John 16:1-15

You find out you are a key witness to a murder. A conversation you overheard the previous day was a powerful political figure give the order to those under his command to someone else’s son. You know the names of those involved, including the name of the person murdered.

John 16:1–4 HCSB

1 “I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. 2 They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or Me. 4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you may remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

16:1-4

Jesus said that these things to keep the disciples from going astray leading to apostasy. The danger is to not the opposition and persecution but that they are to remember what Jesus said. This way believers are to be strengthened in their faith when testifying to the truth about Jesus.

We are expected to be sharing the truth about Christ to others.

John 16:5–7 HCSB

5 “But now I am going away to Him who sent Me, and not one of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.

16:5-7

Jesus protected the disciples by taking all the opposition onto himself. Thus, their grief and questions about Jesus’ departure most likely are too self-absorbed in their own loss rather than thoughtful about the implications of Jesus’ leaving.

It is not the case that Jesus and the Holy Spirit cannot simultaneously minister to God’s people. The truth is that the biblical promises that the Spirit is to bring brought anticipation but that this time of the Spirit could not come until after Jesus had died, risen from the dead and been exalted to the Father’s right hand.

Jesus tells his disciples that it is for their good that he is to leave so that he can send the Holy Spirit. It is better to be alive now, after the coming of the Holy Spirit. This reality is proven time and again from Pentecost to now.

John 16:8–11 HCSB

8 When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

16:8-11

The work of the Holy Spirit is to shame the world and convincing it of its own guilt, calling it to repentance. So just as Jesus forced a division in the world (15:20) by revealing that what it does is evil; so too is the work of the Holy Spirit.

1. He convicts the world of sin because it does not believe in Jesus. If the people of this world did then they would believe Jesus’ statements about their guilt and turn to him.

2. He convicts the world or righteousness because Jesus is going to the Father. Jesus exposed the darkness of the world for what it is by his light. Now that he is departing to the Father this convicting work is continued by the Holy Spirit.

3. He convicts the world of its judgment because the prince of this word now stands condemned. Jesus’ present judgment and coming victory is right and the world’s false judgment is wrong and morally perverse. All false judgment comes from the evil one, who has been a liar from the beginning and those that belong to him that share his values. If Jesus has judged him then all those who follow him have been judged as well. The Holy Spirit gives the conviction to those who hold onto this false judgment.

John 16:12–15 HCSB

12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you.

16:12-15

At the beginning of the book of John and then later throughout Jesus is revealed to be God’s Word, God’s ultimate act of self-expression (he is God in the flesh) and all revelation after Jesus’ coming point back towards Jesus. What the Holy Spirit provides after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation is revelation that is from and present within Jesus. John 14:26 and John 16:12-15 both settle that finality of this revelation of God in Jesus Christ. This means that the church is right to be suspicious of claims from further revelation that dares to depart from the truth that is Jesus himself (John 14:6).

The Holy Spirit is then to help believers in remembering the truth and being guided in all truth. This does not mean every truth this world has to offer. Rather it is to help us remember and understand the significance of God as he revealed himself and then being obedient to that revelation and its implications. Just as Jesus never spoke or acted on his own initiative but said exactly what the Father gave him to say and do, so also the Spirit speaks only what he hears. That is how he gives glory to the Jesus as Jesus gives glory to the Father who gives glory back to the Son. Jesus’ person and mission are then pressed onto his disciples because the Holy Spirit only gives the truth about Jesus from what he hears from Jesus to the disciples.

Application

1. The work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to shame and convince the world of its own guilt, calling it to repentance. So just as Jesus forced a division in the world (15:20) by revealing that what it does is evil; so too is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is then to help believers to remember, understand, and obedience to God as he revealed himself and the implications of that revelation.

2. The work of a disciple of Jesus. Jesus’ person and mission are then pressed onto the disciples because the Holy Spirit only gives what he hears from the Son that comes from the Father to the disciples to do.

3. We are given the Holy Spirit to remember and witness the truth about Jesus Christ to the world. A biblical worldview of learning and living in this truth about Jesus and the world is not something that can be postponed.

There are many reason why people choose not to share the truth about Jesus and the implications on this world. Some are claiming not knowing enough. Another is the emotional or thought of testifying does not feel like the right thing to do. Third ignorance of how significant testifying about Jesus Christ is to God and his plan of salvation. Lastly, a preference to live a comfortable life over an obedient life. What about you?

We may not all feel called to testify, which is why God made it a command to do so. What is different is how and where we all may be called to do so. When we do not pray and prepare to do what has been commanded of us by God we cannot call continuously living in that way Christianity. Instead it is, “A worldly Christianity that offends no one, requires no sacrifice, costs nothing, and ultimately is worth nothing”. -J.C. Ryle