John 16:1-15

[0:00] Go thou to the sea and cast an hope. And he says that's where you'll get your money to pay your taxes. But what does he mean, lest we should offend them? Is he worried about hurting Herod's feelings?

[0:12] No, it's the case of lest we should transgress their laws and cause a problem and then find ourselves in jail, we're going to pay taxes. So the offense is offending the law or transgressing the law. I hope that makes sense to you.

[0:27] Look back at Matthew, let me see where that is. 5, 6, I think it's 6. No, 5. Look back at Matthew 5.

[0:52] Matthew 5 and verse 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

[1:05] And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out. What's the mean of offend thee? How does an eye offend you? The idea is the eye is causing you to sin.

[1:17] What you're looking at and lusting after is causing you to sin. That therefore the eye is offending you or in more terms we'd speak is what is the cause of me trespassing or sinning against God.

[1:32] Same thing in verse 30. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. And you get the idea clearly. We're not talking about hurting my feelings. My eye and my hand is not hurting my feelings and I just don't like my hand.

[1:46] It just is not the right size. That's not the case. It has to do with sinning. And to avoid sin in this teaching that applies in a specific area, deal with that and I think you get the idea.

[2:01] Let me take you to James chapter 2. I think this is another one you're really familiar with as far as seeing the word again come up. Typically, we don't run all these references on a word, but this is Sunday school and we want to learn our Bibles.

[2:19] And when we do this, you read your Bible, right? So as you read it, you'll see this thing all over the place. And I don't want you to be misled or just take it wrong or not understand it. Remember when Peter rebuked the Lord Jesus when he said, Far be it from thee, this shall not be unto thee.

[2:37] And Christ said, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me. And he's talking about him trying to tell him that you're not going to go forward with the will of God and fulfill what God has brought you here to do.

[2:52] And he says, You're an offense unto me. And it's the same concept here of a trespass, of not obeying or being submissive or obedient to the will of God. Okay, James chapter 2.

[3:05] Here's one that you'll, it's pretty easy to get. I'll start in verse 9. If you have respect to persons, you commit sin because the law says you can't do that.

[3:15] So you're convinced of the law as transgressors. And whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. So the sin makes you an offender.

[3:28] The offense makes you an offender. In verse 11, at the end of it, you're a transgressor. Transgressing, you become a transgressor. Offending, you become offender of the law. So that's enough of that.

[3:39] So coming back to John 16, These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended. And the idea is plainly that you don't give in and fall because things are coming that are going to be rough for you.

[3:54] And I don't want you to fail. So for instance, we read verse 2 that they'll put you out of the synagogues. And then the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service.

[4:05] What a... I don't know what to say about that. It's just this is your calling, men. This is what I'm sending you to do.

[4:17] I'm sending you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. And they're going to kill you thinking that they're being a pleasure to God. Now, this happened in their lifetime.

[4:28] Look at Acts chapter... Look at Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8.

[4:42] And we're familiar with a man whose name was Saul. He was rising quickly in the ranks of the Jews' religion. And in chapter 8, verse 1, Saul's consenting unto his death.

[4:56] That's Stephen. Stephen's a man full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost. One of those original men appointed to help in the early church there in Jerusalem. And they kill him because they didn't like his message that he preached there in chapter 7.

[5:11] And so they murdered the man. And they're scattered abroad. And it says in verse 3 that Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committed them to prison.

[5:27] And they were scattered abroad because of this apostle or this man's drive to keep the law of Moses in the forefront and the priority and to resist anything that even looked or seemed to smell like Christ or Jesus of Nazareth.

[5:48] And so chapter 9 and verse 1, notice these words, And Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.

[6:03] And he goes, I want to go to find these people that took off and ran from here. We need to bring them back, and they need to be tried. And justice needs to be dealt according to our holy law.

[6:15] These ones that detracted from it and fell away, they're heretics. I want to show you what he said he did, though.

[6:25] Look all the way to chapter 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20. Acts 26.

[6:37] Acts 26. And here he tells his testimony before Agrippa of what exactly he was doing. Verse 9 says, I've really thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

[6:56] He's not the Messiah to Saul at the time. He's Jesus, a man of Nazareth. And notice how he keeps his location on the earth, who he is.

[7:07] He's not the Son of God. He's this guy that got this following, and I'm going to do everything I can contrary to what he was. In verse 10, Which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.

[7:20] And notice this line, And when they were put to death, Why are they killing these people? Because they were killing them. He's breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.

[7:35] When they were put to death, I gave my voice against them, and I compelled them off in every synagogue, and I punished them off in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme. How do you compel somebody to blaspheme?

[7:47] Well, it's probably those threats. I'm going to do this to you. I'm going to take you down. You're going to be dead. Threatenings, I threatened them. Or, he was torturing them, persecuting them, like Christ said.

[8:01] I compelled them to blaspheme, being exceedingly mad against them. I persecuted them, even unto strange cities. Now, let's leave that and go back. Let's rewind a little bit. Go back to Matthew chapter 10.

[8:12] And I want to put a verse on this where Christ had already forewarned his disciples about how things are going to play out. Matthew 10.

[8:26] And so there's a little bit of a picture of it happening in the life of these disciples, which, what we're reading in Acts chapter 8 and 9, that's, I don't know, six months past Calvary, past this John 16 moment.

[8:44] It's very, very close. Matthew chapter 10, and notice verse 21. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to what?

[8:57] To death. The brother. Your own brother delivers you up to the authorities who are looking to kill and exterminate everybody that is a follower or a disciple of Jesus.

[9:13] The father, the child. Let that sink in for a minute that you dads would turn your children into the authorities because your children have been rumored or have been known to be following this cult that believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Christ and the Savior of the world and the Hebrew deliverer and Messiah.

[9:40] And the authorities, like Saul, comes beating on your door. Or, get up, all of you, get up, get out here right now, everybody on the ground. And he goes through and he starts with the dad.

[9:54] We've heard rumor, they led us to you. Are you guilty? Are you the one? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The mom's crying. The kids are weeping. They're scared. They're screaming. And they're looking for anybody that's associating with Jesus of Nazareth.

[10:09] And fathers, with the persecution imminent, with the threats or the torture, they're being compelled. Even if they did secretly follow Christ, they're blaspheming him and saying out loud, no, no, no, no.

[10:24] We're not believing on him. Not here. And retracting everything they ever said in private to other Christians. Fathers turning over their children to the authorities.

[10:35] Children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death, is what he said to his disciples. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.

[10:47] A little bit later in the chapter, look at verse 34. Therefore, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace on earth.

[10:57] I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

[11:09] And here comes a test of discipleship. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.

[11:25] He that findeth his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. And there's going to be people losing their lives.

[11:37] Now come back to chapter 16, because there's going to be in their lifetime and their generation a very real movement and persecution against any follower of Christ, so much so that they're killing them, slaughtering them, taking them in prison.

[11:56] If they don't retract or blaspheme, finding how they put them to death according to the scriptures. Now Christ warned that this would happen. Now this doesn't just apply into the immediate, yet going into the future you can make application to the Holocaust, to certain political figures who claim a certain religion and claim that they find this to be acceptable with God and that what they're doing is of a godly trait.

[12:23] And then even others today so deceived that would murder innocent Hebrews and say that they're doing this in the name of their God, which is a ridiculous thought. And yet here Christ is warning, whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service.

[12:39] So now verse number 3, chapter 16 again in John, and verse number 3, And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me.

[12:51] But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I have told you them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou?

[13:06] Now they did do that earlier, but not anymore. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. And I guess you could imagine why, because that's just a, that's kind of a thing that'll consume your thinking, to know that, so if I stay this road, it's going to be a premature death, and persecution, persecution, and hatred.

[13:29] But they've just been three and a half years with Jesus Christ. They've just witnessed an angry mob come up against him, and try to overthrow him, and he just walks through the midst of them.

[13:43] They've witnessed him standing on top of a sea of water. They've witnessed him tell the elements to just be still. And they've watched him raise dead.

[13:53] So they've seen, all of this is programmed in them. And then he's going to tell them some things, that when the Holy Ghost comes, they're going to get their power back too. Power that they had to raise the dead themselves, and to heal the sick, and cleanse the lepers.

[14:08] But nevertheless, to hear that you're going to be persecuted, and hated, and tortured, and murdered, sorrow filled their heart. And this is what God called us to do?

[14:19] This is what he had chosen, and ordained us to do? Is to go out there, and be put to death? Well, yes and no. I mean, the ministry is not to get to an end of persecution.

[14:36] The ministry is to minister. So they've got a calling, and they're going to be gifted to minister, and to preach, and to raise up a church early there in the book of Acts, by the thousands, and God's going to be glorified.

[14:50] But the end of the thing is not going to be good. So they're signing on, and it's a hard thing to swallow, is considering that this is not going to be an easy road.

[15:01] So sorrow fills their heart. Let's continue. Verse 7 says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

[15:14] Now, he's just told them that at the end of the previous chapter, in verse 26, that the Comforter's going to come, I'm going to send him, and he's going to testify of me. And notice that last verse of chapter 15, that when the Comforter comes, ye also shall bear witness, because you've been with me from the beginning.

[15:32] Which, as we mentioned last week, that's a crucial thing for them, as it shows up in the book of Acts, when they replace Judas, that somebody be from the beginning. Notice, though, that they, I said this earlier, they're recruited, in a sense.

[15:44] They were chosen. They were ordained. And they've got a mission now. And he's going to send them out. And they're going to bear witness. They're going to go forward to bring forth fruit, and that their fruit should remain.

[15:56] And so Christ says, it's expedient for me to go. All of this calling and ordaining, all of this training, all of this preparation, and now these words are words, I'd say, are conditioning to get your mind prepared and your mind right for what it's going to be like, all of that is for you, for the Holy Spirit to come and to work through you men and to go on into a ministry.

[16:21] It's not for me to stick around and you keep following me, and I'm your master and you're my disciples. It's time for you to get in the game and show what you can do, so to speak.

[16:32] Look at Acts chapter 1. I mentioned this a minute ago that they're going to get their power. It's expedient for them that the Comforter comes, that the Holy Spirit comes, because Christ needs to go so that He can come and His ministry begin on earth through these men.

[16:52] Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, but ye shall receive, don't overlook that word, that's the real thing.

[17:04] Power. Ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, the most part of the earth.

[17:17] And so power does come to these men, to these disciples that were ordained and chosen and sent by God to do some special things here in Jerusalem and outward from there as the persecution pushed them.

[17:32] Back in chapter 16, it was expedient that Christ go away so that the Comforter could come and that ministry could get underway. Now here's three things Christ says about the Comforter coming.

[17:45] When He comes in verse number 8, when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Three statements here.

[17:58] He's going to reprove the world of sin and in the next three verses He takes one at a time to just say a brief thought about them. The first one, of sin. Remember, we're talking about Him reproving the world is the statement.

[18:11] Of sin because they believe not on Me. That is the world. They need to be, what's reproof? It's saying you're wrong.

[18:22] You've done wrong, you're wrong and the Holy Ghost is going to come to reprove the world of sin. Of sin because they smoke cigarettes.

[18:35] Of sin because they drive faster than the speed limit. Because they have a dirty mouth. Because they have a dirty mind. Because they look at things they shouldn't.

[18:46] None of that comes out of this at all. There's one thing that the Holy Ghost comes of sin because they believe not on Me. Look back at chapter 8 of John and look what he said earlier to this group that did not believe on Him.

[19:03] John chapter 8 and verse 24. I'll back up to where he first said this.

[19:14] In verse 20, these words spake Jesus in the treasury as He taught in the temple and no man laid hands on Him for His hour was not yet come. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way and ye shall seek Me and shall die in your sins.

[19:31] Whither I go ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, will He kill Himself? Because He said whither I go ye cannot come. He said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not of this world.

[19:44] I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins. For if ye notice it, believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.

[19:57] It's the unbelief. We call it the sin of unbelief. The Holy Ghost comes to reprove the world of sin and it's the sin of not believing on the Son. When you want to get your life right, you want to get things fixed up, I'm in a mess, the first thing to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[20:17] Is get the sin forgiven, get the righteousness of God in you, get the Holy Spirit of God that can lead you and guide you into truth and open your eyes to understand the Scripture.

[20:27] get Christ and then let Him start to get rid of those other sins in your life. It's pretty backwards for somebody to say, well, I'm going to clean up my life so that I can get saved, so that I can go to heaven.

[20:41] You'll never be able to do it. Now, the sin that the Holy Ghost, He doesn't deal with that other stuff. He deals with that after you're saved, when you become a child of God. Then He starts dealing with cleaning up your life.

[20:54] I listened to a man's testimony recently and he told of, he told just kind of little snapshots of when he first got saved, how he had this, this, this, this, and this, and he just listed a bunch of things that were just messed up in his life, were not godly in any way.

[21:10] But he said, when I first got saved and he grew up religious as a Catholic, he said, when I understood that Christ died for my sins and that I was going to hell because I was a sinner, and when I received Christ and believed on Him as my Savior and left all that other nonsense where it was and just took the Lord Jesus, he said, I had such a joy inside of my heart.

[21:31] I had such peace in my heart. I was so happy that I was a child of God and yet still all of these things were in his life that did not belong. But what he said was over time, little by little, the Lord started to show me, you need to get rid of this.

[21:47] You need to stop talking like that. You need to stop working here and doing what you're doing at that place. These friends, they're not, and little by little the Lord opened his eyes and he cleaned up those sins that were still there the whole time.

[21:59] But it started with believing on Christ. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2.

[22:10] The sin that the Holy Ghost comes to reprove anybody of in the world is of not believing on Christ. You get that one fixed and the other ones can then be addressed.

[22:25] 2 Thessalonians 2. And I'll start in verse 11. For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

[22:51] And there's their sins, their pleasure in their unrighteousness. But the reason they're going to be damned is because they believed not the truth. Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[23:06] And when a man rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ, he can go on and have his pleasure in his unrighteousness and he'll die in his sins like those other Jews. But it's not believing on Christ that the Holy Ghost is going to deal with you on.

[23:19] If you'll believe on Jesus Christ, then those sins of unrighteousness he'll deal with later. So that's why I believe it's singular there in chapter 16 and verse 9 of sin because they believe not on me.

[23:32] And that's the reproof for the world is to believe on Christ. Verse 10, the Holy Ghost is going to come and reprove the world of righteousness.

[23:43] Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more. So it seems to me that Jesus Christ, he's called the righteous. He is righteous.

[23:55] He is the righteousness of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, Pilate said, I find no fault in him at all. When he died, the centurion said, certainly this was a righteous man.

[24:07] And so the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible describes him as being holy and harmless and separate from sinners. So why is the Holy Ghost going to come and reprove the world of righteousness? Well, because it says in that verse, because I go to my Father.

[24:22] While Jesus Christ was here, he was reproving the world. He was the fulfillment of the law. He didn't violate or trespass or offend it in any way.

[24:33] And yet the world surely did. So they're looking at a man who's never sinned. And he was the standard. But when he goes away, the standard leaves. The testimony, in a sense, that they can see and try to measure up to is gone.

[24:47] So the Holy Ghost comes to continue that ministry of reproving them of righteousness. They're not righteous. Jesus Christ was. And that makes sense to me to understand what that statement is.

[25:00] And that's the best way I could say it is he reproves the world of righteousness because Christ will be gone and can no longer do it. And so the Holy Ghost comes to fill those shoes, so to speak.

[25:12] Verse 11, and here's one I don't profess to understand at all, of judgment. He's reproving the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.

[25:24] Now we've seen this phrase, the prince of this world, a few times. And I mentioned it back in chapter 14 and verse 30 that it surely seems like a reference to the devil.

[25:34] And when he says in verse 30, Hereafter, I will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. The prince of this world is mentioned back in chapter 12 and verse 31 and I just made very light comment on it when we were there because there's some things I just don't understand in trying to make connection to this statement.

[25:57] In chapter 16 in 1231 he said, Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. There's different ways you can read that and there's different, you know, depending on how you read it then you can kind of take it a little bit and I just, I try to take a different line of thinking this week when I was studying on this and I just, I couldn't get anything resolved and I'll just be honest I don't understand what this prince of this world and what it means fully when he says he's reproving the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.

[26:34] I mean, I could throw some statements but I just don't know that they're fully, that they're true so I don't, I'm just going to let it go and say I don't fully understand that and I'm happy to do that when that happens.

[26:45] Verse number 12 says, I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever ye shall hear that shall he speak he will show you things to come.

[27:03] Now, first of all when he says he shall not speak of himself remember how that goes that means he's not speaking of his own accord just, I don't have the reference here but we've read it several times in John already where Christ said I came to speak the words that I speak they're the fathers and I'm not speaking of myself I didn't just show up to tell you what I think and so the same thing is the case here the Holy Spirit will not speak of himself I have it marked there 1249 for I have not spoken of myself but the father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak and so that's the statement there that the Holy Ghost will not speak of himself the father gave him the commandment or the words to speak it's expedient that he goes away from verse 7 because the spirit of truth is going to come and he's going to guide you into all truth he's going to guide you into things that I can't even tell you right now because you can't bear them but a transition is coming and as it unfolds and comes he is going to start to open your eyes to some changes and to some things that are going to take place and I'll give you an example of one look at Acts chapter 10 there's some things that Christ before his death he just

[28:20] I mean he's unloading a lot on them and chapter after chapter some things I just can't add to this discourse right now because you can't bear them now it would go right over your head like so much of other stuff I've spoken to you over the years Acts chapter 10 and Peter is in an upper room and gets a vision and in the vision he's commanded to kill and eat some beasts or creeping things some things that would be considered unclean according to the law of Moses and Peter responds in verse 14 not so Lord for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean and the voice spake unto him again the second time what God hath cleansed that call not thou common and this is the the kind of spark here I guess the what is going to the catalyst for getting Peter to see that God has cleansed the Gentiles or allowing the word of God to go to them and that's what he kind of through this meeting with Cornelius in this chapter and then him speaking to others he comes to understand that God allows the word of God to be preached to the Gentiles could he have told the Jews that could he have told his disciples that on their way to the garden and by the way you're going to start going to preach to the dogs like that would not have resonated with them or set well with them they're already full of sorrow because they're hearing about what's going to take place they would have said well that's probably who's going to kill us so they he didn't tell them that part look at

[30:01] Romans 14 I'll give you one another one that some transition that takes place going forward that's just some things they were not able to bear in Romans 14 here's a statement the apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome verses 5 and 6 he says one man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind he that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it he that eateth eateth to the Lord he that giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks these are well as far as the days go there was holy days that must be regarded and observed or they're not right with God it was established it was set in their culture for it was set in stone and yet here Paul's teaching that's saying no it's not really the case anymore there's some things that

[31:03] God is just kind of overlooking or done away with for now I'll show you one more look at! Timothy this is a big one 1st Timothy 4 this kind of ties into what that vision that Peter saw in Acts chapter 10 1st Timothy 4 and he talks about some seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and some commands that arise in verse 3 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them that believe and know the truth there's the conditions for receiving certain meats with thanksgiving you have to believe faith you have to know the truth that's a big deal because if you're ignorant of the truth and you think like Peter did you're going to be stuck trying to submit to that Old Testament law what Paul says in verse 4 for every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving that's why we thank God for our food before we eat for it is sanctified that means cleansed not so

[32:17] Lord nothing common or unclean but it is cleansed or sanctified by the word of God and prayer so what was deemed unclean is now to be considered sanctified and cleansed and allowed and good in verse 4 and not to be refused when you tell them you have to abstain from eating certain meats and I'm glad for that there I'm glad to know that doctrine or I'd have to be staying off of pork bacon and I'm not a glutton about these things but just the truth is I don't want to have to go and look at the menu and say well nope that's unclean that's unclean that's unclean shrimp and catfish and there's a lot of things that the Lord had to say to them but he couldn't and so he said the spirit of truth is going to come he's going to guide you into all truth because things are going to change and there's no way on earth

[33:21] I and so that's just probably one application of this is how things are going to transition and change into what we call the church age today and this is another reason why with seeing some of these verses I'm pointing out why we don't go back and try to submit and live under that Old Testament law because things did change and the spirit of God bore witness to these changes and truths we'll just continue a little bit further here he will show you things to come and there's some transitional times ahead in verse 14 he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you so he's not going to speak of himself whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak he's going to show you things to come he's going to receive this of

[34:25] Christ if you remember the book of revelation there was an angel he sent and signified it was coming from Jesus Christ and being revealed to John and this is through the Holy Spirit verse 15 all things that the father hath are mine therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you this is actually a pretty good place to stop right here we're getting pushing time so we'll pull it right there because it kind of turns a little bit toward a different thought I think going into the next few passages or verses of the passage so we'll pause right there and then I guess in two weeks pick it up Lord willing at verse 16 and so take about 15 minutes together and then let's!

[35:10] come back at the