Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 3, 2026

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text for today is verse 14 of our Holy Gospel for today,

where Jesus says, The Holy Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you.

So we'll look at this verse a little bit closer a little bit later on.

But first of all, our Holy Gospel takes place in the upper room on the night

in which Jesus was betrayed.

And he said to his disciples, Now I am going to him who sent me.

It is to your advantage that I go away.

Is it really the disciples' advantage for Jesus to go away?

How could it possibly be better for them? He would no longer They would no longer

see him No longer hear his words No longer walk with him.

How could his departure seem like a loss?

And yet, it is good that Jesus goes away, not only for them, but also for you.

For if he does not go away, the help of the Holy Spirit will not come to you.

But if the Holy Spirit does not, and if the Holy Spirit does not come to you,

then everything that Jesus has accomplished cannot be delivered to you.

When Jesus speaks, I'm going away, what is he talking about?

He's not talking about going up to the mountain to pray for a little while.

He's not talking about taking a rest from his preaching and teaching.

When he says, I'm going away, he's talking about his suffering,

his death, his resurrection, and his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is going to the cross, and there on the cross, he takes upon himself your

sin. Not some of it, but all of it.

Every hidden thought, every careless word, every act of rebellion,

every failure to love God and the neighbor, he bears it all,

he suffers it all for you.

Then he rises from the dead.

And then, 40 days later, he ascends to the right hand of the Father.

Then 10 days after the ascension, he sends the Holy Spirit on the day that we know as Pentecost.

Why? Why does he do this? He gives us the answer.

He says, the Holy Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Holy Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and gives it to you.

The Holy Spirit delivers the benefits of Christ's death and his resurrection.

He gives you the forgiveness of sins won by his blood on the cross.

He gives you Christ's victory over death.

He gives you everything that the Son has accomplished for you by means of the

cross in the open tomb. So if Jesus had not accomplished salvation for the cross

and the resurrection, then the Holy Spirit would have nothing to give.

But since Jesus has earned salvation for you by means of the cross in the open

tomb, then the Holy Spirit now gives it to you freely.

And what does he give?

Forgiveness, life, and salvation.

How does he give it? He gives it to you by means of water and the word in holy

baptism, by means of the word read and preached, by means of the bread and wine

giving you his body and blood.

Jesus goes away in order to come to you by means of water, word, bread and wine.

Therefore, it is to your advantage that Jesus go to the cross and rises from

the dead and it is to your advantage that the Holy Spirit delivers this gospel

to you from the font, the pulpit, and the altar.

At this point, let us look closer at the work of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus describes the Spirit's work in three ways.

He will convict the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness,

and concerning judgment.

First, Jesus says, The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin because

they do not believe in me.

The Holy Spirit uses the law to show us our sin.

And when he does, he speaks the truth.

I cannot look into your heart. I cannot see the pride in your hearts,

the hateful thoughts, the lust in your eyes, the words set in secret,

the slanderous judgments that you make against others. I don't know them.

I know my own sin and you know your own sin.

Jesus knows our sin because he bore them in the cross. He suffered for them.

Isaiah says that the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Notice what Jesus says. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin because they do not believe in me.

Because they do not believe in me.

We often think of sin as outward signs, murder, theft, stealing.

And that's to be sure. These are sins to be sure. But they are symptoms of a

disease What is the disease?

Jesus says they do not believe in me Namely unbelief.

Unbelief is the root of all sin. It refuses to believe in Jesus.

We tend to think of sin in terms of outward actions, what we do wrong,

and certainly these are sins to be sure, but Jesus goes deeper.

He goes deeper. The problem is not just what we do, but is also our sinful condition,

And our sinful nature causes us to look inward,

to rely on ourselves, to justify ourselves, to hide from God and from one another.

And as baptized children, believers in Christ, we still have a sinful nature.

We are at the same time a sinner and a saint.

The Holy Spirit exposes the truth.

He shows that our heart is curved in on itself.

He leaves us without excuse. He uses the law to show us our sin,

and it's painful to be sure, but it is a good pain and a necessary one.

If we claim to be without sin, then that's one step away from thinking that

we need no gospel, no Jesus.

Because deep down there is sin. It's hard for me to preach this,

and it's perhaps maybe hard for you to hear it, but the Spirit does not convict

us in order to destroy us.

The Spirit convicts us in order to save us.

He shows us our sin so that we repent, so that we stop trusting in idols,

and so that we look to Christ alone for our forgiveness.

Second, Jesus says, The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning righteousness,

because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer.

The devil would have you believe that righteousness is something that you possess

by nature, that you were born with it.

He would have you believe that you are by nature good and that you have done

enough good in order to win favor with God.

This is a lie. Do not believe it.

If you think that you are good inside, then the next step is you don't need

Jesus, you think. You see, every false religion has bought into this lie and

teaches that salvation is by your own righteousness.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormonism,

they all bought into the devil's lie.

But the Holy Spirit does the opposite.

He points you to Jesus's righteousness, not your own.

Jesus's life was perfect. His words were perfect, his thoughts were perfect,

his desires were perfect, his actions were perfect, his death was perfect.

And the Holy Spirit takes the righteousness of Christ and gives it to you.

He declares to you what you do not deserve, Christ.

Here is the great exchange. You gave Jesus your sin and he gave you his righteousness.

You gave him your death and he gave you his life, his perfect obedience,

his love, his purity, his faithfulness are now counted as yours.

His life is your life. His obedience is your obedience.

His righteousness is your righteousness.

The Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and he gives it to you.

The Holy Spirit was active in your baptism Romans chapter 6 says In your baptism

Romans 6 · chapter mention

you were connected To Christ's death and his resurrection Again what's Christ's is yours.

The Spirit is also active when you hear the Word of God preached.

The Spirit is also active giving you the body and blood of Christ.

And through these gifts of gospel and sacrament, the Holy Spirit strengthens your faith in Christ.

Again, the Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and delivers, gives it to you.

On your head in baptism, into your ear in preaching, and your mouth in the Lord's Supper.

So when God looks at you and does not see your sin, he sees Jesus in the robe

of Christ's righteousness.

You are righteous, not because of what you have done, but because of what Christ has done for you.

Finally, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning judgment

because the ruler of this world is judged.

The devil is the accuser.

He points out your sin and says, look, God will condemn you because of your sin.

Now, apart from Christ, this would be true. But the Spirit declares something greater.

The ruler of this world is judged. The devil is judged.

At the cross, Jesus crushed the head, the serpent's head.

At the resurrection, Jesus declared victory over death and the devil.

And the enemy is defeated.

Your victory, Christ's victory, is your victory.

The devil has no claim on you. He cannot accuse you.

Your sins have been paid for by Christ. Your punishment has already been carried by Christ.

And your condemnation has always also been removed by Christ.

So when the devil accuses you, you answer him, not with your righteousness,

but with the righteousness of Christ. And that is enough.

Returning to verse 14, our text for today, Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will

glorify me and he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Notice the Holy Spirit does not call attention to himself. He points to Jesus.

He does not pay attention to himself in the sense of draw an impression upon

you with speaking in tongues or special miracles or some kind of special prophecy.

Rather, the Holy Spirit comes to give you Jesus. That's his work.

And there, and where does he do this?

It's very simple. In baptism, in word, and in the Lord's Supper.

And there, the Holy Spirit is at work placing into your ears and into your mouth

the forgiveness, life, and salvation.

So we return to our question.

Why is it better for Jesus to go away, to go to the cross and the open tomb

and to ascend to the Father? Why?

Because if, if he had remained on this earth visibly,

for the past 2,000 years, you might see him with your physical eye,

but without the cross and resurrection and the Spirit's work,

the physical sight of Jesus would do you no good. You would not be saved.

But now, though you do not see him with your physical eye, you receive him.

Yes, you see him with the eyes of faith.

The disciples walked with Jesus, but you are now united with him something far, far better.

What does this mean for your life?

It means that you live in a constant rhythm.

The Spirit convicts you of sin, and you repent.

The Spirit gives you Christ's righteousness, and you believe in it.

The Spirit reassures you of Christ's victory, and you benefit from it.

Again and again, Sunday after Sunday.

It also means that as a baptized believer in Christ, you live with faith toward

God and in his many promises toward you.

And you live with a love toward your family, your friends, and for one another.

You faithfully live out your calling as a spouse, a son, a daughter, a worker, a student.

You're in the world, but you're not of the world. You're of Christ.

Your identity is in Jesus.

You are a baptized believer in Christ.

It also means that you return again and again to the gospel and sacraments,

where the Holy Spirit delivers to you God's grace and mercy in Christ.

And this is to your advantage. This is good.

Thanks be to God. Amen.