A Better Judgement
Josh Ratzlaff – Pastoral Intern
John 16:7-11
Last year I was heading East on King road and I heard screeching. A car had come into the oncoming lane and hit another car. Both cars were totaled. The driver at fault seemed aware that he was the one who came into someone else’s lane despite his best efforts at slowing down. He was conflicted; he didn’t want to ignore the truth, but also realized that adhering to the truth might mean losing his license, let alone accepting any outgoing costs. The driver that was hit sympathized, but faithfully recorded the facts from his perspective and awaited a just outcome.
The tension these drivers were experiencing regarding how to handle the true facts of a situation demonstrates one reason why Jesus needed to send the Spirit after His departure. In John 16:7-11, He says: “But very truly I tell you, 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. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
Like a perfect judge, the Holy Spirit will come, testifying about the truthfulness of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He will vindicate Jesus – against the crowds and Pharisees that judged Him wrongly according to their views of righteousness, and prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.
Like the drivers and the world, when we are convicted of the truth we have an opportunity to repent–to turn to Jesus–and find peace through the justice of His Gospel. Let us pray to this end:
Jesus, thank You for rightly judging sin and for graciously enduring judgment so that we may have peace with God. Thank you Holy Spirit for convicting us of sin and pointing us to Jesus.
We confess that we often ignore correction through conviction because we wrongly believe that it is better to continue in sin than to repent. May we trust that peace through repentance is greater.
We ask for ourselves and for others to respond in humility to the Holy Spirit’s conviction. May conviction of the truth lead to peace through humble repentance.