Go back this morning to Luke,
or to John, chapter 16, verses 7 through 14. John 16, beginning
at verse 7. My subject this morning is the
expedience and the comfort. In this passage of scripture,
our blessed Savior tells us that his death upon the cursed tree
as our substitute for us was a matter of expedience. It is
expedient for you, he said, that I go away. It is something needful,
profitable to our souls. And then he tells us why his
death for us was a matter of expedience. Verse seven, John
chapter 16. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you, needful, profitable, necessary
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. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world. The word if in the margin of
your Bible is convince or convict. He will reprove, convince, convict
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. When God the Holy Spirit comes
to chosen, redeemed sinners in the saving power of his omnipotent
mercy and grace, he absolutely convinces the sinner who is born
of his grace, who is called by his power, who's given life and
faith in Christ. He convinces that sinner of sin. because he has not believed on
the son of God. Of righteousness, because the
son of God, God's righteous servant, our covenant's surety and mediator
has gone back to heaven. He came here to bring in everlasting
righteousness. And the only way he could go
back to glory as the God-man mediator is if he has done what
he came here to do, to bring in everlasting righteousness
and of judgment. That is, judgment finished, because
the prince of this world is cast out. The Lord God promised our
mother and father in the garden, Adam and Eve, that he would send
one who is the seed of woman who would crush the serpent's
head. And he comes to convince the
world judgment is done, to convince the sinner he's chosen and redeemed
out of the world and calls by his grace, he convinces him that
God is no longer angry. God is just now and forgives
his sin. Read on. Of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Verse 12. I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he,
the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. The word guide there, Matthew
Poole rightly pointed out, has the idea not only of directing,
but abounding. When God the Holy Spirit comes,
he will reveal these things to you. He will make you to know
your sin. He will make you to know the
righteousness of God in Christ. He will make you to know judgment
finished by the sacrifice of Christ. And he will bow you to
them. He'll cause you to bow before
the truth of God. He'll guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. And he will show you things to
come. not prophetic eschatological
things. Let that sink in. Any fool who
tells you that he knows the future, he knows a scheme of prophecy
and the timetable of prophecy, and he's got some idea when Christ
is going to come again. And any fool who follows such
a preacher, doesn't know what he's talking about, and they
don't know what they're doing. No, no. What's he mean? Show
you things to come. He'll convince you of that which
shall certainly come as the result of Christ's righteousness, as
the result of Christ's obedience, as the result of Christ's finishing
judgment. He'll show you that which is
certain to come as the result of Christ's going away to glory
as our mediator, our surety, our substitute who has accomplished
eternal redemption for us. Read on. He'll show you things
to come. In doing this, he shall glorify
me. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. Now, here what I
want you to get. This is the point that I want
you to grasp. The sin atoning death of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only means, the only means by which
sinners could ever come to God, be accepted of God, live before
God, and have communion with God. The only means possible
by which God in His sovereign character and in His just and
holy character could ever save a sinner is the sin-atoning death
of Christ. But couldn't He just will it
and it be done? No, sir. No, sir. But isn't it
possible for men to do this, that other thing and it be done?
No, sir. Paul tells us in Galatians 3
21, if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. If it's possible, if it's possible
for God to save sinners in some other way than by the sacrifice
of his son, then God hung his son on the tree for nothing. Our Lord says it's expedient
for you that I go away. If I go not away, you can't be
saved. It's expedient for you that I
die at the hands of wicked men, according to the will of God,
to the satisfying of divine justice. Otherwise, you will never have
the blessings of God's covenant and of God's grace. Turn, hold
your hands here and turn to Galatians chapter three. The apostle Paul,
writing by divine inspiration, tells us exactly the same thing
here in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Christ redeemed us. It's finished. He redeemed us
from the curse of the law by being hung on the curse tree
as our substitute in our room instead. Now there's a reason
for that. Look at the next word. That.
This is why he did it. That the blessing of Abraham.
The blessing of Abraham. Oh, that's talking about the
promised land over yonder across the water. No. No, that's not
the blessing of Abraham. Abraham was walking on that ground
whenever he received the covenant to begin with. That's not what
it's talking about. What's it talking about? That
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ. What is it? That we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. The blessing of Abraham
then is God's salvation. The blessing of Abraham is that
salvation that's wrought in the hearts of sinners by God, the
Holy Spirit, when he comes and convinces sinners among the Gentiles
throughout the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment,
causing the sinner whom he calls by his grace to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, let's go back to our
text, John 16. I'll show you just two things and I'll be as
brief as I possibly can. And I suspect we'll come back
to this again. Let me talk to you a little bit first about
the expedience and then a little bit about the comfort. The expedience, our savior says,
nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it's expedient for you
that I go away. For if I go not away, The Holy
Spirit will not come unto you. The Comforter will not come to
you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. If I go not away, he must go
away. He must be lifted up upon the
tree. He must suffer and die. He must
rise from the dead and ascend back to heaven and there appear
in the presence of God for us. Otherwise, Bob, we could never
be saved. There's no other way. The purpose
of God, the word of God, the promises of God, the covenant
of grace, and all his promises, all would have been defeated
and proved a lie if he had not gone away. It is expedient for
you that I go away. Behold the Lord Jesus hanging
upon the curse tree and learn the meaning of those words expedient
for you that I go away. All as I am when I see the son
of God dying in my room instead. made sin for me, forsaken of
God, suffering all the horrid fury of God's holy wrath, suffering
all the hell of judgment on my behalf. Awed as I am by that,
I have to have an answer to a question. Not a matter of curiosity, a
matter that must be settled in my own mind and I hope in my
heart. Why? Why did the Son of God suffer
such a death? What necessity could there be
for this? Why must He die? He said over
and over again, the Son of Man must be lifted up. The Son of
Man must be delivered to the Gentiles. The Son of Man must
be hung upon a tree. The Son of Man must die and must
rise again. Why? What's the necessity? Was it to save my soul? No question
about that. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. But couldn't he save me some
other way? After all, God's sovereign. God's
omnipotent. God can do what he will. God
is sovereign. God is omnipotent. God can do
what he will. But Alan Kibbe, God Almighty,
cannot act contrary to his nature. He can't do it. God cannot lie. The book says so. Why? He's sovereign,
he can do what he wants to. He cannot do that which violates
his very being. That which is contrary to his
nature. God cannot lie. Well, did Christ suffer and die?
Was all this done to demonstrate the greatness of God's love for
me? No question, it does demonstrate
God's love. here in his love, not that we
love God, but he loved us and sent his son to be perpetuation
for our sins. No question. The Lord God sent
his son in due time to die for the ungodly, and hereby he commends
his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for the ungodly. No question. Hereby perceive
we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. Jesus
who left his throne on high, left the bright realms of bliss,
and came to the earth to bleed and die, was ever such love as
this. Oh, no question. He shows us
his love in the sacrifice of himself. But couldn't he show
us his love some other way? I've got two grandchildren, and
they're convinced that I love them. Haven't died for them That
lady's convinced that I love her. I haven't died for I hope
you're convinced that I love you, but I haven't died for you
Surely he could show us his love without dying for us Why then
what necessity was there for the Son of God to suffer and
die upon the cursed tree? What's the expedience of his
death? I It is that God might be, as he declares himself in
Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 21, a just God and a savior. The scripture says, by mercy
and truth, iniquity is put away. God does not have to save anyone. His choice to save is altogether
a matter of his sovereignty. But having chosen to save sinners,
by Biestas, the only way God in his holy character, in his
justice, can save your soul is by redeeming it. There's no other
way. God's justice must be satisfied. His righteousness must be maintained. His law must be honored. God is just in all his words. Somebody cries, don't give me
justice. Give me mercy. You can't have
mercy without justice. Not from God, not from God. Give
me grace, not justice. There's no such thing as grace
without justice. Justice must be satisfied above
everything else the death of Jesus Christ at Calvary is a
declaration of the righteousness and the justice of God Almighty
Why does he send his son to die? Read Romans chapter 3. We're
told repeatedly that he might show forth his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. That he might be just and yet justify the ungodly.
The only way God Almighty can ever justify the sinner is by
satisfying his own justice. And the only way his justice
can be satisfied is by the sacrifice of his own darling son. If the
Lord Jesus had not gone away, there would have been no blood
for the spirit to sprinkle, no righteousness for the spirit
to reveal, no salvation for the spirit to bestow, no mediator
for the spirit to glorify. Without question, the Holy Spirit
was in the world from the beginning. People often ask, well, wasn't
the Holy Spirit here in the Old Testament before Christ died?
Of course he was. Turn back to Genesis chapter
1. Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. And the earth was, the earth
became without form and void. Something happened. This earth
that God created in its perfection to be inhabited became without
form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And
the spirit of God moved upon the face of the water. He was
there in the beginning, right here working in the earth. It
was the Spirit of God that revealed Christ to Noah. It was the Spirit
of God who gave life to Abraham. It was the Spirit of God who
caused David to walk in righteousness. The Spirit of God was here in
the Old Testament. Certainly He was. The prophets
could not have written the books of the prophecies of the Old
Testament had the Spirit of God not been here to inspire them.
He was here, but not in His office capacity as the gift of Christ
the Mediator. He had not yet been poured out
upon all flesh, that is, poured out upon the world, so that the
kingdom of God is enlarged beyond the borders of Jerusalem and
Israel to include men and women scattered throughout the whole
world. Now, since Christ has died and risen, ascended on high,
and taken His throne as the Son of David, His inaugural act as
the King of Glory is to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.
And we're told plainly in Acts 2, verse 33, that this is what
He did. He fulfilled the prophecy of
Joel, pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh, so that Jews
and Gentiles alike now are brought to God as one body and one church
and one family in Jesus Christ. In the infinitely wise, orderly
arrangements of the covenant of grace, all the blessings of
God, all the blessings of the covenant were conditional. Now, let it sink in. I meant
to say conditional. Merle Hart, you can't have forgiveness
except a condition be met. Your sin can't be put away without
some condition being met. Not a condition for you to meet.
There are none for you to meet. All were conditioned upon the
obedience of Christ, the covenant surety. If I go not away, the
Comforter will not come. If I go not away, you can't have
God's salvation. But now wait a minute. Didn't
Abraham have that? Didn't Job have that? Didn't Isaiah? Have that blessed
experience of grace that you enjoy? When God sent one, an
angel from the throne with tongs, he took a live coal from off
the altar and laid it on his lips and said, your iniquity
is purged, your sins are gone. Well, that comes by the Spirit
of God. And yet the condition for all
the blessings of grace are the obedience of Christ unto death. Hang on to your seat. He's the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Not a work done on credit. What
nonsense. People talk about God forgave
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on credit because he was expecting
Christ to come. Oh, no, no, no, no. It was done
from eternity. wrought out in time. And we see
it now fulfilled in the experience of our own souls as he comes
to give life and faith to chosen sinners. Our Lord had just told
his disciples that he must suffer and die and rise from the dead
and ascend back to his father in heaven. And that there he
would prepare a place for us. And at the time appointed, he
would come again and receive us unto himself. And then he
assures us Upon his ascension back into heaven, he will send
the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to minister to us. Those things
are recorded in these chapters 13, 14, and 15 preceding our
text. The disciples should have rejoiced.
The sorrow filled their hearts. They didn't understand what he's
saying. So he comes again now and says, it's expedient for
you that I go away. It's expedient for you. It's
necessary for you. I know what I'm doing. If I don't
go back to the father, if I don't go home by way of the cross,
you can't be saved. I know what it's expedient for
you. Now, pause and learn a lesson. Those things that appear to be
most grievous in their experience often are most expedient in their
end. Those things that appear to be
most grievous in their experience are often most expedient in their
end. Oh, thank God He doesn't deal
with us according to the folly of our own wills, but graciously
gives us, always gives us, that which He has ordained and is
best for us. Have you got that? You got that? Those things that appear to be
most grievous in their experience, are often most expedient in their
end. The disciples heard the master
talk about his death, going away, leaving them, being no longer
with them, and sorrow filled their hearts. He said, Your sorrow shall be
turned into joy. It's expedient for you that I
go away. The expedience of our Savior's
death should be obvious to anyone. Had he not gone, had he not departed,
had he not suffered and died as our substitute on the cursed
tree, had he not ascended back to heaven, we could not have
been saved. He couldn't have finished his
work. He came here to do it. He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. And the only way he could ever
set down on the right hand of the majesty on high is if he's
finished the work. It's expedient for you that I
go away. Otherwise, I can't fulfill my
father's will. I can't bring in everlasting
righteousness. If I don't go away, God could
never be just to justify the ungodly. If I don't go away,
there'll be no atonement. and without the shedding of blood
is no remission. Your sins could never be forgiven
you. If I don't go away, you can never obtain forgiveness,
peace, pardon, reconciliation to God. If I go not away, there
will never be a forerunner for you in heaven. You will never
have a high priest before the throne of God. You will never
have an advocate in heaven to plead your cause. If I go not
away, Sinners will never have access to the throne of grace. And I can't save my people from
their sins. Thank God he went away. Oh, blessed
Savior, thank you for your wise and holy and good purpose, giving
yourself to be made sin for me, to suffer all the wrath of God
in my room instead. Thank you. for going away to
the Father and obtaining with your own precious blood by the
sacrifice of yourself eternal redemption for the sinner. Now,
let me speak to you for just a minute about the comfort that
comes as a result. The Lord Jesus says, if I go
away, I will pray the Father and he will send another comforter
unto you. In verse eight, when he is come,
when this comforter comes, this is how he'll come, he'll reprove.
He'll reprove. Reprove. What a word. He'll reprove the world. Now, when you read the scriptures,
Read the scriptures like you have half good sense. Well, Brother Don, what do you
mean? Most people don't, you know. Most people don't. Well, when a book says world,
it means world can't mean anything but world means everybody in
the world. Oh, no, it doesn't. Oh, no, it doesn't. No, obviously
not, because the whole world hasn't been reproved. The whole
world not been convicted. The whole, lots of folks in the
world have never heard of the spirit of God, much less experienced
his grace. Lots of people in the world never
heard of Jesus Christ, much less of his salvation. What's he talking
about then? He's talking about God's elect
scattered throughout the world. He will reprove the world. That word, as I told you a few
minutes ago, means to convict. It's one of the legal terms used
in scripture. It's a term that's used with
regard to the work that a jury does sitting in a trial. Jurors hear the evidence, and
jurors then deliberate in the light of the evidence given,
and they either convict or acquit the man charged with the crime.
Now, the conviction doesn't have anything to do with their feelings.
It shouldn't. The conviction doesn't have anything
to do with their experience. It shouldn't. It shouldn't. The
conviction has only to do with evidence. When they're presented
with evidence that cannot be denied, evidence that cannot
be refuted, evidence that clearly declares the man guilty, then
they bring in a sentence, convicted. We find him guilty. And that's
just exactly what God the Holy Spirit does. He takes the evidence
here in this book by supernatural power, by power that only God
has and convinces you. The preacher gives out the evidence,
but he can't make you believe it. The preacher declares the
truth. But he can't convict. Oh, now
I can tell stories and stir your emotions, but that's just playing
with your soul. That's not ministering to your
soul. I can get you all whooped up and everybody want to wave
their hands and shout and jump up and down and just wiggle around
and say, we had a good service today. That's playing with your
soul. That's not ministering to your
soul. I can't do that. Bill Rodley, I can't convict
you of anything. But God can. God can. Our purpose is that
your faith should not stand in the word or wisdom of men, but
in the power of God. You see, if I, with argument
and stories and emotional stirrings
and Logical persuasion get you to say you believe in Jesus.
Get you to make a profession. Get you to agree with our doctrine.
I haven't done anything for you. Because there'll be somebody
slicker than me come along who'll get you to believe something
else. Dare if I can talk you into religion, somebody else
talk you out of it. But if God does something for you, If God does something for you,
if God does something for you, hell can't take it away. Have
you got that? That's why we don't play with
men. That's why we don't toy with men's souls. If God does
something for you, it's yours. He comes to convict you of your
sin. I've told it many times in bare
repetition. I was a seven-year-old boy, mean
as hell, and got scared to death. I wanted to do something. Everybody else was going forward
in church service. They'd sung just as I am, enough
that you could have it all memorized the first time you sung it. But
I came down the front, and the father took me over to the side,
and met with me, and started talking to me, and lead me down
the Roman road to hell. He said, now, Don, son, you know
you're a sinner, don't you? I said, I guess. He said, well,
have you ever done anything wrong? I said, oh, yeah. Yeah, I've
done that. Did you ever take something that
wasn't yours? Yeah, I've done that. Did you ever lie? Yeah, I've done that. But Merle,
I knew that was wrong when I did it. That's not conviction. That's not the work of the Holy
Spirit. No, no. He doesn't come to convince you
you've done something wrong. You know that. He comes to convince
you you are wrong. There's a huge difference. He
doesn't come to convince you that you've committed acts of
sin. You know that. He comes to convince you that
you are sin. And when He convinces you of
your sin, I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll take sides
with God against yourself. Against thee, and thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mayest
be just when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest. O Lord God, you're just, I'm
unjust. You're holy, I'm unholy. You're
righteousness, I'm sin. And if you send me to hell, I'll
get what I deserve. The wages of sin is death. Folks argue. I can't tell you
how many times I've heard this. People get upset. Hear the gospel
of God's grace and you tell them, men must believe the gospel.
And you mean to tell me my mama was
lost. And men get mad. I mean, shoot you between the
eyes. You mean to tell me God sent my mama to hell? Your mama
and you too. Your mama and your daughter.
Your daddy and your son. And you won't have a problem
with God being just with anybody. With anybody. If God sends you to hell, you've
got what you deserve. The wages of sin is death. Now, my heart may break, and
I hope it does, but I'm not going to fuss with God about it. God
does right. He always does right. He'll convince you of sin. And
He'll convince you of righteousness. Oh, blessed, blessed comfort! The sinner, stripped, naked,
bare, helpless, doomed and damned, cast in the dust before God,
groveling in the dust before God's holiness in His sin! God convinces him of righteousness. Righteousness because Christ
has finished the work. He brought in everlasting righteousness
by the sacrifice of himself. There. There, sitting on the throne
of God, is what God requires. Complete satisfaction for all
my sin by the blood of his son and complete righteousness by
the perfect obedience of his son God Received his son in heaven. He said that's enough That's
enough Justice requires no more holiness requires no more. I
require no more And Bob Pontzer, my conscience, convinced by God,
says that's enough. That's enough. What more can God require? That's
enough. And that's what it takes to ease
and quieten your conscience. The blood sprinkled on the conscience,
the Holy Spirit convinces you of righteousness and of judgment. Judgment, because the prince
of this world is cast out. And now, since Christ died, listen
to me, listen to me. Since Christ died, the sinner who believes on the
Son of God, do you trust Him? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you cast your helpless, naked,
guilty soul on the merits of Christ alone? Do you? He's all my hope. Oh, God calls
you now to believe Him. The sinner who believes on the
Son of God has nothing to fear from God. Judgment's over. Judgment's over. There is therefore now no condemnation. You know what that word is, Rex?
No judgment. There's no judgment to them that
are in Christ Jesus. No judgment. None. Oh, we all
got to meet God in judgment. Yes. But the judgment seat is
not a place where judgment is exercised. It's the place where
judgment is executed. And in that day, All who are
holy and clean and make no lie. All who are pure and virgin before
God on his right side shall inherit everlasting life. And all who
are unclean, all who stand before God with their sins shall be
cast into hell. For the believer Don Fortner
was cast into hell 2,000 years ago. And the hell of God's wrath
burned its fires out in Christ my surety. Believe on the Son of God and
go home today freed from all sin, freed from
all guilt. This is what the Spirit of God
gives for the comfort of God's saints. He shows you things to
come. Do you know what I fully expect
tomorrow? Whenever tomorrow comes, And
God's exhausted my appointed time on this earth. Do you know
what I fully expect? I fully expect to walk into heaven
as accepted as Christ himself. How can that be? I'm convinced
it's so. The Spirit of God has convinced
me my sin, of my righteousness in Christ, and of judgment finished
on my behalf. How do you know that? I believe
Him. I believe Him. God help you to
believe Him. Amen.