John 16. If our Lord will allow us to
read these lines and read between these lines,
I believe we will look a little bit more forward to glory. I
really do. I have been itching to tell you this. I titled this message, Life Without
Sin. Life Without Sin. Here's the
key to the whole message. Verse 12. John 16, verse 12. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. That's the key to the
whole message. We understand what he means by
that, don't we? He has many things he would like to say to us, but
he can't say them all right now. He cannot say them as plainly
as he would like to because we just can't bear him right now.
We can't understand it. Keep that in mind as we read
the rest of this text, okay? Verse 12, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Now here's a side
note before we get started. I have many things to say to
my two little girls, but they can't bear them right now. I
have many things I'd like to say to them about life, about
marriage, about all kinds of things, but they just can't bear
them right now. Now does their ability to understand
have any bearing on my love for them? Nope. Not one bit. Not one bit. You know, when they get older,
they'll be able to understand. We'll communicate. But that does
not mean I will love them one ounce more when we are on the
same page sitting across from the table discussing things.
Not one bit more. Because I love them, I'll wait. I'll just wait. I'll give them
time. I won't tell them some of those things right now, and
I'll wait and let them grow up until they can understand it.
Let them grow and mature, all right? So this has no bearing
on His love for us, not at all. Verse 12, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now, 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. He shall
glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto
you." God's Spirit is what guides us. He guides us in this world. He
guides us in life. He points us to Christ. We need
God's Spirit. I need the blood of Christ, and
I need God's Holy Spirit. That's what I need. I need His
Spirit. If we want to worship God, I
was here this morning. I want to worship God tonight.
And if I want to worship God, I need His Spirit every single
time. If I want to learn more of Him
in this Word, if I want this Word to become open to me, I
need His Spirit every single time I open it. If I want to
hear from Him, And if I want to be drawn closer to Him, I
need His Spirit. I want to encourage each one
of us, every single service, before the Bible study and before
the morning message, call on God's Holy Spirit every single
time. If you get into the middle of
a message and realize, I forgot, do it. Call on His Spirit. Beg
Him to open up the Word. Come into our hearts and bless
us. Ask Him to send it to us, but
ask Him to send it to you. May I want to worship God. He's
the one who guides us. All right, now verse 13 says,
Howbeit 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." God's Spirit is a person. He is a person. He is the third person of God. He's not something that just
spits out facts like a computer. Well, I need something here this
verse should do. He is the third person of God. He speaks to us, but here's the
amazing part of that. He does not speak anything to
us until the Father speaks to Him first. He won't speak of
Himself. Whatsoever He shall hear. If the Lord speaks to me, I love
the thought of the fact that the Father at that moment in
time said, speak this to Him. Our God is very active with us. He is very current with us. He is not the Lincoln Memorial. He is very immediate, just like we are with
our children. He listens to our cry. You know that? He listens to our cry. He is
there in that moment of need. He is very active. I love that
story in the book of Daniel. We're not going to turn over
there, but in the book of Daniel, he was calling on God. He was lamenting. He was begging
God on the behalf of Israel, begging for mercy, begging for
forgiveness. And the Lord sent Gabriel with
a message. He said, you go tell Daniel this.
And Daniel said, while I was speaking in prayer, I hadn't
even finished the prayer yet. While I was speaking in prayer,
the commandment came forth. He is very active, very current. Verse 15 says, All things that
the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. You know what he's
saying right there. Go with me over to Romans chapter
8. He's talking about the Spirit
guiding us into all truth. Romans 8 verse 14 says, For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. joint heirs with Christ. Verse 32 says, he that spared
not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? All things. He's going to take the things
of mine and he's going to show every single one of them to you. Every single one of them. Go
with me back over to John 16. Verse 16 says, 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 saith? We don't know what it's like
to physically be with him every single day. We don't know what
that's like. We can't enter into that. They
only knew that for three and a half years. They only knew
what it was like to be with him, to walk with him, to talk with
him. And they were having a hard time fathoming not being with
him. How are we going to make it without
him? Where is he going? Now on the flip side, we have
never known what it's like to not be without him. And we have a hard time imagining
what it's going to be like with him, don't we? We try to enter
into it, but we have the hardest time. And we look at these things
and we think, what is he saying? It's hard to tell what he's saying.
All that our minds can really enter into is being without him.
It's all we've ever known. But he is telling them what life
is going to be like with him being gone, and he's telling
us what life is going to be like when we're finally reunited and
with him every day just like they are. Verse 19, He said,
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. And again, a little while,
and you shall see Me. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.
And you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. Our Lord was about to accomplish
two things. He's leaving. John 17 is the
next chapter. It's His prayer on the behalf
of His disciples. And He was going to accomplish
two things. He was about to take all their
sins to the grave. He was going to be gone for three
days. That's what He's telling them. I'm going to be gone for
three days. And then He was going to bring the righteousness that
He had earned back up to His Father on their behalf. And that's
where He is right now. He brought that righteousness
back up on our behalf, and He's still there right now. And He
said in verse 20, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that you shall
weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and you shall
be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. The
world rejoiced when He died on that cross. They did. They rejoiced. Crucify Him, give
us Barabbas. They rejoiced. There was silence
in heaven when that happened, absolute silence. And the world
rejoices right now because he's not in the world. They love the
fact that he's not in the world, but not God's people, not us. Sorrow fills our heart. All we
want is to be with him. That's all we want is to be with
him. Verse 20, he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that you
shall weep and lament, But the world shall rejoice, and you
shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Now, he's about to start telling
us some things, but we have to remember he has many things to
say unto us, but we can't bear him right now. Verse 21, he said,
A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour
is come. She's worried about it. She's
dreading the unknown. She's enduring the pain of it.
A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour
is come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for the joy
that a man is born into the world. And ye now, therefore, have sorrow. But I will see you again, and
your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you."
He's telling us as soon as you are delivered from that bondage,
as soon as you're delivered, the joy that you are going to
experience cannot be described to you. It can't be described. I have many things to say about
it, but you can't handle it right now. And he said, I'm using this illustration
right here of a woman in travail. I'm using things that you understand,
but that doesn't come close. That absolutely doesn't come
close. Verse 22, you now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you
again. And your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you. Isn't that wonderful? And in that day you shall ask
me nothing. Verily, verily, he's saying this
is the truth, this is the truth. I say unto you, whatsoever you
shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto
have you asked nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive,
that your joy may be full. He's saying you're truly going
to be a joint heir. You are truly going to be a joint heir. In
that day, you're not going to ask me. You're going to ask my
father, our father, directly. Go over to Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4 verse 14 says, Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. He's saying you're going to have
the exact same access that I have. The exact same access to the
throne of grace. A true joint heir. Back over
in John 16 verse 25 says, 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." Because you can't handle the
things I have to say to you, that's what he's saying. Because
you cannot understand the things that I have to say, I've been
telling you all this in Proverbs. I've been giving you illustrations, trying to cause you to understand
what life is going to be like with me. Life is going to be
like after this bondage is over. And whatever illustration is
on this earth, it just does not come close to describing what
glory is going to be like without sin. This joy, he gives this
parable of a woman in travail. The joy that comes from a child
that's born is wonderful. I have experienced it twice,
but the joy that's going to come in glory, no man can take from
me. That has been taken from me.
That was a wonderful experience, but there have been many things
happened since then. The joy is coming that no man can take
from you. I have many things to say, but
you just can't bear them right now. 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. You're going to know as you've
been known. Plainly, everything that has been known about you,
you're gonna know that, and everything that's been known about Christ,
you're gonna know that. You're gonna know as you've been known.
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. Christ and His Father are one,
but they are two. They are two. And He's saying,
not only do I love you, I laid down my life for you. I loved
you in the grave. I loved you all the way to death.
But not only do I love you, my Father loves you too. And I won't
pray the Father for you. In that day, I will not pray
the Father for you. There will be no need to convince
on your behalf. There will be no more need for
intercession. You're going to be perfect. You're going to be
just like me. You're going to have a perfect
faith. You're going to have a perfect love. You're going to have a
perfect communion with the Father. Perfect. 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. 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. We understand
what you're saying. That's what they're telling him.
We understand what you're saying. We understand that we can't understand,
but we understand what you're saying. We know that you're going
to physically do these things for us. We understand what this
means for us. What a thing to understand. 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. We believe that you know all
things. We believe you. We believe there's
no reason to doubt anything you've said. We believe you. We don't
understand all this, but we believe you. We believe that thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Verse 31, Jesus answered
them, Do you now believe? Do you now believe? Behold, the
hour cometh Yea, it 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 said, do you believe? That's quite a question, isn't
it? Do you believe? He asked Peter,
do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know. You know. What he's telling them
is your faith is going to be tried. It is going to be tried. Ours
is going to be tried. This world has the ability to
so easily overcome us. You know that? So easily overcome
us. Overtake us. And even though
God told them all this, here we are, this is the same night,
this is the same night, an hour later, Peter denies him. A few days after that, every
single one of them right here ends up leaving the ministry.
Leaving the ministry. Leaving the ministry. Done. I'm going back to fishing. Every single one of them. And
this same is true for us. Our faith is going to be tried.
And it's because of the sin that we're still dragging around.
We got it on us. We're dragging it around with us. And we have
no ability to withstand this world, this world, the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. But here's
what he's telling us. I have many things to say to
you. And you can't understand all
these things, but I do, and I've taken care of it all. You don't understand the outcome,
but I do, and I've taken care of it all. Verse 32, he said,
Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that you shall be
scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone. And
that had to happen. He had to do this alone. And
yet, I'm not alone because the Father is with me. God was in
Christ reconciling the world to himself, wasn't he? He accomplished
it all by himself. And then he said to us in 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." I've overcome
the world. Is that not relieving? I've overcome the world. Everything
I just said to you, I've secured for you. Every single thing. That joy is secure. You're going
to have it. That sin that is overtaking you,
it's going to be put away. I've taken care of it all. Because
I have overcome the world, you have overcome the world. And real soon, I'm going to come
to you. I'm going to get you. I'm going
to bring you where I am. And then I'm going to start telling
you some things. I'm going to tell you things
that I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man. I'll wait, but one of these days
we're all going to be together. You're going to be conformed
into my image, a new creature, a new creation with a new mind,
the mind of Christ. The Apostle Paul said when he
was called up into the third heaven, he said, I heard things
that are not possible for a man's mouth to utter. We can't bear
them right now, but we're going to. We're going to real soon. I pray the Lord will continue
to teach us along the way anyway. All right, let's stand together.