You're with me if you would now
to John chapter 16. John chapter 16. I've told you
so many times before how I look at each one of our services The
Bible study is a time of instruction. The Sunday morning message is
a time of declaration. The Sunday night message is reflection
and relaxation. Wednesday night is always comfort. Every now and then I have a Sunday
morning message on Wednesday night. But if the Lord will give
it to me, I'm looking for comfort. And there are so many things
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that comfort God's people, so
many things. But one of the most comforting
things, I believe personally, one of the most comforting things
is the thought of being with him in glory. I believe that's
one of the most comforting things that we could think on concerning
Him, being with Him in glory, the thought of eternity. I know that if the Lord has quickened
you, if the Lord has sent His Spirit to you, you think about
heaven, not in the way that the world thinks about it, but you
think about eternity, life with Christ. Glory, the true life
that is about to come. That's the true life. This is
a temporary life of sin. And we don't know that until
God reveals it to us. We grow up in sin, as sinners,
surrounded by sin, loving sin, and this old flesh still loves
sin, but When God's Spirit comes and opens
our eyes and quickens us to these things, we realize the true life
is about to come. After this temporary life of
sin is over. Just the thought of sinlessness,
a soul that has gotten a hold of his or her sin, just the thought
of sinlessness, and love and joy unspeakable. That's what
we just read a moment ago in our scripture reading. Joy unspeakable. Like you just can't even speak
it. You can't describe it. Peace, true physical union and
fellowship with God. Fellowship with God, Father,
Son and Spirit. All of that in through to the
person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Does it comfort
your heart to just think of the life that is about to come with
him? Does it comfort you to think
about what it's going to be like to physically see him in the
flesh? To see his face, his facial features,
I cannot wait to see his facial features. Does it comfort you to think
about what it's going to be like to physically hear his voice?
I've asked you this question so many times before, but we
can't get past it. I haven't gotten past it yet.
Do you ever think about that? What will his voice, you know,
I said that when our kids were born and You know, before they
could talk with each one of them, I used to wonder, I wonder what
their voice is going to sound like. Well, I think the same thing
about the Lord. I wonder what his face will look
like. I wonder what his voice will sound like. I wonder what
it will be like to actually stand there and have a conversation
with him. face to face as a man speaketh
with his friend. A conversation with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, John 16 is a conversation
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this is. This is
a conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have never
been more blessed by John 16 than I was by reading it this
week. Someone sent me a very kind note
and wrote a scripture at the end of it, and that scripture
was 1 Peter 1, 7-9. And we just read that for our
scripture reading a moment ago. 1 Peter 1, we ended with verse
9. Don't turn over there, but verse
8 says, whom having not seen, you love. In whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. That blessed me so much. reading
that, that blessed me so much. And then after I read that in
my Bible, I looked over to the center margin of my page and
there was a scripture reference to John 16 verse 22, which says, and you now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again and
your heart shall rejoice. And your joy no man taketh from
you. No man. As soon as I read that,
I knew this was going to be our message. I was to read John 16, and I
want to make some comments as we go, and this is all I'm going
to do. I'm going to read John 16. and
I'm gonna make some comments as we go, and I pray the Lord,
if the spirit of the Lord doesn't help us, this will just be me
reading John 16, which is just fine. But if he will help us,
we will enter into a private conversation with the Lord. If
the spirit of God will help us, I really encourage you to ask
the spirit to speak to you tonight. Ask the Lord to open this up
to you. This is a private conversation that the Lord is having with
us. This is a conversation with our
Lord collectively as the church, as his body. But this is a conversation
with him individually, one on one, for each one of his chosen
people. And this is this is insight to
heaven. That's what this is. This is
insight to heaven. If you look over at John 15,
verse 15, it's across my page, our Lord said, henceforth, I
call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his
Lord doeth, but I have called you friends. For all things that
I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." I've told
them to you. This is insight from our Lord
in a personal conversation. Our Lord is telling us how it's
about to be in glory with Him. I pray this will be proven and
confirmed to us by seeing the things that he says right here
that have already happened. He's about to tell us some things
that when he told the disciples they hadn't happened yet, but
now they have happened. And I hope that in seeing the
things that have happened, we will be confirmed in the things
that he's about to tell us are soon to happen. All right, I
hope we'll be confirmed in it, believe it. So let's enter into a conversation
with him, okay? It's a conversation where he
does all the talking. And let's see if the Lord will let us really
listen to what he's saying. Look with me at verse one. Our
Lord said, these things have I spoken unto you. All right,
we're in a conversation with him. He said, I'm speaking to
you. These things have I spoken unto
you that you should not be offended. I've told you all these things
so that you won't be offended. That word means frightened. It
means unbelieving. It means caused to fall. I've
told you these things so you won't be frightened. You won't
be unbelieving. You won't be caused to fall away.
Verse two, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the
time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service. He said, you're going to have
much persecution from false religion. That's what he told them. And
the disciples and the apostles and the church as a whole has,
he said, this is what's coming. And it did. All right. Just like
he said. Verse three, and these things
will they do unto you because they have not known the father
nor me. They're going to be the enemies
of you because they're the enemies of me. They're not going to know
you because they don't know me. They're not going to love you
because they don't love me. They're not going to love your
word because they don't love my word. Verse four, but these things
have I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember
that I told you of them. And I love that. I want to bring
special emphasis to that. Okay. Just remember that. He
said, when what I'm telling you comes to pass, you will remember
that I told you it would happen. All right. When it comes to pass,
you are going to remember that I told you it would happen. Verse
four, he goes on to say, and these things I said not unto
you at the beginning because I was with you, but now I go
my way to him that sent me. He said, I'm about to go to the
throne of my father to bring the payment that he sent me to
make. I'm about to go stand before
the judgment throne. I'm about to go to him bringing
the purpose for which he sent me. And that was bloodshed, soul
cleansing, sin, washing blood, verse five. But now I go my way to him that
sent me and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou? And it's
because you can't understand this yet. You're not asking me
where I'm going because you can't understand this yet. Verse six.
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath
filled your heart. Sorrow has filled your heart
because you don't understand this yet. And that's exactly
what happened to the disciples. They were consumed with sorrow.
Peter quit the ministry. He said, I'm going back to my
old job. They were all in the upper room, afraid, sorrowful. He said, you just don't understand
this yet. Verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you, the
truth is expedient for you that I go away. It's necessary for
you that I go away. To where I'm about to go. Or
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you. If I do
not bring this blood to the throne, the Comforter will have nothing
to comfort you with. Does that make sense? It's expedient. I'm about to go away for three
days. And it's expedient for you that
I go away. You're about to watch me go away.
But if I don't go away for three days, the comforter will have
nothing to comfort you by. That really struck me. Verse seven, nevertheless, I
tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away for if
I go not away. The comforter will not come unto
you, which is God's Holy Spirit, which Romans eight tells us is
the very spirit of Christ himself. He went on to say, but if I depart,
I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will
reprove. That means convince the world
and that's whoever he comes to in the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. He said, when the Spirit comes,
this is what will happen. This is what the Spirit will
do to you. He will convince you of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. And every person whose God's
Spirit has come to can say with absolute assurance, that's exactly
what he convinced me of. He convinced me of my sin, Christ's
righteousness, and salvation from judgment by the swapping
of those things, the substitution of those things, my sin for Christ's
righteousness. Verse nine, of sin because they
believe not on me, sin against me. Of righteousness because
I go to my father and you see me no more, I will be accepted.
He is going to accept me in. That's proof of my righteousness.
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. And that judgment happened for
God's people on the cross of Calvary. There's a judgment coming
outside of Christ, but in Christ, that judgment has already come.
Now, verse 12, he said, I have yet many things to say unto you,
but you cannot bear them now. And the same thing applies to
us. There are many conversations that he is going to have with
us that we just cannot bear them right now. In our current state,
we could never understand the things that he has to say to
us. The apostle Paul was caught up to the third heaven one time.
And when he came back down, he said, I heard things. That's
what he said. I heard things that are not lawful,
and that word means possible, for a man's mouth to utter. I
heard things that are not possible for a man's mouth to utter. The
Lord said, I have conversations that I'm going to have with you
that you could never even understand right now. You couldn't bear
the words that came into your ears. Verse 13. How be it, when He,
the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth,
for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come." That
means by faith, the Spirit will tell you, this is what's about
to come by faith. The Spirit will tell you this
is what is about to come. And even though you can't see
it, and even though you cannot understand it, you'll believe
it. You will believe it. Verse 14,
he shall glorify me. This is how you'll know him.
He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show
it unto you. All things that the father hath
are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. He said, you will believe
it because all of it will be concerning me. All of it. He'll
take the things of mine. He won't speak of himself. He'll
speak of me. And the Lord is saying, you'll know me when he
comes to you and he speaks of me, you'll know me and you'll
love me and you'll believe on me and you'll trust me. And that's
how it will go. Now verse 16, he said, a little
while and you shall not see me. And again, a little while and
you shall see me because I go to the father. He said, he is
saying for three days, you're not gonna see me. He's telling
all this up front. And that's just what blesses
my heart. He's telling, we're about to see what he has to say
to us up front. None of these things were in
a corner. He hid none of these things. He said, everything that
you've declared to me, I've said to them and he has. But he said,
for three days, you're not going to see me because I must go to
my father bearing this blood payment. But as soon as the payment
is made, he said, you'll see me again. Three days later, you'll
see me again. Verse 16, a little while and
you shall not see me. and again a little while and
you shall see me because I go to the Father. Then said some
of his disciples among themselves, what is this that he saith unto
us a little while and you shall not see me and again a little
while and you shall see me and because I go to the Father? They
said therefore, what is this that he saith a little while
We cannot tell what he's saying. And isn't that us? We have so
many things in the scripture that we wonder, what is he talking
about? How many scriptures do we read
where we say, I don't, I don't understand that. I don't know
what he's saying. That's what they were saying. And it's so
plain to us. Now we think, well, he's, he
plainly said it. Why can't you understand what
he's saying? But that's how it is for all people until it's
revealed. We just don't know what he's saying. It doesn't
change the fact that it's true. It doesn't change the fact that
that's what he did. They just couldn't understand it. Verse
19. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and
said unto them, do you inquire among yourselves of that? I said a little while and you
shall not see me again a little while and you shall see me. Are you inquiring about that?
Are you wondering about that? Do you want to know about that?
Verse 20, verily, verily, I say unto you, that you shall weep
and lament, but the world shall rejoice. He said, I'm gonna go
to the cross. This is what he is saying. This is what he means in this.
I'm gonna go to the cross, bearing your sin, bearing your judgment,
bearing your punishment, and you are going to greatly sorrow
when you see that happen. And I just want to put a salah
right there. Think about that. Think about
what he said. I'm going to go bear all your
sin. I'm going to take all of your sin off of you, and I'm
going to put it on me. And I'm going to go to that cross bearing
your sin, bearing your judgment. bearing your punishment, and
you're going to be so sorry when you see that happen because you
don't understand what's going on. You're going to be so sorry when
you see that happen because you love me. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know. Lord, thou knowest. He said you're going to be so
sorrowful because you love me. And you don't understand what's
happening. But the world, he said, is going to rejoice because
all of them are going to cry, crucify Him, crucify Him. And they're going to think that
they're getting their way and they're going to be so happy.
That's what would give us Barabbas and kill Him. And when they hang
me on that cross, they're going to rejoice, not realizing that
they're not having their way with me, but I'm having my way
with them. But he said at the end of verse
20, You shall be sorrowful, but your
sorrow shall be turned into joy. Even though you shall be sorrowful,
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. The moment you see me walk
out of that tomb, this is what he's telling them. The moment
you see me walk out of that tomb, the moment the Spirit teaches
you what that event meant for you, The moment deliverance is realized,
quickened. The moment freedom from the bondage
of sin is realized. The moment true eternal life
is realized, he said, you're gonna joy like you have never
joyed before. You're gonna rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. Verse 21, he said, a woman when
she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour has come. But
as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no
more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world."
And he said, that's how it's going to be for you. The former
things are not going to be remembered or come into mind. Because all
your focus is going to be on the man who made himself to be
a child, and grew and lived for you and suffered and died for
you and by that made a place for you in His eternal glory.
That will totally consume you. Verse 22, and you now therefore
have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice
And your joy no man taketh from you. He said, I'm going back
to ascend to my glory and my throne on high, but I will come
for you. You will see me again. When I
come back to gather you to myself, that where I am, you may also
be with me there. And when that moment comes, your
heart is gonna rejoice, and you will never stop rejoicing. And
he said, no man will ever be able to take that joy from you.
It happens all the time right now. Things take our joy from
us. He said, not there, not ever
again. All right, now, stop the press. Do we believe what he has said
in his conversation so far? Yes. Can we acknowledge that
what he told his disciples would happen back then happened exactly
like he said it would happen? Can we acknowledge that? We said
these things that we know because we know them. Yes, that happened. That's exactly right. He said
that's what would happen and that happened. Okay, if that's
the case, then listen to this. He clued them in in this private
conversation. He confided in them. He said,
this is how your redemption from sin is gonna go all the way up
to the point that you enter into glory itself. That's how it's
all gonna go here on this earth. All right, now listen to this.
He's cluing us in, in a private, confiding, insightful way, one-on-one
conversation. He's saying to each one of us,
listen to me. This is how it's going to be.
All right? This is how it's going to be.
Verse 23. And in that day, You shall ask me nothing. You're going to be a joint heir
with me. You're going to be one with me. Mind, body, heart, soul. We're going to be in such union
together. You shall ask me nothing. And that does not mean we won't
ask him a question. What that means is we will not
ask him to go ask the Father a question for us. Verse 23, In that day you shall
ask Me nothing, verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you
shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Whatever
you ask the Father in that day in My name, in My representation,
in Me, He will give it to you. Verse 24, hitherto have you asked
nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive that
your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto
you in Proverbs." Everything that I've said up to this point
has been a proverb. I've spoken all these things
in Proverbs. Without a proverb, he didn't preach. Lord, why are
you teaching everybody in Proverbs? Why do you keep talking Proverbs?
He said, up to this point, I've given you Proverbs. I've said,
the kingdom of heaven is like a sower in a field. The kingdom
of heaven is like a man who, you know, whatever. Verse 25,
these things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs, but the time
cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall
show you plainly of the Father. That means exactly as he gives
to me, he will give it to you. Verse 26, at that day you shall
ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the
Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you, because you
have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. He
said, I will not be a middleman to you. I will not stand between you
and the Father. Is He our mediator? Yes, He is.
He is our High Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
He ever lives to make intercession for us, absolutely. But He's
saying, I will not stand between you and the Father. And it's because I will have
created total peace and reconciliation between the two of you. just as one with Him as I am. In me, He said, He loves you. And He'll be a father to you
just like He's a father to me. And in me, you'll be a son to
Him just like I'm a son to Him. And it's not that we leave Christ
to go to the Father. Our union with the Father is
in Christ. If you want to see the Father, look at Jesus Christ.
This steals no glory from Him. This is Him giving us insight
to what He's done for us. Verse 28, I came forth from the
Father and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and
go to the Father. His disciples said unto Him,
lo, now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb. Can
we say that tonight? Can we see that in this? Do we
hear that he is not speaking to us in Proverbs and parables
right here? He is plainly telling us, this
is exactly how it's going to actually be. This is gonna be
your life. Verse 29, his disciples said
unto him, lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 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. Jesus answered them,
do you now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
is now come that you 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. He is always with me. And Christ
said, I'm always with you. I'm always with you. He said,
I'm about to go accomplish this. You're going to be without my
physical presence for just a moment. But I'm always with you. My spirit
is always with you. I will never leave you alone.
Never. And that's how we feel right
now. We have much fear. We have much sorrow because his
physical presence is not with us at the moment. But He is saying
right here to us, my spiritual presence is. And I'll never leave you. You'll
never be without me. I'll never leave you. So for
our joy and our rejoicing, He says, remember this. He's saying,
let me close the conversation with this, verse 33. These things
have I spoken unto you. that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." And
real soon, you're going to overcome the world. Real soon, you're
going to overcome this world. He's saying, because I overcame
it for you. And when you do, he said, you're going to remember
that I told you you would. And that's going to happen the
moment that comes, the moment God calls us and we overcome
the world. We're going to remember he told
us we would. He told us this is exactly how it would be. And
he said, you're going to be so happy. You're about to rejoice
with joy, unspeakable and in Christ, all because of Christ.
No one will ever be able to take that joy away from you. Never. Amen. Amen. May the Lord speak to us. May
the Lord comfort us. May the Lord bless us with the
promise