John chapter 16. I titled this,
The Comforter. What a name. What a name. The Lord, His last few chapters, has been
telling His disciples He's going to go away. He's been telling
them that He's going to die and that He's going to rise again.
He's going to come back for them. He said, if I go away and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you to myself. He'd been telling him these things,
and sorrow has filled their hearts. And I can understand that. You
put yourself in their place. They've been with him for, what,
three years? Constantly with him, walking
with him, talking with him. With God of heaven and earth.
They're with him all the time, every day. He said, now I'm going
to go away. And sorrow filled their hearts. And he said to them, he said,
but I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm not going to leave
you alone. What kind of parent would leave
their child alone? Never, never has God ever left
His children alone. Only one son did He ever forsake. Poor little one. And that was
for our sake. He forsook him for our sake.
But He never, never leaves us alone. You're sealed with the
Holy Spirit. of promise, sealed with Him,
right now, dwells in you. That's an amazing thought when
you stop and realize who He is. Now, He's told them many things
in His Word, our Lord did. He told them that He's going
to go away. The world, He said, will hate you. You're not going
to be popular. Not like the TV evangelists and
the people that are on TV now. You're not going to be popular
at all. He's telling his disciples, you are going to be the most
despised, hated people in town. You're going to be excommunicated.
That's what he's saying to them. You're going to be persecuted
because of the gospel that you preach. Because of your union
to me, you're going to be persecuted. You're going to be killed. Your
life is going to be taken. And when these things happen,
don't be offended. Don't be offended. Because they're
going to happen. And I'm going to tell you about
it. And when they happen, don't be offended. They're going to put
you out of the synagogues. And this was a serious matter
in those days. Serious matter. When they were
excommunicated, they were cast out from the family. Many of
them would lose their jobs. They wouldn't even get a decent
burial. They were treated like pagans. They'd be excommunicated. He said, they're going to run
you off, for my name's sake, because of your connection to
me and the gospel. You're going to be cast out of
the synagogue. The gospel separates. A gospel
that does not separate is not the gospel at all. But the gospel
separates. It separates the sheep from the
goats, doesn't it? Every time. It separates the sheep from the
goats. And if they kill you, he's speaking
to his disciples, if they kill you and they run you off and
act like you do not exist, when they do this, and they will,
they're going to say, we're doing God's service. How many wars
have been run in the name of God? You know why people do that? To quiet their conscience. They
do it in the name of God to quiet their conscience. and to justify
their actions. That's why they do it in the
name of God. It's amazing how God's name has been so trashed
and so misused by this ungodly world. But he said they'll do it. And
they'll say, we're doing God a service. This is God's will. And they'll do these things to
you for this reason. They're in verse 3. For this
reason, because they don't know the Father nor the Son. They
don't know us. They don't know the Heavenly
Father whom they claim to be their Father. They don't know
Him. And they do not know His Son. They don't know me. They
are spiritually dead. Outwardly, they didn't look dead,
did they? These are the ones who stood
on the street corners and prayed, had those broad phylacteries.
I mean, they really looked sharp. They really look religious. They look like they were in touch
with God. Outwardly, they look like that. To the people, they
look like that. But they're dead. They're like
that fig tree. And my Lord looked at that fig
tree, and it was green, and He went over to pick some fruit
off of it, and there was absolutely nothing on it. Boy, it looked
good. It looked good outwardly. In one place, he said, you're
like decorated graves. Outwardly, you look good. You're
pretty. But inwardly, he said, you're
full of dead men's bones. That's what religion without
Christ is. Outwardly, it looks good. But inwardly, oh, ravening
wolves that we read this morning. But these things I've told you,
our Lord kept back nothing profitable to His children, did He? He said,
I've told you these things. I know they hurt. I know it's
discouraging. I told you these things. You
shouldn't be surprised when these things happen. We shouldn't even
be surprised, should we? Not many things ought to surprise
us, really. One writer said, to be forewarned
is to be forearmed. He said, I've warned you. I've
told you these things are coming. But now I go my way to Him that
sent me. And none of you ask me where
I'm going. I've told you mysterious things. You go back to chapter 14 and
15 and 16. Our Lord has spoken of mysterious
things. He's spoken of His departing.
He's spoken of His death, His resurrection. the mediatorship. He's spoken of these mysterious
things. They had a lot of things they could have and should have
asked Him about. But they were so concerned of
losing His physical presence that they went over their head.
The things that they could have taken some real joy in. The things
that they could have taken some real comfort in had they just
sat down and said, Lord, tell us more about this. Open up these
things to us. But they were sorrowful because
they were going to lose His physical presence. And it just made them
sorrowful. We should not let afflictions,
and we do, but we should not let afflictions blind us to the
blessings. Boy, they do, don't they? We're
so materialistic. We're so in tune with ourselves and what's
going on with us. that we miss the real glory that's
going on here. The glory that belongs to our
Lord and the glory that we are going to share with Him. But they were so sorrowful. He
said that because I said these things to you, I've said many
things to you, but because I said this, I'm going away, sorrows
filled your heart and you haven't thought about anything else.
You've been so thinking about yourself and losing my physical
presence, that you haven't been able to really grasp hold of
what I've been telling you, that you haven't laid hold of what
I'm telling you, the joy that's there, the glory that's there,
the peace that's there. Oh, if you could just get a hold
of that. These things wouldn't trouble
you so much. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. No matter how much it hurts,
no matter how much it hurts, You must hear the truth. This
is the truth. I know it's going to hurt. I
know you're sad, you're sorrowful, but this is the truth. It's the
truth, and you need to hear it. You need to hear it. It is expedient
for you. Absolutely necessary. Expedient
for you that I go away. Now first, if you'll back up
here a minute, in verse 5 and 6, he said, but now I go my way
to Him. I'm going to my Father that sent
me. I'm going back to Him. But now
here, He's saying, it's expedient to you that I go away. He's speaking here of His death.
That's what He's speaking of. You know, Peter said, Lord, no,
you're not going to die. No, it's expedient for you that I
die. Believe me. Believe me. It's good for you
that I die. My death won't have an effect
on anybody. Really. I mean, a few people might weep
over it, but I mean, it will not affect anybody. His death
had great effect. Life and death was in His death. It's expedient for you that I
go away. I must go to the cross. I must suffer. I must die. I must. This must happen. I must
rise again. I must ascend back to the Father
for you. For you. This is not just a show.
I'm not dying to make salvation a possibility for you. I'm doing
this for you. And this can be said here, everything
I do, I do for you. Everything. He did not do. The
Lord Jesus Christ did not do one thing for himself. Most of what I do, I do for myself.
He did not one thing for himself. Everything he did, he did for
his people. Everything. I must go to the cross. Suffer
the wrath of God? I must be forsaken by the Father?
You'll never know what that means. You'll never know. You'll never
have the taste of that. You'll never have the taste of
death. Dying is the hardest part of
it, just getting there. My mother was telling me last
week, she said someone asked my grandfather when he was about
to die, he had lung cancer. And they asked him, he said,
are you afraid to die? He said, no. I'm not afraid to die. It's just
getting there. Getting there is the tough part. He said, I've got to do this
for you. I've got to die for you. This way you don't have
to. You don't have to. I must ascend back to the Father.
I must enter into the Holy of Holies and take possession of
Heaven for you. So it is expedient for you Then
I go away, don't be so sorrowful. Don't be so sorrowful. For if I go not away, the Comforter,
speaking here of the Holy Spirit, you know the Comforter is God
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He's called the
Comforter. Look back over. This caught my
attention last night. In chapter 14, verse 16, and
I will pray the Father. And He shall give you what? Another. Well, who's the other one? I'll tell you who it is. It's
the Father and the Son. The whole God is a comfort to
us. Is He not called the God of all
comfort and the God of all grace? But this Comforter He's speaking
of here is the Holy Spirit of God. He's the third person in
the Trinity. Very real. Very necessary. It's not even possible to worship
this morning without Him. Can't do it. Can't do it. He said, I'll give you another
comforter. If I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send him
to you. If Christ does not go away, If
He does not go to the cross, if He does not go to the grave,
if He does not ascend back to the Father, if He does not depart,
the Comforter will have nothing to comfort you with. There is
no reason for Him to come. He has nothing to comfort you
with. If Christ does not accomplish
and finish the work that He was given to do by the Father, the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit, has nothing for you. Because everything
He comforts you with is Christ. Christ is in ministry. If you want to know if the Holy
Spirit is present, if He's present, is the gospel being preached?
It's not are we babbling or carrying on or acting like whatever. Is
Christ being preached? Is Christ being exalted? Then
He's present. He's present. Oh, if he doesn't, he said, if
I don't depart, the Comforter won't come, won't need to. He
won't have anything to come to with. He won't have no blood
to apply. He's not going to apply the blood of bulls and guns. But if the Son sheds His blood,
the blood of atonement, He has something to apply. If the Son, if the Son of God
goes to the cross, And he suffers and he dies under the wrath of
God, satisfies God's law. We heard about that law this
morning. He satisfies God's law. He has a righteousness to reveal
now. He has a righteousness to reveal.
He has a righteousness to reveal, to impute, and to impart. That's
what he has. He has it. If I do not depart, He doesn't
need to come. But when He comes, 8-15, He has
a ministry to fulfill. He has a ministry. Christ said,
I have a work to finish. He was given a work. Well, the
Holy Spirit has a work too. And it's applying what the Son
purchased. He applies what He purchased. What the Father purposed,
what the Son purchased, the Holy Spirit applies. Now, he says here in verse 8
through 10, he will reprove the world of sin. You know, every
time the gospel is preached, the world is reproved of its
unbelief. Every time it's preached, it
is reproved of its unbelief. God ought to be believed. If
there's anyone, if I can say it this way, that ought to be
believed, it's God. with no question marks. God is
to be believed. And Jesus Christ is to be received
when He's preached. He's to be received. But now
listen, there is a real conviction of sin that goes beyond this
outward thing. There's a real heart conviction
of sin that's His work. I cannot do it. No one else can
do it. That's His work. Many are trying
to do it. Do His job. Trying to get people
to come down front. Trying to get them to repent.
Conviction of sin is His job. He's the only one who can convict
of sin. A true conviction of sin. It's
not caused by a higher moral standard. It's not that we have
higher moral standards than the rest of the people. No, I don't
think so. No, it's caused by His powerful
work in the heart, that new heart. He reveals what sin is. And we
realize that's us. That's me. That's me. He convinces and convinces a
sinner that he is guilty. Guilty, and he knows guilty before
God. That's his work. I might be able to make you feel
bad, but he can make you guilty. He can make you guilty. His work is to convict us of sin,
is to make us know what sin is. True conviction of sin is the
work of the Holy Spirit of God. Then he reproves the world of
righteousness. Every time the gospel is preached,
The righteousness of men, the self-righteousness of men is
condemned and the true righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is set
forth every time. Every time the gospel is preached,
it's set forth. Men have no excuse for holding
on to their self-righteousness when the righteousness of Christ
is revealed in the gospel. We have no excuse for holding
on to it. But then there's a real conviction. There is a real revelation of
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ in the heart of
a sinner. You know that your righteousness
before God, if God has saved you, you know that your righteousness
before God is filthy rags. It's absolutely filthy. And the
only righteousness by which you are saved is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He reveals, when the
Holy Spirit reveals the righteousness of God, nor He reveals Christ,
Christ Himself, He's our righteousness. He is the Lord, our righteousness. And then He convicts us of judgment.
Every time the gospel is preached, Christ is set forth as a mighty
conqueror. And Satan and all his followers
are cast out. But then he reveals to the heart.
He reveals to the believer, the heart of a believer, that the
judgment that he justly deserves, because he's a guilty, wretched
sinner, was taken out on Christ. The judgment is gone. Christ suffered the judgment
of God's wrath. That was against sin for all
His elect. He did that. Who are His elect? Sinners. Chosen by the Father
before the foundation of the world. If He hadn't chosen any
of us, we'd have never chosen Him. Never. Darkness would never choose the
light. Our Lord suffered the full judgment of God's wrath
against sin. And now there's nothing against
us. The books are clear. Justified. Cleared of all charges. Not a charge against any of His
people. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Who? You can't make a stick. You cannot make it stay, because
God has justified, cleared of all charges. And this work of conviction of sin,
of righteousness and judgment, that's His work. That's His work. And then He gives, when He saves
a sinner and He teaches him the gospel, He gives that sinner
a teachable spirit. Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth. Did you come to hear this morning?
Lord, teach me this morning. I want to grow in grace and in
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not just knowledge. Knowledge
of that grace puffs up. But grow in grace and in knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who gives us a teachable
spirit. A person has to have a teachable
spirit before you can teach it. You who teach, you know that.
You have some kids that want to learn, don't you? Hungry? A few. Most, I think, are probably not
that interested. But a few want to learn. Other than doing this, I've never
been a teacher. But I would think that would
just pull it out of me. Because I have taught. out to
shop young men to be machinists. And I find one that really wants
to be a machinist, I find it pouring out of me. I just want
to tell him everything I know, which doesn't take long, but
I can tell him. Gives us a teachable spirit. That's what we need. Don't need
to be a know-it-all. Have you ever tried to teach
one of them? You don't have to. The mouth has to be shut and
ears have to be opened like he opened Lydia's heart. He just
opened her heart. That's what God does. He just
opens the sinner's heart and He begins to teach him. And He teaches also by bringing
to our remembrance the things which we read, the things we
hear, things I've listened to for many, many years when I've
heard Henry preach. I see better now than I did 20,
30 years ago. I understand a little more of
it now than I did then. He brings these things to our remembrance,
and He teaches us. When we're able to receive, you
know, a kid, a child doesn't learn, you may think so, but
he doesn't learn everything in a day. It takes years, years
of instructing, teaching. He brings these things to our
remembrance. It's amazing how much we forget, especially as
you get older. I forget all the time. But our Lord is merciful
unto us. He brings to our remembrance
the things we've read through His Word over the years. And
when time rolls by and experience and all those things roll by,
then we can apply these things. We see and understand. And that's
what gives us comfort. The Comforter comforts us with
Christ, the Word of God. I mean, He is the living Word,
and we have the written Word, and He never comforts you with
Christ without the written Word, because that's where He's revealed. And then last of all, there's the nature of His teaching. It's sovereign. Is He God? Is He God? Then He's sovereign. He teaches sovereignly. He teaches
whom He will, when He will. If He is pleased to teach you
something of Christ, He'll do so when it pleases Him. It's
best fitting for His glory, God's glory, and your good. That's
what He teaches. And He'll teach you in whatever
degree He pleases. Some he teaches more, some less,
some one way, some another. But I can assure you this, it'll
always be with the Word of God. It'll always be out of the Word
of God. Instructed out of the Word of God. And then he teaches
effectually. He's never failed to make a person
learn the lesson that he's teaching. Not when he takes home Not when
he's the teacher. No. He teaches effectually. You know, if we could reach the
heart like he reaches the heart, then we could teach effectually.
But we depend on him, don't we? Because I can't reach your heart,
but he can. He can reach the heart. And when he teaches the
heart, now that's the lesson that's learned when the heart
is taught. Then he teaches infallibly. Men teach error, but He teaches truth. He's called
the Spirit of Truth. When the Spirit of Truth has
come, He will what? Guide you into all truth. He doesn't have to search for
it. We have to search for it. He doesn't. He's the Spirit of
Truth. And He will guide you into all
truth. And we need to depend on Him
to guide us into all truth. Reveal Christ to us. Oh, reveal
Christ to us. He never teaches anything that
is not true. Never. And listen, He teaches
continually. He teaches continually. He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Here's a school. that you never
graduate from. You never graduate. You can teach somebody that never
graduates, can't you? But once they graduate, you can't
teach them no more. I've already learned. I've already
been through that. Here's one that you never graduate
from. It's a lifelong lesson. He will take all the things concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ and teach it to his students. The lesson today is Christ. Tomorrow, the lesson
will be Christ. And the next day, Christ. If he's the wisdom of God, he
cannot be exhausted. What a lesson. What a lesson. When we learn that the lesson
that we are to learn is Christ, we'll get along a whole lot better. No matter how slow the student
is, he keeps at it until that student
lays hold of Christ. He doesn't give up on a student.
He doesn't say, well, he's just... I can't teach that in anything.
You know, there had been some kids that I was in school with
who couldn't teach them anything. Of course, they may have thought
I was one of them, but they just didn't want to. I mean, all they
wanted to do was get out of school, and some of them quit before
they ever graduated. They just quit. They didn't want
to. He doesn't let her quit. He doesn't let her quit. He instructs
them and teaches them and brings them along until they, it may
take a while, but until they lay hold of Christ and Christ
alone. To sum it up, here is his ministry
in verse 14. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and show it to you. Christ is his ministry. Christ is the comfort that He
comforts us with. All that belongs to Christ, all
that is of Christ, all that we have in Him, that's what He comforts us with.