Final Words
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Final Words
Final Words
Good morning. I am so glad you are here this morning.
For all those watching online, thank you for joining us. Please remember to like, subscribe, and share todays message. Also, please add any things we can pray about and where your watching from.
2 weeks ago was Lent began. I am not talking about what is under you couch or in a belly button
Lent originated in the early 4th century (c. 325 AD) as a 40-day, church-wide period of fasting, prayer, and repentance to prepare for Easter, often attributed to the Council of Nicaea.
The idea is to get focused on Easter.
Some people give things up, some don’t. It s hard for me - I have never been a quitter.
The point is to walk into Easter fully ready to experience most Universe altering event ever -
The death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Everything in Scripture before this points to it and everything after it is the result of it.
Over the coming weeks, we will be journeying together to the cross and the empty tomb.
Please open your Bibles, phones, tablets, to John 16
I cant think of a better way of making this journey than to hear some of the last words of Jesus as he prayed.
A person’s final words tell us a lot.
Leonardo da Vinci was also overly modest, saying, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”
Percy Grainger was an Australian composer who, with his dying words, told his wife Ella, “You’re the only one I like.”
As he was dying, Alfred Hitchcock said, “One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes.”
Richard B. Mellon, a multimillionaire, was the president of Alcoa. He and his brother Andrew had a little game of tag going for about seven decades. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, “Last tag.” Andrew remained “it” for four years, until he died.
None of these come even close to Jesus’ final words as He prayed you Himself, His disciples, and even us.
Please stand with me as read together the only words that matter today.
16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?”
18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’?
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Let's pray
Final Words
Final Words
This passage is what is called the upper room discourse.
It actually starts back in Chapter 13.
We see the washing of the disciples feet, proclaims one will betray, Peter will deny, the coming of the Holy Spirit and tries to explain He is about to be crucified and rise again.
At the end of it is Jesus’ High Priestly prayer.
THe disciples heads are spinning, they are angry, they are sad, they are confused.
SO be fore the prayer, Jesus leaves with some encouragement
No mater what they are feeling or what is about to happen:
Joy Will Come
Joy Will Come
Believers will never be without Christ.
16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
Believers will never be without Christ.
This seems impossible and even unlikely.
Doubt so easily creeps in. We are not alone in that doubt.
17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”
Believers will never be without Christ.
Don’t let doubt keep you from asking questions.
“Belief in God does not exempt us from feelings of abandonment by God. Praising God does not inoculate us from doubts about God.” – Eugene Peterson
Jesus is bigger than our questions and doubts.
He already knows them.
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’?
In Christ’s economy, losing is gaining
Jesus had already told His disciples earlier in the chapter that is is better for them that He should go.
7 Nevertheless, 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.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
In Christ’s economy, losing is gaining
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
In Christ’s economy, losing is gaining
The world rejoices at the thought that Christianity is dying out.
But it’s not true.
Christianity is growing world wide - to nearly 3 billion
Africa and Asia are seeing rapid growth.
Jesus would die, thenHe would rise, and now He is coming back.
“Not see Him - see Him soon”
Could be resurrection or Because He was going to the Father it could be is return.
But uses the same language as:
37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;
In Christ’s economy, losing is gaining
The leaders of the time were happy when Jesus was removed from scene.
They though that was the end of that.
How surprised were they come Pentecost.
Christ brings joy not by substitution, but by transformation.
21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Christ brings joy not by substitution, but by transformation.
I am not saying that I can comprehend the pain of childbirth.
I will say my wife almost broke my hand during the birth of our first daughter.
That’s why I stayed back for our second.
But the moment that baby was placed in my wife's arms, all the pain was transformed to joy.
It didn't lessen the pain, she didn't forget the pain, but it was transformed.
When our children break their toy and we just replace it with a new on - that is what the child will think how all their problems are solved.
Without the pain we will never appreciate the joy.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Christ brings joy not by substitution, but by transformation.
God can use the thing that brought pain to bring the joy.
See what He said:
22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Christ brings joy not by substitution, but by transformation.
No one can take your joy - you can give it away.
Jesus spans our separation from the Father.
23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Jesus spans our separation from the Father.
In the disciples experience - there was a holy of holies they could never approach.
God was only accessible through someone else.
What Christ did is remove the barrier and the veil and has given us direct access to the Father.
Not because we are worthy, but because Jesus is worthy and what we do and ask is in His name.
The Message of John (ii) ‘So I Send You’—Discourse B (15:1–16:33)
‘We have the heart of God as soon as we place before him the name of his Son.’ John Calvin
It is a whole new relationship.
Joy Will Come
Joy Will Come
For all the pain, disappointment, and hurt in our world:
We have been given Joy
Joy in the truth Jesus paid for our sins
Joy in the truth that death could not hold Him
Joy in the truth His Spirit is always with us
Joy in the truth He is coming back to claim His own.
The world looks for happiness through self-assertion. The Christian knows that joy is found in self-abandonment. ‘If a man will let himself be lost for My sake,’ Jesus said, ‘he will find his true self.’ (Elisabeth Elliot)
Joy comes from knowing Christ and Christ alone
Let’s Pray
