Exaudi Sunday – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 15:26-16:4 “To Bear Witness of Christ”
May 17, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks to You, that through Your Holy Spirit You have appointed us to bear witness of Your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: We beseech You, inasmuch as the world cannot endure such testimony and persecutes us in every way, grant us courage and comfort, that we may not be offended because of the cross, but continue steadfastly in Your testimony, and be always found among those who know You and Your Son, until we obtain eternal salvation through the same, Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 157)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 15th and 16th chapters of the Gospel according to St. John. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
[Jesus said:] “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
“But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who helps you in your life, who helps you in your faith, that you will hold to Him for all your days, dear fellow redeemed:
It has been a hard couple of weeks for the city of Klamath Falls. We have had a series of accidents, some here in town, and some in the surrounding areas. If you ever happen to witness something as serious as the accidents that have happened, you might be asked by the investigators if you would be willing to fill out a witness statement. Witness statements are used for all sorts of incidents. Depending on how serious it is, it might be a pretty big deal that you were there in the right place at the right time so your eye witness information can be used. Knowing how important it is to be a witness, I have some exciting news for you. On this Sunday of waiting, you have a witness statement that means so much to you. You have witnessed trials and troubles and, in your prayers, asking for the Lord to hear you, He provides you with the witness statement that says He does hear you. And because of this witness statement that you possess, He wants you to bear witness to who the statement is about. With the most challenging task to bear witness of Christ to the world, you will not be on your own. You have a Helper and He will work through you to complete this task in full.
And we know how valuable it is to have a helper and when people ask us why we are able to share the Gospel, we point them right to our Helper. For the Helper is with us because Jesus tells us we will need Him. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.” This isn’t the first time Jesus has shared this information. Our text for today is reinforcing when He said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). Why twice in the same night does Jesus bring this up? To summarize, the world is in desperate need of Him, they have Him because the Father has sent Him and they believe in the Son who the Spirit of truth points to, and the Helper ultimately is the One who will bear witness.
And they will need all the help they can get. Not only are they in for a long weekend, they are going to give their lives for what they are about to witness and what they are going to write in their witness statements. In these witness statements they will admit how much they need the Helper as they are not cured of their sinful temptations that will plague them, temptations they will face and fail that night. Knowing all of this is going to happen and knowing what they will completely face, Jesus wants them to be ready even though they will need the complete help of God to make it. And because of this complete help of God, Jesus tells them, “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” From the beginning, they were chosen, not because they had done something special, but because God had chosen them to see everything from the beginning of the Son’s ministry. With this privilege comes the great responsibility of sharing what you see and heard, even if it means your life will be demanded of you. There will be much needed help for this.
And this much needed help wasn’t only given to the disciples at the beginning of this great task. This help is given to all who want to believe in their witness statement. We saw the help just to be able to confess our belief which is found in the Nicene Creed. One of the creeds that points us to where our help comes from when we confess the Holy Spirit, the Helper is the One “who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” And we do need help to believe this as the very doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t make sense to us. As it is hard to grasp the divinity of God, The Spirit of truth points us to the Word of truth to see that not only are they three persons in One God, but they have distinct ways in which we see them in our lives. We see and confess that the Holy Spirit is not born but is given to us. He is the reason we have understanding now as St. Paul writes, What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to cover if the law had not said, “You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7).
The knowledge of the law that we have is because of the title Helper, given to the Holy Spirit. He helps us because we have been accused. The good laws of God which are to teach and guide us, can only teach and guide us with the guidance of the Helper. The Helper who even helps with the convicting of our hearts because in our sinfulness we know the accusations against us have merit and weight. The law is the witness that points out our eternal death because of the many times we have broken it. It is to get us through the accusations that the Helper points us to Jesus’ Words, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.” All of these things include all of God’s holy law to keep us from falling away. And as we witness the law, with the help of the Helper, we witness all Christ has done for us and our salvation. How He keeps us in His Word, the only thing that keeps us in His saving faith. For the Helper helps us to be a Christian with understanding the real consequences of following Jesus Christ. We will need help to live with those who hate our witness and we will need help to die in the faith of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For the evil that was against Jesus in this life hasn’t found its eternal end yet. The Helper would be with the disciples as Jesus told them, “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me.” While the disciples would watch the laws of God be profaned because of those who don’t know who the Father or Christ is, with the Helper, it would only motivate them to go out and far to preach what they witnessed. The great witness of watching the eternal enemies who back this misunderstanding be completely destroyed with the victory of Christ on the cross. A cross they would first believe was not just, yet it was just for them and the Helper would comfort them for they had been accused and deserved judgement. The Holy Spirit convicted them and as the devil attempted to accuse their hearts for sinning against the law, The Holy Spirit revealed to them the comfort of God’s grace and mercy. And the Helper would remind them of this constantly for they would see the sword of family against family, and in the end, “Whoever finds his life will lost it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Matthew 10:39). In Jesus, they died to live forever.
And this will be a daunting task for you if life comes to that. But in the face of persecution and the world’s hatred, Christ promises to strengthen and keep you from falling away. You will face the world and the world will hate you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit will testify on your behalf and the Holy Spirit will win. He wins because no one can argue with Him and the truth He carries out to the nations. He wins because the truth of the world’s judgment can only be overcome by the truth of the Holy One’s witness, who takes the world’s judgment onto Himself. A judgment He didn’t deserve. Knowing the very pain of hell was coming, instead of it being there for you, He comes to you through the Helper saying, “But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.” For the cross is not the sign of your defeat, but the sign of your victory. The enemies of Christ, your enemies, will not stand a chance against the Helper who keeps you in the life of salvation. There is no hiding your shelter of the cross. It is the shelter where the Lord hears your cries and helps you through them all with the keeping of His promises that were faithfully witnessed and passed down to you.
This witness, the Helper brings to you does come with a price. It was the price of Christ’s holy blood. Blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins and blood shed to be put on the people who wanted Him dead. There is perversion of worship found in the wanting of the death of the messengers. This is happening because the world still struggles to believe in the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of truth will not give up on His witness and using you to be that great witness. Just as the Jews had the fullest revelation of God, you still have the fullest revelation of God in His Word. This is your comfort and what you hear continues to preserve you. You must be honest with the message you are tasked to share. The same message of John the Baptist and Christ. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2). The kingdom of God is at hand; the kingdom of God is here. You acknowledge this with the acknowledgement of your sins. The acknowledgement that you have had someone bear witness to you what Christ has done on behalf of all your sins. And as you bear witness, this task does not have the weight you may think it has, as the Helper is in you, bearing it all. In crisis and trial, you will be saved. For even if they would try to take your very life, the Helper in you means you know the Father and believe in the work of His Son. The Helper in you means, He will help you into your eternal home forever. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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