Well, if you would, go back to
John, and let's see if we can finish up this 16th chapter. Some of the brethren gathered
back in the office, as we always do before the evening service,
and Brother Chuck read to us John 17, And I thought, well,
that's very fitting because we'll be going into John 17, the Lord
willing, next Wednesday night. So let's see if we can finish
up the 16th chapter. And I would bring this before
you. Our Lord Jesus, these are His
ending, this is His ending message to His disciples. This will finish
out this message that he began back in chapter 13. And really,
as far as these men who believed him, these men who rested in
him, that began virtually at the end of chapter 13, and it
began in earnest with chapter 14. And you can look back, if
you would, to the beginning of chapter 14, though I'm sure that
you know this verse of Scripture by heart. in chapter 14 and verse
1. And Judas is now gone, you know. It's vital for us to remember
this. He doesn't give the kind of wonderful
consolation to all of these men until Judas has left. There was no consolation for
him. There wasn't anything to encourage
him. He was a lost soul. The devil
filled him. The devil was leading him. And
of course, all that he did, he did according to the will of
God. But yet, this is a man who didn't believe on the Lord Jesus.
He virtually lived with Him and walked with Him and he stayed
with Him, he listened to Him, he observed Him for all these
many, many months. But he had no faith. He was a
rebel. He was ungodly. He was wicked. It is very possible to make a
profession of faith to fool the people that are gathering with
you in the congregation of the righteous, and you yourself be
a devil. That is very much a possibility. And we don't want that. And we
ask God, Lord, give us honesty. Let us know ourselves. Lord,
you read me like an open book. Give me some understanding of
my real condition before you. And of course, this wasn't the
desire of Judas. He was a rebel. He lived a rebel. He lived in unbelief, and he
died in unbelief. And now he leaves our Lord Jesus
in unbelief, in rebellion, and he goes out to betray Him. Once
he's gone, Our Lord Jesus has some very
tender things to say to His 11 men who loved Him and who rested
in Him. They did believe. There was a
lot of things they didn't understand, but one thing for sure, they
believed He was Messiah. And they believed He had life
eternal to give. And they looked to Him and no
other. There was a lot of things that
they were still foggy about. There's no question about that.
And that's the reason He said there in chapter 16, He's going
to send the Spirit. And the Spirit of God would make
a lot of these things clear to them. But His message to them
is of instruction and encouragement. He really begins this in earnest,
chapter 14 verse 1, let not your hearts be troubled. We've already
said this when he says, let not your heart, perhaps he's speaking
individually to Simon Peter, but the word your, he means more
than one. It's a word that means more than
one. So he's speaking to all of these 11 men and he says,
don't let your heart be troubled. Don't be agitated. It's so easy
for us as the people of God to be agitated. You ever get agitated? You get things, you know, agitation. The word is like a washing machine. You know how your washing machine
does this? It's agitating the water. Do
you ever feel like you've got a little washing machine inside
of you? It's just agitating you? And
you stir it up, and I tell you a lot of times, you don't even
know the reason for it. You can't put your finger on
it, but you don't have any real rest. You don't have the full
assurance of faith. Our Lord Jesus knew these men
and He knows us. He knows our needs. He knows
the message that we need. And so He says to these men,
let not your heart be troubled, let not your heart be agitated.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Now that's how the message
begins in earnest. Now I go to the very end of the
message, which is the very last verse of chapter 16. And he has this to say in chapter
16, verse 33. These things have I spoken unto
you that in me ye might have peace. He's instructing them,
but he's interested in their peace. Their peace. Life is such a turmoil. The world
is upset. There are a lot of upsetting
things that we observe. But He says, these things I've
spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. Don't miss
that. Where is the peace to be found?
In Christ Jesus, who is Himself the Prince of Peace. If you look
anywhere else for peace, you're not going to find it. It is only
to be found in the Lord Jesus. So he says to these men, because
they were facing some real troubling things, they have no idea what
is going to befall the Savior, though He has set it forth numbers
of times. But they don't know what they're
facing. They can't even begin to imagine
how things are going to be for their master and then for them. And they're going to be scattered.
He knows how agitated they are. He knows how troubled they are
and that they're in for more trouble, more difficulties. So he says this, these things
have I spoken unto you, chapters 14, 15, and all of 16. I've spoken
all of these things to you that in me, that you would understand
in me, in me, you might have peace. Now he says in the world,
you shall have tribulation. That has never changed. It has
never changed for the people of God. As long as you're in
the world, you're going to have tribulation. You're going to
have troubles. And sometimes we can sing a song
of self-pity and say, oh, my things are so bad. He said things
are going to be bad. He said you're going to have
tribulation. He said you're going to have trials. But, he says,
Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer, Lord. Do you
see what I'm facing? Lord, have you observed what
I've been through? He says, be of good cheer. What's
the reason for me to be cheerful? in my aches and pains, or in
my disease, or in this trouble, or whatever it is I'm facing,
can you give me a good reason to be of good cheer? Here I am
aching, or we got people in the hospital, we got people down
in the nursing home, can you give me a good reason to be of
good cheer? We got people who still have
broken hearts, can you give me a good reason for good cheer?
Yeah! He says, I've overcome the world.
He says, I have overcome every enemy you will ever face. And
it doesn't matter what the enemy is, He's conquered them all.
And your biggest enemy is your own sinfulness. Well, He took
care of that. And that's done away with. He
washed them away in His blood. And we've got to have a fitness,
we've got to have a worthiness to stand before God. He's taken
care of that too. Because His righteousness is
freely imputed to us. We're made the very righteousness
of God in Him, so be of good cheer. Because spiritually and
eternally, things are perfect. In a perfect environment, you
wouldn't be troubled, would you? Of course not. In a perfect environment,
you wouldn't have any worries. You wouldn't have any regrets.
You wouldn't have any anxieties. Well, let me tell you something.
You are in the perfect environment of God's salvation. of this reconciliation
to a holy God through the doing and the dying and the rising
again of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, let not your heart
be troubled. He says, be of good cheer. This
is how he begins the message and this is how he ends the message.
And if he began it and ended it and throughout the message,
he has this sort of language, it must be because we need it.
We need it. As you go back into chapter 16,
and you'll look at verse seven, and I'll just go back and pick
up a couple of things, and then of course I've got to move on
if I want to get through this, but he says in verse seven of
chapter 16, he says, nevertheless, I'll tell you the truth. He says,
it is expedient for you that I go away. When he says, I go, that literally
means on a journey. He's going on a journey. And
he's already said, you men can't go with me. Because this is a
journey he must take by himself. You think about it, everywhere
he had been, these men had gone with him. When He went visiting, when He
went in somebody's house, when He went preaching, when He went
out on a ship, they were with Him. Just virtually everywhere,
they were with Him. And now He's been telling them,
I'm going away. I go. I'm on a journey. I've
got a journey to take. It's a journey to the Heaven's
glory, but He'll get there by way of the cross of Calvary. It's a journey that will take
him to pay the price of redemption. It is expedient for you that
I go. The word expedient, now let me
just deal with that just a little bit since you know when he says
I go, literally journey. I'm going to journey. And of
course he went to the cross and then his soul would go to paradise
His body and soul came back together and then 40 days after His resurrection,
He would ascend back to the Father. That's the journey that He would
take. Very much like the journey we're going to take. It's a journey
that involves death. And beyond death, it's a journey
that will take us into the Father's presence. Take us to see the
Lord Jesus. I'd love to see the Lord Jesus.
All of you who are the Savior's people, who rest in Christ, who
say, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness,
you want to see the Savior, don't you? Of course you do! I know
you do! The way you'll see Him will be
through death. Unless He comes soon, of course. But even then,
you won't be by yourself. Because the Lord is with you,
always. But he says this, nevertheless
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. The word
expedient means to bring together. To bring together. It's actually
a two-fold, there's a two-fold meaning to it. The first is to
bring together. He is going to bring together
God's purpose of redemption. He's going to bring it all together.
Listen, all of the purpose of God in salvation meets in Christ
Jesus. Remember that. It all meets in
Christ Jesus. Outside of the Lord Jesus, God
has no mercy, He has no grace, He has no salvation, He has no
forgiveness for anybody. It all meets in the Lord Jesus.
It is expedient for you. This will bring all of God's
purpose together. He's the one who brings it together. And then there's another kind
of hidden meaning in this expedient, and it means for profit. In other words, there will be
a profitable aspect to His death. It is to your prophet that I
go. And not only to their prophet
and our prophet, but to God's prophet. Because he will gain
the greatest glory through redemption. So this is a very profitable
undertaking here. And this is all involved in expedient. The Lord's gonna bring it all
together and make it work for the for the profit of God and
for our profit. Now, notice that the Savior says
this in this chapter. He turns the attention of these
men, once again, to the words that He speaks. You remember
earlier in the book of John, He said, My words are spirit
and My words are life. There's life in His words. There's
no life in my words because I can't raise the dead. There's no life
in any preacher's words. But there is life in His words.
My words are spirit and my words are life. And notice what He
says here. Here in chapter 16. Look at verse
1. He begins this way. And the emphasis
now I'm going to make is upon these things have I spoken. All
that he's been saying here, this Thursday night, it's Thursday
night, the next day he's going to die, okay? And then, of course,
there'll be Resurrection, Lord's Day. But he says this, he's at
Thursday night, he says, these things have I spoken unto you
that you should not be offended. I have given you these words.
He's very up front with these men. forward with them. He didn't hide anything from
them. But He says, these things have I spoken unto you that you
would not be offended, that you won't stumble. Don't stumble. I've told you about hardships.
I've told you about these things. And I've got some more things
to say about that. But I speak these things, these
words, that you don't stumble. Don't get offended. And then
again, look what he says in verse four. But these things have I
told you. It's the second time he uses
that expression. But these things have I told
you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you of them. You'll remember, you'll reflect. You'll call it to your remembrance.
And these things I said not unto you at the beginning because
I was with you, but I'm leaving. And these things I'm giving to
you because you need to remember them. These things need to be
in your mind and in your heart. These things, what things? That
He's the way, the truth, and the life. That He who has seen
the Father, those who have seen Him have seen the Father. That
He is Himself the way, the truth, the life. that He is Himself
the One who imparts to us the blessings of the presence of
God. And on and on He goes throughout
these chapters. He's telling us these things.
These things. And then look now at verse 33
again. These things, and I've already
read verse 33, but here's the emphasis again. These things
have I spoken unto you. that in me you might have peace.
These things, if we would find any consolation for our hearts,
if we would receive instruction from God, if we would indeed
cease to be agitated as God speaks peace to us, we must go back
to the words of our Savior. We must go back to the Scriptures. Where can you find any peace?
Where can you find any comfort? You find it in the Word of Him
who comforts us through this book. Now let's look at this
last section very briefly tonight as we consider this subject a
little while. And I'll give you several kind
of headings in this message. And the first is simply, a little
while. Verses 16 through 19. And it's
interesting that the Savior, He repeats this statement over
and over and over again. You might underline it. I took
a highlighter and I highlighted it. Maybe you've already done
that. That's okay. But look here in verse 16. He
says, a little while. Just a little while. and ye shall
not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me, because
I go, I take this journey to the Father. Then said some of
his disciples among themselves, what is this that he saith unto
us, a little while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little
while, and ye shall see me, and because I go to the Father. They
said, therefore, among themselves. You do understand the context
there, because verse 17 said, then said his disciples among
themselves. So they're not speaking to him.
They're just kind of, you know, saying among, what does he mean
by this? You know, they're not addressing
the Savior. In verse 18, then said they,
therefore, what is this that he saith a little while? We cannot
tell what He said. And now Jesus knew that they
were desirous to ask Him, but they wouldn't. They wouldn't. There was right there, in very
front of them, the one who could answer their question. But rather
than acknowledge their ignorance, and that they didn't understand,
they were asking among them, what do you think He meant? What
do you think He meant? And the Savior, He understands
their thoughts, and He could hear, though they were trying
to talk in such a way that He couldn't hear them, He heard
every word that they said. So in 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 ye
shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me? And
I wonder if they didn't say, Did he hear that? Did he hear
our conversation? Oh yes, he did. Just like he
hears our thoughts and our questioning, he hears. Our Lord Jesus is stressing the
fact that it's just a little while. Well, it would be a little
while, because you see, it's Thursday night. The next day
he's going to die. With the Jews, any part of a
day or night unit was considered one day and one night. So Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, there's your three days and three nights.
It would be just a little while. And they wouldn't see him. Just
a little while. And he emphasizes this. It won't
be long. It's not going to be long. But
they're troubled. They're troubled a little while.
A little while. He'd hang on the cross a little
while. From nine in the morning to three
in the afternoon. From the time of the morning
sacrifice to the time of the evening sacrifice. Just a little
while. Just a little while. You've got
to remember this. Certainly we're governed by time. I'm looking at the clock there
and I've got a watch on my hand. We're very much governed by time.
But the Scripture says, if our God be not ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years. A thousand
years is one day. It's just a little while. Psalm 37.10, David said, for
yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. If there's a wicked person here
tonight, that is an unbeliever, one who's not resting in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in a very little while, God's going to
put you away. Just a little while. Hebrews 10.37 says, For yet a
little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not
tarry. In just a little while, Christ
will come back. He's just a little while. He's
been gone, what, 2,000 years, give or take a few. But to the
Lord, it's just a little while. John 12, 35, the Lord Jesus said
unto them, yet a little while, and the light is with you. Walk while you have the light. Lest darkness come upon you,
for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth."
Listen, the light, the light of the instruction of God's Word,
the light of the Gospel is available to you. Walk in the light you've
got. Because the light's not only
going to be there, it's only going to be there a little while.
I take away from this a sense of urgency. Urgency. He says a little while. And then here's the second thing.
Here's a joyous reunion that he tells them of. In verse, start
at verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you
that ye shall weep and lament. And they would. They would weep
and lament. They just think they've known
grief. But they're going to grieve like they have never grieved
before. And they're going to lament. But watch this. The world shall rejoice. The unbelieving world, the hard-hearted
world, the religious world, they'll rejoice. as the Lord of glory,
Jesus of Nazareth, as He's mocked and then hanged on a tree. They're
going to mock. They'll get joy out of this.
They'll get glee out of this. It'll be a delightful time for
them because they'll be thinking, we've put an end to our enemy.
The world will rejoice. And you're going to be broken
hearted. He says, and ye shall be sorrowful. And they were. But your sorrow shall be turned
into joy. Sorrow turned to joy. Later on,
in fact, look over at John 20. Look at John 20. They were glad. They were glad. Look at verse, where do I wanna start here reading?
Well, let's go to verse 19. I don't have time to read all
of these, but John 20, 19. Then the same day at evening,
the first day of the week, the Lord's day, Sunday, the day it
rose, When the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and he
said unto them, peace be unto you. And when he had so said,
he showed them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. Their sorrow has now turned into
joy. They see and now they're really
beginning to understand. He had warned them or He had
told them that the Son of Man must be betrayed. He must suffer
many things at the hands of the chief priests. He must be crucified
and be raised again. And now this is all flooding
their memories and their... Oh yes, He told us about that. And now their joy... is real
and the sorrow that they were feeling is indeed turned to joy. That would be a time of rejoicing.
And then he gives an illustration of what kind of joy would replace
this sorrow. Look at verse 21. A woman when
she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come. But
as soon as she's delivered the child, She remembereth, back
in John 16, 21 now, as a woman which 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 joy that
a man is born into the world. And ye therefore have sorrow.
Right now you've got sorrow. And your sorrow is gonna get
deeper But I will see you again. I'll see you again. You know
what that means? You'll see me again. I'll see
you and you'll see me. And your heart shall rejoice.
And your joy, you'll be so joyful in me. No man can take that joy
from you. He's going to give a peace and
a joy to these men as He gives to us. It's a joy and a peace
nobody else can give, and a joy and a peace nobody can take away
from. Nobody can rob you of it. because it isn't a joy and a
peace based upon outward circumstances. It's a joy and a peace that He
gives because all is well between us and a holy God. And the Savior,
He's our friend, and He's our beloved one, and He's our elder
brother, and He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He's our prophet, and He is our high priest. He's all to us.
We are complete. In him is what Joe read to us
from the book of Colossians in the second chapter and what we
then sang. We're complete in him. We must
be, we need to be, we ought to be a joyful people and a thankful
people as we remember who our Savior is. And then quickly,
he tells them of the privilege of prayer. Verses 23 and 24. And in that day ye shall ask
me nothing, because he wouldn't be here. And I'll ask the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to
you. How do we come to God? How do
we come to God? With petitions, with our requests. And we're told to make our requests
known unto the Lord. Well, we come unto Him through
Christ Jesus. So he says in verse 24, hitherto
have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive that
your joy may be full. Ask. And there are a lot of people
who think, oh, well, whatever I ask in the name of Jesus, God's
gonna give it to me. Well, why let's keep it in the
context here. Let's keep it in the realm of
spiritual blessings. Ask for more dedication and commitment
to Christ. Ask for an increase of your faith.
Ask the Lord to show you more of yourself and your sinfulness
and show you more of the need of His grace. Ask and you shall receive. that your joy may be full. And then here's the fourth thing
he talked to them about. These hidden things are going
to be revealed. Look at verses 25 through 29. These things have I spoken to
you in Proverbs, parables, using hidden, mysterious illustrations,
But it says, the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto
you in Proverbs, I'll show you plainly of the Father. 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 ye have loved me,
and have believed that I came out from the Father. I came forth
from the Father, and am coming to the world. And again, I leave
the world, and go to the Father.' His disciples then said to him,
Lo, now speakest thou, in a way we can understand plainly, and
speakest no Proverbs. I tell you, the only one who
can make the hidden, mysterious things of God real to us and
understandable to us is the Lord Himself. Whenever you study the Scriptures,
and Ron is a preacher, I don't know
if anybody else in here spoke. Well, James has at a funeral. But anyway, when you come to
a passage of Scripture, and I say this to the Sun School teachers,
and I say this actually to all of us, and you want to get an
understanding of the Scripture. What is the first thing you would
do? Well, let's say this passage
right here. What's the first thing a fellow
would do trying to understand this passage of Scripture? Well,
I'd go see what John Gill believes. That's not the first thing to
do. I'll go see what Robert Hawker has to say. I have great respect
for Robert Hawker or Arthur Pink or some of those men. That's
not the first thing to do. If you would ask my advice as
a preacher, how to study the Scriptures, how to arrive at
a message, how to arrive at a Sunday School lesson or a devotional.
Here's what I would say. Read the Scripture. And the second
thing I would say is re-read the Scripture. And the third
thing I would say is re-re-re-read the Scripture. You've got to
get the Word of God in your mind and maybe the Spirit of God will
put it in your heart. I tell you, if it's a man who
teaches you something, maybe you'll learn it and maybe you'll
remember it, but it might be wrong. Isn't that correct? If a man teaches you. But if
the Spirit of God teaches you, you won't forget it. and it'll
be right. Now that's not to say that God
doesn't use men, that He doesn't use preachers. But He uses us
as we set forth His Word in its context. And when we learn something from
God, nobody can take it away from you. When we learn the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, nobody can rob you of that. Now, if
you've just been talked into it, and you say, well, yeah,
that makes sense. Okay. Well, somebody else come
along and talk you out of it. But not if the Holy Spirit teaches
you. Not if He makes things, as the
disciples said here, not if He makes things plain. That's how I like things, don't
you? I like them plain. Just give it to me the way it
is. That's what the Lord does. Well then, then we get into faith
is going to be tested real quick. Verses 30 and 31. They said,
now we're 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, It's interesting. He asked him a question. Do you
now believe? Let's don't get too cocky now. Let's don't boast too much of
your faith. Do you believe? We'll see. We'll see with these guys. We'll
see when trouble comes a-calling. We'll see if they stick around
when the mob comes and arrests our Lord Jesus Christ. And you
say, where'd those disciples go? I don't know. Zechariah said, smite the shepherd. What's going to happen to the
sheep? Scattered. We'll see if you believe, the
Savior said. We'll see if you believe. And then He says this, in verses
32 and 33. Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
is now come that ye shall be scattered. Ah, there it is. You'll
be scattered, every man unto his own, and you'll leave me
alone. And they vowed not to do that.
In fact, Peter said to them, though all men forsake you, I
won't. So said they all. Right after
the Lord's Supper was instituted. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. So said them all. We'll see. We'll see how faithful you are.
You think you're strong in faith? You know, whenever we get to
feeling kind of Arrogant? Well, that's not the
right word. But like, hey, I am strong in
faith. I can believe. I can face anything. Watch out. The Lord's going to
have to... How many times has He had to
knock you down? He knocked me down too. And He
shows us we're nothing and He's everything. And He even says,
without Me you can do nothing. You can't stand without me. You
can't face a world full of animosity toward you and hatred toward
me. You can't stand without me. Do you believe? The hour is coming
when you'll forsake me and I'll be alone. And yet, he says in
verse 32, I'm not alone. because the Father's with me.
And the Father would be with him all the way up to that darkness
on the cross. When he said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And he'll never, God will never
forsake us because our Savior was forsaken for us. And then he gives a promise of
peace. He says, verse 33, these things
have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. He speaks
peace to our hearts, the peace of propitiation. Justice is satisfied
for us, the peace of pardon. Our sins are all forgiven, the
peace of purity. We're made the righteousness
of God in him, the peace of providence. He's working all things together
for our good. There's the peace of His presence.
He said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. There's
a peace of His protection. And there's the peace of preservation.
He'll keep us. He'll keep us. And then lastly,
He tells us in that last statement, be of good cheer. Our Savior
is the mighty victor. He's the mighty victor. And all
of those enemies, they're against you. And boy, there are a bunch
of them. He whipped them all. He's overcome them all. And He
did it by the blood of His cross. So be encouraged, people of God.
This is how He begins the message. Don't let your heart be troubled.
And in me, have peace. Be at peace. And be joyful. Well, let's sing a closing song. Let's sing of the Lord's faithfulness
to us. Number 40. Great is thy faithfulness. And of course, this is taken
out of the book of Lamentations. The Lamentations of Jeremiah. And he said, great is thy faithfulness. Hymn number 40.