WEBVTT 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:05.400 Great. Good morning. I'm Archie. I'm the pastor in training here. Thank you so much for reading, 00:00:06.100 --> 00:00:11.120 Niamh. This is a wonderful passage of scripture. It'd be great to have it in front of you. 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:15.000 So if you haven't already opened it, get John chapter 16 open in front of you. And we're 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:19.359 going to begin with a little game. We're going to play a game of Would You Rather. You might 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:22.339 have come across the game Would You Rather before. It's very simple. I'm going to give 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:28.280 you two options, and you have to choose which one you would rather. If you'd rather the 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.580 first one, I'd like you to stand up. And if you'd rather the second one, you can stay 00:00:31.580 --> 00:00:37.179 sitting down. So the first one, really simple. Would you rather go on a hot holiday or a skiing 00:00:37.179 --> 00:00:45.460 holiday? Stand up if you'd rather a hot holiday. Most people, not that many skiers in the room. 00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:53.400 That's great. You can sit down. Next one. Stand up if you would rather give up your mobile phone 00:00:53.399 --> 00:01:01.119 for a whole month or give up washing for a whole month. So stand up if you'd rather give up your 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:07.480 mobile phone. Stay seated if you'd rather give up washing. Some disgusting people in the room. 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:16.259 Great. Sit down. Last one. Would you rather visit the International Space Station for a week 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:21.359 or stay in a hotel at the bottom of the ocean, assuming that you have the ability to breathe 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:26.400 and see, et cetera? So stand up if you'd rather visit the International Space Station. Sit down 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:32.060 if you'd rather visit the bottom of the ocean. Slightly more split. That's about 50-50. Great. Okay. 00:01:32.100 --> 00:01:37.400 You can sit down. You can sit down for this one. I won't ask you to stand up for this one. But this 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:41.960 is really why we've just played that game and where we've been driving at. This question. 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:51.939 Would you rather that Jesus were physically still with us or, as I guess is the case, that he were 00:01:51.939 --> 00:02:02.079 absent? Would you rather Jesus were here or, as is the case, that he was absent? See what Jesus said 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:06.099 in verse 7 of our passage. Have a look at verse 7. He says, 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:16.099 It is for your good that I am going away. Do you believe that? I mean, do we really believe that 00:02:16.099 --> 00:02:24.419 it is better for us that Jesus is no longer here? If you're here this morning and you're not a 00:02:24.419 --> 00:02:29.579 Christian, maybe you've thought along these lines, something similar to this. If Jesus would just show 00:02:29.580 --> 00:02:37.900 up, like if God would do something incontrovertibly, conclusively, prove his existence, prove his 00:02:37.900 --> 00:02:44.180 goodness, if he'd just do that, if he were here, well then I guess I'd have to believe in him. 00:02:45.780 --> 00:02:50.580 Maybe if you're honest, if you're a Christian here this morning, you've even thought like that. 00:02:51.580 --> 00:02:58.220 Like this whole thing would be so much easier if he was just here with us. Maybe you've thought about 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:02.740 how incredible it would have been to live at that time, to actually walk and talk with Jesus. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:10.560 To see him healing the blind and feeding crowds of people. I mean, imagine being at the wedding 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:16.659 where he turned water into wine. Wouldn't that have been amazing? Wouldn't that have helped us believe? 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:26.900 Wouldn't that have been better? But Jesus really does say that it is better that he would leave. 00:03:28.219 --> 00:03:33.400 That his having left really is better. Better for the apostles to whom he's speaking in our passage 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:40.800 this morning and better for us. And I think our passage this morning is going to help us see why. 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:45.800 So why don't I pray for God's help once more before we do that together. Let me pray. 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:55.200 Heavenly Father, I pray so much this morning that you would speak to us by your Holy Spirit. 00:03:56.780 --> 00:04:03.620 That you would help us to understand this morning why it really is better that Jesus is no longer here. 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:10.260 Lord, as you speak to us, I pray that we would be encouraged and challenged by your word. 00:04:10.259 --> 00:04:18.000 that you would be building our faith this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:24.139 And before we get to the answer to that question, why is it better that Jesus is leaving? 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:30.779 First, and really the first few verses of what Niamh read, we get a bit of a recap of where we've been 00:04:30.779 --> 00:04:36.800 as Jesus describes the sort of opposition that the apostles are going to face when he leaves. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:43.240 And we're in this section of John's gospel. It's really Jesus' last words to his closest followers. 00:04:43.939 --> 00:04:49.500 And we saw with Ian a couple of weeks ago, Jesus saying to them, abide or remain in me. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:54.580 Really reminding them that the only way that they're going to remain fruitful and faithful 00:04:54.580 --> 00:04:58.540 was by staying connected to Jesus, obedient to his teachings. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:04.740 He was beginning to prepare them for his absence, for what they were going to need to do. 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:10.519 And then just last week, we saw Jesus say that the world was going to hate them. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:14.060 Just as the world had hated Jesus with no good reason. 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.340 As Graham put it last week, Jesus doesn't hide the small print. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:20.699 It's not going to be easy to keep on following him once he's gone. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:27.319 And then right at the end of the chapter, just briefly last week, we saw that wonderful promise 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:33.000 that he would send the advocate or the helper, the spirit of truth, 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:39.420 that he will send the Holy Spirit to help them do all of that as they faithfully bear witness about Jesus, 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:41.420 as they continue to abide in him. 00:05:42.719 --> 00:05:47.000 And so have a look at verse one of our passage this morning, chapter 16, verse one. 00:05:47.039 --> 00:05:47.920 What does Jesus say? 00:05:48.719 --> 00:05:52.240 He says, I have said all these things to keep you from falling away. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:57.420 And that, I think, is really Jesus's whole purpose in this section of teaching. 00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:02.019 He doesn't want the apostles, those that he's speaking to here, to give up on him, 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:06.100 even though the opposition that they're going to face is going to be serious. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:11.879 Here, we're going to get three ways that that opposition is going to be really serious. 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:13.600 And it's all leading to that question. 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:16.439 Is it really going to be better when he's gone? 00:06:17.460 --> 00:06:19.680 At first, see opposition from within. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:24.420 In verse two, Jesus says they're going to be thrown out of the synagogue. 00:06:25.220 --> 00:06:27.379 Of course, for many of John's first readers, 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:31.860 those who were Jewish followers of Jesus in the first few centuries after Jesus died, 00:06:32.100 --> 00:06:35.319 they would have faced exactly that, being removed from the synagogue, 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:39.639 which would have meant total alienation from their friends and their families, 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:40.860 their entire communities. 00:06:42.139 --> 00:06:45.759 And you actually don't have to look far to see similar examples of this today. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:47.980 And I used to visit this guy in a nursing home. 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:50.040 He was in his 30s. 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:53.240 He was the youngest guy in the nursing home by at least 40 years. 00:06:53.900 --> 00:06:56.819 But he was incredibly ill, mostly bed bound. 00:06:56.960 --> 00:07:01.900 He could get out and about a bit in his motorized wheelchair, but he was very ill. 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:03.360 He was a Christian. 00:07:04.340 --> 00:07:09.620 And we used to take it in turns to go and collect him and walk him from his nursing home to the church, 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:11.360 which was a terrifying job, to be honest, 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:14.360 because he liked to think that his wheelchair was like a go-kart or something, 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:16.340 rallying along the pavements on the way to church. 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:18.319 He had moments like that, real joy. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:24.779 But really, his life was just full of suffering, physical suffering like nothing I had ever seen before. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:30.120 And yet, despite that, if you asked him what hurt the most, 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.779 it wasn't his back or his leg or whatever else. 00:07:33.799 --> 00:07:37.479 If you asked him what was the most painful thing that he experienced in life, 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.600 he'd tell you that it was because he was a Christian. 00:07:41.860 --> 00:07:43.720 He'd grown up in a Muslim home. 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:48.100 And when he became a Christian, his family completely abandoned him. 00:07:49.140 --> 00:07:50.180 They'd thrown him out. 00:07:50.520 --> 00:07:52.720 They refused to keep paying for his care. 00:07:52.819 --> 00:07:55.180 They left him utterly destitute and alone. 00:07:55.180 --> 00:08:00.060 He told me once that the only time he'd seen his father in the last five years, 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:03.519 his father had come and offered him money to renounce his faith. 00:08:04.780 --> 00:08:07.939 That kind of opposition from within, from his own family. 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:12.740 I wonder if we'd be prepared to face opposition like that. 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:18.340 From our own families, from our friends, from those closest to us. 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:19.319 We might not have to. 00:08:20.660 --> 00:08:24.960 But if it came, what would we do as we follow Jesus? 00:08:25.780 --> 00:08:29.379 Jesus, he's warning his disciples here, the apostles, that their faith in him, 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:34.860 it could well result in that kind of treatment, that kind of opposition from within. 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:41.419 But more than that, it may, still in verse 2, be opposition to the point of death. 00:08:42.740 --> 00:08:47.519 Just think again about the very first readers of this gospel, the early church. 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.320 Those who John must have had in mind as he wrote this. 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:53.899 Those who had seen what had actually happened to some of the apostles. 00:08:54.060 --> 00:09:00.799 The apostles, some of them who had already faced death for their continuing to follow Jesus. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:06.100 How important it must have been for those early Christians to read this, 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.539 preparing them even for that kind of opposition. 00:09:08.539 --> 00:09:14.379 But we mustn't think that that sort of deadly opposition is simply a thing of the distant past, 00:09:14.379 --> 00:09:18.279 as though it was something that only the very early church faced. 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:24.279 No, through every age in Christian history, faithful men and women have stood up in the face of opposition 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:25.879 at the cost of their lives. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.860 Today, there are places all over the world where to be a Christian really is to risk one's life. 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:37.200 Are we so comfortable here that we've never asked, never had to ask, 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:41.180 am I prepared even to die for Christ? 00:09:42.680 --> 00:09:48.879 If a terrorist were to walk through the doors at the back of this church right now, 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:53.740 they took us one by one at gunpoint and asked us to deny Christ. 00:09:53.740 --> 00:09:57.840 Am I prepared even to die for Christ? 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:00.840 Opposition from within. 00:10:02.060 --> 00:10:03.840 Opposition to the point of death. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.620 And lastly, it's opposition from the respectable. 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:13.200 I see again in verse 2, opposition from those who think they're offering a service to God. 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:19.519 The opposition that the apostles would face would be from good, moral, religious people. 00:10:20.180 --> 00:10:23.539 Again, for John's first readers, that's exactly what they saw. 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:27.120 Pharisees, if you know the story, like Saul of Tarsus, 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:32.019 persecuting the early Christian church there at the stoning of Stephen, the first martyrdom. 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:41.279 And today, there will be opposition to the gospel from those good, moral, secular creeds of the establishment, if you like. 00:10:41.460 --> 00:10:43.560 Maybe we already feel the pinch of that a little bit. 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:47.120 Just very ordinary, well-mannered, friendly people. 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:50.500 Utterly opposed to the Christian gospel. 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:59.679 Good, moral, upright people who would say they're on the right side of history, who think they're offering a service to society by opposing Jesus. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:02.839 It's a very respectable-looking sort of opposition. 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:12.840 And so given that that is what we face, right, the possibility of opposition from within, from our closest friends and families. 00:11:13.560 --> 00:11:18.860 Oppositions that might well lead to our harm, maybe even death, as distant as that might feel to us today. 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:22.320 All from a respectable opposition. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:30.800 Given that is what Jesus is preparing the apostles for here, and I take it, given that's what we are being prepared for too, 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.760 how can we possibly say that it's better for him to go? 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:40.740 To return to his father in heaven and leave us to it, to face that opposition without him. 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:44.419 How could that possibly be better? 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:50.659 That's got to be the question growing in the apostles as they hear this last teaching from Jesus. 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:53.340 And Jesus knows that that's the question that's brewing. 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:55.159 He says, see in verse 5, 00:11:55.159 --> 00:12:02.319 And I guess behind that question is a big why, isn't it? 00:12:02.339 --> 00:12:04.639 Not just where are you going, but why are you going? 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:06.600 Why would you leave us? 00:12:07.459 --> 00:12:12.799 And none of them are actually asking that question, and they're not asking because in verse 6, they're filled with grief. 00:12:13.319 --> 00:12:15.819 Grief, I guess, because their best mate is going to be leaving them. 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:19.439 But grief too, I guess, at what they're going to face. 00:12:20.419 --> 00:12:23.740 And that is all building towards this statement in verse 7. 00:12:23.740 --> 00:12:25.639 And we saw it right at the start. 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:29.700 It is good for you that I am going away. 00:12:30.419 --> 00:12:30.840 Why? 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:33.100 Well, have a look at the rest of verse 7. 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:38.960 Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you. 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:42.320 But if I go, I will send him to you. 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:44.639 Why is it better that Jesus is leaving? 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:47.460 Because it means the spirit is coming. 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:51.200 And the spirit coming is better by far. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:53.820 We're going to see three reasons why that's true. 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:56.400 Firstly, he reveals our sin. 00:12:57.020 --> 00:12:58.660 That's in sort of verses 8 to 11. 00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:02.060 He reveals God's words, verses 12 and 13. 00:13:02.060 --> 00:13:06.580 And he reveals Jesus in verses 14 and 15. 00:13:07.540 --> 00:13:10.259 So first, he reveals our sin. 00:13:11.180 --> 00:13:13.520 See what Jesus says to the apostles in verse 8? 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:22.299 When he comes, that is when the spirit comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:25.379 Three things there that the spirit will prove the world to be wrong about. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:26.759 Sin, righteousness, judgment. 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:28.019 They're all linked. 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.360 We'll see they're all really about revealing sin. 00:13:32.179 --> 00:13:34.460 And he, Jesus, then explains them one by one. 00:13:34.579 --> 00:13:37.240 First in verse 9 about sin. 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:51.080 This is really important for us today. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:55.299 I think we often think of sin, don't we, as basically just the bad stuff that we do. 00:13:55.299 --> 00:14:01.500 Maybe more specifically, we might say the stuff that we do that contradicts what God has said. 00:14:02.259 --> 00:14:10.139 We may even go further than that and boil it down to something like rebellion against God or idolatry, worship of self or something along those lines. 00:14:10.219 --> 00:14:11.579 None of that is exactly wrong. 00:14:12.599 --> 00:14:16.819 But I think what Jesus says here gets us much closer to what the heart of sin is. 00:14:17.599 --> 00:14:20.059 People do not believe in me. 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:29.579 All that other stuff that we might call sin, rightly, immorality, rebellion, idolatry, self-worship, all of that stuff, it all has its heart in unbelief. 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:32.779 And specifically in a rejection of Jesus. 00:14:34.219 --> 00:14:39.259 I think we then get two ways that the Holy Spirit will show people their rejection of Jesus. 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:46.599 First in verse 10, Jesus says to the apostles about righteousness, because I am going to the Father. 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:50.680 See, Jesus, he was the perfect righteous son of God. 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:55.019 He was the straight line that showed all other lines to be crooked, if you like. 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:58.180 He lived in absolute obedience to his Father. 00:14:58.340 --> 00:15:04.500 He was selfless and compassionate and loving and kind and gentle and zealous and just and merciful. 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:08.700 He was the perfect picture of what it means to be truly human. 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:16.040 And the benchmark to which the Spirit points to reveal their unrighteousness, their sin. 00:15:16.980 --> 00:15:22.940 As Jesus leaves, the Spirit is coming to help the apostles know that righteousness. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.040 Not a new righteousness, as though Jesus's wasn't complete. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:35.320 But as we'll see, to point them to him, to remind them of his glorious righteousness, which reveals their own lack in comparison. 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:41.680 Do you see how the world is wrong about that righteousness, both then and now? 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:47.340 Because the human instinct about righteousness is to create our own versions of what that means. 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:51.060 We all hold ourselves to some sort of moral standard. 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:55.160 And probably for most of us, desperately trying to stay on top of the zeitgeist. 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:59.060 Trying to understand what culture currently defines as good. 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:02.440 Doing our best not to get caught swimming against that tide. 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:11.980 But whatever it is, whatever we think is good, without the Spirit, it will inevitably be divorced from Jesus's righteousness. 00:16:12.660 --> 00:16:16.560 Without the Spirit, it is a rejection of Jesus and his way. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:21.880 But with the Spirit, that kind of worldly thinking will be shown to be wrong. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.300 As he reveals the sin of that self-defined righteousness. 00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:34.839 And then finally in verse 11, about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:39.959 In other words, it's not the prince of the world's victory, but Jesus's. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.139 The apostles must have desperately needed this word in the coming days. 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:50.759 Because what he's talking about shortly after this is Jesus was arrested and beaten and mocked and hung on a cross. 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:56.759 It looked so completely as though he was the one who had been judged and defeated. 00:16:57.819 --> 00:17:01.240 His claims of being the Son of God squashed. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:03.319 Apparently the Messiah. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:05.299 Hanging there. 00:17:06.059 --> 00:17:07.720 Defeated and dying. 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:11.660 Of course the world would see that and say, well there he is. 00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:13.619 Judged and condemned. 00:17:13.619 --> 00:17:16.619 And yet Jesus says, no. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.799 In that moment it will be the prince of this world. 00:17:19.899 --> 00:17:20.899 That is, Satan. 00:17:21.139 --> 00:17:25.439 He will be the one who in that moment stands condemned and defeated. 00:17:25.739 --> 00:17:29.039 Satan who introduced sin and death into this world. 00:17:29.339 --> 00:17:30.359 He will be defeated. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:34.379 As Jesus takes the punishment for that sin on his shoulders. 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:37.959 And smashes that death to pieces coming out the other side. 00:17:38.439 --> 00:17:40.299 In that moment on the cross. 00:17:40.299 --> 00:17:43.559 Jesus looks most judged and condemned himself. 00:17:43.700 --> 00:17:45.079 But right there it is him. 00:17:45.180 --> 00:17:47.299 The perfect picture of victory. 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:52.460 And so the spirit's coming doesn't just show us the cross. 00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:56.539 But helps us to see it in that totally counterintuitive way. 00:17:57.559 --> 00:18:00.980 No longer just a human being hanging there dying. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.599 But it helps us see the cross in a way that reveals our sin. 00:18:05.399 --> 00:18:06.519 Hammering in the nails. 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:10.119 And Jesus winning a victory in our place. 00:18:10.299 --> 00:18:11.539 Over it for us. 00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:14.599 And so here's what the spirit has come to do. 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.000 To reveal and convict us of our sin. 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:22.119 Maybe you're here this morning and you're feeling that even now. 00:18:22.139 --> 00:18:25.519 As you reflect on your week or the last month. 00:18:25.579 --> 00:18:27.099 Or you look back over life. 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:32.799 And you recognize that there are ways that your unbelief has led you down those paths. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.240 I'm sure we can all think of times where we've missed the mark. 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:37.859 However we might describe that. 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:39.019 We've rejected Jesus. 00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:42.240 We've failed to live up to our own standards. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:43.160 Let alone his. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.799 And ultimately in all of that we've misunderstood the cross. 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:51.759 Even as I say all of this. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:55.940 It is the Holy Spirit who is illuminating those areas in your life. 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:57.899 Because that's his work. 00:18:57.980 --> 00:19:00.139 That's what he comes to do. 00:19:01.379 --> 00:19:05.740 Maybe as we've spent time looking at Jesus together over the last few weeks in John. 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:11.319 Or as the Holy Spirit's been talking to us and pointing us to Jesus through letters to Titus. 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:14.200 And the Jacob story in Genesis last year. 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:17.159 Through all of that as we've seen Jesus's righteousness. 00:19:18.099 --> 00:19:21.379 It's the Holy Spirit who has been revealing it to us. 00:19:22.019 --> 00:19:25.799 And ultimately as he's shown us in the moment of the cross. 00:19:25.919 --> 00:19:27.259 That wonderful victory. 00:19:28.179 --> 00:19:31.639 The place where we might go to see our sin defeated. 00:19:31.859 --> 00:19:34.779 And to find forgiveness and grace. 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:36.839 That's the Holy Spirit's work in us today. 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.119 Do you see that that's better? 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:42.079 That Jesus would go and that he should come? 00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:46.059 Because first he reveals our sin to us. 00:19:46.539 --> 00:19:49.679 Secondly he comes revealing God's words. 00:19:50.379 --> 00:19:51.859 This is in verses 12 and 13. 00:19:51.919 --> 00:19:53.279 If you have a look at those with me. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:54.179 It says this. 00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:56.799 I have much more to say to you. 00:19:56.939 --> 00:19:58.379 More than you can now bear. 00:19:59.419 --> 00:20:01.699 But when he, the Spirit of truth comes. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:05.059 He will guide you into all the truth. 00:20:05.059 --> 00:20:07.000 He will not speak on his own. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.819 He will speak only what he hears. 00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:11.619 And he will tell you what is yet to come. 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:17.259 I want to just say a couple of things that these verses are not saying. 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:21.179 Because there are those today who would take these verses and say. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:22.599 See we don't really need the Bible. 00:20:23.679 --> 00:20:25.259 All we need is the Holy Spirit. 00:20:25.399 --> 00:20:27.359 He'll speak directly to us. 00:20:27.879 --> 00:20:30.619 Jesus says here what he tells us will be true. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:32.339 It'll tell us what's coming. 00:20:32.460 --> 00:20:33.899 We've got a direct line to God. 00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:35.840 No need for the Bible anymore. 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:38.460 Sometimes more subtly than that. 00:20:38.540 --> 00:20:40.860 People will use these verses to say something like. 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:42.700 See we don't really need church. 00:20:42.820 --> 00:20:44.200 We definitely don't need preaching. 00:20:44.740 --> 00:20:46.500 And we certainly don't need our tradition. 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:50.160 All I need is me and the Spirit. 00:20:50.860 --> 00:20:51.980 And yes my Bible. 00:20:53.080 --> 00:20:54.400 But it's better to assume. 00:20:54.620 --> 00:20:57.440 That what other people have said about the Bible over the years is wrong. 00:20:58.019 --> 00:21:00.380 The Spirit will speak my truth to me. 00:21:00.460 --> 00:21:01.380 Through God's word. 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:03.480 Yeah but directly to and for me. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:09.819 He helps me understand the Bible in a new and better and more relevant way for myself. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:10.839 That's all I need. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:15.160 It's not what these verses are saying at all. 00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:21.640 See these verses they're not proof of a direct line to God by the Spirit for the Christian today. 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:27.940 And they're not encouraging us to read the Bible in a way that ignores what Christians have said through the centuries either. 00:21:27.940 --> 00:21:30.700 Now see what these verses are saying. 00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:33.279 And remember who Jesus is speaking to here. 00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:35.400 He's speaking to the apostles. 00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:38.400 That's his closest group of followers. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:45.220 And he's saying that when he's gone the Spirit will guide them, the apostles, into all truth. 00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:49.740 He hasn't been able to say everything he wanted to say in the short time that they had together. 00:21:50.380 --> 00:21:52.560 There's more that Jesus has to say from God. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:54.940 But it's specifically for them, for the apostles. 00:21:54.940 --> 00:22:03.700 He's speaking of how they would teach the early church and especially of what they would write as scripture. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:06.320 And actually that's really good news for us today. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:11.159 Given that most of the New Testament was written by the guys in the room when Jesus said this. 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:14.899 We can trust that what they've written really is God's word. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.079 That it comes with that authority. 00:22:17.899 --> 00:22:21.500 As we read and hear the words of this dusty old book. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.439 We're not simply reading the musings of men from thousands of years ago. 00:22:25.439 --> 00:22:27.259 But the very voice of God. 00:22:27.439 --> 00:22:32.639 Because he really does speak to us by the Spirit through the word, the Bible today. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:40.220 And that does mean that me and the Spirit and my Bible, that I can get wonderful benefit there. 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:42.540 And I ought to seek it. 00:22:43.140 --> 00:22:51.860 But it's a step too far to say that in doing that we should disregard the church, what other people have said, and our tradition through the centuries. 00:22:51.980 --> 00:22:59.080 As if the Holy Spirit stopped illuminating scripture for a couple of thousand years and has just started speaking through it again today. 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:06.980 No, he's been at work in every age of church history helping people to hear God's voice in the pages of this book. 00:23:07.619 --> 00:23:12.299 We do well to understand what he's been saying, to learn from the wisdom of the ages. 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:18.579 And so by the Holy Spirit, God's words are revealed to his church. 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:20.659 The Spirit reveals our sin. 00:23:21.179 --> 00:23:22.819 He reveals God's words. 00:23:23.199 --> 00:23:26.819 And finally, and most fundamentally, he reveals Jesus. 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:30.319 At verse 14, Jesus says, 00:23:30.439 --> 00:23:37.639 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 00:23:38.339 --> 00:23:40.559 The Spirit glorifies Jesus. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:42.599 Notice how that works. 00:23:42.679 --> 00:23:43.379 We'll come back to it. 00:23:43.439 --> 00:23:44.759 But first notice how that works. 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:47.919 It's because what the Spirit makes known to the apostles, 00:23:48.679 --> 00:23:53.399 that is, as he teaches them, enables them to teach the church and write scripture for us, 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:56.840 it is Jesus speaking through the Spirit to them. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.540 More than that, into verse 15. 00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:02.340 All that belongs to the Father is mine. 00:24:02.820 --> 00:24:07.500 What the Spirit makes known to the apostles, it comes from the Father via Jesus. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:09.200 Verse 13 says something similar. 00:24:09.300 --> 00:24:12.580 He will not speak on his own, only what he hears. 00:24:13.300 --> 00:24:16.100 In other words, when we speak of God's words, 00:24:16.099 --> 00:24:18.839 we're talking about the triune God speaking. 00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:25.019 Father, Son, and Spirit working together, giving us their words through the apostles. 00:24:25.779 --> 00:24:27.079 Why do they do that? 00:24:28.159 --> 00:24:32.779 Well, it's to reveal Jesus, to glorify the Son. 00:24:34.099 --> 00:24:36.639 And there's a really important principle in that for us. 00:24:37.179 --> 00:24:39.279 You'll often hear this false distinction. 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:42.019 People ask, I don't know if you get this question. 00:24:42.139 --> 00:24:44.219 It probably depends on the kind of circles that you run in. 00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:46.819 But some of my friends, Christian friends from down the years, 00:24:46.900 --> 00:24:50.720 they'll ask, is your church a Holy Spirit-led sort of church? 00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:54.319 Or more of a kind of Word-led sort of church? 00:24:55.620 --> 00:24:57.640 You see that that's just a ridiculous distinction? 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:01.039 Because the Spirit is all about the Word. 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:05.640 And we wouldn't have the Word or be able to understand it without the Spirit. 00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:10.860 To be a Spirit-led sort of church is to be a Word-led church. 00:25:10.859 --> 00:25:15.559 And more than that, if you remember way back in chapter 1 of John's Gospel, 00:25:16.519 --> 00:25:19.240 we saw that God's Word was personified there. 00:25:19.379 --> 00:25:19.539 It said, 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:23.079 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, 00:25:23.259 --> 00:25:26.859 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:25:27.639 --> 00:25:30.859 And then a few verses later, the Word became flesh. 00:25:30.859 --> 00:25:36.479 Because even as the Spirit speaks the very words of God, 00:25:37.339 --> 00:25:42.159 he's speaking about the divine Word of God, that is Jesus. 00:25:43.019 --> 00:25:48.419 The Spirit is all about the Word and glorifying the Son through it. 00:25:49.679 --> 00:25:53.439 Actually, I think my friends who ask that question probably know that. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:57.680 And what they're really asking is whether or not the gifts of the Holy Spirit 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:01.220 are front and centre of our experience of church. 00:26:01.460 --> 00:26:04.680 Making that the primary thing that the Spirit is about today. 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:07.480 The gifts of the Spirit, like tongues and healing, that kind of stuff. 00:26:08.320 --> 00:26:10.559 And whatever we think about the gifts of the Spirit, 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:12.740 and whether or which gifts continue today, 00:26:13.100 --> 00:26:15.460 we actually have an upcoming evening series on the Holy Spirit 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:18.720 that will be really helpful if you'd like to think through some of those things. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:22.740 But wherever we land, we have to see that even those things, 00:26:22.819 --> 00:26:24.960 as the Holy Spirit is at work in the church today, 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:26.980 whatever we say he's doing, 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.259 he always does it to point to Jesus, 00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:34.940 the Word of God, to glorify the Son, 00:26:35.579 --> 00:26:37.700 to bring people to faith in Jesus, 00:26:37.900 --> 00:26:40.200 to grow people's faith in Jesus. 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:45.200 As soon as we divorce the work of the Spirit from that core principle, 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:46.380 we've been led astray. 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:49.700 And so when my friends ask that question, 00:26:49.780 --> 00:26:52.680 I say, yes, we are a Spirit-led church, 00:26:53.100 --> 00:26:56.260 because Spirit-led churches are being led to Jesus, 00:26:57.220 --> 00:27:00.600 being led to see him in all his glory. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:04.540 So there's three things that the Spirit does today. 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:07.900 Reveals our sin, reveals God's words, 00:27:08.220 --> 00:27:11.740 and at the heart of it all, he reveals Jesus. 00:27:13.520 --> 00:27:15.860 But maybe you're still left with that question. 00:27:16.660 --> 00:27:18.320 How is that really better? 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:21.300 Wouldn't it still just be better if Jesus were here? 00:27:22.900 --> 00:27:25.940 Well, really simply, let me tell you a bit about the week that we've just had. 00:27:26.020 --> 00:27:28.340 Katie and I, we've been down in Peebles this week. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.600 We were dog and house-sitting for some friends. 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:31.200 It was brilliant. 00:27:31.840 --> 00:27:33.300 We barely cooked a meal for ourselves. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:35.100 We were out for lunch and dinner, basically, 00:27:35.220 --> 00:27:37.220 every day in different people's homes. 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:39.340 And some of the people's homes that we were in 00:27:39.340 --> 00:27:41.420 have literally been there since the church, 00:27:41.420 --> 00:27:46.140 Peebles Evangelical Church, was founded just over 50 years ago. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:50.100 And you know, that church, it's the least spectacular thing. 00:27:50.820 --> 00:27:54.680 A relatively small group of Christians meeting together week by week, 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:56.740 full of the Holy Spirit, 00:27:57.519 --> 00:27:59.180 singing praises to the Son, 00:27:59.360 --> 00:28:01.320 with a very simple band accompanying them, 00:28:01.960 --> 00:28:03.340 coming to the bread and the cup, 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:06.460 and remembering Jesus together as the Spirit works amongst them, 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:07.500 to glorify Him, 00:28:08.600 --> 00:28:11.340 listening to God's words being spoken into their lives 00:28:11.340 --> 00:28:13.559 by the power of that same Spirit. 00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:14.620 It's not spectacular. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:18.400 In many ways, it's incredibly simple. 00:28:19.340 --> 00:28:20.759 But it's His church, 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:22.340 and it's beautiful. 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:24.519 And as the Holy Spirit is at work, 00:28:24.600 --> 00:28:26.100 convicting people of their sins, 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.900 speaking God's words to them, 00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:29.360 glorifying His Son, 00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:30.779 it's not spectacular, 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:32.400 but it's utterly remarkable. 00:28:33.740 --> 00:28:35.480 And it's completely spiritual. 00:28:36.940 --> 00:28:38.259 Spirit-filled worship. 00:28:39.360 --> 00:28:41.819 So would you rather that Jesus was still here? 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:44.019 Well, it would be pretty incredible. 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:46.380 But because He's gone, 00:28:47.420 --> 00:28:50.400 because He walked that path up the hill to Golgotha 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:51.940 and was nailed to the cross, 00:28:52.299 --> 00:28:54.799 because He walked the path through death, 00:28:54.920 --> 00:28:56.819 because He paid the price for your sin 00:28:56.819 --> 00:28:58.539 and for mine in that moment, 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:00.740 giving us a righteousness not our own, 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:04.380 and then because He rose again and ascended to the Father, 00:29:04.380 --> 00:29:06.900 promising that we might one day do the same, 00:29:07.280 --> 00:29:10.080 essentially because Jesus is no longer here, 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:11.860 all of that was making a way 00:29:11.860 --> 00:29:15.440 so that He could send His Spirit to live in us, 00:29:15.620 --> 00:29:17.380 that we might become His people, 00:29:17.800 --> 00:29:18.580 His church, 00:29:19.520 --> 00:29:21.020 revealing our sin to us, 00:29:21.180 --> 00:29:22.880 revealing His word to us, 00:29:23.120 --> 00:29:24.960 and glorifying Jesus for us. 00:29:24.980 --> 00:29:26.160 It doesn't look spectacular, 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.320 but it is really spiritual, 00:29:29.320 --> 00:29:32.220 and that really is better by far. 00:29:33.380 --> 00:29:35.779 Let me pray as the band come back up. 00:29:36.259 --> 00:29:36.940 Let's pray together. 00:29:36.940 --> 00:29:45.340 Heavenly Father, 00:29:45.500 --> 00:29:48.140 I pray that You would make Your presence known to us 00:29:48.140 --> 00:29:49.740 by Your Holy Spirit this morning, 00:29:50.740 --> 00:29:52.299 that for each of us, 00:29:52.360 --> 00:29:55.440 You would be continuing to reveal our sin, 00:29:57.000 --> 00:29:58.640 our rejection of Jesus, 00:29:58.860 --> 00:30:00.900 the effects that that has had on our lives. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:03.620 Lord, I pray that You would be lighting up 00:30:03.620 --> 00:30:05.680 those dark spaces in our hearts, 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.279 our Lord, 00:30:08.340 --> 00:30:10.160 we're truly sorry for all the ways 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:11.840 that we've turned our back on You. 00:30:13.940 --> 00:30:16.340 Would You continue to speak a better word 00:30:16.340 --> 00:30:17.220 to us this morning? 00:30:19.320 --> 00:30:21.539 Would You speak of the wonderful grace 00:30:21.539 --> 00:30:22.820 that's available in Jesus? 00:30:24.740 --> 00:30:26.980 And would You glorify Him in us, 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:29.259 that we might sing His praises together 00:30:29.259 --> 00:30:33.259 and delight in what He's done for us this morning? 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:37.480 because we pray in His precious name. 00:30:38.740 --> 00:30:39.339 Amen.