Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'm going to be preaching from John chapter 16, and the
title of the message is, Sorrow Turned to Joy. Now, here in John
16, the Lord Jesus Christ is still instructing his disciples
in the last days of his earthly ministry in life. He is about
to go to the cross of Calvary to die for the sins of his sheep. And he's teaching his disciples
in the upper room right before he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane
to pray his high priestly prayer, the Lord's Prayer in John 17.
And he's trying to instruct them and comfort them in the truths
concerning all that he is in himself as the Son of God who
was sent out from the Father, the second person of the Trinity,
and all that he was about to accomplish for his people on
the cross of Calvary to redeem them from their sins and justify
them before a holy God. He had told them that it was
necessary for him to go to the cross. This was not an option.
This was not a choice among many. But it was a necessity for him
to go to the cross, for if Christ had not gone to the cross, and
suffered and bled and died for the sins of his people, there
would be no salvation. And there would be also, he said,
no comforter. Speaking of the work of the Holy
Spirit, you see the work of the Holy Spirit, that great, sovereign,
miraculous work of the Spirit in the new birth. As Christ taught
Nicodemus back in John chapter 3, you must be born again. That
great work is the fruit and the result and the effect of the
finished work of Christ on the cross. You see, sin demands death. But righteousness, which Christ
put away sin on the cross, He bore them away. But righteousness
demands life. And Christ established righteousness
in His obedience unto death. When he said it was finished,
he established the very ground of a sinner's justification,
the whole salvation, before God. And that righteousness which
is charged and accounted and imputed to all of his sheep,
all of his church, God's elect, all who come to believe in him,
right there on the cross, that righteousness that was given
to them freely, that free gift, demands life, spiritual life,
from God. The Holy Spirit comes in time
and brings a sinner under the preaching of the gospel, the
gospel of salvation, the gospel of eternal life, the gospel which
reveals Christ, who is our life, and gives that sinner spiritual
life, a regeneration, the scripture calls it, raises him spiritually
from the dead, shows him his sinfulness, his helplessness,
his depravity, and drives him to Christ in faith, believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ and unto repentance of his own works,
his own dead works and idolatry of his sin. Now he said to the
disciples that if he did not go away and do his work, finish
the work of redemption, of justification before God for his people, the
Holy Spirit would not come. But he was going away and the
Spirit would come as their Comforter, regenerate His people. He had
already regenerated the Old Testament believers and these disciples,
but He would come in His work and indwell them. And that is
another result of the work of Christ on the cross, permanently
indwell them as the Comforter by showing them more of the glory
of Christ and Him crucified, more of the glory of Christ.
as our great intercessor and advocate before God. More of
the glory of Christ as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
More of the glory of Christ who would come again and defeat all
of his enemies and gather his people unto himself. Now he says
in verse 16 of John 16, he 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." What is he talking about there?
Well, a little while and you shall not see me refers to his
going away to die on the cross. His physical presence with them
would be out of sight. He was going to die. He was going
to be buried. But he would not stay buried,
because just like I said before, righteousness demands life. You
see, where sin is not charged and imputed, righteousness is
worked out and it demands life. So the law that condemned Christ
on the cross for the sins of his sheep was satisfied. That's what propitiation, that
word propitiation, which appears three and four times in the New
Testament, That's what it means. It means a bloody sacrifice that
results in satisfaction to law and justice. And righteousness
was established. So Christ was going away, he
would die, and it would be just for a little while, and then
he would be buried. But the grave would not keep
him. He would be raised again the third day because of the
justification of his people. And then he would stay with them
about 40 days and he would ascend unto the Father. So he says,
a little while you won't see me. And again, a little while
and you will see me in his resurrected state. And he said the reason
is because he goes to the Father. Now, back up in John 16, when
it talked about Holy Spirit conviction and the work of the Spirit, he
said the Spirit would convince Christ's people of sin because
they believed not on Him. In other words, He would reveal
their sinfulness unto them in their unbelief and sin as it
relates to Christ. In other words, He would show
them. that without Christ all they are and all they do is sin. You see, a sinner is damned for
his sins, and the only hope of salvation is in Christ, and we
must believe on Him, whom to know is life eternal. And then
he said he would convince them of righteousness in verse 10.
He says, because I go to my Father. In other words, in his death
on the cross, Christ was not going to be defeated. He was
not going to the cross to rot in the grave and be corrupt. He was going to the cross to
save his people from their sins. That was his name, Jesus. For
he shall save his people from their sins. And in establishing
that redemption by his precious blood, And in justifying his
people by his righteousness, he was raised from the dead and
he ascended unto the Father. The Bible puts it this way, he
sat down at the right hand of the Father, ever to live there
to make intercession for his people, the right hand of judgment. God judged his son to be damned
based on sins charged to him on the cross. But when he made
an end of those sins, when he bore away those sins, when he
satisfied God's justice against those sins, the hand of God's
justice pronounced him righteous. In other words, in his death
he established righteousness in life and therefore he was
raised from the dead and then he went to sit down at the right
hand of acceptance. Christ was accepted. as the surety,
the redeemer, the justifier of his people. And therefore the
Bible says all who are in him, all who believe in him, all who
rest in him, are accepted in the beloved. So he wasn't just
going to the grave, you see. He was going to his Father. And
that's what he's trying to comfort these disciples with. They were
in sorrow. Many of them, I'm sure, were
thinking about what dangers were facing the Savior, the Lord. And they were sorrowful. You
know, this world is full of sorrow. Job said, man is a few days in
full of trouble, trouble and sorrow. But Christ, in His message
here to them, He's trying to keep them looking unto Him, the
One who was going to the Father, for them. He wasn't going there
for himself, he was going as the Savior, as the successful,
victorious Savior. It says in verse 17, "...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." Now, they're
wondering about the words of Christ here. You see, they were
still confused about some issues in Providence and how all these
things were going to work out. Verse 18 says, they said, therefore,
what is this that he saith a little while? We cannot tell what he
saith. They did not fully grasp the
impact and the fullness of the words of Christ concerning this.
In verse 19 it says, now Jesus knew. that they were desirous
to ask him, and said unto him, Do you inquire among yourselves
of that I said? Are you asking among yourselves
about what I said a little while, and you shall not see me? And
again, a little while, you shall see me? Now listen to his answer. In verse 20 he says, Verily,
verily." Now you know when the Lord made a statement like that,
he, too, verily. We could translate it this way,
truly, truly. This is an emphatic truth. This is something you need to
listen to. Perk up your ears and your mind
to understand this. He says, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, that you shall weep and lament, you're going to be
sorrowful, but the world shall rejoice. And then he says, and
you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Now that's where I got the title
of this message, Sorrow Turned to Joy. What's he telling them
here? He says, I'm telling you this
emphatically, truly, truly, I say unto you, you shall weep and
lament. They're going to sorrow, they're
going to cry, they're going to lament over the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But he says the world is going
to rejoice. Now, who is the world there?
You know, many times we talk about that word, world, and I'll
hear preachers talk about it, especially going back to John
3, 16, which I've already dealt with in a prior message. The
word world there refers to the unbelieving, unregenerate, unbelieving
world. It refers to the world in opposition
to Christ and his truth. It's the world, as John put it
in 1 John chapter 5, that lieth in wickedness. Now, whenever
the Bible uses the word world, it rarely, rarely refers to every
individual without exception. For example, in John 3 and verse
16, it's not talking about the death of Christ as pertaining
to every individual without exception, as many erroneously see and preach. It's talking about the death
of Christ for his people all over the world. Christ has a
people out of every tribe and nation. There's no ethnic or
geographical barrier to salvation. Though he is not the Savior of
all without exception, he is the Savior of all his sheep,
his church, God's elect, without distinction. In Christ, the Bible
says, there's no Jew nor Greek. The boundary of ethnicity there
is torn down because it doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or
a Gentile. God saves sinners by His grace. Both Jew and Gentile are equally
in need of salvation by grace. And all who come to Christ, whether
they be Jew or Gentile, shall be so. There's neither male nor
female, he says. Sexual barriers will not bar
a sinner from coming to Christ, whether you're a man or a woman.
It has nothing to do with it. You're a sinner, and you need
Christ. You need salvation by grace.
You need His blood and His blood alone to wash away your sins. You need his righteousness and
his righteousness alone to justify you before God, whether you're
Jew or Greek, male or female, whether you're bond or free,
whether you're a free man or a slave. That doesn't matter
either as far as your salvation goes. You understand that. Now
the world here, in this specific passage, refers to those who
are in opposition to Christ and what he's saying. He's telling
the disciples, now when I go away, when I die on the cross,
you're going to weep. You're going to lament. The world
is going to rejoice. Now why will the world rejoice?
Because the unregenerate, unbelieving world will think they've won
the battle, they've won the war. They think they've gotten rid
of that which is so against their natural grain The religious world
will rejoice. The political world will rejoice. The majority of the people will
rejoice. But he says, you shall be sorrowful,
talking to his disciples, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. The sorrow that the disciples
would go through, the tears they would shed, the lamentations
they would suffer, would eventually be turned into rejoicing. as they would see the full impact
of what Christ would accomplish on the cross, and as they would
see the resurrected Savior, and they rejoice in Him. You see,
this is the issue. Now, the world would rejoice,
but now their rejoicing, the world's rejoicing, will eventually
be turned into eternal sorrow. But the sorrow and the weeping
that the disciples were going through in this hard, hard time
here was only temporary. It would be turned to joy. Now,
he uses an illustration here that is really significant, and
I want you to see this. Look at verse 21. Remember what
he said, your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And he says
in verse 21, a woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow. because her hour is come." Now
what he's speaking of is a woman that is in the sorrow and the
suffering, the pain and the travail of childbirth. And he says, a
woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour
is come, the hour of the birth of her child. 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." Isn't that precious,
that illustration? You mothers, when you were going
through the travail, the suffering, the sorrow, the pain of childbirth,
They say, I know as a man I cannot enter into that, and I wouldn't
even try to. I wouldn't insult you to even try to say I know
what you went through, because I don't. But I'm going to tell
you something, the Lord of Glory knows what you went through,
what you're going through. Some of you women who are pregnant
are anticipating that. And you'll go through that sorrow,
and that pain. They call it labor. It's labor
for a reason, because it is laborious, it's work. But when the child
is born, And there lays on your bosom that healthy child. The joy of that child, the joy
of that birth causes you to forget all the sorrow and all the pain
and all the labor that you went through because of the joy of
the child. And that's what he's likening
his death to as the disciples view it. Back over in the book
of Isaiah, Chapter 53, he used that same analogy, that same
metaphor concerning his death in Isaiah's prophecy of the death
of the Lamb of God, the death of the suffering servant. In
chapter 53 and verse 10, it says, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Our Savior, the Savior of his
people, offered himself up without spot unto God. In other words,
he wasn't offered two men, but he was offered four men unto
God. God is the one who had to be
pleased. God is the one who had to be reconciled. God is the
one who had to be satisfied. And it says, "...he hath put
him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin." He was made sin, the scripture says, as an offering for sin. He wasn't turned into some kind
of a mass of sin, He wasn't infused with our sins, but our sins,
the sins of His elect, were laid upon Him, and the Bible says
He bore them, and He bore them away. It also says here, He shall
see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Now, hold on to that phrase,
He shall see His seed. The seed that he refers to there
is his redeemed people. And the fact that he's going
to see it means that they are all going to be redeemed, justified,
they are all going to be adopted into God's family, they are all
going to have life. In other words, they're not going
to be born dead. There's not going to be one of
his seed, one of his sheep, who end up in hell. Christ has no
stillborn children, and to prove that, look at verse 11 of Isaiah
53. It says, "...he shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." Just like
the woman who goes through the travail of childbirth, that satisfaction
that she has from seeing that healthy child born out of that
sorrow, Well, Christ, out of His sorrow and suffering, He's
going to see of the seed. He's going to see healthy, spiritually
born, eternally saved children. Not one person for whom He died
shall die in their sins and go to hell. He shall see of the
travail of His soul. Now, the disciples' sorrow Back
here in John 16, over the death of Christ and his absence would
also be turned to joy because they were going to see the resurrected
Christ. They were going to see the victorious
Redeemer. They were going to see the Lord
of glory in all his splendor who would commission them to
go out into all the world and preach this gospel of life. You
see that? Look down at verse 22 of John
16. He says, "...and you now therefore have sorrow, but I
will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, for your
joy no man taketh from you." At this point in their lives,
as they were going through all of this pain and suffering and
sorrow, things that they didn't understand completely, they knew
the gospel, They knew that He is the Savior of sinners, but
they did not see how all of these things were going to work out
in time. And there's something to be said
for knowing something to be true, but not yet having experienced
it in your own life. For example, you may know that
you're about to have an operation. Many of you who are sick, and
you may have an operation scheduled you have to be operated on either
to cut out a cancer or to remove something or to repair something
and maybe you've never gone through that before and you can think
about it and you know that you have to do it you know that you
need to do it or physical death will come but you have not yet
experienced that in yourself so even though you know that
you have to have it you know that it must come about even
though you're pretty confident that this is what you need and
it will be successful it may be an operation that is routine
and you know somebody says that well if you have to have it it's
not routine to you is it? maybe millions of people have
had this but you're the one has to go through it and you you're
pretty sure that you're going to come through this okay But
the thing about it is you haven't experienced it yet. The pain,
the sorrow. All that goes with an operation
and having your physical body cut on. And that's something
I believe about what the disciples are going through here. They
knew that Christ had to go to the cross. They knew all of this
was so and they believed it. But yet having not gone through
the pain and the sorrow, they were being human. Weak human
beings as all of us are, even the best of us. They went through
sorrow. They went through times of doubt
because of this. But here Christ says, when I
see you again, your heart will rejoice. You're going to rejoice
at the sight of the resurrected Christ. And he says, your joy
no man taketh from you. At that time, nobody will be
able to take that joy from you. And you know that was proved
out in the life of the disciples when the early church began,
when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They would go through
trials and sorrow and persecutions. They'd be put in jail. There
are instances in the book of Acts where we see that they were
in jail and they rejoiced. They prayed to God, they worshiped
God, they sang praises unto God while they were in jail. Paul
and Silas did it after they were beaten with stripes. So we see
that man could not take away that joy. And I'm telling you,
if you have Christ, and if the Holy Spirit is in your heart
to show you the glory of Christ and the power of Christ, and
the assurance that sinners can have by Him and Him alone based
on His blood and righteousness, You'll have times of sorrow and
pains, but no man can take that joy from you, for there is joy
in Christ. And he says in verse 23, And
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. And hitherto have you asked nothing
in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that
your joy may be full. What he's telling them is the
fullness of his complete work on the cross. When Christ finished
his work on the cross, every one of his people who believe
in him now have full, free access unto the Father through him. Up until this point, they didn't
have that until he satisfied law and justice on the cross
and justified them. Up until this point, he prayed
for them. But now, after he does his work, They have full, free
access to God through Him. And they pray unto the Father
through the Son. Isn't that a marvelous blessing
of grace? You see, He's not saying here that I'm not going to pray
for you anymore. He prays for us continually.
He's a great intercessor, the great advocate. He ever liveth
to make intercession for His sheep. But when we see the glory
of Christ and the way that he made as he passed through into
the heavens unto the throne of the Father for his people, that
we have free access to God, then our joy is full. And what a fullness
of joy it is, it's indescribable. It's the peace and the joy that
comes from knowing Christ and what he himself has accomplished
for his people. There's no other lasting eternal
joy. There's no other way that a sinner
can live through the sorrows of this world and be full. I
hope you enjoyed this message. I hope it's helped you to understand
the scriptures and the gospel of Christ. If you'd like to receive
a copy of this message, just listen to the announcer. He'll
give you the details. The title of this message is,
Sorrow Turned to Joy. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word.