Alright brethren, take your Bibles
and let's go to John chapter 16. John 16. This is the conclusion
of our Lord's message to the disciples, to the 11 disciples
with Him. And we're going to pick up in
verse 23, but these are promises. These are promises that our Lord
makes to his disciples. And these are promises that comfort
the heart of the Lord's people. They're given to comfort his
people. Now, some of the languages, I
was reading this, there's some statements here that our Lord
makes that I was confused by. I had to reread them and look
at what it is that our Lord was saying. But, you that believe,
you have Christ. It's off. Is it even running? No. That's
all right, it's fine, it's fine. You have an unction. from the
Lord. You have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things. You have Christ. You have Christ,
and you that have Christ have everything. Have everything. And you seek the Lord, and He
reveals all things to you. And everything that you need
to know, He's given it to you, and He will give it to you, and
will comfort your heart in Him. Our Lord tells His disciples
in verse 23, in that day, in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Now, the Apostles were there,
and the Apostle John was there, and he's hearing the Lord say
this, and he's as confused as can be. He's not quite sure what
the Lord is saying to him and his brethren there. But what
the Lord is saying is that in that day, in that resurrection
day, when I rise from the dead, all the questions that are filling
your heart right now, they're all going to be answered. You're
not going to have those questions anymore. They're going to be
satisfied. You're going to understand everything
that I'm saying to you in that day. And then you'll have room
for more questions, and they'll all be answered. by the giving
of the Holy Spirit who leads you and teaches you and shows
you the things of your God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything to us, brethren,
everything. And this is because Christ has
ascended to the Father, having accomplished and finished that
work of redemption which the Father sent him to do, and he
is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God, ruling
and reigning providing everything that you need, advocating for
you, interceding for you so that you have all that you need, keeping
you, providing for you, and he shall return again and bring
you home to himself. That Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you. And so the Spirit of God is given
to us. The Lord has been given to us.
He's provided that redemption and given us everything that
we need. Now, as we close out this chapter,
I want to focus on three promises, three promises that our Lord
makes to his disciples here and to you. These are given to comfort
your hearts, to comfort you in the day of adversity, to comfort
you in this day. in which we live, to comfort
you. And so you've been, the Lord's
already spoken in the beginning parts of 16, saying that you've
been given the spirit. He's promised you the spirit,
he gives you the spirit, and he tells us that our sorrow,
the things that trouble us now, shall be turned to joy, shall
be turned to joy. Now, The disciples were full
of questions, full of concern. Judas had departed back in chapter
13, where this message began. They had asked him, where are
you going? Where are you going, Lord? They
asked him, when he told them that they knew the way, they
said, how can we know the way? When he spoke of the Father,
they asked, show us the Father, and that'll be enough for us.
That'll suffice us. And here in chapter 16 and verse
18, they basically said, what are you saying? We don't understand
what you're saying or what you mean. And in response to all
these questions, Christ said in that day, in that day ye shall
ask me nothing. And that day is the resurrection
day. Once they saw Christ, once they
knew that the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, all
things became new to them. Everything they knew, everything
they understood was seen in an entirely different perspective. a new perspective, with a new
heart, a new mind, a new thought. Everything became new. They were
new creatures. As we saw recently in Galatians
6, chapter 6, that that's the one thing needful. The one thing
that makes the difference is a new creature, a new creature
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You could be circumcised, you
can be uncircumcised. It doesn't matter what's going
on in the flesh. Are you a new creature? Are you born again,
resurrected? regenerated by the Spirit of
God, dwelling in you, so that you see and understand everything
through Christ, in Christ, knowing Him, believing Him. And once
they saw Him, they understood, and they saw all things with
new eyes. Now, in a few moments, these
men are going to say down in verse 30, John 16, 30, They say,
now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that
any man should ask thee? By this we believe that thou
camest forth from God. But the reality is they've said
things like this before. And I can identify with this
as a believer, with these disciples here who at one moment see everything,
and everything's clear, and they're all comforted, and satisfied,
and joyful. And before you know it, they're
plunged back into darkness and unbelief. They had said before,
when Christ asked them, will you also go away? Back in John
six, and Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou has the
words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And there
were several occasions where Peter was led to say these very
words, and we say these words. We come into times where we know,
Lord, how could I ever, ever have doubted you? Now I see clearly,
and I won't ever forget, until we forget, until we forget. But once, as they had seen this,
as they saw Christ and understood in this moment, once Christ went
to the cross, where he was crucified before their eyes, and he was
bloody, hanging on that cursed tree. And they saw him die. They saw his lifeless body taken
down off the cross. He was wrapped and laid in a
tomb. Then what happened to all their
confessions and all their confidences and how assured they were? It
all disappeared. It all just went away. I went away and they forgot everything. And brethren like them, we have
trials and difficulties and times of suffering and times when we're
stripped and laid low and brought to see our weakness, how faithless
we are, how unbelieving we are, how weak we are. Every confidence
that we had suddenly becomes like jelly. And we seem to just
forget everything, not even seeing. We forget what we've heard, what
we believe, what we've confessed. And we forget the promises of
our God. But like the disciples, or like
us, these disciples also were unbelieving. But the next time
they saw Christ, the next time they saw him who had been laid
in the tomb, he was now risen from the dead. They saw him in
a whole new light. Everything that Christ had ever
said to them came back to them rushing in with power and glory,
attended with faith in their hearts to see Christ, to believe
Christ, to behold, this is what he meant. This is why he tells
us that he is my strength. my glory, my all. He's everything,
and he comes back to us with power, in grace, in mercy and
forgiveness, and fills us with the spirit, reminding us of his
promises, showing us again, why did I ever doubt you? Why, Lord,
did I ever doubt? Why did I ever not believe you? Even Thomas, when he saw his
Lord, said, my Lord, my God. And that's how he comes back
to us when we see him risen, when he rises in our hearts,
when he expels and casts out all the darkness and the doubts
and drives that fear away, we see and behold the precious,
glorious, risen Savior. And so that's what our Lord does
for us. He does that for us in the preaching
of the gospel when He brings it home to our hearts with power. He does it in the pouring out
of His Spirit and making us to know and to feel His very presence. He does it in times when He answers
our prayers, when all we can do is breathe out, help me. Help me. Lord, have mercy on
me. Forgive me, and Lord, draw near
to me, draw me near to you, and don't ever leave me. And so your
faithful God gives you what you need. Even the trials, even the
strippings, even those things which break us down are given
to show us our weakness, to show us what we are in ourselves,
and that everything holding us up is the hand of our God. It's the Spirit of our God, it's
the blessings, the spiritual blessings which God has given
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's making us to see the one
thing needful, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He does it,
and it is for our good. And we know, every time we fall
and how far we fall, we are reminded, Lord, you did everything perfect. You knew exactly what I needed,
because I was off somewhere in darkness, doing my own thing,
forgetful of you, not thinking of you, and just thinking only
of myself. And so the word that he uses
in the preaching of the gospel, it's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He reminds us of what he did,
how he laid down his life, his love for us to pay the price
which we cannot pay, to provide the righteousness which we cannot
provide ourselves, and to give us eternal life, eternal redemption
by his death, by his resurrection. God raised him from the dead,
which declares that we are justified and that God is well pleased,
well pleased with his son, well pleased with all you that come
to the Father in the Son and only in the Son. We were dead
in trespasses and sins. We were going the course of the
world. We were following the devil. We were following the prince
of the power of the air. But God, but God, but God who
is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved. By grace. And that is so evident to us
when we are reminded and see what we are. By grace ye are
saved, brethren. And so with all the questions
that arise in our hearts and minds as we go through these
difficulties of this life, our Lord is settling this one thing,
that he is sovereign and he is in control of all things. And
what he does, he does well, more well than we can even put into
words. And he makes that a comfort to
us. He's a comfort to us and a joy
and we're thankful He reminds us and tells us that your very
hairs, the very hairs of your head, be they few or be they
many, your hairs are all numbered. He knows them. And not a single
one falls to the ground, but he knows it. And so fear not,
fear ye not. Therefore, ye are of much more
value than all the silly, worthless things that are burdening you
and weighing your heart down and troubling you right now. Christ is all. He's given you
his son to redeem. to redeem you. He's given you
the Holy Spirit to take the things of Christ and to show them to
you, to show you them, to make you to know that He loved me. He's my God, He's my Savior,
He's my husband, He's my all. He's done that for you and He's
come to you with great power and glory. Why? That ye might
believe. that Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth,
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have
life through his name. And so by the grace of God and
all these spiritual blessings of God given to us freely in
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he rises, then we see him for who
he is. Then we see and then we know
this is my Lord, my God, my Savior. Peter said it this way, he said, take heed, take heed
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. When we're going
through the trials, when we're going through the troubles and
going through the adversities, we are in a dark place. And it's
like being in a cellar that's dark. and cold, it's damp, and
it chills you in the bones, but when that sun rises and it breaks
forth and you feel that heat on your skin and it begins to
warm you, that's what it is when the Lord comes rushing into your
heart and fills you with joy and gladness to know that He
is, He's all. He is my God. He's not forgotten
me. He's not left me to myself, but
He remembers. He's done all things well to
bless me. Take heed, he says, as unto a
light that shineth in a dark place until the day dark and
the day star arise in your hearts. You shall ask. You that ask,
you shall receive that your joy may be full. He hears you. He hears you. Lay your cares
before him. Cry out to him. Cry out to him
because he hears you. He's our very boldness. Christ
is our very boldness to enter into the presence of Holy Almighty
God. You are children adopted into
the family of God because of Christ and He is our very boldness,
our confidence to come before God into His presence because
of Christ, for Christ's sake, who gave his life and laid down
his life to give you life in himself. So the first promise
that we're given is that when Christ is risen in your hearts,
you may be in darkness, but when Christ rises in your hearts,
you, being raised from the dead, see and know all things that
you have need of knowing. You see everything as Christ.
He's given you all things, all your questions, Is Jesus the
Christ? Yes, he is. Is Christ my Savior? You that are sinners, who have
no righteousness of your own, whose only hope is the Lord Jesus
Christ, yes, he is your Savior. He is the Savior of sinners. Not the righteous, but sinners
he came to save. And like Rebecca, who cried when
the Lord filled her womb, with two children, and she didn't
know what was going on. She said, if it be so, if I'm
blessed of God and have children in me, why is this war going
on? And you that live and believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, though there's a war going on between
the flesh and the spirit, like Rebecca, we go and inquire of
the Lord. Why, Lord, why am I thus? What's going on? The Lord, he
knows. And He makes you to see it's
not of you, you can do nothing of yourselves, but in Christ
we can do all things. He's our strength, our glory,
our power. And so all these questions are answered in that day when
the Lord Jesus Christ rises in your hearts. When you are raised
from the dead, the first time and every time we go away and
wander, the Lord brings us back and rises in our hearts to see
and behold the Lord Jesus Christ. Next, We're promised that Christ
is our great advocate, that he is our mediator. But not only
is he our mediator and interceding for us, but he tells us that
your heavenly father loves you. In other words, he has an easy
job. There's some things he doesn't
even need to ask the father for on your behalf. Why? Because
the father himself loveth you. And when you come to him in Christ
Jesus, He hears you and answers your prayers because He loves
you. Look at verse 26, John 16, 26. At that day, ye shall ask in
my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for
you. Well, here was one of those verses
where I read that and thought, what is he saying? I thought
he is our interceder, that he is our advocate. Oh, he most
certainly is. He said in John 14, 16, I will
pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that
he may abide with you forever. Christ advocates and gives us
that very thing which we don't even know that we need. He provides
life and everything for us. But hear what Christ is saying.
What he means is that you yourselves are beloved of the Father. The Father himself loves you. You who come to him in Christ's
name, he shall answer you. even without the Lord interceding
or begging or pleading to the Lord for your sakes. Why? Because the Father himself loves
you. Look at verse 27. For the Father
himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed
that I came out from God. And so in this we see here that
the Father chose you, the Father loves you. When you read that,
when it says, for the Father himself loveth you because you
have loved me, he's not getting the cart before the horse. He's
telling you, he's showing you that because the Father loves
you, you love me. This is all in the mind of our
God. who chose you before the foundation
of the world and committed you to the care of his son. As your
Christ, as your Savior, as the mediator between God and men,
he's given you everything. You love me because the Father
himself loveth you. And you know, you've received
of the Father this understanding to know that I came forth from
the Father. He sent me to save you, to lay down my life, to
give you life. And we see this throughout scripture. If you go to John 1, verse 12
and 13, people get that mixed up. They read it as though they're
getting the cart before the horse when he says in John 1, 12, but
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. What he's saying
there is you've received the son. You've been given the son.
because you are beloved of the Father. He gave you power to
become the sons of God. Therefore, you've received Christ,
both in the giving of Christ and in faith you've received
Him, because God has chosen you. How do we know who it is? You
that believe. That's the identifying mark.
That's how we know who are Christ's. They believe on Him. They call
upon Him. They trust Him. They follow Him.
They lean upon him and stay upon him and are kept by him. And
he confirms that in John 1 13, which were born not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God. And what he's saying is nothing
of the, you were born not because of anything. related to this
flesh, not because of anything in your flesh, not because of
any work, any work that you do, any spending you spent, nothing
you do, none of your labors is what makes you a child of God.
You're a child of God by the grace of God who gave you that
power, who chose you and gave you that power. And so the Lord
here is speaking to us, he's declaring to us the glory of
his redemption. He's declaring to you that I'm
your Redeemer. I'm the reason. I'm the one who
restores all things that you lost in Adam. When you sinned
and rebelled against God in the garden in Adam, I'm the restorer
of life. I'm the one who gives everything
to you and gives you life and salvation in me. And that's declared
in verse 28. Look at John 16, 28. I came forth
from the Father. There's three things he's telling
us about redemption. I came forth from the Father
and am come into the world. And third, again, I leave the
world and go to the Father. So there's three things about
redemption. I'm going to cover right here real quick. I come
forth from the Father. In other words, He is the eternal
Son of God. He is the eternal Word of God
by whom all things are created. including us, including our life
in Him. He's the eternal Word of God.
He's the eternal Son of God. And when He says, I came forth
from the Father, He's saying, the Father chose you. I'm here
because the Father has sent me to lay down my life for your
life, to provide everything for you as your husband, as your
friend, as your God and your Savior. I am sent of the Father. So we learn by looking to Christ,
we behold the will of the Father, the love of the Father. You know,
when in Genesis 1-3, when God said, let there be light. and there was light. That is
the uncreated light. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God called that light
forth to shine upon this dark world that he had made, he was
revealing, manifesting his gracious will and purpose to save a people
by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's being declared
gloriously, and let there be light. God had a gracious will
and purpose for a people that He chose and gave to Christ before
the foundation of the world. And then we see it again when
Christ came in the flesh, when He says, I am coming to the world,
when He came in the flesh, God is declaring again all over to
us His gracious will and purpose for a people. That's the only
reason why the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came
in the flesh into the world to save a people, to redeem them
that were under the law, under the curse, under the curse of
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Moreover,
he says, third, I leave the world. I leave the world and go to the
Father. Meaning that after he rose from
the dead, he ascended to the Father and is now seated at the
right hand of the throne of God. And he tells us this to encourage
our hearts, to say, I have all things. and my power and my control. All things are given into my
hand of the Father. And so when we see that and behold
our Lord in this glorious view of Him seated on the throne,
we know that everything He came to accomplish The reason why
he was here, he accomplished it. He accomplished redemption.
Every word he spoke was fulfilled. Every act he did to fulfill all
righteousness for us was fulfilled. It was done and accomplished
by him. This is why when he rose from
the dead and met those disciples on the road to Emmaus, He began
at Moses and all the prophets, and he expounded unto them in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself. We don't just read this Word
to find good moral stories to teach our children, good Aesop's
fables and lessons and wives' tales about what goodness is
or what values we should have. This whole Word was given to
show us the Lord Jesus Christ. From Moses, beginning at Genesis
1-1, all the way to Revelation, what is it, 22-21? The whole
thing! The whole word speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's to show you Him and to show
you your need of Him because He is everything, everything
we need to approach the Father, to come into the presence of
God and to stand before Him faultless, before His very throne in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says in John 6, 37 through
39, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him
that cometh to me, I will, and no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. This is the whole purpose for
Christ's coming, because he has a people whom he loves, his bride,
whom he came down willingly to lay down his life for his bride,
to raise her up and to give her life in himself. This is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. Come to Christ. He is the Savior. Behold the servant of God. Look
to him whom God has sent. He is our great advocate. He is a merciful Savior. He does
not turn away the broken, the poor, the weak, the sinner. He receives all that come to
Him, all who come to Him and ask for mercy. This He gives
you. He gives you and leads you to
Him. He strips you down and withers you by the preaching of the gospel
and the blowing of the Spirit upon you so that we come as we
ought with our faces in the dirt knowing that we are nothing in
ourselves, but that He is everything, and He will not turn you away.
He is a merciful, gracious, holy, righteous, gentle Savior, a gentle
Savior. You aren't troubling Christ when
you come to Him with your problems. When you come to Him with the
burdens and the cares, and you cry before Him, you're not burdening
Him. He tells us, He encourages us, cast your cares before Him.
Come and ask Him. In the name of the Son, Lord
help me. Have mercy. Please have mercy
Lord. The only trouble you give is
to yourself when you hold it back and you don't come to the
Lord. Come to Him. We receive the promise of peace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In spite of what we are in this
flesh, sinners with no hope of making a righteousness for ourselves
by the works of our flesh Christ came and faithfully accomplished
everything the Father sent Him to do. He has fulfilled it. It is finished. Everything is
prepared and made ready by the Lord Himself for you, His bride. For you, His bride. And the disciples,
they felt, there was a time when they felt like they understood
Christ. There we saw in verse 30 when they said, oh, we see
now, we understand, we get what you're saying. Now we know that
you are the Christ and we don't need to ask you anything. We
know that you know everything. And the Lord said this, do ye
now believe? Oh, do you really see? And do
you understand? Our knowledge of him, our sight
of him, is so limited so often we see through a glass dimly
and we do forget and we are soon troubled and doubting once again. And when our Lord said to the
disciples, in verse 32, behold, the hour cometh, yea, it is now
come that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall
leave me alone. And yet I'm not alone, because
the Father is with me. I'm going to fulfill everything
the Father sent me to do. This is not going to end here.
He came faithfully and willingly to pay our debts as our surety,
to take our place as our substitute. and to accomplish this work of
redemption for his people. And he went to that cross alone,
none of us helping him, none of us laying, lifting a finger
to help lift the burden of our Savior. Sadly, I'm reminded too
often of how I've pressed down the burden on my Lord by my own
sin, my own foolishness. Just pushed down the burden even
harder on Him, and yet He bore that for His people. He bore
up under that for love's sake, because He loves you, His people,
who have no other righteousness, no other salvation but Him. We believe not, yet is He faithful,
because He cannot deny Himself. He is the faithful God, the faithful
Savior, the Almighty God, our Father, our Prince, our Mighty
God, our Man of War. He's everything, our Husband,
our Friend, our Keeper, our Shepherd. Christ says, knowing that all
his children scattered and left him to himself, he says in verse
33, these things, I know what you're gonna do, but these things
I've spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. Peace, because we'll never have
it in our own works, but we're gonna have it in him. You might
have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." And
that tells us something. We will be. We're going to have
trials and troubles and strippings and difficulties and adversities
and dark days. That's not our peace. He never
tells us that that's our peace. He tells us that in spite of
those things, in spite of everything that you receive in this world,
You have everything. You have everlasting life. You
have Christ for all eternity in spite of what goes on in this
world. In spite of what losses you think you have in this world
and the flesh, it's nothing. It pales vastly in comparison
to the riches of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation
or distress? or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril or sword? Does it matter if these days
are still before us? Greater trouble than what we
know now? Nope, not at all. As it's written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. We're already numbered for death anyway. What does it
matter? What can they take from you?
You have Christ, and that can never, ever, ever be taken from
you. In all these things, we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. We triumph, not by
our strength, not by our works, not because we're so awesome
in ourselves, because of Christ, for Christ's sake. And so that's
the peace, that's the peace that he gives you, that you have everything
in him. You just look to him and that
he gives you by his strength and power and the spirit he gives
you and he feeds you and comforts you with the preaching of the
gospel and the fellowship of the saints. It's all in him. I pray the Lord bless that word
and fill your hearts with peace and faith to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for this grace and mercy that you've poured out upon us freely,
abundantly in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we're so weak in
the flesh. We, like the disciples here,
scatter and run and hide in darkness so often. But Lord, you're so
merciful, so gracious, all-knowing. Lord, you've accomplished redemption
in nothing. Nothing's gonna change that,
ever. And we thank you, Lord, because
we see in ourselves nothing but unbelief, and we see in ourselves
doubt and failings and sin in this flesh. But Lord, keep us,
keep us. Lord, according to your promise,
let us not walk in darkness, but in the light of life, in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, bless your people this
morning. Help us to bless your name in
worship and praise. Lord, we pray that you bless
the preaching of your word. We pray that you bless Darwin
in the next hour. Bless his word and bless our
hearts, Lord. Feed us and nourish us in the
Lord Jesus Christ again and again and again. It's in Christ's name
we pray and give thanks. And Lord, let me also just say,
We're thankful that Darwin and Yvonne are here. It's so wonderful
to meet Yvonne and Lord, we're thankful for how you've blessed
our friend and our pastor Darwin. Lord, we pray that you would
bless them richly, give him wisdom, give them strength and the ability
to set that home down and to have a joyful, happy, lasting
place as long as you have them here, Lord, until you bring them
home. to be with you in glory. In Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen.