John chapter 16 and reading from
verse 1. The Lord is speaking to his disciples
again and this is before his death and this is what he says.
These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God's service. And these things will they do
unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I
told you of them. 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. And none of you asketh me, whither
goest thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 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. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. subject or the title, let me
put it like that, the title of our sermon today is drawn from
this passage and it's simply this, the Lord telling his disciples,
I tell you the truth. Our Lord Jesus told Pilate at
his trial why he had come into the world. To this end, he said,
I was born. And for this cause came I into
the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to bear witness unto the truth, to tell men and women
what was true, what was God's will, what was God's purpose,
and to accomplish and fulfil that truth. The cynical soldier
and politician that Pilate was, he replied sarcastically, what
is truth? I'm sure Pilate knew a lot about
lies and deceit and about the duplicity of human nature. He saw it frequently in the plots
and in the scheming of the Jewish leaders. And no doubt in his
own circumstances as well in the politics of Rome. He also knew that Jesus did not
deserve to die. However, Pilate was sufficiently
dishonest and pragmatic himself not to care about that. If crucifying
Jesus solved the problem, then let him die. What Pilate did
not know for all his worldly wise scepticism was that the
Son of God, the embodiment of divine truth, now stood before
him. It is a solemn reminder that
someday Pilate will stand before the judge of all the earth. When the Lord Jesus Christ on
another occasion told the Pharisees that he was the Messiah, they
too refused to believe him. And he plainly told them the
reason that they would not and could not believe him. He told
them, ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar,
and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth,
ye believe me not. So that here we see the Lord
Jesus Christ declaring these two strands, these two lines
that have been in the world from the beginning of time. The line
of truth and the line of deception, lying. And those who are of Christ
are of truth and those who are of the devil, they are opposed
to the truth. To his own followers, the Lord
declared, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. The Lord said on another occasion,
I am the truth. Truth is one of the names that
our Lord Jesus graciously applied to himself and for our understanding
and appreciation of who he is. John, whom we are reading about,
the Apostle John, just a young man at the time of the Lord's
death, as an old man reflected on what he had heard his friend
and master tell him. And John the aged said in his
epistle, he said, we know that the Son of God is come and has
given us an understanding that we might know Him, that is true. And we are in Him, that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. Do you know Christ? today as your own and personal
saviour. Do you know by faith the true
God? I trust you do. I wish for it
that you do. I desire that you might know
the Lord Jesus Christ as your own and personal saviour. Here
in our reading today, the Lord Jesus says to his disciples,
I tell you the truth. And what a beautiful and reassuring
statement this is for us who believe. Depend upon it, brother
and sister. Venture your soul upon it. When the Saviour speaks, he is
telling us the truth. The one true God, as John speaks
about, the one true God is speaking truth to us when he sets forth
the gospel of free grace. He is revealing his plan of redemption
to us and his purpose in salvation when he tells us the good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep. He is informing his church what
is yet to happen, what is yet to transpire in this world in
order to comfort, prepare and protect us as we go through our
lives. And all Christ says, he says
as the true God. Jesus is the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. All the truth of God dwells in
his divine nature. All human truth resides in his
sinless purity. In his human nature, he is true
man. He is the personification of
all truth and every perfection is in his human flesh. In the
union of both, Christ is the true God-man and the only mediator
between God and man. He is the man Christ Jesus. So
let me repeat once again John's statement. We know, we know that
the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that
we may know him that is true and we are in Him that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. Let me ask you again, do
you know, do you know that the Son of God has come? Do you know
that you are in Him that is true? Do you know that this is the
true God and eternal life? Such knowledge comes by faith. God grant that we will all be
burdened for that faith that comes as God's gift, that we
all might ask for a sense of that faith, for a knowledge of
who Jesus Christ is. Let us come to Christ asking
for that faith. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Knowing Christ, is the foundation
of trust and faith and confidence and hope in this world. It is
what it means to believe. Christ is truth. What he says
is true. You shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free. It is the heart of true faith
to know Christ and experience that freedom which Christ gives. May God grant us faith to know
Jesus Christ and believe in him. Here are some things from this
little passage that the Lord Jesus Christ tells his disciples
and us with them. And I just really want to draw
a couple of main points and then one or two subheadings as we
go through these thoughts today. But the first point is this,
that there are things that are to be expected. And the second
one is, there are things that are expedient. And we're going
to think about both of these matters today. First of all,
the things that are to be expected. We have a little saying, forewarned
is forearmed. I'm sure that you've heard that
before. Forewarned is proverbial. Forewarned
is forearmed. It means if we can anticipate
trouble, we can prepare for it and perhaps not be so shocked
or surprised or affected when it occurs. If we know about a
problem in advance, we'll be better able to deal with it when
it transpires. And here in these verses in John
chapter 16, the Lord is warning and preparing His church to expect
opposition when he goes away. I think it's helpful to note
the care taken by the Lord in these few hours before he was
arrested and before he was tried and before he suffered on the
cross. The care and concern on the part
of the Lord to inform and prepare, ready his disciples for the difficulties
that they would soon face. He wasn't thinking about himself.
He was thinking about his people. And he explains to them what
is going to happen. He explains why it will happen.
And he even gives them the reason for telling them at this stage
that he is going away. He tells them that there was
a time when he did not need so fully to explain these things
in detail to his disciples. Because while he remained with
them, he largely shielded them from their enemies. Now, however,
they were going to be left on their own while he went away. He was physically leaving. And in his absence, that hatred
that had been directed towards him in his life and ministry,
they would feel. They would be hated and they
would feel the force of the Jews' anger. They'll be oppressed,
the Lord tells them. They will be expelled from the
synagogue. They will be excommunicated from
the faith of the Jewish nation, Judaism. They would even be slain
in the name of God. And when they were slain, their
persecutors would imagine and believe that they were well-pleasing
to God and they were doing God's will. Was not that exactly what Saul
of Tarsus did? They will be persecuted because
the religious Jews, says Christ, are ignorant of God and devoid
of faith in Christ. And persecution flows from an
ignorance of God and where there is no faith in Christ. He is telling them now to prepare
them for it. And he tells all his church the
very same thing. Such things are to be expected. Such persecution is to be anticipated. The Lord's people ought not to
be surprised and need not be personally offended when this
happens. You see, rejection isn't about
you and me. It is about our Lord. Because
the world hates Christ, it will hate Christ's church. As the
Jews refused Christ's witness, so legalistic works religion
of every kind will refuse God's message of sovereign grace then,
since, and today. The father of lies within the
men and women of this world will resist the truth. the truth that
makes men free. And they will continue to be
bound up under the deception of the lies of the father of
lies. Proud men thought that they could
silence Christ by crucifying him. And proud men will still
do all in their power to suppress and silence the gospel Christ
preached and committed to his church to preach after him. What the Lord is telling us here
is to expect opposition to ourselves and to our gospel. They hated
him without a cause when he told the truth, and they will hate
his church as well. They neither know the father
nor the son. I am telling you this, says the
Lord, so you will not be offended. Paul tells the Galatians, there
is an offence in the cross, the offence of the cross. It is offensive
to men and women that salvation is by free grace and not to be
secured by works and not to be earned by human effort and personal
goodness. And we, the church and preachers
of the gospel will offend the men and women of this world by
preaching the cross and the blood and the resurrection from the
dead that is found in Jesus Christ alone. And responding to that,
they will be offensive to us in turn with all the means at
their disposal. So let us be under no misapprehension. To the degree Christ thrills
a believer's heart, he offends natural men and women. The Apostle
Peter writes in 1 Peter 2, verse 7, Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious, But unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, that is Christ, the same is made
the head of the corner, the foundation of his church. He is a stone
of stumbling, he is a rock of offence, even to them which stumble
at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. So brothers and sisters, hear
what the Lord is saying here. Do not be surprised when the
world is a strange and alien place to you. Do not be surprised
when you cannot grasp, comprehend or understand what it is that
is motivating people, what it is that is occupying their minds
and their hearts and their thoughts and their activities. Don't be
shocked that the nominal church refuses your doctrine and rejects
your witness. The synagogues of Satan are still
engaged in expelling heretics. And it is a badge of honour to
a believer who is put out from amongst them for the sake of
Christ and his gospel. These things, says the Lord,
are to be expected. I suspect that when the disciples
were told by the Lord that sorrow filled their hearts and their
minds when they heard these things. But I'm sure that we're all thinking
what the disciples thought. If all these things are going
to happen when the Lord goes away, why does he not just stay?
Why not find another way of accomplishing the same end? Do you see how quick we are to
imagine that there are better ways for God to do things? Do
you see how easily we slip into thinking, wouldn't it be better
if this happened? Wouldn't it be easier if this
were the case? We do it all the time in our
own lives. And yet we ought to maintain
it as a principle that His way, whatever it may be, is the best
way. For reasons that we do not yet
know and cannot comprehend, this way of the cross, this way of
separation, this way of suffering and persecution is the only way
that answers all the purposes, that satisfies all the will,
and that comprehends all the wisdom of God. Lord Jesus Christ
goes on to tell these disciples and to tell us why it was necessary
that he should go away. And he gives us several things
that he calls expedient. Things that are expedient. And I should mention here that
a little bit of an English lesson if you like. I apologize if you
know this already. But this word expedient. It means what is right, what
is best, and what is most profitable. It has changed its meaning over
the years. We don't use it like that largely
these days. In fact, it's one of these words
that almost has become almost has come to mean the opposite.
We use the word differently, and that different usage clouds
the original sense and meaning. It doesn't merely, it doesn't
mean merely convenient, which is the way we often use it today. Well, that's expedient, we'll
just do that. It's convenient, it's expedient. Nor does it mean
a quick fix. When the Lord uses this word,
when the scriptures use this word, it means that it is right,
it is appropriate, and it is best. With God and with Christ,
what is expedient literally means What has been brought together,
what has been brought to pass for our good. When we talk about all things
work together for good to those who love God and are called according
to his purpose, we're talking about expediencies. The all things there are what
is expedient. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
saying to us all, my going away is absolutely necessary. It is totally necessary and it
is of the greatest good to you. It's expedient that I go away
and here's why. I must die. That's what the Lord
is saying here. Our Lord Jesus Christ must die
to redeem us from our sins and atone for the offences that we
have committed. Holiness, justice and the love
of God require the death of Jesus Christ, the substitute. They
require not only forgiveness of sin, but cleansing of sin. Sin has to be taken away. Sin
has to be removed. It has to be a renewal and a
removal of our sin. If you were to sin against me,
or indeed I against you, I can forgive you, but neither you
nor I can undo that sin. We can't take it away. We can
say we're sorry, we can have our repentance accepted and forgiveness
granted, but we can't ever undo the sin. The offence was done and the
act was committed. but in Christ's death. God has
taken away our sins. God has removed our guilt, and
he has forgiven us because he has found a substitute, not merely
to take our guilt and punishment, but a substitute to carry the
responsibility of our sins. Our sin was laid upon our representative
who dies in our place so that the sin, the iniquity, the guilt
and the punishment is wholly removed and completely forgotten because in Christ's death he
took the sin of his people as his own and God gave us the righteousness
of Christ as our own. Only by the death of Jesus Christ
could this transaction take place. It was expedient that Christ
must die. It is also expedient that Christ
be raised again. Today, the world remembers Easter. But Christ did not die and rise
again for the world. He died and rose again for his
people. His death was expedient and so
is his resurrection. Our hope, our confidence, our
trust, our joy, in God's plan of redemption is justified by
the return of Jesus from the dead. He was raised for our justification. Had Jesus not defeated death,
had he not wrecked and spoiled the prison cell that is the grave,
had he not set us free, we had no grounds to hope that God was
reconciled and satisfied. No confidence that our sins were
dealt with and peace had been restored, atonement made. Christ's resurrection was expedient
because it demonstrated and proved that his death was an acceptable
and sufficient sacrifice. Okay, we accept that it was expedient
that Christ must die. We accept that it is expedient
that Christ be raised from the dead. Thereafter, could not the Lord
have remained in this world? Could he not have stayed with
his disciples after he had died and was raised again? Why did he have to ascend to
heaven? The Lord tells us, I must ascend
to heaven because our faith is spiritual and not a physical
experience. Christ's body is a spiritual
body and now it is in heaven where one day we shall be with
him. Christ's ascension established
the spiritual nature of true faith and worship. Had the Saviour
remained in the world, He would still be alive today. The disciples
would have died and gone to heaven centuries ago, but the Saviour
would still be here. And we would have been born into
the world and told that our Saviour lives in Jerusalem. like some
people are told that their saviour lives in Rome. Had Christ set
up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem, the purpose of faith would have
been frustrated. We would not require faith if
we could see Christ. And yet thereafter, like all
physical, fleshy religion, worship would have become a ritual of
outward service rather than the heartfelt love and affection
that it ought to be. The whole meaning of spiritual
life and faith would have been compromised. That's what this
superficial, ritualistic, form of religion is that we see
around about us, even that religion that goes by the name of Christianity. It is an outward superficial
faith that people have in a historical act. It does not have that lively
spiritual soul experience. which draws forth love to God
and the Lord Jesus Christ. God's elect worship the Lord
in spirit and in truth, not physically in time by sacrifice and pilgrimage
and homage at an earthly shrine. It was expedient that Christ
should die. It was expedient that he rose
from the dead. And it is expedient that he returned
to heaven. Because there, he says, I intercede
for you. Christ's intercession is also
expedient. In heaven today, our Savior intercedes
for all for whom he died. There is no condemnation of Christ's
church ever heard in heaven. There are no accusations of sin
against us tolerated there. Paul says in Romans 8 34, who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. And every time that we sin, and
we sin a lot, Christ declares us sin-free and claims our sin
and guilt as his own, for which payment is already made. and
for which satisfaction has been given. The coming of the Holy
Spirit, the Lord tells his disciples, was also expedient because he
quickens the soul and renews the heart and guides the spiritual
life of all God's elect. The Saviour in chapter 14 and
15 had already listed many of the functions of the Holy Ghost,
many of the things that He would perform when He came. He comforts
the Lord's people. He teaches us of Christ. He brings
to remembrance whatsoever things I have said unto you. Yet this
was but the beginning. The Holy Spirit's ministry in
the world includes preaching the gospel in power. It means
gathering the saints worldwide into the church of Jesus Christ.
It means convicting, converting, protecting, and preserving the
church, which is the bride of Christ. The Holy Spirit is engaged
actively in the world today, accomplishing all of these things,
and it is expedient. that he does so. Christ must
go back to heaven that the Holy Spirit should come from the Father. And thus we see Christ who is
the truth must die. must be buried, must rise again,
and must ascend to heaven. And the Holy Spirit of truth
must come from the Father to quicken and indwell the elect. It was expedient that this all
happen. and together the triune God accomplishes
all good for the church, doing all that is effectual and expedient
for our salvation and eternal glory. The Lord's people are
saved by grace, redeemed by blood, renewed with spiritual life,
from above and called through the preaching of the gospel to
trust in Jesus Christ for everlasting life and happiness. This is the
saving work of God and it is the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is truth. Let me close by mentioning something
about Christ's going away. Christ said, it is expedient
for you that I go away. As always, Christ had the personal
needs of his people at heart. I could double my time today
by speaking about Christ's personal affection for each one of us
and his empathy, his sympathy for all that we experience and
go through. And what was true then for his
disciples is true for every believer. The timing and the circumstances
of all God's expedient acts impinge upon us. and the Lord knows. Christ was
going away and that was expedient. And so too are all the events
in our lives. Even the appointed day of our
death is expedient. It's expedient for those that
are taken when they are taken, and it is expedient for those
that are left behind. And we see that there was concern,
there was sorrow, there was anxiety on the part of the believers.
The sorrow had filled their heart. And yet, even though we are prone
to these emotions of the persecutions and the trials and the troubles,
and even although we understand something about the experiences
of these things happening, the Lord is still sympathetic to
us. and He calls us to trust Him,
and He tells us that He is telling us the truth. Shall we not trust
the Lord's timing and wisdom in every expedient way, in every
providential act? Like the disciples then, we do
not understand it now, but we will. I go away was Christ's
explanation of his death. He describes it as a journey.
And it will be our journey too. And his presence will be with
us in that journey. His spirit will comfort us in
that journey. And his angels will accompany
us in that journey. And yet because he lives, we
shall live also. Brothers and sisters, when the
Lord Jesus Christ says, I tell you the truth, let us take Him
at His word. When He tells us what is expedient
and for our highest good and greatest blessing, let us believe
Him. What is our faith and trust worth
if we do not believe what Jesus lovingly speaks to our heart? Christ is risen indeed. And as
a result, every believer's horizon is bright and glorious. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen.