Paul writes, 476s
Faith comes from what is heard. 481s
And what is heard comes through the word of Christ. 484s
Faith comes through hearing the word, the word that is the gospel of Christ. 490s
See, we have this big problem as humans. 500s
We have this big problem that we can't work our way out of. 504s
We have this big problem that works its way into every avenue, every aspect, every crevice of our lives. 508s
We have this big problem that takes every single one of our relationships. 518s
We have this big problem at the very core of our being. 525s
And this problem that we have that we are stuck in is sin. 529s
We are born into a nature of sin. 540s
And in that nature of sin, we have some major spiritual problems. 549s
The first is we are born spiritually blind. 555s
We are spiritually blind. 561s
In second Corinthians, Paul writes, 562s
The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, 564s
who is the image of God. 575s
The God of this world, Satan has blinded us in sin so that we are born unable to see God. 578s
We are born spiritually blind to God. 587s
We are also born spiritually dead. 592s
In Romans, it says that the wage of sin is death. 597s
In Ephesians, the second chapter, Paul writes, 602s
You were dead through the trespasses and sins. 605s
Scripture is very clear that we are born dead. 611s
We are born dead in our sin. 618s
So we are born spiritually blind. 624s
We are born spiritually dead. 626s
And we are born enemies of God. 630s
In Romans 8th chapter, it says the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. 636s
It does not submit to God's law. 642s
Indeed, it cannot. 646s
There is absolutely no hope when we are left to our own devices. 651s
We are blind. 662s
We are dead. 665s
And we are enemies. 666s
We are hostile to the Lord. 669s
But the Spirit calls us. 674s
The Spirit calls us into faith through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 680s
The Spirit plants those seeds. 690s
So when we hear and we know that we are born spiritually blind, 694s
spiritually dead, spiritually hostile to God. 699s
And then we hear that good news that Jesus Christ, 705s
the we were born hostile to Him. 711s
He loved us. 716s
And in His love for us, He took our hostility. 720s
He took our blindness. 724s
He took our big problem as humans that big problem of sin. 726s
And He took it for us upon Himself. 732s
And we hear this. 740s
We hear this gift of Christ's grace and the Spirit plants that seed of faith, 741s
that Spirit reaches down in Kindles, our hearts, 753s
that we would hear more, that we would believe. 759s
When we hear the gospel, we are invited by the Holy Spirit, 765s
by the Spirit of God Himself. 770s
We are invited to believe. 773s
We are invited into community with the Father, Son, and Spirit. 776s
We are called out of death. 782s
Jesus had a friend Lazarus. 788s
This friend died and was in the tomb. 791s
Stone covered it up. 795s
He was dead for four days. 796s
And Jesus arrives at the tomb and says, 799s
take the stone away and everyone is shocked and they say, 802s
no, no, no, no, no. He's going to sneak. 805s
He's been in there for four days. 808s
His body is already starting to decay. 809s
And Jesus says, role away the stone. 811s
And they do. 815s
And Jesus turns to the Father, he prays. 816s
And then he looks at the tomb and calls out, 821s
Lazarus come out. 825s
And Lazarus comes out. 829s
Lazarus comes from his death, 835s
from the darkness of the tomb. 838s
Lazarus comes out from the darkness of his death 840s
at the call of Christ. 845s
Jesus calls his name and he comes. 851s
The Holy Spirit calls to us, 857s
calls us out of the darkness of our sin. 861s
The Holy Spirit calls us out of the death to sin. 869s
And calls us to live in the light of Jesus Christ, 877s
the light of life in salvation and forgiveness. 884s
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the starting point for the Christian. 892s
The sent one leads sinners to Christ and applies salvation, 899s
and applies forgiveness to the sinner, 906s
applies his grace and his mercy. 912s
I love that we had a baptism this morning. 916s
And I love that this baptismal font is right, 920s
center as we talk this morning. 925s
Because we witnessed this morning, 929s
the sent one calling Jade as his own. 933s
We saw Jade sealed in the Holy Spirit. 941s
We saw God claiming her, saying, 947s
you are mine forever and ever and ever. 952s
The Holy Spirit through the tangible means of grace, 958s
through the tangible water which splashes over our heads 964s
with the tangible bread and wine, 969s
Christ's own body and blood that we taste and see and feel 972s
and it becomes a part of us. 978s
The Holy Spirit calls us through those tangible means of grace. 982s
We taste feel and see and the spirit reaches in. 990s
And we hear that promise and the spirit works in us. 996s
And kindles are heart to turn from sin and turn instead to Christ, 1002s
turning to the life that Christ has redeemed and created for us. 1010s
Faith comes by hearing, hearing what, 1019s
hearing that you are forgiven in Christ, 1024s
that he has died for your sins, that he has redeemed you, 1028s
that you are no longer spiritually blind, 1033s
and you certainly are no longer hostile to God. 1037s
But you have been called and invited by God's own spirit. 1044s
To love Him, to live in the freedom of life and to share his good news 1050s
with those around us. 1060s
Brothers and sisters, I am so glad that Jade this morning 1064s
had the tangible grace poured over her head 1072s
as she heard the promise of God that he will never let her go. 1076s
May we all be strengthened in the call that we have as Christians, 1087s
the invitation that God has made to each and every one of us 1096s
and that He enables us in His grace to turn to Him, 1103s
to worship Him, and to say, Allah Lua. 1109s