Welcome to expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Let's pray together. Father, we calm our
hearts and we give you, like Paul said in
the book of Romans, we present our bodies
before you as living sacrifices, holy and
acceptable, which is our reasonable service. Lord, we pray that you would,
through this time together, being exposed to your
word, bring a personal word to what we are experiencing,
dealing with, wrestling with, deciding upon. And I pray that your same
spirit, using the same word, would have different effects
according to the needs that are presented. Thank you, Lord, for
those who have come out. Thank you for those
who were joining us in a variety of ways. And we just pray that you would
have free reign in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. The first time that I
ever went to Israel, I had a privilege of working
on a farm, a kibbutz. And this was a collective
farm in the northern part of the country, in
the northern Galilee. And as a young guy, I was just
so excited to be in Israel. And it happened to be
around Passover time. And I found out that
every Jewish person wants, at least one
time in their lives, to be in Jerusalem
during Passover. I knew I wasn't being
able to go to Jerusalem, so we celebrated the
Passover with friends, with families who
were gathered there, in the northern
part of the country. At the end of the Passover meal
and the Passover celebration-- and by the way, they
keep track of what they do in a little
book called a Seder, the order of the festival. At the end of the
Passover, they will say L'Shana Haba'ah
B'Yerushalayim, a phrase that means, in Hebrew,
"next year in Jerusalem." Because Passover was considered
the greatest festival celebrating the deliverance
of the children of Israel in times past from Egypt,
though it is not mandatory if you're Jewish
living around the world like it is in Islam to
take the Hajj to Mecca, it is preferable
to be able to go to Jerusalem at least once to
celebrate that notable feast. So it's always "next
year in Jerusalem." So I was stuck up in Galilee-- not a bad place to be
stuck, I'll tell you-- but that heart's desire
to go to Jerusalem. Well, Jesus is
with his disciples in Jerusalem for the Passover. They have spent many
a night with him. They have been with him three,
three and a half years total. And they have already spent
probably at least two Passovers with Jesus. On this final
Passover, 13 men gather in an upper room in the
upper city of Jerusalem to celebrate together. It is, of all of
the discourses-- and we've told you about
those a couple of weeks ago, that there are four
major speeches or sermons or discourses that Jesus
gave-- of all of them that are recorded in the
Gospels, the longest and the most intimate one
is this one, the upper room discourse. Now it's called the
upper room discourse, and it covers John
13, 14, 15, and 16, though it's not all
in the upper room. Part of it is in the upper room
as Jesus washes their feet, celebrates the Passover
meal with them. But then at the end of
chapter 14, Jesus said arise-- last verse-- arise,
let us go from here. So we can presume that chapter
15 and 16 are spoken by Jesus en route to the
Garden of Gethsemane, having left the upper
room, but in conversation with those disciples,
now 11 of them-- Judas has left the
room to make his pact, his deal with the
enemy to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. And that is where
they are headed. Jesus continues speaking to
them, giving them instruction. And that takes us to chapter 16. Now, in this chapter,
sort of like what we've seen in the
previous chapters, Jesus tells his
disciples what we might call the dark side of
discipleship, the consequences of Christianity. He said in chapter 15,
I call you my friends. But he also said,
the world's gonna hate you because
it hated me first-- all in that previous chapter. Now, what he's going
to basically tell them is you are my
friends, but you need to know that I have
enemies and my enemies don't like my friends,
and that's you guys. So I want you to know the
dark side of discipleship, the consequence of Christianity. Now, he knows they're
already troubled, so he begins chapter 14
by saying, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father's house,
there are many mansions. If it were not so, I
would have told you. I'm going to prepare
a place for you. But even still, as he
encourages them and lifts up their spirits, they're
still drowning in sorrow because he has announced
that he is going to die. He's announced that one of
them is going to betray him. He's announced that Peter
is going to deny him. So they find it awfully hard
to be lifted up to exuberance, but Jesus continues. Now, something else
just to make a note of. Because what you find
in this upper room discourse is a method of
teaching that Jesus employs. And if you try to outline
it, you find it difficult. I know people have outlined it. I have outlined it. But those of us
who delve into it and try to outline
and make sense of it-- notice that Jesus,
in teaching them, does not introduce a subject,
then exhaust the subject, then go on to another subject
that he introduces and exhausts it. What he does, rather, his
he gives several items to them, then circles back
around and touches on them all again in a different
way, in a deeper way, and then circles back around
again then does it a few times like that. About four courses, altogether,
with the same subjects. And if you think, well,
that's kind of weird, it's really not that weird. That is the same way
that 1 John is written. 1 John is written
where John introduces a smattering of subjects with a
theme, then he goes back around and delves a little bit deeper
and a little bit deeper, does it again, does it again
to reinforce a certain set of truths to them. That is the method employed in
chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16. Now, chapter 16 verse 1. Jesus continues, "these things
I have spoken unto you that you should not be made to stumble." I know you're sorrowful. I know you're bummed out. I know the subjects that I
have shared with you cause you great distress. But I'm not telling you
that just to bum you out. I don't want you to
fall away or stumble. I want to tell you
before they happen so that you know I
knew all about this before it happened to you. I'm fully aware of what
you're going through. The word stumble,
skandalizo, which is to offend or
cause to stumble, to fall away-- that's the idea. I'm telling you this because
I don't want you to freak out. I don't want you to run away. I want you to know
what to expect. "They will put you
out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is
coming that whoever kills you will think that
he offers God service. And these things
they will do to you because they have not
known the Father, nor me. But these things I have told
you that when the time comes, you may remember that
I told you of them. And these things I did not
say to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I go away
to him who sent me. And none of you ask me,
where are you going? But because I have said
these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." He says, "they're going to put
you out of the synagogues," in verse 2. Whoever kills you
is going to think that he's doing God a favor. My mind immediately
goes to a young rabbi from Tarsus named Saul, who
believed it was his sacred duty to arrest those who called
on the name of Jesus, who had left Jerusalem and gone
up north to Syria to Damascus. And he got orders
from the high priest to arrest those who called
upon Jesus' name who were still in the synagogues,
to excommunicate them or to eliminate them. He was one of the chief
opponents to the early church. It was a religious opposition. But then after Saul of Tarsus
gets converted and becomes Paul the Apostle, he himself
will experience a very similar persecution. He'll go into a city. He'll go first to the
synagogue, because he said the gospel is first to
the Jew, and then to the Greek. And so often he will get
cast out of the synagogue, a riot will ensue, he
ends up going to jail or getting beat up. Then he goes to the next
city, goes to the synagogue, gets kicked out of there,
goes to jail, gets beat up, goes to the next town. You know, pretty
soon Paul the Apostle must have just gone
into a town and say, would you just show
me the local jail? I'd like to know where
I'm spending the night. So the persecution that
he was the initiator of against the early church
once he gets converted, he will find that himself
will be the recipient of it. If you know church
history, you know that the early Christians in
the Roman Empire had it tough. Many of them were fed
to the lions for sport, burned at the stake. Some of them were
placed on wooden poles, bound with ropes
covered in pitch, tar, and used as living torches to
light the way for Caesar Nero to run his chariot races. Other accounts of how
Christians were taken-- animal skins that had been
flayed or skinned recently, animal skins were placed
over the believer's body and they were sewn in them
so that wild dogs would be let loose smelling the
fresh scent of the animal and attack it and eat them
inside the animal skin. Molten lead poured over them. Gruesome acts. Now I commend to you a book. I know it's going
to sound gross, but it's inspiring
to your faith. It's called Foxe's
Book of Martyrs. If you've never read
it, it's a must. It's a must to have and to own. It's the account, the
testimony of believers from early on in the
first century all the way up to about the 1500s. That's the original book,
Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Now, Jesus is telling
his closest followers what they might expect. Peter, James, John--
those 11 apostles. Remember, Judas is out
of the picture now, but he's telling them
what they can expect. What is interesting is what
became of those apostles as time went on. According to
history, Matthew was slain with a sword in Ethiopia. John will be put in boiling oil. He will escape that,
legend says, unharmed. He will then be placed on the
island of Patmos to be exiled. Peter will be crucified
in Rome, but upside down because he requested to be
killed upside down, saying, I am not worthy to die in the
manner my Lord was killed. James, the son of Zebedee,
one of the apostles, will be beheaded at Jerusalem. James, the son of
Alphaeus, thrown from the pinnacle of the
temple, then beaten with a club. Bartholomew will
be flayed alive. Andrew, bound to a cross, where
he preached to his persecutors until he died. And Thomas will go to
India to share the gospel and will be run through with
a lance while in that country, and he died. Now that's their future. And what you have
to ask yourself is, what would motivate
these men to suffer like they suffered and died
like they died if it was a myth they were following? If they knew that
they just sort of had to keep this thing going, that
there really wasn't anything to the deity of Christ,
the Resurrection of Christ, that this was a hoax, you'd
think one of them would break. But all of them did not. All of them were willing to
face the most gruesome death for what they believed. And here, Jesus says,
I'm telling you this. I don't want you to stumble. I want you to know
what's coming up ahead. And verse 3, "these
things they will do to you because they have not
known the Father." What's interesting
is he says this is going to happen in
religious settings. The synagogue, by
the very people who claim to know God
and represent God. "They have not known
the Father, nor me. But these things I have told
you that when the time comes, you may remember that
I told you of them. And these things I did not
say to you at the beginning, because I was with you." Now, he's told them
he's going away. He's told them that
a couple of times. And so I said, you
know, I didn't tell you this at the beginning because
we were always together. But that's about to change. "But now I go away
to him who sent me. And none of you asks
me, where are you going? But because I said these things,
sorrow has filled your heart." Now, go back to chapter
14 for just a moment, because you need to
remember this to get what he is saying here understood. Chapter 14, verse 28. "You have heard me say to you
I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me,
you would rejoice because I said I am
going to the Father, for the Father is
greater than I." Now look at verse 5. "But now I got away to him
who sent me, and none of you asked me, where are you going?" They really weren't
asking where. They didn't care where. What they cared about was why. Why are you leaving us? Why would you do this to us? How could you love us if you
said you're gonna leave us? But none of them cared
where he was going. He's going back home. He's going to the father. He has left heaven
in the incarnation. He has come to the earth. But their focus was on their
loss rather than their focus being on what Jesus would gain. And, by the way, they were
focused on what they would lose rather than what
they would gain, because Jesus is about
to say, I need to go. It's for your benefit. It's expedient that I go. Because when I go,
I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit who's going
to abide with you forever. They're focused on why,
how, how could this be, instead of where. Wrong focus. I've discovered that unbelievers
also have the wrong focus when you tell them about
Christ and you try to persuade them to
commit their lives to Christ. You know, you ought to give
yourself to Jesus Christ, and you ought to
enjoy his forgiveness and have a
relationship with him. They focus often on
the wrong things. They focus on their loss. What about all my friends
that don't like me anymore or that will forsake me? I'm going to lose my friends. Ah, but you'll
gain a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Oh, but I'm going
to lose popularity-- on earth, but not in heaven. Oh, but I'm going
to lose my old life. Perhaps, but you're going
to gain a whole new one. You're going to
gain an eternal one. There was a missionary
who was killed by the Auca Indians named Jim Elliot. Many of you know of him,
and you know his story. Very famous missionary. He gave his life to preach the
gospel to the Auca Indians. One of the most famous
things Elliot ever said is, "He is no fool who gives up that
which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." I love that. Focus on the right stuff,
not the wrong stuff-- on the eternal,
not the temporary. "But because I have
said these things, sorrow has filled your heart." He knew his men. It was still written
on their faces. All of the promises he
gave them in this speech-- they're still kind of like
walking along going, oh, man. This is a bummer. What a drag. I hate this. "Nevertheless--" verse
7, "nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to
your advantage that I go away." Now, I just got to know that
these disciples at this point were going, are you kidding? It's better that you go away? No, I have a different idea. I think it's better
that you stay with us. I think we're going
to take a vote, and you just hang
around with us. We like that plan better. "Nevertheless, I tell you,
it's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go
away, the Helper--" remember, that's
the Holy Spirit. He's called the Helper four
times in this upper room discourse. You need help. You need all the help
you can get, and so do I. And I'm so glad Jesus
said, you have it. In fact, you don't just have
help, you have a helper. He's not just going
to give you resources. He's going to live inside
you to pull it off. You have the Helper. I'm going to send the Helper. "He will come to you. But the Helper will
not come to you unless I de-- but if I depart,
I will send him to you." Here's the deal--
and you don't have to give me a show of
hands, because this is a rhetorical question. Have you found that the
Christian life is sometimes very difficult to live? Of course. We all have. And how often have we
doubted and wondered, am I going to make
it through this? This is more than I can bear,
or I'm struggling in this area. I don't know if I
could ever conquer it. That's why you need a helper,
and he'll live inside of you, and he knows your weaknesses. But he still is with you, and
he's not going to leave you, and he's always
going to hang around. I love an illustration
that DL Moody, the evangelist from Chicago,
gave when he was alive. He was a simple preacher, and
he loved simple illustrations and explanations. He held up a glass,
an empty glass. And he said to his
congregation, now, how am I going to get the
air out of this glass? He goes, I suppose I could
get a pump and pump it out, get some device to
pump out all the air. But then I will create a
vacuum and shatter the glass. So how will I get the
air out of the glass? Then what he did is he
took a pitcher of water and he poured it in the glass
till it filled up, and he said, problem solved. I get the air out by having
it filled with water. And he said, that is
the Christian life. That is the victory that is
offered to you by the Helper. The key to your
success is in trying to suck out one sin,
one problem at a time, but just being filled
with the Holy Spirit. Be filled with so much
of him that there's nothing left of you. Oh, but there's so
much air in there. Just keep being filled. In fact, it is in the present
tense in the book of Ephesians when Paul says, be
filled with the Spirit. It's be being filled, be
constantly being filled with the Spirit, the Helper. "If I depart, I will
send him to you." Now, remember, just
to jog your memory, Jesus called the Holy
Spirit another Helper. And I told you-- I just want to
refresh your memory-- I know you've
memorized this by now. If you haven't, I'm going
to tell you a second time. There's two words Jesus could
have used for another Helper. He could have used the
word heteros, which means "another, of a different kind." But he used the word allos,
which means, "another, of exactly the same kind." And the illustration
that I gave you was let's say you pick up a CD
that somebody says, you ought to listen
to this band. You listen and you
go, this is horrible. I never want to
listen to another song of this band in my life. So you're about to
throw it away or give it to somebody who you think
might like bad music-- [LAUGHTER] And then you say I'm going
to go buy another CD. You don't mean I'm going to get
another one just like that one. No, you're going to
get a heteros CD, one that's completely
different from that band. But if you were to say to a
friend I'm giving you this CD and they go, oh, I love it. And you go, go
ahead and keep it. I love it, too. I'm going to buy another one. Now you're going to
use the word allos. I'm going to buy another
CD just like the one that I gave to you. So when Jesus said, I'm going
to send you the Holy Spirit, he is another Helper,
it was the word allos-- another one just
like the one I've been to you all these years. It's not going to be me,
it's going to be him. But he's going to provide for
you the same kind of help. You've called on me, you've
asked things from me, and I've been there for you. Holy Spirit will be
another one just like I am. "And when he has
come," verse 8, that is the Spirit, the Helper,
"when he--" notice, not, "it." The Holy Spirit is not a force. It's a person, not an
impersonal force of electricity. Ooh, I'll feel the Spirit. [MAKES ZAPPING SOUNG] [LAUGHTER] It's a person, a divine person. "He--" "when he, has come, he
will convict the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Of sin, because they
do not believe in me. Of righteousness, because I
go to my Father and you me no more, of judgment, because
the ruler of this world is judged." Three things Jesus promised
the Holy Spirit will do. He's going to convict or
convince, you could translate. He's going to convince the
world, the unbelieving world. He's going to convince
them, first of all, of sin. "--because they do
not believe in me." A person will never be open to
receiving Jesus as their Savior unless they realize
they need saving. If they don't need
a savior, they won't ask Jesus to save them. If they don't see
their need, they won't act to receive the
solution for their problem. So the first work of the Holy
Spirit is to convince people, you really need help. You really are unsaved. You really won't go to
heaven without Jesus. Holy Spirit-- his job
is to convict the world. I like this. It's not my job
to convince them. It's not your job. Don't you love that? I gotta go out and save people. [LAUGHTER] No, you can't. I've had people come to me,
goes, man, you saved me. And I put my arm around him. I go, I know what you're
saying, but I didn't save you. I might have told you
where to find help or I threw out the rope,
but God pulled you in. He's the one that saved you. So, it's-- [LIGHT APPLAUSE] Yeah, it's not your job to
convince people or to convict-- You know, I had friends trying
to talk me into following Jesus for weeks and weeks. And finally I got so sick of
it, I thought, I'm moving. I'm leaving. And I moved. I moved way up north,
400 miles away. And I was watching television
one afternoon all alone. And I'm watching Billy
Graham on television. And I'm listening, but it wasn't
really what he was saying. I don't even remember
what he was saying. But I felt a conviction. I felt convinced that
I needed something. My friends had been trying to
push me over the edge, sign on the dotted line. But I'd have none of it. But that afternoon,
completely caught off guard, the Holy Spirit used
what I heard on that television broadcast to draw me in. He convinced me I was a sinner. He convinced me that
I needed a Savior. By the way, how else do you
explain the results of Peter at Pentecost? Peter preaches the
gospel on the day of Pentecost-- yes, the same
Peter who denied that he even knew Jesus-- that Peter. The same Peter who said
a lot of stupid things during Jesus'
ministry-- same dude. Now he's preaching a
gospel in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost
and 3,000 people respond-- to Peter? And it says they were
cut to the heart, they were convicted
in their heart-- not by Peter's
mastery of the text, but the conviction
of the Holy Spirit. Notice the second
thing-- of righteousness, because I go to my Father
and you see me no more. When Jesus died and then
rose again from the dead and then ascended to the
right hand of the Father having completed
the transaction, it's as if that God
the Father was saying, this is the
righteousness that I will accept in my presence, the
righteousness of this one. That's why you need
to be in Christ, clothed with the merits of
Jesus Christ, not your own. I have noticed
that by and large, when it comes to righteousness
or goodness, the world-- is sort of like they carry
around a scale in their head. They may not articulate
it like this, but it's as if they have like
a little thermometer from cold to hot. And so a criminal might be
like 10%, 20% good, righteous. And then there's other
people a little warmer. You know they do
a few good things. They are 30%, 40%. Then there's other people
who are really good, and they're even religious. They may be 50%, 60%, even 70%. God's 100%. And so they kind of
measure on a sliding scale. Whereas the Bible says about
all mankind, none are righteous. None are good. Even Jesus said, why
do you call me good? There's only one who is good? That is God. That's God's standard
of righteousness. He is perfect. No one else is. Now, religious people
think that they can raise the temperature
of their thermometer, work a little harder,
get a little hotter. If I get up to this level,
then God will accept me. He has to. I've earned it. And their righteousness is
like the Avis rent-a-car motto, "we try harder." [CHUCKLING] I try harder. My church tries harder. Yet, God said to
the prophet Isaiah, all of our righteousness
is as filthy rags. So the righteousness
that God will accept as seen by the ascension
of Jesus to the Father is that kind and
that kind alone. So that's why we
are clothed in him. Our trust is in him. And then, finally, verse 11-- "of judgment--" so he'll
convict the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment-- "because the ruler
of this world--" and we discovered last time in
our study that that is Satan, the ruler of this
world, "--is judged." When he convinces a
person that not only are they sinners in need of
a Savior, not only are they not righteous
in their own merit and their own religious
works, but that there is a consequence to it all,
and that's called judgment. There really is
a final judgment. And, if left to themselves, they
will face the certain judgment of God. That's a work of
the Holy Spirit. It's a work he does. And again, it's
his job, not yours. Oh, there's this sinner. Man, I'm going dangle him
over the fires of hell. [CHUCKLING] Right now he has his cafe latte. I'm going to go
over there right now and I'm going to make
him sweat it out. "The Holy Spirit will
convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment." And by the way,
I find it healthy when a person begins to think
of the future and think, if I stand before-- if everything that
they are telling me is true about Jesus
Christ from the Bible, if I stand before this God,
I am ill-prepared to face that judgment. I think it's a healthy thing
to think along those lines because that takes you
back to the first one-- he convinces the world
of sin, and that's where you seek a Savior. Verse 12-- "I still have
many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." When I was a week
old in the Lord, two weeks old in the
Lord, three weeks-- the first month,
et cetera, there were many things I didn't
know that I know now. The Lord has revealed
them to me over the years. I mean, if you knew how
ridiculously rudimentary I was in my
relationship with God-- it's laughable. I mean, I remember reading my
Bible and smoking marijuana and taking other
substances thinking, hey, man, it's natural. God gave them to us. And, in fact, I kind
of feel like I really get in touch with God when I-- [LAUGHTER] I mean, I think I've seen God,
perhaps, on that substance. I had received Christ,
and it was two weeks later that my friend said, you know, I
don't think that's a good idea. And I wasn't convinced. But again, one day
I was alone, and I was reading the
Gospel of Matthew, and the Holy Spirit
convinced me, "you need to get
rid of those drugs." And I'm thinking, man,
that's a lot of money. [LAUGHTER] I could sell them. [LAUGHTER] And I could get-- I could use it for
the Lord-- the money. [LAUGHTER] And I felt like the Lord
was telling me, no, you need to flush those
things down the toilet. But I had received
Christ, and that that's how ignorant I still was. I had a lot of growing up to do. So listen, I was saved, and the
Lord was very patient with me, and he had a lot of
things to tell me. I just couldn't bear them. But the next week I could bear
a little more and a little more and a little more. And the more you put into
practice what he tells you, he has more to tell you. He's got a lot more
stuff to tell you. When you say, I'll do that. But if you just say,
I won't do that. But Lord, tell me
more, show me more. Reveal more of yourself. He's thinking, why
should I even-- do what I revealed to
you first few weeks. Why don't you just start
there and obey that? And I'll give you more. "So I have many
things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." I think of my perfect,
precious little granddaughter, Cadence Joy. If I were to give her
a set of encyclopedias, she wouldn't appreciate it. She might look at the pictures,
tear a few out that she likes. If I were to give her a box
of gold that would carry her through the rest of her life--
don't worry, I don't have one. But if I did and
I gave it to her-- too much. She wouldn't know what it means. She wouldn't know
what to do with it. She wouldn't know
how to invest it. It's just shiny,
I'll play with it. She would much rather have an
ice cream from Baskin-Robbins than a box of gold. That's what she can
handle right now. And Jesus said, I have
a lot more to tell you, but you just can't bear it yet. "However," he said,
that's going to come. You'll be able to bear
it, and here's when. "However, when the
Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you
into all truth. For he will not speak
on his own authority, but whatever he
hears he will speak, and he will tell
you things to come." Now there is a couple of
words in that sentence that most translations
do not carry in English. Notice, it says to you in
verse 13, when the Holy-- "when the spirit of truth has
come, he will guide you into--" what are the next few words? All truth. All truth. There's an article
that should be there-- "all the truth." Tes aletheias-- the truth. Is not just, "whatever you feel
to be true at the moment, man." [HUMMING] [LAUGHTER] It's a specific, not
a generic truth-- the truth. It's the truth about the
message of Jesus Christ. That's the truth the Holy
Spirit leads a person into. It's the same idea when-- in that little book of Jude,
that little, one-chapter book of Jude toward the
Book of Revelation, when the apostle said, that
we should contend earnestly for the faith once for all
delivered to the saints. Not just for faith in general. You have your faith,
I have my faith, just believe strong
enough and long enough, and have your best day now. But it's the particular
kind of faith and the particular kind of
truth that centers on Jesus. It's New Testament truth. So that's very important. He will God you into all-- specifically, the truth. And notice he amplifies that. Verse 14, "He will
glorify me," Jesus said. "He will take of what is
mine and declare it to you. All things that the
father has are mine. Therefore, I said that
he will take of mine and declare it to you." Now he is telling us,
he's informing us, what it looks like in the
life of a believer filled with the Holy Spirit,
influenced by the Holy Spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit. Now, there's a couple of verses
I want you to tie together. Because remember, Jesus
introduces the subject, leaves them, comes back
to them, leaves them, comes back to them, and
he's done that already. So go back with me to
chapter 15 and look at verse 25 or verse 26. It says, "When the
Helper comes whom I shall send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will testify of" who? Me. Me. He'll testify of Jesus, right? Then, chapter 16,
look at verse 9. He says, "The Holy Spirit
will convince people of sin because they do
not believe in me." And then in verse 14, "He
will take of what is mine and declare it to you." So here's the deal. The Holy Spirit, this third
person of the Trinity, is like the stage director. He's not going to come out
on stage be center stage. That's Jesus role. He's going to be the
stage director making sure the spotlight shines squarely
on the main character, Jesus Christ, and that he holds
up the applause sign when Jesus walks out onstage. Think of a stage director. Jesus comes out, and
the Holy Spirit says, ladies and gentlemen, may
introduce to you, Jesus Christ. And then applause sign. Applause, applause,
applause, applause, applause. [CHUCKLING] That's what the Holy
Spirit is about instead. Of saying, hey, what about me? Focus on me, think about me. He says, look at Jesus. Focus on Jesus. Think about Jesus. That's his role. Think of it, if you don't like
the stage director analogy, think of it like lights
on a building at night. We have lights
around the property, and you'll drive down the street
you'll see a well-lit building. But typically, a
well-lit building, you won't see the
lights themselves. They won't shine in your face. They will shine on
the building that they want you to focus on as you're
driving down the street. So the Holy Spirit
focuses on Jesus because that's the one
he wants you to notice. "--of sin, because they
do not believe in me." Now, why am I bringing this up? Because simply, you
want to find out if a person's filled
with the Holy Spirit? That person makes much of Jesus. That person always talking
about the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit
and the Holy Spirit-- he's a living in us,
he's part of the Godhead. I believe that. He's part of the Trinity. But his role is to direct
our attention to Jesus. So if you want to see a church
that is filled with the Spirit, they make much of Jesus. Any emphasis on the
Holy Spirit that detracts from the
person of Jesus Christ is not of the Holy Spirit. So you want to see a spirit-led
church or a spirit-led person, it's in a Jesus movement. It's when it's all
about coming to Jesus and making Jesus stage
center and he's the hero. That's the role of
the Holy Spirit. Verse 16, "a little while,
and you will not see me. And again, a little
while, and you will see me because
I go to the Father. Then some of his disciples
said among themselves, what is this that he says to us? A little while and
you will not see me, and again, a little
while and you will see me, and, because
I go to the Father?" What's all that about? This is ironic. They don't understand what
Jesus is telling them. They can't figure it out. He just said something. They're going, huh? He keeps saying stuff like that. I don't get it. What's ironic is Jesus
was right there with them. Instead of talking
to each other, why didn't they just
ask Jesus what he meant? Hey, Jesus, we don't get it. [CHUCKLING] Right? We're sort of like Thomas,
going, I don't get it. Or like Philip, I don't get it. Why didn't they just ask Jesus? But they didn't. It's interesting, they're
talking to each other about it, trying to figure out why. I don't know why, but I
do know that sometimes we try to act like we're
spiritual in front of somebody we're trying to impress. Maybe they just don't it. And they think, I
don't want to let Jesus know that I
don't go it, because I want him to think I'm one
of the cool apostles, right? [LAUGHTER] So I'm just going to walk along
in this room, nod my head, and go, that's profound. That's good. Yeah, amen. [LAUGHTER] Not working because Jesus-- he knows stuff, right? He knows what we're thinking. "Therefore," verse
[INAUDIBLE] "they said, therefore, what is this
that he says, a little while? We do not know
what he is saying." Now Jesus knew that
they desired to ask him, and so he just said
to them, are you inquiring among yourselves
about what I said? I can see a little
smile on his face. And he says, "a little while,
and you will not see me, and again, a little while,
and you will see me? Most assuredly, I say to you
that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. And you will be sorrowful." Literally, "you will be
plunged into deep sorrow. But your sorrow will
be turned into joy." Now what is you
talking about exactly? Well, he's probably
talking about what's going to happen immediately. They're going to kill him. And the world is gonna
go, he's out of our hair. Good. But his disciples are going
to be plunged into sorrow. And we know what they do
after Jesus dies on the cross. They run away and
they hide themselves in that upper room
where they had Passover. They locked the doors, it
says, "for fear of the Jews." So they'll be in hiding until
Jesus appears in their midst, risen from the dead, and
says, "peace to you." And it says, "they were
filled with exceeding joy." Their sorrow will be
transformed, in that moment, into joy. So that's what he
probably meant-- immediately. But then there's a way to
look at this not immediately, but imminently. And that is he would
rise from the dead. He'd be with them
for several weeks. Then he'll ascend to
the Father and he'll be gone from them physically,
but the Holy Spirit will come in reality. But spiritually, they
won't see the Holy Spirit. But the presence
of the Holy Spirit. And you can read the
book of Acts-- the joy that they had when
the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. Then there's a third
way to look at this-- not immediately, not imminently,
but ultimately-- eventually. That whether by
death or by rapture, we are in the
presence of the Lord, our sorrow will also
be turned into joy. All three of those are
true, but he's broadly speaking of the immediate,
and that is his crucifixion. Now he gives an example
of the principle. He gave. He says, "a woman,
when she is in labor, has sorrow because
her hour has come. But as soon as she is
given birth to the child, she no longer remembers
the anguish for the joy that a human being has
been born into the world. Therefore, you now have sorrow. But I will see you again,
and your heart will rejoice. And your joy no one
will take from you." Pretty simple analogy, right? What he's saying is
having a baby hurts. Women, can you say amen? I can't talk to you
obviously from experience. You know, when our
wives have babies, us men, we're all stoked,
we're happy, we're like, I'm having a baby. I'm having a boy,
I'm having a girl. Whatever. [CHUCKLING] But that's about
the anguish we have. I love what Carol
Burnett used to say. She goes, men, if
you want to know what it's like to have a baby,
try taking your lower lip and stretching it all the
way back over your head. And if you can do that,
that's what it feels like. [LAUGHTER] I remember being part of
those silly Lamaze classes. I'm sorry, but for
us, it didn't work. [LAUGHTER] You should have just seen
the look on my wife's face. I'm going breathe-- [PANTING] Breathe, breathe. [LAUGHTER] Jesus is saying,
it really hurts. But once that baby is born,
she forgets the sorrow because the sorrow is
eclipsed by ecstasy. The despondency is
eclipsed by ecstasy. Sorrow has turned into joy. "Therefore now you
will have sorrow. But I will see you once again
and your heart will rejoice. And your joy--" I love this--
"no one will take from you." OK, one of the men that heard
this was a guy named Peter. And Peter is going to
write 1 and 2 Peter, right? The epistles. And I love what he says. He says, "he has
begotten us again listen to a living hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." So think of those
fishermen up in Galilee. One day Jesus shows up in
their lives says, Follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. They go, I'm in for the ride. Let's go. And for three
years, they discover who this person, this rabbi
is that they are following. And they're so excited,
they're elated, they come to believe he is the
Christ, the Son of the living God. They make that confession. They're on a roll. And then Jesus
says, oh, word up. I'm leaving you. I'm going to die on a cross. I'm going to rise again, then
I'm going back to heaven. And then I'm going to
send you the Holy Spirit. And they go, [INDISTINCT GRUMBLING] Great. And then when he
died on that cross even though he had
announced it in advance-- when he died on the
cross, all of that hope that they had fell away. Their hope died when he died. That's why the two
on the road to Emmaus said concerning
Jesus, "we hoped--" past tense-- "we hoped he
was going to be the one to redeem Israel." So they had hope when he
came into their lives. Their hope grew. And then their hope was
shattered when he died. But the day that Jesus
rose from the dead, you know what happened? Their hope became a living hope. When Jesus became alive again,
their hope became alive again. It says, "a living hope
through the resurrection." Now on the day Jesus
rose from the dead, their hope went ballistic. Their hope was
turbocharged hope. It was hope at a
whole new level. You know why? Because now all those promises
Jesus made about eternal life, now they make sense. When a dead guy comes back to
life again and conquers death and that guy said,
if you believe in me you'll never die,
now that makes sense. Now, all of those promises
about life and eternal life and living forever-- I get it now. It just happened. He's begotten us again to a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Verse 23-- "In that day,
you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly I
say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my
name he will give you. Until now, you have
asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive
that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken unto
you in figurative language, but the time is coming
when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language,
but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you
will ask in my name. And I do not say that I shall
pray the Father for you, for the Father himself
loves you because you have loved me and believed
that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father. I have come into the world. Again, I leave the world,
and I go to the Father." Do you understand
what he's saying? He's saying, up to this point
whenever you needed something, you asked me for it. When there was a storm
on the Sea of Galilee, you cried out to me. I was there. When you needed lunch that
day on that hill in Galilee, I made it. When your relatives got sick-- Peter, your mother-in-law--
I healed her. So you've asked
me for everything. But now, the
relationship changes. And I don't need to
ask the Father for you. You can go directly to
the Father in my name, praying according to my marriage
and according to my character and wishes-- we covered that last week. You can go directly yourself. You don't need an intermediary. You have direct access
to God the Father. You do not have to
pray to a saint. You do not have to pray
to the mother of Jesus. Because you just better not talk
to Jesus directly because he's so far above you. Or, you can't talk
directly to God. No, you can. I'll tell you-- I'll
tell you how you can. It's not that you just can. You should do it boldly. Isn't that what Hebrews says? Come boldly before
his throne of grace that you might receive
grace to help in time of need, his throne of mercy. Come boldly. I'm coming to you, Father,
in the name of Jesus. That's very important. It's on his merit, not yours. If you ever said, I'm coming
to you in the name of Skip, not a good plan. If you wanted to see the
Prime Minister of England and you went over
there and you said, I come to you in the
name of Skip Heitzig, you will be turned away. [LAUGHTER] But if you have in the
United States government credentials and you come in
the name of the United States and you prove that you
have their credentials sent by the commander in chief,
you will have access. So you come to the Father in the
name of Jesus directly, boldly. And then verse 28. "I came forth--" I just
want you to notice something in verse 28. There's a lot of
theology in one verse. Verse 28 could be
a sermon series. Notice he says, "I came
forth from the Father." That's his incarnation. "I've come into the
world--" his humiliation. "I leave the world--" his
resurrection and ascension. "And go to the Father--"
his glorification. He's giving a one-sentence
summary of what he has done and what he's going to do. This is who I am been, and
this is where I am going. His disciples said
to him, "See, now you are speaking plainly and
using no figure of speech. Now we are sure that
all things and have no need that any one
should question you. By this we believe that
you came forth from God. Jesus answered and said,
do you now believe? Indeed, the hour
is coming-- yes, now has come, that you will
be scattered, each to his own and will leave me alone. And yet, I am not alone
because the Father is with me." Now perhaps they have reached
a point in their little stroll, leaving the upper room going
across the Kidron Valley. Maybe right about
now they're entering the Garden of Gethsemane. That's what it appears like. And perhaps they can even-- Jesus can lift up his head
and see in the distance-- torches coming his way. Judas leading a band of
soldiers coming to arrest Jesus. And he knows what
is about to happen, and he knows what their
reaction is going to be. And so they're all like,
Yeah, you know what? Now we know, and now we believe. And Jesus said,
yeah, you know what? I do know all things, and I
know that in a few minutes, you're all going
to be running away. You're gonna scatter
in all directions. You're going to be hiding
in that upper room. The prophet Zechariah, I
believe, predicting this, said, smite the shepherd and
the sheep will be scattered. Jesus announces as much. You're gonna be scattered. You're gonna leave me alone. Yet, I'm not alone because
the Father is with me. Boy, there's so much there I
wish we had time to develop it. You're never alone. People have forsaken me. But has God? He can't forsake you because
Jesus experienced the forsaking on the cross so that you would
never have to be forsaken. He'll never leave you. Now, when Jesus said
this to his disciples, he wasn't castigating them,
he was preparing them. He wasn't saying, and
you're gonna leave me alone. I want you to know because
I don't want you to stumble. I've told you that. I don't want you to get
freaked out by this. But your reaction is not
going to be a good one. You're going to leave me
alone, you're gonna scatter, you're going to hide. It was all in preparation. "These things--"
verse 33, listen to how he ends it on a high note-- "these things I have spoken
unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world, you will
have tribulation--" agitation, despair,
despondency-- "you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." [APPLAUSE] Cheer up. Cheer up. Oh, but the world's
getting so bad. The election is
not what I thought. [LAUGHTER] What's happening in the Middle
East is not what I expected. My income-- whatever. Cheer up. How he conquered the world? How has he overcome the world? Spiritually, by the cross? Ultimately, when
he comes again-- his cross and his coming. Now some of you are going,
well, if he's overcome the world and the enemy is defeated,
how come he still attacks me? How come I have such a rough
time, and my temptation and trials, and I don't much
peace, I don't have much joy-- I get hounded and
hassled the lot. What you are experiencing in
the tribulation from this world, the temptation from
the enemy, Satan, you know what
you're experiencing? The death throes of
a defeated enemy. That's what the
tribulation in the world is, the death throes
of a defeated enemy. It's like when an animal
is mortally wounded, but he'll lash out and
he'll try to kill and maim anything he can until it's
finally his expiration time. Satan has been dealt
a blow at the cross, but he wants to take
every one and every thing with him until that time. In the meantime, you have peace. And I'll tell you
what-- there's something about knowing this in advance
that does bring us peace and gives us the
ability to endure. [APPLAUSE] Father, with bowed heads-- not because we have to,
but because we want to, we want to just show
you this gesture of humility in honoring you. You've been in our presence. Your Spirit has spoken
through your word. Much of Jesus has
been made tonight, and we thank you for him. We thank you for his life,
his work on our behalf, and we thank you that
he's coming again. Lord, I pray for those
who are struggling. I pray that you would encourage
and strengthen them and take those feeble knees
and make them upright, those hands and
heads that hang low-- bring joy and bring your peace. Let them know that,
spiritually, at the cross, and ultimately, at
your coming, and even intermediately with your
Spirit dwelling within us, we can have a level of peace
that the world does not know. We cast our cares on you. And I pray for those, Lord,
who don't know you yet, who haven't committed
their lives to you yet, but you've convicted
them of sin. You've convicted them
that they need a savior. You've convinced them of that. You've shown them
that the righteousness that they have had,
that they have tried to maintain or attain to, isn't
good enough, is not acceptable, but that you will
give them freely your righteousness in exchange
for our unrighteousness. And you have convinced some
of your judgment to come. And in that, Lord,
it's your Holy Spirit that is drawing them to the
person and work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. And I pray they will respond
as you, by your Spirit, draw them to your son
the Lord Jesus Christ. As our heads are bowed-- you
may have come tonight burdened, hopeless, or you may
have come tonight relatively light hearted,
everything's great, everything's good. You've got a good outlook. But you know your heart isn't
right with the living God according to the
Revelation of Scripture. And through it all, whatever
experience you present, you're convinced
you need a Savior. You're convinced you
need his forgiveness. You're convinced
you need his love. And that's because you do. If you are willing
to say yes to him, if you're willing to
receive Jesus as Savior, to invite him in as
Lord of your life, if you are willing to say yes to
him and have your sins forgiven and get a brand-new start,
as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed,
my head is going to be up, my eyes are going to be open-- because I want to
acknowledge you. If you are here and you want
to receive Christ as Savior and get a brand new start,
a brand new lease on life, a redo, a do-over, I want
you to raise your hand up. Raise it up high,
raise it up bold, and keep it up for just a
moment so I can acknowledge you and pray for you. God bless you, to my left. I see your hand over there. And you on my right,
in the middle-- anyone else. Raise those hands up. Say yes to him. God bless you. Anybody else? Would you raise your hand up? You know, it's like
a drowning person. They're in the ocean,
they raise their hand up. They're saying, I need his help. I need saving. I need rescuing. Anyone else? Raise that hand up. You've seen altar calls
like this a long time. You just waded through it. God bless you. You've not done it, but
you know you need to. God bless you. Anybody else? You and you? You're among friends. You're going to see in a minute. We're going to love
this and encourage you for making this decision. Lord, we pray for those
who have raised hands. They've admitted they
have needy lives. We are so grateful that you
are here to meet their need. No church can do it, no pastor
can do it, no group of humans can do it, but you can do it. And I pray, Lord, that you
would settle deep within them, give them hope, give them
peace, transform their lives, in Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand to your feet? We're going to
sing a final song. And those of you who
raised your hands, I'm going to ask you now to get
up from where you're standing, find the nearest aisle,
stand right up here. I'm going to lead
you in a prayer. And I'm going to lead you in a
prayer to receive Jesus Christ, and we're going to
do that together. So as we sing this song,
you get up and come and let me lead
you in that prayer. Jesus called people publicly. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC - HILLSONG LIVE, "CHRIST
IS ENOUGH"] (SINGING) Christ
is enough for me. Christ is enough for me. Come stand right up here. (SINGING) And everything
I need is in you. And everything I need. Christ is enough for me. Christ is enough for me. And everything I need is in you. And everything I need. And could it be
that you remember a time in your life when you
had a spiritual awakening or something happened but you've
walked away from the Lord, you are not following
him, you're not living in obedience to him? You need to come as well. You might be in the family
room or the balcony. We'll wait for
you, but you come. If you're in the middle of
a road, just say, excuse me. And you will watch your road
graciously part like a Red Sea to let you out of it. And maybe somebody will
even stand with you just to encourage you. But just say yes to
him, come back to him, or come to him for
the first time. Anyone else? We're gonna sing this
through one more time. Please come. [APPLAUSE] (SINGING) I have
decided to follow Jesus. No turning back,
no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back,
no turning back. Go ahead, tell them they
did the right thing. Tell them that. [APPLAUSE] Yeah, OK. Those of you who
have come forward, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. I'm going to say this out loud. I want to ask you to say this
prayer out loud, after me, from your heart to the Lord. OK? You tune everybody out, and
this is just you talking to him. [APPLAUSE] OK? Come on out. God bless both of you. Yeah. Let's do this. Let's pray. Say Lord, I give you my life. Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. That he died on a cross. That he died on a cross. That he shed his
blood for my sin. That he shed his
blood for my sin. And that he rose
again from the grave. And that he rose
again from the grove. I turn from my sin. I turn from my sin. I repent. I repent. I turn to Jesus as Lord. I turn to Jesus as Lord. And savior of my soul. And savior of my soul. In his name. In his name. Amen. Amen. [APPLAUSE]
