Scripture reading: Romans 5:1-5.

Sermon text: John 16:7-15.

Tomorrow, in the United States, we will celebrate Memorial Day, a holiday in which we commemorate those who died in military service to our nation. Although the holiday began after the Civil War as a commemoration of the Union dead, we now remember all those who died defending our country.

The history of the twentieth century records the American sacrifice to defend other nations as well. In 1917, the American Expeditionary Force, under General John J. Pershing, arrived in France to aid the Allied effort against Germany. When he arrived in Paris, Pershing visited the tomb of the French Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de LaFayette. Colonel Charles Stanton, Pershing’s aide, stated a famous quote during this visit: “LaFayette, we are here.” Stanton’s remark reminded everyone that as the French had come to help America win our independence from the British Empire, America had come to help the French defend their independence against Germany.

Today, the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday. Our understanding of God as a Trinity — One God in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — separates Christianity from Judaism and Islam, both of which deny the divinity of Jesus. According to the Koran, Islam claims that Allah created both Jesus and the Holy Spirit, making both no higher than an angel.

Yet, the Scriptures clearly teach the divinity of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The passages today — both written by Jews, I remind you — identify the Trinity as instrumental in the salvation of all believers. Without the sacrifice of Jesus to atone for our sins, we would never find peace with the God we offend with our sins. Without the Holy Spirit, we would never understand the magnitude of our offenses that separate us from God. The Trinity is more than a word in our songs; the doctrine of the Trinity sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world.

The sermon passage today comes from Jesus’ last teachings before His crucifixion. Jesus would face betrayal at the hands of Judas Iscariot later that night; He had only one more night to teach His disciples what they needed to prepare them for the horrific days to come. In His last teachings before His death and resurrection, Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, the “Paraclete” He would send into the world to empower His disciples and the Church to carry the message of His redemption to a fallen world.

Notice that whenever Jesus referred to the Paraclete, He didn’t use a neutral pronoun; the Holy Spirit is not an “it.” Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “He.” In this way, Jesus identified the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, as God Himself.

Jesus also referred to God the Father in this passage. “I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;” “All that the Father has is mine.” Throughout the Gospels, Jesus referred to God as “Father” in a way unheard before in Judaism. When Jesus prayed to God, He always called Him “Father.” Jesus also taught us to refer to God as Father in the “Our Father,” or the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus taught His disciples of the importance of the Holy Spirit in His last night. First, Jesus told the disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.” In His physical body, Jesus could not remain with every disciple and believer in every moment of life. The Holy Spirit, as God, is omnipresent, meaning we have constant, uninterrupted, unending access to God.

“When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” The Holy Spirit would bring conviction when He visited humanity. The Greek word for “conviction” implies not merely an accusation, but a confirmation of guilt. God is holy; He cannot and will not tolerate sin. When we first realize our need for God, we desire to come to Him in relationship. However, the holiness of God convicts us; we realize our depravity in contrast to His holiness and begin to understand we cannot approach Him as we wish. We cannot approach God without forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus told the disciples the Holy Spirit would convict the world concerning sin “because they do not believe in me.” In His mortal life on earth, very few believed in Jesus as the divine Messiah, the Son of God. Only His closest disciples confessed Him as the Son of God and as Lord of their lives. St. Peter made the clearest confession of the disciples: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Only after the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (which the Church celebrated last Sunday) did others accept Jesus as Messiah, the Anointed Son of God.

Jesus told the disciples the Holy Spirit would also convict the world “concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer.” In His life on earth, Jesus exemplified the righteousness God demanded of His people, the Jews. God had given the Jews clear directions in the Law that told them how He expected them to live. No Jew but Jesus ever lived perfectly according to the expectations of God. God defines righteousness. When Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, the disciples would no longer have Him to exemplify righteousness. Instead, the Holy Spirit would help believers live righteously.

Jesus also told the disciples the Holy Spirit would convict the world “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” At the cross, Jesus conquered Satan, the tempter of humanity. According to St. Paul, through Jesus God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). In the Revelation, St. John saw Jesus’ ultimate triumph in Satan’s punishment: “The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

Jesus then gave even more comfort to His disciples: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, would “guide” His disciples “into all the truth.” Jesus had told the disciples earlier that night, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The word Jesus used for “guide” implies more than merely pointing someone in the right direction; this word implies making certain the person guided reaches the destination. St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 that the Holy Spirit “is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” The Holy Spirit, in other words, serves as the collateral of the eternal life Jesus promised to all who confess Him as Lord; He will insure our salvation to the praise of Jesus’ glory.

Do you see the beauty of the Trinity in our salvation? God the Father, the very One offended by our sin, sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to save us from our rebellion against Him. Jesus, the Son of God, willingly came to earth to die for our penalty. Then, Jesus rose again from the dead, conquering sin and death and paving the way for us to participate in His victory and receive peace with God. St. Paul wrote the Romans in today’s Scripture reading, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

Following His ascension to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, to indwell us when we confess Him as Lord, and to guide us through life to the eternal life awaiting us. Even better, St. Paul wrote in Romans, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). God goes beyond forgiving our sins; He adopts us into His “family” as His children.

What caused our God to express Himself to us in this way, to reveal Himself to us in Three Persons? St. John wrote, “God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:8-10). The love of God, first expressed in perfection in the Trinity, led God to reveal Himself to us in His work for our salvation.

Once we confess Jesus as Lord, the Holy Spirit brings this love into us as well. St. Paul told the Romans in today’s Scripture passage, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 1:5). Everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord finds he can love even the most unlovable people in his life. The peace we receive with our salvation also affects every other area of our lives. When we know we have peace with God, we know He can guide us in every situation we face and guide every situation to the benefit of His children.

One God, Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: All working to accomplish our salvation and bring us into eternal joy. This is the Christian faith, the faith that saves us, that gives us peace with God and insures our eternal life in His loving presence.