Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

Bible Study & Prayer at 7pm on Wednesday; dinner provided at 6pm.

We’re still seeking a new Treasurer, please know that you do need to be a member in good standing for this position; you need to have some comfort with utilizing a computer, and you must be willing to work on behalf of the church with the bank.

Contact me if you’re able to help.

Superbowl Party on Sunday, February 13th, 2022 at 6:30pm—free wings, pizza, and drinks.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving.

To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so—(1) in-person giving can be done through the offering box at the front of the room; checks should be written to Grace & Peace and if you’d like a receipt for your cash gifts, please place it in an envelope with your name on it.

Debit, Credit, and ACH transfers can be done by either (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar.

Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 41:1-13)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 41, which is a psalm that speaks of the necessity of helping those who need help—to show compassion when someone is in need.

It contrasts the willingness to help with the ability to hurt and David ends the psalm with a benediction to the LORD.

Please stand and read with me responsively Psalm 41:1-13.

I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Congregational Singing

Mercies Anew

He Lives

Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near

Scripture Reading (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and I’ve asked Natalie to read it for us.

As she prepares to come forward, let me just give a brief statement concerning the passage.

It was written by Paul to the church in Thessalonica and it concerns what he calls the coming Day of the Lord.

This speaks of the return of Jesus and he speaks of it as sudden and quick and he gives us some encourage and exhortation in light of Jesus’ return.

Natalie, please read for us 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you, please turn it to John 16:16-24.

As you turn there, let me just remind us of what all we’ve been working on in the Gospel according to John.

As you know, we’ve been working through John verse-by-verse and line-by-lined for almost a year-and-a-half.

We started the book back in October 2020 before we even established the church as a church.

Of course, we did take multiple breaks from the series—we’ve done two Christmas series, an Easter series, and then we had multiple summer series just to give us a break from John, but for the most part, we’ve been in John working through it expositionally.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working through a conversation that Jesus has with his disciples from John 13 continuing all the way into next week’s passage and in this conversation, we’ve seen Jesus repeatedly remind the disciples that he’s about to leave them, which is sort of the foundation for all that he’s saying—he says that he’s leaving them, but they don’t need to fear because he’s going to prepare a place for them; he’s leaving and people are going to persecute them and hurt them, but that’s alright, because he’s sending the Holy Spirit to care for them.

He’s leaving them and people will hate them, but the Holy Spirit will indwell them and help them to proclaim the Gospel to all people.

Last week’s message focused a little more on what the Holy Spirit does in that the Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

That the Spirit will teach them and glorify Jesus.

This passage may seem a little shorter and honestly, if we had the time, we should connect it to vss.

25-33 because the two passages connect, but I’ve chosen to divide the two sections for the sake of time.

In this morning’s passage, Jesus returns to the fact that he’s about to leave them, but he encourages them with an illustration and then he informs them that their relationship with him is about to change.

Let’s read John 16:16-24 together:

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts, (1) vss.

16-19 is the Disciples’ Confusion Concerning Jesus’ Statement, we’ll read Jesus’ statement in vs. 16 and we’ll see the confusion throughout vss.

17-19.

(2) vss.

20-24 is then Jesus’ Response to their Confusion, in which he utilizes an illustration of a woman in labor to show how at the moment, they’re going to experience sorrow, but after a point, they will rejoice.

What Jesus says in vss.

16-24 is primarily about his coming death, burial, and resurrection, but we can apply the truths that we learn from this passage to our present situation as we wait for the return of Jesus.

Hopefully, by the time we conclude this morning’s message, you will see better the joy that we can have in Jesus’ eventual return—that despite what life may be like today, his return will cause rejoicing and joy that no one can take from us.

Prayer for Illumination

The Disciples’ Confusion Concerning Jesus’ Statement (16-19)

This text continues the conversation that we’ve been working through between Jesus and the disciples just prior to Jesus’ arrest.

This conversation actually ends at the end of this chapter, which means we only have this week and next week in this conversation before we take an in-depth look at Jesus’ prayer before his arrest.

Jesus is again, going back to the idea that he is about to leave them.

And he starts this section by saying “a little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”

Now, there is something of note this time around that he hasn’t really emphasized yet and he’s going to emphasize it this time around.

He’s definitely made the statement that they will see him again, but in every instance prior to this point, it was almost like a passing statement.

He says it to them and then he moves on in the conversation:

All the way back in John 13:33, he says, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

You will seek me . . .

where I am going you cannot come.”

When Peter asks him where he is going all he says is “where I am going you cannot follow me now.”

In John 14, he uses the fact that he’s about to leave them provide them comfort, “let not your hearts be troubled . . .

I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

In the same chapter, he uses the fact that he’s leaving them to introduce them to the idea of the Holy Spirit—that he is leaving them, but the Holy Spirit is coming to them,

The fact that he’s leaving drives all that he says in John 15 all the way into John 16, which was last week’s passage—again, that he’s leaving them, but the Holy Spirit will come and work within them.

The overarching idea driving all that he’s been saying is the fact that he’s leaving them, but again, he sort of mentions that he’s leaving and then he focuses on other aspects or details.

This is the first time in this conversation where the whole passage is dedicated to the idea of him leaving them.

Jesus says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” There’s three notable ideas presented in this one verse:

First off, the phrase “a little while,” which is used twice, tells us that this is happening soon.

It is imminent in nature.

They won’t have to wait long for Jesus to leave, which is clear because Jesus’ betrayal and arrest is in chapter 18 and his crucifixion is in chapter 19.

Now of course, as we work through the text verse-by-verse, it takes us some time to get to through each chapter, so it’ll be a few months before we get to those parts of Scripture, but remember, the chronology of the events in John 13-20 are within two weeks of time.

It’s going to be rapid for the disciples.

Secondly, the phrase “you will see me no longer,” implies that Jesus is again, going where they cannot go yet.

They all do eventually die, the author of Hebrews says that it is appointed to man once to die or in other words, all men die, but it isn’t time for them to die yet.

Jesus is going where they cannot go.

Third, the sentence, “again a little while, and you will see me” tells us of something that Jesus hasn’t really spoken of until now.

Jesus has told them multiple times that he would see them again, but up until that point, each time that he made that statement, he was speaking in an eternal sense.

That he was preparing a place for them in his Father’s house, but this time around, the indication is that they would see him much sooner than just in eternity—it is a hint or foreshadowing of the resurrection.

In a little while, they won’t see him because he’ll be crucified, but a little while after that, they’ll see him again because of his resurrection.

And of course, the disciples are confused by this statement.

And really, what they’re confused about is that phrase, “a little while.”

Vss.

17-18 show us this, “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’?’

So they were saying, ‘What does he mean by ‘a little while’?

We do not know what he is talking about.’”

It’s worth noting that in vs. 16, Jesus doesn’t mention that he’s going to the Father, but because this is a continuation of the conversation, the disciples are still reflecting on that statement from 13:1; 14:12, 28.

Because Jesus had repeatedly mentioned the concept that he’s going to the Father, they’re still deliberating on what that means.

It’s clear that when Jesus mentioned that he was going to the Father, the disciples didn’t understand what he meant, otherwise, they wouldn’t mention that he said he was going to the Father again.

There’s clear confusion or puzzling because the Bible says that they’re asking themselves about these statements, but it’s interesting to note that they never bother to ask Jesus about it.

The disciples are speaking to one another puzzling over the meaning of Jesus’ words, but they don’t bother to ask Jesus.

Which quite honestly, might be a little telling about people in general because we do the very same thing today.

If we’re puzzled or confused about something, we typically don’t ask the person who spoke, we typically ask the people that we’re sitting next to.

They were confused, but they were reticent to ask Jesus; we really don’t know why they were so hesitant, but we could postulate that it could be because they simply didn’t want to show Jesus how much they didn’t comprehend.

The disciples say to one another “what does he mean? . . .

[and] we [don’t] know what [he’s] talking about,” but for whatever reason, they don’t bother posing these questions and concerns to Jesus.

And yet, Jesus knows their thoughts and the Bible tells us in vs. 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’?”

Jesus already knows that they don’t understand what he’s saying and despite the fact that they haven’t asked him, he still has a response for them, but I do want to add a brief side-note or rabbit trail to this.

We sometimes think that God owes us answers to all our questions, but that isn’t the case—God really doesn’t owe us anything.

But when we have the mindset that God owes us answers, we tend to get frustrated and angry when we don’t get the answers that we want from God.