Why pt3

One of the questions the disciples had was why Jesus had to leave. And one of the most pressing questions we have today is why does He delay His return. One thing I love about Jesus is His ability to KNOW our questions before we ask them, and to provide the answers before we even form the questions.

When you follow an omnipotent, omniscient omnipresent God it is a huge advantage. And our God is all those things and more. He is Alpha and Omega. Beginning and End. First and Last. Eternal. Before time began, He was. And when He came in flesh, He surrendered as much of His glory as He needed to, but He surrendered none of His omniscience. He knew what was on the disciple’s minds, and He knew what would be on ours.

So In this passage this morning, He answers both questions.

(Read John 16:4b-15)

Jesus vey first says, He didn’t tell the disciples He would leave them at the beginning. He knew He would be with them for awhile, and His physical presence would be enough for them. But now, He is preparing to leave them, and they are sad, and even more, they aren’t even asking where He is going. They have no idea what is going to transpire on the cross.

Why the delay? They needed to believe in Jesus, before they wold be ready to trust Him with His departure. Jesus knew their hearts and He knew when they would be ready.

That is important for us to grasp today too. Hearts have to be ready for Jesus. Their is a time of sowing and working the soil and harvest. We do not give up on people just because they do not first respond to the Gospel. In fact, we should be encouraged when someone is not initially receptive to the Gospel but keeps asking questions and seeing more info on Jesus. That’s an indicator that God is working on their hearts. Even the disciples did not believe or understand the fullness of who Jesus was at first. If it took them awhile, we can take comfort in that as well.

Commit to sharing and praying and staying the course.

Verse 7 is the key statement here...”It is to your advantage that I go away...”

John 12–21 (2) The Fourth Paraclete Statement: Counselor and Judge (16:4b–11)

Jesus is here trying to help them understand the nature of the spiritual resource that will be supplied to them. But their minds have become stuck on the physical presence of Jesus in the midst of the hostile world. Therefore the task was to help these disciples realize that another powerful resource would be made available to them in the coming of the Paraclete.

To the disciples this would sound like madness. What advantage could they have if Jesus left? He was everything to them. But, remember, we said earlier He laid aside some of His glory to come among us? Well, when He was here in the flesh, Jesus could be in one place at a time. The Helper, He is going to be able to do for the disciples something that Jesus flesh will not let Him do- be everywhere at once.

And even more, the Spirit is going to speak to more than just the disciples, He is going to be unleashed on the world- for the saving of souls!

Look at verses 8-11

The Spirit convicts the world of sin- the Spirit is who makes us understand our state apart from Jesus- without the Spirit we do not know what sin is

John 12–21 (2) The Fourth Paraclete Statement: Counselor and Judge (16:4b–11)

The idea of sin here is not merely conceived in terms of a listing of erroneous acts but of the fundamental act of choosing another god

The Spirit reveals to the world the judgment on sin- the Spirit reveals to us the weight of our sin and the result of our sin- being judged by God and facing His wrath.

John 12–21 (2) The Fourth Paraclete Statement: Counselor and Judge (16:4b–11)

Humanity is not in control either of the future or of setting the standards for life. That is the work of God

The Spirit leads us to Righteousness- in the Person and work of Jesus who become our righteousness because of His death on the cross and mighty resurrection. He and He alone can make us righteous and the Spirit and the Spirit alone can show us who He is!!!

(Gospel presentation here)

But the work of the Spirit does not stop there. (Read vs 12-15)

The Spirit shows us truth- by making the Word known and understandable to us (13a)

John 12–21 (3) The Fifth Spirit Statement: Authentic Guide (16:12–15)

Moreover, the role of the Spirit as guide “into all truth” (en tē alētheia pasē), as Barrett suggests, involves “guidance in the whole sphere of truth.” Such an expression is not primarily focused on the context of communicating pedantic secular knowledge or even sophisticated astrophysical and microprocessed genetic information. But the focus is upon one’s life-defining orientation with God and in turn how that affects the way one is guided and related to the various information highways of life

The Spirit reveals to us what is coming by hearing from the Father and speaking that truth to our hearts (13b)

John 12–21 (3) The Fifth Spirit Statement: Authentic Guide (16:12–15)

the future was also an unknown page for them, since these Paraclete passages indicate that the coming times would be traumatic for them and that in such times the disciples would need the truthful and authentic Spirit to guide them through their forthcoming wilderness

The Spirit brings glory to God- by our salvation, our obedience, and our growth in being less like us and more like Jesus (14-15)

More than all of this, the presence of the Spirit in your life declares who you belong to. That you belong to Jesus! He marks you as God’s own. You are bought with a price and that price was high, but it was worth it to Jesus because of what comes out of it- the unleashing of His people on the earth.

John 12–21 (3) The Fifth Spirit Statement: Authentic Guide (16:12–15)

The divine resource of the Spirit is the gift Jesus sent from the Father to Christian disciples in a hostile world so that they could cope effectively with the anxiety that is inherent in living in a life-context that openly resists the proclamation of the Gospel

Do you listen to the Spirit?

Do you obey His promptings?

Do you understand who you belong to?