Let's open our Bibles again to
John 16. John 16. I've told you many times before
that these three chapters John 14, 15, 16 are among the last words that
our Lord spoke to his disciples before he went to the cross.
John 14, 15, 16. John 17 was the prayer that he
prayed to the Father on behalf of these disciples. There's no
way any man can preach this entire chapter. It's impossible. I'm
going to deal this evening with a few of the first nine or ten
verses. Nine or ten, it's not a long
day, but the title of this message I selected from verse seven.
Look at verse seven. This is the title of the message.
It's entitled divine expediency, divine expediency. It says in
verse 7, nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient
for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter,
the Holy Spirit, will not come to you. But if I go away, if
I depart, I will send him unto you. That's divine experience. It's got to be, got to be. So let's start with verse one
and go as far as we can this evening. In verse one, the Lord
said, Now these things have I spoken unto you, to his disciples. those believers, that you should
not be offended. These things I have spoken unto
you, the things I spoke in chapter 14 through 15 and here in this
chapter, that you should not be discouraged, that you should
not be offended, that you should not stumble. Now the Lord gave notice to them
in these chapters of the world's persecution that awaited them. He gave notice to these disciples
of the world's hatred. He said, marvel not, my brethren,
that the world hates you. It hated me before it hated you.
He gave notice that the hardships were ahead. Persecution, hatred,
and severe hardship. Why did he do this? But he didn't
do this to discourage them. That's not why he did it. He
did it to warn them. He did it to prevent them from
falling away. He said, keep the faith. Don't lose your faith. Don't
lose your faith. have prayed for you, that your
faith fail not. That's what he's doing. He's
warning them and cautioning them concerning days that are ahead,
the difficulties, the hardships, that they should not fall away
and that they should not lose their faith. Someone wrote one
time, I think it's quite hardships and trials which come to people
unawares. Hardships and trials which come
upon us unawares, and that unwarned, are much more difficult to bear.
If we know about them, if we're warned about them, we can bear
them a little better. But when they come suddenly,
and we don't expect them, and we're not warned, and we're not
aware of them, they're hard to buy. But if we expect them, and
we should, because the Lord said in that last verse, in this world
you shall have tribulation. In this world you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome this one. And you
know, Paul, He warned the early churches about hardships and
persecution and trials and difficulties. He warned them. Let me show you
that in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Paul dealt very carefully with
this. He says here in chapter 3 of
1 Thessalonians, In verse 2, I sent Timothy, our brother and
minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ,
to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, that
no man should be moved by these afflictions and these hardships
and these trials. Don't be moved away from the
gospel because of hardships and trials and persecution. For you says no, we are appointed
there to expect them, they're coming. Expect them. I quoted a poem back there in
the study. Life is like an ever-moving stream
that bears all its sons away, and they all perish. as a dream, dies at the
cause of death. It's coming. And that's what
Paul's warning his people. Now look at that next verse.
For verily, when we were with you, verse 4, we told you before
that you should suffer tribulation, trials, and hardship, even as
it came to pass, and you know that. So this is what this author's
saying. If we expect them If we're warned
about them, if the Lord shows us that this is our way, then
we accept them. And it's not, it's hard to bear
if they're expected. That's true. All right, look
at verse 2. These things I've spoken to you that you should
not be offended, you should not be discouraged and stumble and
lose faith. Verse 2. They shall put you out
of the synagogue. They shall put you out of the
synagogue." Or somebody might say, well, so what? Get out of the synagogue and
just go to another synagogue. Get out of one church and go
to another. Well, that's a little different, what the Lord's talking
about here. You're prone to take that lightly.
But the Jews, these Jews that our Lord is speaking to and who
made up all of religion in that day. These men, these Jews, had
already declared that if anybody confessed that Jesus Christ was
the Messiah, they'd put him out of the synagogue. Put him out
of the synagogue. But that's what happened to the
blind man. Let me show you that in John chapter 9. Remember the
man that was born blind? And in John chapter 9, and he
was talking with these Pharisees,
and in verse 34 he says, they said to him, they answered and
said unto him, You were altogether born in sin, and do you teach
us? And they cast him out. Cast him out. What does that
mean, they cast him out? When a person was cast out of
the synagogue, he was excluded from the whole body of the kingdom
of God, totally excluded. He's cast out of the synagogue.
If a man was cast out of the synagogue, he was not only excluded
from the whole body of the kingdom of God, but he was considered
a heretic and an apostate. And they felt so strongly about
this, that they believed that whosoever killed one of these
people, a heretic or an apostate, or a person cast out of the synagogue,
it was the same as offering a sacrifice to God. That's right. Look at my text now, John 16,
the rest of that verse. Our Lord said they put you out
of the synagogue, out of the kingdom of God, out of the pothole. separated from God. And the time
will come when whosoever kills you will think he does God a
service. He offers a sacrifice to God
by killing you. That's why when those people
stoned Stephen, they had no conscience at all then. In fact, Sol of
Tarsus, they laid their coat down at his feet. Sol of Tarsus,
that That's Pharisee. The Lord saved later. They laid
their coat down at his feet while they stoned this man who was
cast out of the synagogue, Stephen, who believed that Jesus was the
Christ, and they had no conscience about it. Saul had no conscience about
that at all. He was a religious person, but
as far as he was concerned, anybody that confessed that Jesus Christ
is the Christ, is the Messiah, kill him. And you do God a favor,
a sacrifice. Look at verse 3. Now watch this. And these things will they do
unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. Now our Lord opens here, I want
you to listen very carefully right here. Our Lord opens here
the true spring and source. of these people's hatred, the
hatred of the Jews against Christ. Against Christ, against the apostles,
and against the prophets. They were full of zeal, full
of hatred for this gospel of God's grace. And here is the
true spring and source of it. They didn't know God. They didn't
know God. They professed to know him, but
they didn't know him. They professed to look for the
coming Messiah, but they didn't know him. He was in the world,
and the world was made by him. They didn't know him. He came
into his own, and they didn't know him. They didn't believe
him. They would not receive him. So
our Lord gives us the true spring and source of their hatred for
the gospel, and their hatred for grace. because they didn't
know God, and they don't know Christ. Now let me carry that
out here. And he reveals the true spring
and source of the ill feeling, and the ridicule that people
feel today against true believers in Christ, and true believers
in the grace of God. This religious world, like the
religious Pharisees, despised the gospel. And this religious
world today, literally, completely despises what you believe, the
sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus. They do. They feel, they ridicule people
who believe the gospel, they ridicule the preachers of God's
sovereign grace. They have hatred and enmity against
the gospel of God's grace, and the true grace which is revealed
in Christ Jesus. Why? Same reason those Jews hated
Christ. They do not know the Father nor
me. Read that verse again. And these
things will they do to you? They'll cast you out of the synagogue,
they'll cast you out of religion, They exclude you from their presence.
They have all manner of hatred. Why? They do not know God. They do not know the Father.
They do not know the Son. Well, brethren, are you saying
that the people of our day are atheists? No. No. Like the devil, they believe
there's one God. Actually, they are practically atheists, aren't
they? If a man doesn't know the true
God, then he's got a false God. But I'm not saying they're atheists,
I'm not saying that they're immoral, or lawbreakers, or that they're
not decent people. They have religion, but they
don't know God. They have religion, But they
do not know God. Do not know God and do not know
Christ. That's just it. Let me show you that in Romans
10. Romans chapter 10. And this thing parallels right
here with those religious Jews. They were religious people. Believed they... You search the
scriptures and then you think you have life. But there they
was testifying to me that you won't come to me that you might
have life. Look at Romans 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is, they might be saved. Now that's
these people he's talking to out here, these religious Pharisees.
I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
They have a religion, they have a zeal for God, but they don't
know it. And I'll tell you the proof of
it. The reason is this, they're ignorant of God's holiness, God's
righteousness, and they're going about to establish their own
righteousness. They will not submit to God's
way of salvation, they're going about to make their own way of
salvation by their deeds and duties and work. That poor man
doesn't know God. If he knew God, he'd come to
God. If he knew Christ, he'd believe on Christ. If he knew
the grace of God, he'd believe the grace of God. If he knew
that salvation was in the blood and righteousness of Christ,
he'd believe it. He'd embrace it. He wouldn't turn from it
and despise it and hate the preachers that preach it and the people
who believe it. He'd love it. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness and just will not submit to the righteousness
of God. Not going to do it. And that's
the reason he said, I'll tell you, this is the spring and source
of the whole thing. They don't know God. They do
not know God. They may profess to, but they
don't know God. Not the living God, not the true
God, not the God of holiness and grace and mercy, and the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They don't know Him. Pity them, but they don't know
Him. Now, these things have I told you, that when the time shall
come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things
I said not to you at the beginning, because I was with you." He's
at the end of his time, my time. not yet come, but now, Father,
the hour has come." And he said, these things, I've been with
you for four years, three and a half years, and I didn't tell
you these things. I didn't tell you these things
that I'm telling you now. Why? Well, somebody said there,
the Lord said, I did not tell you all these things at the beginning
because I was with you. I was with you. I wasn't leaving,
I was with them. And the rage and the malice of
the religious world was not so much against you as against me.
They hated Christ. They ignored the Apostles. The
Apostle Christ was here on this earth, but their hatred was against
him. Their offense was against him.
Their cruel save was against him. He's a winebibber and a
gluttonous man, and there's no beauty we should desire. They
hated Christ. Their rage and their malice was
against Christ, not against the disciples, but against Christ.
They ignored the disciples. But Christ said, When I go to
my Father, when I sin and go back to the Father, they'll turn
their wrath against you, and they'll seek to destroy you.
And that's exactly what they did. When the Lord Jesus Christ
went back to the Father, all of the venom and hatred and malice
turned against these apostles. And they killed every one of
them, except John, who was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. These
things I didn't tell you, so that when the time comes you
may remember that I told These things I didn't say to you at
the beginning because I was with you. But now I'm going back to
the Father and they'll destroy you. They'll do everything they
can against you. And this is so... Christ didn't
hear on this earth. But his preachers are there.
His people are there. His sheep are there. He can't
get to him. They can't touch him. They can't
do anything against him. Let them rant and wave all they
want to. He that sitteth in the heaven and he lies. He that sitteth
in the heaven shall lie. But with us it's no lie that
matters. I hate you. I hate you. But this has always
been true. Now you listen to me. I'll tell
you the truth. When Moses was leading the children of Israel,
the rabble despised him. Oh, some loved him. Joshua loved
him, and Caleb loved him, and Aaron loved him. But that bunch
of renegades, they didn't love Moses. They flew against him at every
angle. Despised him. But then Moses
died. Moses died. And after he was
dead, they started bragging about him. We have Moses and the prophets. That's right. They bragged about
Moses. When he was dead, they bragged on him. They tended to hate the other
prophets. They hated Isaac there, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. They bragged on Moses and hated
these others. Which of your prophets, which
of the prophets did not your fathers That's what our Lord
said one time to all that bunch of Pharisees. He said, tell me,
which of the prophets did not your fathers kill? Killed every
one of them, one at a time. But they bragged on Moses. But
then the prophets were killed, and the Lord Jesus came, and
they bragged on the prophet and killed Christ. You see what I'm
saying? They bragged on Moses, and Abraham,
and Isaiah, and all these prophets. They just bragged on them. But
they hated Christ, and they hated the apostles. And then when Christ died, and
Peter, James, and John were martyred, all the last 1400 years they've
been bragging about about Peter, James, and John, and hating Calvin,
and Luther, and Zwingli, and Huss, and Sojourn, they hated
these men. They bragged on to the apostles.
St. Peter, they made St. Peter the biggest pope. They didn't make Martin Luther
a pope, they tried to kill him. They didn't make Spurgeon a pope,
they tried to kill him, but they bragged on to Pope Peter. And
St. John, the Divine, that's human
nature! It's whoever God's using now
that's the hate, not them. And then when the reformers all
died, they named their boys after them, Martin, Luther, Charles
Haddon Spurgeon. They named these fellows after
these old men. What are you saying preachers?
I'm saying this, it's always been true. Men build monuments
to dead preachers and dead prophets and crucify the living witnesses
of God. Jim, is that right? That's right.
They build monuments. and named their children after
dead prophets, dead prophets. But when those men were living,
they killed them, they destroyed them. They crucified living preachers,
and they bragged on dead men. And our Lord said that. Turn
with me to Matthew 23, and see if the Lord Jesus didn't say
that plainly, clearly, as it can possibly be said. In Matthew
23, verse 27, Woe unto you, you got it? Matthew 23, 27. Woe unto
you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within you full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets."
What's that? You build the tombs. Well, you
build a place for their bodies to rest. You put flowers around
it. put statues all over, angels
flying around. You build a tomb of prophets,
and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, you bag on them,
and you say, if we'd been in the days of the fathers, we would
not have been a partaker with them in the blood of the prophets.
Therefore, you are a witness under yourselves, that you're
the children of them which killed the prophets. And their children
did the same thing to the ones that followed them. They built monuments to dead
prophets and crucified living witnesses to the truth. Ten years
from now, I just can imagine, somebody said, oh, Brother Mayhead
wasn't all that bad. I know he preached some things
that nobody believed, but I think he was Maybe we'll name a street
by him. Don't you be deceived now. Because
man that stands for a better man instead will get the same
kind of treatment by unsaved religion. Not by God's people. God's people love them and embrace
them and thank God for them and are willing to die with them.
But this natural religious world builds monuments to dead preachers. and crucifies living apostles. Now, if you don't look back at
my text again, in John 16, John 16, our Lord says here, now listen,
that now, verse 5, that now I go my way to him that sent me, and
though you ask me, where What's he saying? He says, I'm going
my way. I'm going to the cross to bow for your sins. I'm going
to prepare a place for you. And when I go to prepare a place,
I'll come again to receive you. I'm going to the grave as your
scapegoat. I'm going to heaven as your great
high priest. I'm going to the Father's right
hand to intercede. I go to him to sentence. But
now look at the next question. And none of you ask him, Whither
doest thou? But you know, Peter asked him. Lord, didn't Peter ask? Well,
let's see. Back in John 13. In John 13. Here's the question that Peter
asked in John 13, verse 36. And Simon Peter said unto him,
Lord, Whither goest thou? Whither goest thou? Jesus answered,
Well, whither I go, you cannot follow me now, but thou shalt
follow me afterwards. Peter said to him, Why can't
I follow you now? Why can't I? Peter thought he
was going to another country, another vicinity, another location. Well, I've laid down my life
for your sake. Why shan't I follow you now? Well, he told him, And
they didn't understand. Turn to John 14 now. John 14.1. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And I go, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself. Just where I am, there ye may
be. That's where I'm going. That's
where I'm going. Now back to my text. And he says in verse 6, they
didn't understand, in verse 6, John 16, but because I've said
these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. I tell you the truth. It is expedient. It is expedient. It is expedient
that I go away. The word expedient, I looked
it up, looked at it a little while this afternoon. The word
expedient means to bring together, to bring all things together.
The word expedient is to collect. The word expedient is to collect
for good and for profit. And that's what our Lord is saying
right here. He's saying, as Moses lifted
up the serpent and the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man do
the same. I must work the works of him
that sent me while his days. Other sheep I have, them I also
must bring, and they shall all be brought together. Other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold, them I must bring together. I must call out. And he went his way, listen to
this, this is quite good, somebody else wrote it. He went his way
to open the way into the holiest by his blood. He went his way
to take possession of heaven in our name. He went his way
to prepare a dwelling place for us in glory. He went his way
to appear in the presence of God for us. He went his way to
be the advocate and to make intercession for us. He went his way to transact
all our business between God and us, all of it. He's given
all things into his hands. He went his way to remove from
us all charges, who can lay anything to the charge of God's and remove
all accusations, he went his way to present our petitions
and to apply every grace and mercy and heavenly blessing to
all his people. And he said, listen, and if I
don't go away, the Comforter will not come. If I go not away,
the Comforter will not come. And if the comforter does not
come, we have no gospel to preach. If the comforter does not come,
we have no blood to believe and to trust or to apply. If the
comforter does not come, there's no salvation to receive. If the
comforter does not come, there's no comfort to give. No comfort
to give. few of these and I'll close,
and the rest are two or three more verses. Verse 8, And when
he is come, he will prove the well of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and
ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince
of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
to you, that you can't bear them now. How be it? When he, the
spirit of truth, is come, 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'll show you things to come, and
he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and show it to
you." In closing, Isaac Watts wrote a great hymn. It's a great testimony, and I
want you to listen to it. In Adam's loins, by sin, we fell,
and we walked an evil road without the will or power to turn from
sin to happiness and to God. But God Almighty put us the means
to bring his wayward children home, and Christ fulfilled that
covenant plan. by his own death alone. Now let
others boast how strong they be. Nor death nor judgment fear,
but we will confess, O Lord, to thee what feeble thing we
are. The Spirit brings the Father's
love. The Spirit applies redeeming
blood. In Christ our fears and guilt
he removes. and he'll bring us home to God. It's exceeding for you that I
go away. If I do not away, the comforter
will not come. But I thank God he went away
and the comforter has come.