43 John 16: Preaching/Teaching

A Hard Reality

Because we are in a battle we must leverage these 3 resources.

Are you a world Christian or a worldly Christian?

Today their are a lot of worldly Christians, who want to follow Christ with one foot and follow the American dream with the other.

We have made Christianity in the USA palatable. We have made it as easy as possible.

I love what Dietrich Bonehoffer said:

Salvation is free but salvation will cost you your life.

As a new Christian I wanted to e on the front lines with Jesus. I remember I read a book by Richard Wurmburbrand. Richard was put into a jail during communists Russia where they did un-speakeable things to him. I read his story and the part where I could not continue is where the guards would take their feces and feed it to them like it was communion. I literally could not read the book anymore. Richard Wurmurbrand knew he was in a spiritual battle for his life.

What about you, do you know that you are in a spiritual battle?

At times I have been on the front lines of this battle ready to do battle with satan and shake the gates of hell.

Then their are other times I can easily forget that I am in a spiritual battle.

Today God wants to remind us that we are in a real battle and the implications are greater than ever before.

So what does this mean:

How we live matters?

Our marriages matter?

How we work matters?

How we treat those around us matter?

How we raise our kids matter?

But not only does it matter how we live we have an enemy who is trying to destroy us. Can we be shocked that so many believers have wrecked marriages, and lives.

Let me give you the setting that these disciples would be living in.

Here is how Jesus describes it:

John 16:1 NASB95

“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.

These disciples were about to go from being with Jesus for the last three years to not having him their and he did not want them to stumble from their discipleship after his departure.

How many people do you know that at one time they stood with Christ and now they have forsaken him altogether.

John 16:2 NASB95

“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

These Jewish believers would be outcast from the synagoge and many disowned from their families for following Jesus.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

“No man could hate like a religious Jew of the apostolic age: he was renowned for his diabolic capacity of hating. Even a Roman historian, Tacitus, commemorates the ‘hostile odium’ of the Jewish race against all mankind …”

Their greatest persecution would not come from the outside heathen but from their religious family. And they would do it because they thought they were serving God.

Even today so many hate religion because of this.

11 out of 12 would die for their faith.

John 16:3–4 NASB95

“These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Jesus was giving them a forecast of what it was going to be like.

Jesus was talking to his disciples and he was basically saying that times would be hard.

Now we may not go to jail for our faith, we may not go through what Richard Wurmburbrand went through, but if we do walk whole heartedly with Jesus it will be hard.

But take comfort that God has given us some resources that we must utilize so that we can battle spiritually. What is amazing about this is I have been able to be a part of different things bigger than myself.

This Church

My family

Competitive Basketball teams

But the greatest by far that I have been able to be a part of is God’s team in the kingdom of God, and we are in a spiritual battle.

We are still in the upper room discourse remember Jesus is talking to his disciples before he is about to do what he came to do: die on the cross and he does not want us to be ripped to shreds in this battle he wants us to be successful and he gives us 3 weapons that we must leverage in this battle.

The First weapon we must leverage is the :

1. The Holy Spirit (5-15)

Advantage Believers!

John 16:5–7 NASB95

“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

How could this be good? The Savior who literally could raise the dead would be gone.

The moment someone believes in Jesus the Spirit of God is indwelling in them.

That means that if you are a believer in Jesus God’s spirit is not just in you sometime it is indwelling with you.

Jesus is basically saying what we had is better than what the disciples who actually walked with Jesus had.

Do you really believe this?

The Spirit Convicts the World

John 16:8 NASB95

“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

Note the tenses implied in these nouns: past sin, present righteousness, and future judgment.-Constable

This is a big part of my story. I actually became a believer in Christ because the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin.

John 16:9 NASB95

concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;

Gospel-What is the greatest sin. The sin of unbelief.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

“The man today, whoever he is, if he is rejecting Jesus Christ, is, in the sight of God, the greatest sinner.”

“A court can convict a man of murder, but only the Spirit can convict him of unbelief.”

No guilt trip big enough will make someone see their sin, it is a work of the spirit of God.

John 16:10–11 NASB95

and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

The message of the gospel has multiplied since Jesus death through spirit empowered beliers who have brought his message to those around him.

The Holy Spirit will enlighten disciples

John 16:12–13 NASB95

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus!

We wer made to enjoy God and to glorify him forever.

How are you doing at glorifying God right now?

John 16:14–15 NASB95

“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Even as a Christ follower it is hard to glorify God with everything we do. Look at this, the spirit of God allows us to glorify God more in our lives.

What does this mean?

We can live the CHristian life successfully because of the Holy Spirit.

We can glorify God and know his will for our lives.

The more you glorify God = the more you are walking with the spirit of God.

Application:

Our lady’s Bible study is starting up a study on Practicing the Presence of God by brother Lawrence.

Lawrence was a monk and sought to spend every day walking in the presence of God. It did not matter if he was cleaning the floor or reading his Bible, he wanted to practice the presence of God.

The Holy Spirit is one of these topics: some people that is all they talk about. Like where is the Father and the son. Then other traditions they rarely talk about, like freaked out by it.

The Spirit wants to enlighten you and help you glorify Jesus.

How are you doing right now gloifying Jesus.

I have said this once but I will say it again a man came up to a preacher and said why do you talk abou tthe spirit so much-He said:

Because I leak!

Let’s practice the presence of God this week so we can glorify him even more in our lives.

The next weapon we must leverage is the :

2. The Hope of the Resurrection (16-22)

The Confusion of the disciples!

John 16:16 NASB95

“A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”

Jesus had told them that his hour had come, he had predicted his death, and how in the world could the disciples understand what was going on.

John 16:17–19 NASB95

Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?

The paradox of the resurrection!

John 16:20 NASB95

“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.

The world rejoice when jesus was killed. This is such a paradox. This had to happen to give us the hope of the gospel. His death his pain would be turned into joy. It is the reason why we have ultimate hope.

Share story about Daniel. He could not breathe. We thought he was dead. He literally stopped breathing. I will never forget seeing to parents who thought they were watching losing their son. During this time they were praying and crying out to God. Here is the reality seeing Daniel not die was one of the greatest answers to prayer. But what if Daniel would have died. Daniel is a believer in Christ and the real reality is we would still have real hope.

The hope of the resurrection!

John 16:21 NASB95

“Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

Look at the illustration.

I do know a thing or two about labor.

Heathers pregnancies were terrible. She spent half the time throwing up. She has spent almost 6 years of her life being pregnant.

As bad as those pregnancies were after we had each of our kids she said let’s do that again.

She is a little wild.

This is the same with the resurrection, it seemed like the worst thing but it was the necessary and it gives us the hope of the gospel.

John 16:22 NASB95

“Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

The joy replaces the anguish.

How is your joy level right now?

This joy that is available to us as believers.

Application

The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is more powerful than anything else we believe. By His resurrection Jesus proved He is who He says He is. Be confident in this truth. Stand on the Holy Word of God. Don't sell the world a false bill of goods. Preach the word. Defend the faith. Live the faith.

Charles Colson

The disciples did not know all the details about the hope of the resurrection at this point. But

Hope we had for him and still have for him.

The last weapon we must leverage is the :

3. The Power of Prayer (23-24).

John 16:23 NASB95

“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.

Jesus told the disciples whatever they needed in this time they could come to him in prayer.

Isn’t this a great promise for us today.

That we can go to God in prayer anytime.

When things are tough.

When we have challenges.

John 16:24 NASB95

“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

“They had not yet realized that it was through Christ and on the lines of His work all God’s activity towards man and all man’s prayer to God were to proceed.”

Again we see the whole of the God head. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Our joy is tied to our prayer life.

Are you living out the joy in Christ.

Moravians what they did:

Packed their suitcases in the coffins they would be buried in. Why because if they were going to pioneer the gospel in Africa their expected life span was 2 years.

Tropical diseases meant not a single one lived more than 24 months after arrival. Yet, there were still new volunteers. No wonder they decided to ship their belongings to the field in caskets.-Perspectives

John 16:25–33 NASB95

“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. “Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

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Conclusion:

We are in a battle and God has given us weapons for battle.

How are you leveraging your these weapons in the battle

11 out of 12 disciples died for their faith.