John Part 35
Notes
Transcript
Tonight we are going pickup at chapter 16 vs 16.
We have been talking about comforting words from Jesus
and some uncomfortable futures for the disciples
but also, some amazing promises in the future
And one of those promises is that the Holy Spirit is coming soon.
Jesus is almost finished talking to the disciples
He has been talking to them for 3 chapters now.
This is all taking place on the night before the crucifixion
So, the first 12 chapters covered roughly 3.5 years
and these last 3 chapters have only covered one single night
And the next 2 or 3 chapters will also be about this last night
before the death of Jesus
So, John is investing a ton of paper into this final night
and the the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples
in his sending off discourse
or passing of the baton pep talk, if you will.
Last week, my notes stopped at verse 15,
but we continued on until about verse 24 or so
Because we had a little extra time
So, I’m going to quickly recap 16-24 tonight.
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.
So, the Disciples were starting to realize that Jesus is leaving them
And they did not fully understand why he was leaving
or where he was going at this point
They said in vs 18, “We do not know what he is talking about”
But Jesus knew what they were talking about
even though he could not hear them whispering amongst themselves
and so, he tells them…
Very soon you will be weeping and lamenting
and the world will rejoice
So, when Jesus is crucified
His followers weep and lament
But, the word rejoices.
And this is still true today
Whatever makes the followers of Jesus weep
makes the world rejoice
The enemy of God rejoices when it appears that God’s people are losing
Satan loves when we stumble,
when we fall
when we turn back to sin
when we miss church
when we are in pain
when we are struggling
He rejoices.
But I love what Micah 7.8 says…
8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.
You see, the enemy can rejoice when we fail if he wants
but you gotta just get that Micah 7.8 spirit
and command him not to rejoice
because I’m getting back up
I don’t care how many times you trip up
just keep getting back up and it will silence the rejoicing of the devil
He hates when we get back up.
you want to make the devil mad?
Just keep getting back up
His rejoicing ceases when we stand up.
Ok, so Jesus says,
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.
you will weep
but the enemy will rejoice
And also… you will be sorrowful
but your sorrow will turn to joy.
Let me just remind you tonight
that it is okay to feel sorrow on this side of heaven
You don’t have to pretend to be strong when you are going through difficult things
Don’t feel like…
you can’t weep
you can’t take a moment to regroup
you can’t feel sorrow during a season of loss
or pain
However, one day, that sorrow is going to turn to joy.
We have this promise from Jesus
Your sorrow, no matter how bad it is
or how long it lasts
WILL
Not maybe, not might
but WILL
turn to Joy.
When we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be.
when we all see Jesus,
we will sing and shout the victory.
There will be no more tears
no more sorrow
there’ll be no more pain.
no more sickness
no more rejoicing from the enemy
no more falling
no more anxiety
no more fear
no more heartache
no more loss
no more rejection
Just joy
pure, unadulterated joy.
And I for one, cannot wait.
So, Jesus uses the analogy of childbirth to explain this change that is coming
the change from sorrow to 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.
How many parents remember the exact moment your first child was born?
I said last week,
the whole room vanished when I saw Asher come out
i couldn’t hear anything but his cry
I couldn’t see anything but his face
I started tearing up
but it wasn’t tears of sorrow
it was tears of joy.
I’m sure the experience is even greater for a mother
who had to endure physical pain during labor
and 36 weeks of carrying
but finally sees a baby
and all the pain is instantly paid off
Jesus says, it’ll be like that when you see me
our sorrow will turn to joy.
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.
When we see Jesus come back
We will have joy
and Jesus says… this joy is eternal
It cannot be taken away
It won’t be like joy you’ve ever had all on earth
Like old saying, all good things must come to an end
Not with heaven.
That is an eternal joy
and Jesus says…
NO ONE will take that joy away.
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.
“In that day” is a phrase repeated a few times in these last few chapters
and I believe Jesus is talking about when we are filled with the Holy Spirit
The first mention is chapter 14 right after Jesus says he wouldn’t leave us as orphans
but that he would come to us.
So, the coming of Jesus in this context
is not exclusively the second coming in human form
but it is also referring to his return in spirit
and so, “in that day”
is talking about the day of Pentecost
in Acts chapter 2
So, if you have God’s Spirit in you
Jesus says… go ahead and ask for something in Jesus’ name
and God will give it to you
and the reason, he says
is so that your Joy may be full.
And the Bible says
There is righteousness, peace and JOY
in the Holy Spirit
Where is the Joy coming from?
Jesus says here, it is a result of God giving you what you ask for
Now, we know that we cannot just ask for a new car
and God gives is directly to us instantly
and paid off, too.
Don’t forget to ask that it is paid off
You gotta be specific :)
So, we know there must be some conditions to this promise
Otherwise, I could ask for a new car right now
and it would just appear
What are the conditions?
The real answer lies in the qualifier "in my name." It
This isn't a secret password tacked onto any request.
When you ask in Jesus’ name
It means you asking as his representative,
and so your request will be
in line with his character, will, and mission.
John gives us the context through this book and his other letters
if we pay attention:
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
So, number 1.
our request should cause the Father to be glorified in the Son.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
That is a major conditional statement.
We’ve got to have his Spirit abiding in us
and we must abide in him
We must be walking in the Spirit when we ask.
and Someone whose desires are shaped by Christ's words asks for different things than someone who is not.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Here is a huge condition
Not only does his Spirit need to abide in us
but we must have fruit
and that fruit must abide
So, if you are not bearing fruit for the Kingdom
Don’t expect God to fulfil your requests.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
And this is huge here…
We can’t ask according to our will
but according to HIS will.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Oh, Lord, I need a new car now
I need a better job now
I need higher pay now
I need a bigger house now
I need, i need, i need
I want, I want, I want
These are not going to be answered by God, ever.
A new car isn't forbidden to ask for,
but "give me a car because I want one" isn't the same as
Provide what I need to do what you've called me to do"
You ask that second way
and if a new car is required to do God’s will
you’ll have it
When you ask God for something according to his will
when you are walking in the Spirit
and bearing fruit
he will move heaven and earth to get it to you
25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.
26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf;
27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
So, Jesus has been talking figuratively now.
But he says he will speak plainly soon.
What has he been speaking figuratively about?
Well, “these things” could refer to everything he said since about John 14.1
But let’s look closely.
In John 16:25, Jesus tells his disciples, "These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech.
The word Jesus uses for "figures of speech" is the Greek word paroimia.
It means a veiled saying, something like a riddle or a proverb. It's true, but its meaning isn't obvious on the surface. Its opposite in this passage is parrēsia, which means "plainly." Jesus is saying, "I've been speaking in riddles, but a day is coming when I'll tell you plainly about the Father."
The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures,
but will tell you plainly about the Father." That tells us two things: something in this discourse was veiled, and what was veiled was about the Father.
So what confused them? Look at where they stumbled.
Thomas didn't know where Jesus was going (14:5).
Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father (14:8).
Judas asked how Jesus would show himself to them and not to the world (14:22).
And in 16:17–18 they said, "We don't know what he's talking about,"
puzzling over the words “a little while" and "because I am going to the Father."
Every time, the confusion centers on the same thing:
Jesus going away,
Jesus coming back,
and the identity or location of the Father.
So, Here's the riddle.
They heard Jesus talk about going to the Father as if he were leaving to travel to someone else, somewhere else. But the coming and going IS figurative part.
God doesn’t come and go anywhere
He is omnipresent.
In 16:28 Jesus says it plainly:
"I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father."
His coming was the incarnation,
the one God entering his creation in human flesh.
His going was his death, resurrection, and glorification,
the man Christ Jesus taken up out of their sight.
And his coming back is the Spirit.
Not someone else. Him.
Remember, he said…
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (14:18).
That's why Jesus could tell Philip, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (14:9).
Not someone like the Father.
The Father.
"The Father who dwells in me does the works" (14:10).
If you've known Jesus, you've known the Father (14:7).
If you hate Jesus, you hate the Father (15:23).
And that's why, "in that day," we have direct access to God.
Jesus says, "I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you" (16:26–27).
Jesus isn't a second divine person standing between us and God.
There is one mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus
(1 Timothy 2:5).
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
So, Coming to God through Jesus isn't an indirect route.
It is coming directly to God,
who made himself approachable in flesh.
Ironically, there are people who do not see the riddle even today
despite Jesus saying he was speaking in a riddle the entire time.
People see the language of Jesus coming and going to and from the Father
as plain speaking
But Jesus said that all these things were figures of speech
and that the plain speaking about the Father would come later.
29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!
30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.”
So, the disciples, after realizing Jesus had been speaking in a riddle
or with figures of speech
or veiled speach
They start putting 2 and 2 together
And they say…
“You know all things”
Which means Jesus is Omniscient
Which means Jesus is God
and they say “this is why we believe you came from God”
So, they are putting it together and claim they believe it
but Jesus isn’t so sure they fully believe it yet
when he says…
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
I think they understood what Jesus was claiming
that Jesus was God
but did they really believe it
Now that was another question
Because you can know about something
and still not believe that it is true.
If I told you that Jesus is God
and he is in full control
no matter what happens
he is going to have his will and his way
but then the moment he is arrested
you run and hide
do you really believe that Jesus is God in the flesh?
And so Jesus asks them straight up
Do you believe right now?
because in just a few minutes
we are going to test your belief
when guards come and put Jesus in chains
and drag him before the council
and kill him
32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
Whether you believe or not that I’m God in the flesh
Doesn’t change the truth
Truth doesn’t need your belief in order to be truth
It is true whether you believe it or not
And they are going to have their belief tested
but the truth is… The father is still with Jesus.
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Finally, Jesus says… I have said these things to you
all the things since chapter 14.1
that in me you may have peace
Now, he also said that he said all these things
so that they will not fall away
So, we have these words of Jesus
in these last 3 chapters
to keep us from falling
and to give us peace
and right after he says… that you may have peace
He says… you will have tribulation
Again, this is not a contradiction
We will have peace in the middle of the storm
if we trust Jesus
and that is why he says…
Take Heart
That world that is trying to take your peace
that world
I have overcome this world.
So, if Jesus has overcome the world.
then that means we have too.
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
