The Comfort Of His Spirit

“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.” John 16:1-6

When the Bible was originally written, it wasn’t written with chapters or verses. Even though the chapter/verses are helpful for us to find references and so forth, a lot of times the breaks or the divisions aren’t always helpful. A lot of times the subject that is finished at the end of a chapter will be carried into the next chapter. Because you’re starting a new chapter, everyone automatically assumes you’re starting a new subject. That’s not necessarily the case. Which, by the way, is a good rule of thumb. Whenever you’re looking at a particular passage, always back up and read beyond to make sure that you take a text in its context. No one likes to be taken out of context, and that’s true when it comes to the study of the Bible.

Way back in chapter 15, as far as verse 18, Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” Jesus has been speaking to them about the world’s hatred, the idea that He is going to go away, and they are going to be hated by the world. He made it clear that the world hates them because it hated Jesus and because the world does not know the Father nor the Son.

As you come into chapter 16, He continues this topic and theme, even though in John 15:26 He speaks about the coming Comforter which He introduces in John 16:7. Beginning in chapter 16 He says, “These things have I spoken unto you,” what things? The things we just read at the end of chapter 15. Have I thoroughly confused and lost you by now? The things that He says I’ve spoken to you, go back to chapter 15, about the hatred of the world. I’m kind of amazed how often God orchestrates the teachings. This morning, I was preaching about persecution and how we respond to persecution, what our attitudes should be, and how to shine in the midst of persecution. Well, lo and behold, the same subject begins chapter 16. As Christians, we are going to be in a non-Christian world. As Christians, we are going to be in a world that is hostile to our faith and Jesus Christ, and we are going to be opposed by the world. It’s really consistent with what Peter was telling us earlier this morning as we were studying 1 Peter. He said, “I’m telling you these things so you will not stumble,” verse 1. I’m telling you these things so you won’t be stumbled by them and when persecution comes they won’t say, “Wow, what’s this all about? I didn’t think this was going to happen,” and they are going to be stumbled and not be ready, so Jesus is preparing them. He’s going to go away and they’re going to face hostility. What we’re reading about here, in these first few verses, was perfectly fulfilled in the book of Acts and has been through church history. The world does not know God, they do not know Christ, they hated Christ, and they're going to hate us. We need to make sure that we’re not offended or caused to stumble when the world laughs at us or mocks us.

I’ve shared this story before. When I was a young Christian, I had just gotten saved, I slapped an icthus sticker on my ’66 VW bus that I wish I’d never sold. It’s kind of like the same old thing, why did you ever sell that cool car? Anyway, I had this really cool ’66 VW bus that I stuck my sticker on. That was my bold proclamation, “I’m a Christian.” I’ll never forget a group of my ungodly, worldly friends coming out and seeing this on my car starting to freak out. “John! Are you a Christian? How’d that get on your car? What’s this Christian sticker?” I hadn’t really told them that I’d accepted the Lord yet, and they were all gathering around me and getting all upset. I remember, it was kind of like a flash, my first thought was, “Just tell ‘em some Christian must have stuck it on there.” Fear struck my heart! It was like, “Oh no. Here’s the moment of truth,” you know. “Are you a Christian?” I remember just taking kind of a gulp and, “Yyyeess,” you know, with fear and trembling in my voice. Boy, they really let me have it. They mocked me, laughed at me, put me down and told me what a dodo bird I was. I remember going away thinking, “Gee, Lord, thanks a lot.” I was so devastated and so upset and about ready to just give up. It was like the ultimate persecution, my friends laughed at my bumper sticker, you know. How tragic that something like that would cause us to stumble or to be offended. They persecuted Jesus; they’re going to persecute you.

“They shall put you out of the synagogues,” verse 2. Nothing could be worse for a Jew than to be excommunicated from the synagogue. There were different degrees or levels of excommunication, but that was his very life, the Jewish synagogue and the worship of God there. It would take place in the life of the Jewish community, so to be excommunicated would be a horrible thing which indicates, as was happened, many of the first Christians were indeed Jews. “… that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” That is perfectly and literally fulfilled in Saul of Tarsus. The Bible says that Saul was breathing out threatenings. He got papers from the Jewish authorities to go all the way to Damascus from Jerusalem, and if he found anyone there that was calling on the name of Jesus they could be arrested and brought back to Jerusalem to stand trial. He was the leader of the Hate Christ Club on his college campus. He was a person who hated Christians. He was doing all he could to persecute them in the name of God. He thought he was doing God a service. Important to realize is that many times Christians are persecuted not even by the unbelieving or the secular world but by the religious world.

Some of the greatest persecution against Christians have come from professing Christians. Some of the greatest persecution of true Christians have come from those who name the name of Christ in profession only, they are not truly believers, or from religion. I’m thinking in my mind too, one period of time known as the Protestant Reformation. People took a stand for the authority of Scripture and for the doctrine of justification by faith, and the individual priesthood of the believer, the need for Christians to have the Word of God in their own language, and read their own Bibles. Guess where the opposition came? It came from the Roman Catholic church. I don’t say that to offend anybody or to hurt anybody’s feelings, do your own research and study, it’s true. It was the unbelieving, unregenerated Roman Catholic church that didn’t want God’s people to have this Book. They wanted them to view the church as the supreme authority, the pope and the church, and they didn’t want them to know God’s Word. People were literally imprisoned for reading the Bible. They were literally imprisoned for teaching their children. If you taught your children the Lord’s prayer, you would go to prison. The Catholic church would persecute you.

Many of the early reformers and my heroes, John Wycliffe the Morningstar of Reformation and William Tyndale, are two of the greatest men in church history. They literally gave their lives to stand on the authority of Scripture before Martin Luther ever came on the scene. They were being persecuted by the Roman Catholic church. William Tyndale had to flee to Germany to print Bibles and smuggle them into England to get the Word of God into the hands of the people at the opposition and the resistance of the Roman Catholic church. What a tragedy! Wherever the Bible was published, printed, and read, revival took place. Someone said, “If we want revival, we need read Bible.” We need to get back into the Word of God. Revive us according to thy Word, O Lord. Thy Word is truth. Notice, Jesus made it clear that those that kill you will even think they're doing God service. How sad that is as we looked at the book of Acts and on through the history of the church.

“…these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” Again, Jesus tells us the reason that they do that. Verse 4 says, “But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.” I was present with you, and I could encourage, teach, and instruct you. Jesus is beginning to hint at the fact that He is going to go away; He is going to leave. He has already done that several times in this upper room discourse, and He says, “I’m going to be leaving, and I don’t want you to be offended or caused to stumble, but I’m going My way and none of you are really concerned.” The idea is that they weren’t ongoingly worried and concerned about where He was going. Peter had actually asked earlier, “Where are You going?” But, he had forgotten about it, and he wasn’t pursuing it. Thomas said, “We don’t know where You’re going and how can we know the way?” When Jesus said, “None of you asked Me where I am going,” Jesus is actually saying, “None of you were persistently concerned or caring about where I’m going. You’re self-absorbed, worried about yourself, and all freaked out because I told you that I’m going to leave.” Now, He begins to speak about the Holy Spirit which, if He would leave, would come to them and be to their advantage.

Verse 7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient…,” which means profitable, “…for you that I go away.” They couldn’t understand that. How could it be beneficial for us for Jesus to go away. He tells them, “…for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will sent him unto you.” The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. The word “Comforter” there in the Greek is the word parakletos. It means one who comes alongside of another to comfort and strengthen them. Jesus would depart and would send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would come unto them and comfort, strengthen, help, guide, and be with them. Let me just say this quickly before I forget to make it clear. The benefit of Jesus going would be the Holy Spirit would now come in His fulness and each of them individually would have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them. When Jesus was with them in person, bodily, on earth He could only be at one place at one time. If Jesus was with His disciples in Galilee, He was not with His disciples in Judea, and vice versa. Now, when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit would bring the presence of Jesus to all the disciples, all over the world, all the time. Isn’t that cool? We’re gathered here on a Sunday night worshiping the Lord and guess Who’s here with us? The Holy Spirit. There are Christians in San Diego tonight, there are Christians in other states, there are Christians in other countries, there are Christians meeting perhaps in other places around the nation and around the world right now. Guess what? Jesus is right there with them. He said, “Where there are two or three gathered in My name, there am I in the midst.” That’s the benefit. Jesus would have to go away so the Holy Spirit could come and be with us wherever we go, individually and corporately, in a very special way. If Jesus did not depart and send the Spirit, this would never have taken place.

As I said, this is not the first time Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit in the upper room discourse. We already taught on these verses, but I want to point them out to you. Go back with me to John 14:15-18. He says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter…,” the word “another” means another of the same kind, so the Holy Spirit would be equal in His essence, divine to God the Father and God the Son—another Comforter. Jesus was their Comforter, and the Holy Spirit would be another Comforter. “…that he may abide with you…,” for how long? “…for ever;” I don’t know about you, but I underlined that in my Bible. Not as long as you’re good or He likes you or your nice or He gets bored with you, “I’m kinda tired of you. I’m going to go find somebody else to hang out with.” He has come forever. He will not depart.

In verse 17, He’s called the “…Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” There are different ways you can interpret that. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was with them. There were times in the Old Testament where people were filled with the Holy Spirit but only for particular tasks. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit could fill someone and then leave someone. In the New Testament, as we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us permanently. He comes and He stays. He doesn’t leave. He doesn’t move in and move out and move in and move out. He comes, He is with us, and then He is in us. Some see the Old Testament and the New Testament, some see the disciples before Pentecost or before Jesus breathed on them they received the Holy Spirit, that He was with them and then He moved in them. I believe this could be true of Christians even today. The Holy Spirit could be thought of as being with us and the Holy Spirit is also in us, and the Holy Spirit is upon us—all those relationships to the Holy Spirit. He will be with you; He shall be in you.

“I will not leave you comfortless…,” He doesn't use the Greek word parakletos, but uses the word orphanos, where we get our word “orphans” from. I’m not going to leave you as orphans, “I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” Turn with me to John 15:26. Jesus says, “But when the Comforter…,” there it is again, parakletos, “…is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth…,” He’s called, “…which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me,” that’s the work of the Holy Spirit, to testify of Jesus, “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” All I really wanted to do was read those verses to show you, if you want to make a note, those are the verses where Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit in this upper room discourse. He had so much to say about Him.

Go back with me now to John 16:7. “It is expedient…,” or profitable “…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.” The fact that the Holy Spirit arrived, listen to me very carefully, on the day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of the promise Jesus made in this verse. Jesus always keeps His promises, and a marvelous indication that what Jesus did on the cross when He died in our place, it’s called the substitutionary death of Christ. He actually took our place and paid for our sins. How do we know that was accepted by God the Father? Because when Jesus died on the cross, He died to propitiate God the Father to satisfy the demands of God’s laws that had been broken. How do we know God the Father accepted the substitutionary propitiatory work of Jesus on the cross? “Well, He was buried.” “Yeah, He was buried.” “And there He’s in the grave, and He rose from the dead.” The first demonstration that what Jesus did on the cross was accepted by God the Father, I like the idea that Jesus cried on the cross, “It is finished.” He was buried and God the Father said, “Amen,” by raising Him from the dead, so that work was complete, but it’s not over yet. For a period of 40 days, He appeared to His disciples and then He ascended back into heaven.

We don’t think a lot about the ascension. We don’t talk a lot about the ascension. We don’t teach a lot about the ascension, but I’ll never forget the first time I spent some real time studying the ascension of Christ. It blew me away! It’s an important part of the story of Jesus. We have His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, and beyond that we have what’s called His exaltation. All of that is what we need to understand what Jesus came to do for us. When Jesus ascended back into heaven, He was seated at the right hand of the Father and sent the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit arrived on the day of Pentecost, guess what that was the indication of? That Jesus had made it back to heaven. Jesus was exalted on high. What Jesus did on the cross was complete and finished, accepted by God the Father, and He sent the Holy Spirit. It was an indication that He had made it safely back to heaven. When they watched Jesus go, I don’t know if it sounded like this, Whistles right back into heaven. That’s a little sound effect for the ascension. I don’t know if it sounded like that, but they watched Jesus go back. How did they know He didn’t get His directions wrong and go sideways and end up in Hawaii? How did they know He got back to the Father? The Holy Spirit showed up.

I don’t often recommend books when I preach, and there’s a whole heap of good ones, but one of my favorites is Billy Graham’s book on the Holy Spirit. Ever since I first read it, I’ve never stopped recommending it. Now, when you think of Billy Graham you don’t think of books of doctrinal theologic content, but he really is a pretty smart guy and wrote some amazing books. It breaks my heart that a lot of people have not read the books that were written by Billy Graham, but he’s written an amazing book, The Holy Spirit. On this point, he tells a story about an explorer that was going to go the North Pole, way to the North Pole, to do some exploration. What he devised to do when he got to the North Pole, so that his wife would know that he arrived safely, was to take a homing pigeon with him. As he was exploring the North Pole, he arrived safely, he put a note on the leg band of this homing pigeon and released it. The homing pigeon made the journey from the North Pole down to where this explorer’s wife was living. When the homing pigeon arrived, she opened the note that her husband had sent. The homing pigeon’s arrival was a beautiful picture that her husband arrived safely to his destination. What a great illustration of the coming of the Holy Spirit showing us that Jesus has arrived safely at His destination—that He died, was buried, He rose, ascended, He’s exalted, and now we have the Holy Spirit. I don’t think that we fully fathom that amazing blessing and privilege.

Jesus said it is expedient for you that I go away that we have the Holy Spirit. We couldn’t be saved without the Holy Spirit. We couldn’t live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. We can’t preach without the Holy Spirit. We can’t understand the Bible without the Holy Spirit. We wouldn’t have the Bible without the Holy Spirit. What a blessed gift this is, this Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who’s come that Jesus sent to us from the Father.

“And when he is come…,” He begins in verse 8 to describe His relationship to the unbelieving world. This isn’t talking about His ministry to disciples, but first His ministry to the unsaved world. “…he will reprove…,” convict or convince “…the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment;” then He explains what He means. I admit, it’s a little challenging to understand, “…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 unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come…,” now He switches (verse 13), He is speaking to His relationship to the believer, “…he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” First we see His work in the world, and He’s come to do three things—convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Notice that sin is singular—it’s not sins. It’s not saying that He comes to convict us of individual sin but the issue of sin, and we are separated from God. Without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, I don’t believe that anyone can truly be born again. Before a person can be born again, the Holy Spirit has to convince them of something, and that which the Holy Spirit convinces them, that’s the word reprove or convict, is that you are a sinner.

You don’t just come to Jesus because it sounds cool, and you want to try it out, and your friends are all doing it, and you haven’t gotten anything else do to. You’ve tried Buddha and other things, so let’s give Jesus a try. No. You come to Jesus, if you’re going to be converted that is, born out of a sense of I’m a sinner and I need salvation. I’m always a little hesitant when I give an alter call and give an invitation. I don’t want to press too hard or play to people’s emotions. I want the Holy Spirit to convict them of their sin. I want people to come, born out of a sense of, “I’m a sinner. I need Jesus. He’s the Savior.” We can’t trick people into the kingdom of God. We can't talk them into the kingdom of God. We can’t argue them into the kingdom. Only the Holy Spirit can convict you. If you’re here tonight and you’re coming under conviction, it happened to me toward the end of my senior year of high school. It was just about graduation time. I just became miserable. Miserable! For no reason other than my mom, my sisters, my family, and their church was praying for their rebellious son, John. They had sicked the hound dog of heaven on me, the Holy Spirit. “Get him! Sick ‘em!” My mother looked at me and said, “John, until you give your heart to Jesus, you’ll never be happy.” Oo! That made me mad! It was so true! She was so right. The Holy Spirit just convicted me! “Man, I’m a sinner! Man, I need God.” I felt just so wretched, and I eventually just called out to God, and I was born again. That’s what Jesus is talking about. He convicts the world of sin.

In verse 9, when He explains it, “Of sin, because they believe not on me;” the sin here is the sin of unbelief. Ultimately, that is the sin that keeps you out of heaven. No one is going to go to hell because they lied, committed adultery, smoked marijuana or got drunk, stole something, or because they’re living a sinful lifestyle. They do those things because they’re a sinner. The Bible teaches that we are all born sinners, and we sin because we are sinners. Have I lost you? The reason that we sin is because we’re sinners. Ultimately, it’s our sin of unbelief that keeps us out of heaven—not believing in Jesus Christ. When you get to heaven, the unbelievers will stand before God, and He’s going to ask, “What did you do with My Son, Jesus Christ?” He’s not going to ask, “Did you smoke cigarettes? Do you like smoking down there?” He’s not going to do that. “I understand you played cards when you went to Las Vegas. Okay, you go to hell.” He’s going to say, “What did you do with My Son, Jesus Christ?” If you rejected Him, and you didn’t believe in Him, you cannot be saved. Simply stated, I happen to believe this is the unpardonable sin. The continual, ongoing rejection of Jesus Christ—the sin of unbelief. You don’t believe in Jesus. Without that, you cannot be saved.

Secondly, He says, “…of righteousness…,” and then the explanation, “Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more.” My best stab at this, and I say stab at this because I honestly confess that as long as I’ve studied this passage, I’m not sure I completely understand what Jesus is trying to say here, but it would seem as though He convicts us of the sin of righteousness. There is a standard that God the Father will accept, and it was seen in Jesus Christ by His ascension back into heaven and by His life. That standard is what we fall short of, and God convicts us of that. He convicts us of our sin, and our sin is unbelief, and He convicts us of the fact that we’re not as righteous as Jesus; He is the standard that we fall short of.

Thirdly, of judgment. This judgment is a judgment in the past. “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” Isn’t that interesting. This is why I said the explanations for these convictions, the work of the Holy Spirit, is a little bit challenging. “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” The thought there is because satan was judged and defeated at the cross. The implication is that God will judge you and you will be defeated. Satan was destroyed at the cross. The prince of this world was judged, so we will one day be judged. He’s looking at the past judgment of the prince of this world, referring to satan, who was judged at the cross where he was divested of his power and authority. Needless to say, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convince men of sin of the righteous standard that God will accept, and of the judgment that will come to them so that they might be saved. What we ought to pray, when praying for our lost loved ones, family members, and unsaved friends is, “God, convict them of their sin. Lord, convict them of righteousness and of judgment.” Those are things that we need to be praying the Holy Spirit does. Sick the hound dog of heaven on them and let Him go to work on those unbelieving friends.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,” I want you to take note of the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. “…he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself;” what that means is He will not speak of His own accord, and it could be that He is referring to the inspiration of the New Testament, the work of the Holy Spirit inspiring the apostles when they would write the New Testament, that He’s the Spirit of truth and will not speak of His own accord. Even as Jesus spoke the words the Father gave to Him, so the Holy Spirit will speak the words that the Son will give to Him. “…but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” He did that so beautifully in the book of Revelation, and His work and ministry, as we’ve already seen, is that “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” The work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ. “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” The Holy Spirit shows us Jesus, shows us the things of Jesus. How does He do that? Well, He did that by giving us the Bible. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. God breathed the Scriptures. They are given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Who do we find is the central theme of all Scripture? Jesus—from Genesis to Revelation.

There’s a woman by the name of Henrietta Mears. She wrote a little book called, What The Bible is All About. She did a really cool thing. In each one of the books of the Bible, she started it off by saying, “This is how Jesus is portrayed.” From Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all the way through all the books of the Bible, she points out how Jesus is seen or portrayed in the pages of Scripture. If you are studying your Bible, and if you’re reading the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and you’re reading it with the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to find Jesus, you’re going to see Jesus, you’re going to come to Jesus, you’re going to experience Jesus. If you’re studying the Bible and you’re just getting a big head and gaining a lot of information, and you’re not being drawn to Jesus, then it’s not a Holy Spirit led study of God’s Word. Jesus is the theme of all Scripture, and that’s what Jesus is talking about here.

“A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.” I think that has two ways it’s fulfilled. Jesus would be crucified and buried, they wouldn’t see Him. Jesus would raise again from the dead, and they would see Him. Jesus then would go back to the Father, and they wouldn’t see Him. The Holy Spirit would come and give them illumination to the things of Christ, and they would see Him again. Have I lost you? Jesus says, “You see Me now, but you’re not going to see Me in a little while, but then you’re going to see Me.” He’s talking about His death, His resurrection and, ultimately, His ascension and then sending the Holy Spirit who will show us the things of Christ.

In verse 17, “Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.” If I were in that group, that’s what I would have been saying. I’d be scratching my head not knowing what’s going on. “Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” Again, this would happen at the resurrection.

I try to imagine the emotional rush and joy and mind-blowing experience of the disciples encountering the risen Savior. Have you ever done that? Even when I see movies about Jesus and they show the post-resurrection appearances, I don’t think that anyone has accurately portrayed just how freak out it must have been! It’s just, “Waaahh!” I mean just that ecstasy and the joy and the mixture of fear! I mean it’s like, “The Dude was dead! And He’s standing right there! I need to go lie down.” And all the implications that rushed through their minds. I’m just thinking, “Man, I think I would just…” My head would just blow up, you know. How do you absorb and digest the resurrection?! He was dead and now He’s alive! No wonder they were fearful and trembling and they were just in ecstasy. This is amazing!

Try to imagine if you went to a funeral and the body was lying in the casket. You knew the dude was dead, and then he stood up and said, “Hey, thanks for coming today.” “Aaaahhh!” I mean the kind of stuff you see on America’s Funniest Home Videos, but this is the real deal! Jesus came back from the dead, and all the implications. He’s alive! Your sins are forgiven! We have hope beyond the grave! He’s the Messiah! He is the Savior! What joy must have filled their hearts! That’s what Jesus is talking about, “but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” They went from as bummed out as you can be, to use that expression, to as sorrowful as you could be, to as joyful as you can be in a matter of just hours, from the death of Christ to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives an illustration, “A woman when she is in travail…,” that’s labor pains, “…hath sorrow,” and all the women say, “Amen.” “…because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.” You’re going through the contractions and the labor pain, and it’s not all that enjoyable, but as soon as that child is born you forget all the pain for joy that a child is born into the world. That’s what Jesus says, “My death and resurrection will be.” “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” Isn’t that great? No one can take the joy of the Lord from your heart. “And in that day…,” that is, the day that the Holy Spirit would come in His fullness, “…ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

Fullness of joy is directly related to prayer and answered prayer. You want more joy? Pray more to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and see God answer prayer! It brings fullness of joy! Notice that true prayer is trinitarian. Basically, and this isn’t something you have to do or a prayer won’t work, prayer is you talking to God the Father, and you’re coming to Him through the merits of God the Son, and you do it in the energy and in the power, the guidance and direction, of God the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit means He leads, guides, directs, and energizes your prayers. People get kind of discombobulated. They’ll pray to the Father and they call Him Lord and Jesus and Holy Spirit, that’s cool. Don’t sweat it. God’s not going to kick you out of the club. “You know, I’m not going to pray. I’m so nervous. Let’s see, do I talk to the Father through the Son? How does this all work?” You just talk to God—Abba, Father.

Generally speaking, you’re talking to your Father. You say, “Abba. Our Father which art in heaven.” How do you get access to God the Father? It’s through the mediator, Jesus Christ. That’s what it means to pray in His name. The idea of praying in His name isn’t a magic word that you tack onto the end of a prayer, “In Jesus name!” to get what you want. Jesus isn’t going to say, “Hey, you forgot My name. I would like to have answered that, but you forgot the name.” What it means is because of Jesus. It means in the merits of Jesus. It means I’m coming to You on the basis of Jesus, my righteousness, and I’m coming to You for Jesus. That’s what it means to pray in Jesus’ name. That’s why if you’re praying for something selfish, and you say, “In the name of Jesus,” that’s completely inconsistent. If you’re praying according to His will, then you can say, “In the name of Jesus.” It’s for Jesus sake. Think about the end of your prayer when you say, “In Jesus name,” and change it, “For Jesus sake.” It’ll change your prayers so completely. There’s the Father, through the Son and in the energy of the Holy Spirit.

“And in that day ye shall ask me nothing,” but now you can ask, “and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself…,” check this out, verse 27, “loveth you.” Jesus tells us the Father loves us, “because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” Notice in verse 28, the summary of Christ’s life: came from the Father, came into the world, and then left the world and went back unto the Father. “His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” What an amazing promise Jesus made!

When you come to the end of the 16th chapter, chapter 17 is considered part of the upper room discourse, but it’s unique from chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 in that it is actually a prayer of Jesus to the Father. You’ve heard the term The Lord’s Prayer, John 17. What we know as the Lord’s prayer is not really the Lord’s prayer. It’s the Lord’s pattern for prayer, but John 17 is the Lord’s prayer. Notice again, He reminds them that they are all going to be scattered. Smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, verse 32. That means when Jesus, only in a matter of hours, would be arrested in the garden of Gethsemane everyone would run and flee, “every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” I love that. Jesus would go to the cross and be crucified. He summarizes, “these things,” all that we just read in John 16. In reality, we can’t be sure, but it could be that He is summarizing (verse 33) chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 when He says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.” Do you know where our peace is? It’s in Jesus Christ. It’s not in the world. It’s not in drugs or alcohol. It’s in Jesus Christ. It’s not in possessions.

In the world ye shall have tribulation…,” I’ve often wondered why that statement is not on a card in a little promise box. Have you ever seen those little loaves of bread, a little plastic loaf of bread with little cards. You set them in the windowsill over your kitchen sink. You take a promise out for the day. Can you imagine taking one out: In the world you shall have tribulation. “Well, let’s try another one.” Jesus actually said, “Don’t be shocked, don’t be surprised.” Remember this morning I said, “There’s no Christian fallout shelter. God doesn’t put you in a bubble to protect you from germs. No Christian will get the Zika virus,” you know. “No Christian will have cavities. No Christian will lose their hair. No Christian will get old and wrinkled.” No, no. It doesn’t happen, right? In the world ye shall have tribulation.” I really want to wrap this up, so bear with me but listen carefully.

An important distinction is the tribulation that Jesus said we would have is not from God. Its source is the world, the flesh, and the devil. Why do I make that distinction? I make that distinction because a lot of times Christians think that we’re going to go through the tribulation. I happen to be what’s called a pretribulationist. I believe in a rapture that takes place before the revelation of the antichrist, who will sign a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years, which will begin the tribulation period, that 70th week of Daniel. I believe that good Christians can disagree on this. I believe they’re wrong, but they’re good Christians, and we can disagree on this. I wouldn’t hold a position if I didn’t believe in it. We do experience tribulation, but not the tribulation which comes from God. There’s two different sources for this tribulation. Our tribulation comes from the world, the flesh, and the devil. The tribulation, the seven years, will come from God Himself. It’s going to be the wrath of God poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world, and the Bible says, “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I know all the arguments, and we’re not here to talk about pre-, mid- and post-trib. People say, “Well, the first half is going to be peace, so I believe in a mid-trib,” or “We’ll go through the tribulation but won’t be harmed,” and all that. I believe that all seven years is one unit, the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy, and when the antichrist signs that covenant with Israel, the church then can be raptured. I don’t know if it will be immediately raptured, but it can be raptured. It will be caught up to be with the Lord before that happens because the church has to be caught up before the antichrist is to be revealed. That’s why it is absolutely a waste of time to try to figure out who the antichrist is, okay, totally a waste of time. I’m not going to start naming names, but when you read that the antichrist is here and in an apartment in London, England or wherever. If he comes, he’s probably going to be in Barstow. I’m kidding. Who knows? It is a waste of time. Nowhere in the Bible are we to be looking for the antichrist. We are to be looking for Jesus Christ. I don’t care who the antichrist is, I’m looking for Jesus! I think if you’re smart, you will be too. “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;” what a precious promise in closing, “I have overcome the world.” Amen? In Jesus Christ we are overcomers. We don’t need to fear the world. Let’s pray.