...They Believe Not On Me

[GHansen]

“When the Comforter is come, he will convict the world in respect
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they
believe not on me.” (John)

2. Here we must let that be “sin” which is ascribed to, and included in, sin
by the high majesty of heaven. In the text only unbelief is mentioned as sin,
“because,” says the Lord, “they believe not on me.”

3. But what is it to believe on Christ? It is not simply to believe that he is
God, or that he reigns in heaven in equal power with God the Father; many
others believe that: But I believe on Christ when I believe that he is a
gracious God to me and has taken my sins upon himself and reconciled me
with God the Father, that my sins are his and his righteousness mine, that
there is an intermingling and an exchange, that Christ is a mediator
between me and the Father. For the sins of the whole world were laid upon
Christ, and the righteousness of the Father, that is in Christ, will swallow
up all our sins.

No sins dare and can remain upon Christ. Such faith makes me pure and
acceptable to the Father. Of this faith the pope and our highly educated
leaders know nothing to speak, much less to believe. They teach that man
should do many good works if he is to be acceptable to God and be free
from sin, and that then God imparts to him his grace.

4. However, here the Lord speaks quite differently, and says: “The Holy
Spirit will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on
me.” Unbelief only is mentioned here as sin, and faith is praised as
suppressing and extinguishing the other sins, even the sins in the saints.
Faith is so strong and overpowering that no sin dare put it under any
obligation. Although sins are present in pious and believing persons, they
are not imputed to them, nor shall their sins condemn them.  This is Paul’s
meaning when he says in Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.” Their hearts are cleansed by faith, as Peter
writes in Acts 15:9. Therefore, whatever they do in this faith, in this
assurance is all good, pure and pleasing to God. On the contrary, without
this faith all their doings are sin and destruction, though their good works
may shine and glitter as beautifully as they will, and ever though they raise
the dead. For Paul says: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” Romans
14:23.

[GHansen]

The above quote is from Lenker's translation of The Sermons of Martin Luther, volume 3, pp. 105,106 (1907).

[GHansen]

“He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath
been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of
the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

43. Here is the verdict which makes the distinction between the saved and
the damned. It does not depend upon how worthy or unworthy you are, for
it has already been determined that all are sinners and deserve to be
condemned; but it depends upon whether you believe in this Jesus Christ or
not. If you believe, then you are acquitted, and the judgment and
condemnation taken away; if you will not believe, the judgment will remain
upon you; yes, it will only become greater and heavier than before, because
you simply augment sin by not accepting Christ, who is to free you from
judgment and condemnation. 

44. And this, again, is a comforting passage with which to oppose the
temptation and terrors of timid consciences which sigh for consolation and
long to know how they stand in the sight of God. Such should hear and
take these passages to heart; to them they are addressed, that they should
know that God sent his Son not to judge but to save, and that God has
already decreed that whosoever believeth in his Son shall not be judged,
and shall have no reason to fear any judgment and condemnation, but is
freed. The judgment and condemnation are taken away from him,
and grace and eternal life are promised and bestowed upon him
through Christ, if he only believes these words."

Lenker, John Nicholas, translator. The Sermons of Martin Luther, volume 3, p. 333, (1907).