John 15:18-16:15 – The Gospel of John

Morning.

The reading today is from John chapter fifteen, verses eighteen to John chapter sixteen, verses fifteen.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would have loved you on its as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word I said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my father also.

If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen and hated me both me and my father.

But the word of but the word that is written in the law must be fulfilled.

They hated me because without a cause.

But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have said all these things to keep you from falling away.

They will put you out of the synagogues.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

And they will do these things because they do not know the Father, nor me.

But I have said these things to you, that when the hour comes, you may remember that I had told them to you.

I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you.

But now I am going to Him who sent me, and none of you asks me, Where are you going?

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Nevertheless, I will tell you the truth as it is to your own advantage that I go away.

For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will convict the world of concerning he will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness and judgment concerning sin, because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whoever whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has is mine.

Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

And so reads God's Word.

My name is Duncan.

If you do not know me, I am one of the leaders here at City Church.

I am also leading the church plant that will be leaving City Church.

So we will be launching not too long away now.

It's going to be Easter Sunday, will be our first service.

So we would value your continued prayers as we prepare to say goodbye to you guys.

So as we come, can I encourage you to get the passage open?

It's John 15.

We are beginning at verse 18.

That will be really helpful.

I want us to be able to see what God has to say in and through his word.

So please, if you can, turn there.

Matthew 5, 10 says, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5, I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 16, verse 24, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:24

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

2 Corinthians 12 10, for the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

One Peter three, fourteen.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who would ask you for the reason for the hope that is in you.

1 Peter 4.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

2 Timothy 3 12.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Acts 5 41.

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

Happy Sunday, people.

Now, none of us, I expect, enjoys the idea or experience of persecution.

None of us are running toward that.

None of us desire to experience being mocked for our faith.

None of us would desire being experiencing being rejected for our faith, being abused for our faith.

And yet God is perfectly clear that if we know and love Jesus, we should expect it.

These are just eight texts that I've shared.

And I could have kept going.

Text after text, passage after passage, articulating the persecution that faces any who would come to save in faith.

The expect the to be expecting the results of what happens when we live for Jesus, when we claim him to those who are around us, when we proclaim him, that if Jesus is what is most important in your life, if he and his word is what is shaping you in how you live, if you are not merely just professing faith, but living out that faith, if you are longing for others to know and delight in him, praying for those non-Christians in and around you, looking to pursue opportunities to share Jesus with them, then you need to know persecution will come.

It is not if but when.

In our text today, it is all about this fact that for those who belong to Jesus, that we should not be surprised by this.

We should expect it.

What this text is about is not about a general suffering that we face in human life.

It isn't about general suffering.

It is a suffering that comes due to our faith.

A result of living out your faith with your colleagues or course mates, with your friends, with your family, with your neighbors, with your teammates, any who do not know him.

And Jesus continues to speak in his address to his disciples, wanting to both warn them and help them.

To warn them that they need to expect what is going to happen.

But to help them to know how they are going to be able to stand.

How can you stand when such opposition comes?

Brother, sister, do not take the words of Jesus lightly here.

Hear what he has to say.

Allow him to teach us, to help us to know how you might be able to stand when your time comes.

Even when we can feel utterly alone, even when we feel completely mistreated.

There is a sharp contrast that happens in this text.

That it begins from the passage last week.

And if you were here last week, you would have heard Mark and he was preaching on that passage where Jesus is speaking about abiding in him and about the sort of community that we should be shaped by love.

That should be evident in us if we know and love Jesus.

That there should be a Christ-like love among us.

But when we get to verse 18 and our passage, the focus shifts.

And we see that.

We see how Jesus begins here not to just merely focus on his people, but upon the world around them.

Those who have rejected him.

Jesus is not holding back in this description.

Having just shared about the love we ought to have, he exposes the hate of the world, preparing us for what is true about those who do not submit to Jesus.

It is not that they are not just for him, but rather they are against him.

Because there is no neutral position before Jesus.

You either love and obey him or you hate him.

There is no neutral position.

And you reveal your hate for him by the way in which you reject him in your life.

To think that there is some middle ground is not founded.

The Bible does not speak about a middle ground.

But for the believer, for us as brothers and sisters, Jesus wanting to remind and to remember that as we face hostility of the world around us, to remember his suffering.

Verse 20 Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If you want to go on the next slide, by the way.

There we go.

So remember his suffering.

Because it's easy for us, if you have been around the church or a Christian for some time, to speak about the cross, that we sing about the cross, that we pray about the cross, and yet we can so easily forget the cross.

That it becomes so familiar to us that we know, oh yes, Jesus died, he suffered and died for me.

And it becomes just something that we say, that we know it in an intellectual way.

We lose sight, though, of the power of what took place there.

That as Jesus is facing his final hours in this moment, speaking to his disciples, facing rejection, being beaten, mocked, and nailed to that cross, he seeks to encourage his disciples, to encourage us.

If you belong to me, then look, look to me.

Look to how I'm about to be treated, look to how I suffered.

Because if this is true of me, then it's going to be true of you.

If you are mine.

What I love about the Bible, about the faith that we hold, is that it's so real, it's honest.

Jesus isn't selling you false promises here.

Jesus is not trying to show you the best parts of being a Christian.

He's not hiding hardships and struggles that you might face.

Jesus is terrible at PR.

He is a terrible salesman.

Even throughout the Gospels, you should note on occasions when Jesus says something and the disciples are like, well, maybe don't say it like that.

Out of the fear of people rejecting and going away from him.

Because Jesus is completely honest and open with us.

He's not hiding from you, completely real and exposing the truth that we should expect to experience this.

What we will face when we live for him as we have been called.

And yet our confidence in facing such persecution is in part being found in remembering him, remembering his suffering.

Remember the word I said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, then they will persecute you.

The fact is, when you face persecution, there is a sense in which you should actually draw confidence in that moment.

That you should realize what is happening.

But the fact is that people are seeing you, hearing you, and because you are displaying and proclaiming Christ so evidently that they persecute you.

You should be encouraged because in that moment you are being united to your Savior.

In that moment you are joining Christ so clearly.

This is not a little thing, but this is a glorious thing.

That you would be used by Him in such a way.

That you would be used in such a way to be treated as He was treated.

The concern should not be actually in facing persecution.

Our concern as believers should be if we are not or have not faced persecution.

Because what is clear is our allegiance is being exposed.

That if we loved the world, then we wouldn't face persecution.

That's what Jesus says.

If the things of this world are more precious to you than Jesus, then you do not need to be concerned about this, about persecution.

You do not need to be ready.

But if Jesus is truly yours and you are his, then your allegiance to him will lead to persecution.

I'm not trying to say you search out persecution.

You don't.

Is my life truly displaying the one I belong to?

Do I truly love Jesus more than the opinions of others?

Do I truly love Jesus more than my reputation in my workplace?

Do I truly love Jesus more than the approval of my family?

Do I truly love Jesus more than my own security and well-being?

Because if you do, though you are not in this present moment facing persecution, you are going to.

That is what Jesus promises.

Remember your Savior, remember the suffering he endured.

To understand that in this moment you are in fact living the faith you profess in that moment of persecution, that it is often in and through those moments of suffering that we experience our faith, not just in what we say we believe, but what we experience through the work of the Spirit is that our faith becomes tangible, real, that we know God in this moment is strengthening me.

I don't know how I'm speaking, I don't know how I'm enduring, it is because He is at work in me.

Knowing we are truly living the life we have been called to live.

This is what Jesus is encouraging us in.

Verse 26, but when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness.

The ability to share Christ is not merely in you conjuring up courage.

Come on, I need to do it.

But in your dependence upon the spirit within you, the power of him to help you speak, to actually step in faith, trusting that he will meet you in that place.

The number of times I've I've had that wrestle in my mind, knowing that there is an opportunity before me to engage this person with the gospel.

And I had that wrestle.

Oh, well, I won't I?

Oh, I can't really be bothered right now.

Will I step in?

Will I trust God?

What will they think of me if I step in here?

They might reject me.

Or will I just ignore it and just go away?

It's easier to do this.

But in that moment, when you step in, I've known God's grace in those moments.

Moment after moment in which He has sustained me, helped me, walked with me.

And we need to realize that this is where His grace is experienced.

The ability to engage the person before you with the gospel.

It isn't that I've seen every person come to faith that I've shared Jesus with them.

But I have known the joy and the privilege of that moment.

The joy and the privilege of being united to Christ in that moment.

And I wonder if for some of us, part of our struggle when we are feeling as if our faith is flat or feeling a bit numb toward the gospel comes from the fact that we are not allowing ourselves to be in those situations.

Situations that cause us to say, Lord, I need you.

Situations which allow God by his spirit to help us, to show that he is enough for you in that moment, to give us the words and courage in order to proclaim Christ to those who do not know.

Do you grasp?

This is not optional for us as believers.

If you love Jesus, this is not optional.

This is what it looks like to live, to truly live the life we've been invited into.

Following in the footsteps of our Savior.

We cannot take this responsibility lightly.

Each of us who claim Christ can only do so because someone was courageous enough to speak.

Someone was willing to risk it in order that we too might come to know him as Lord and Savior.

That we would have the opportunity to hear and respond to him.

They did not save us, but they were wonderfully used by God to draw us to himself.

John Woodside, at the age of four, speaking on John 3 16, sharing how we all need Jesus, God used that man.

In that moment, to awaken in me a love for Jesus, to reveal to my little four-year-old mind and heart that I needed Jesus.

It was so simple to me in that moment.

I needed Jesus.

And at that time, because of his faithfulness, I went from being spiritually dead to alive in Christ.

This is what is at stake when we think about this.

What Jesus is calling you and I toward is birthed out of a life that is abiding in him.

Jesus, before this section, as I've already mentioned, has spoken clearly about our need to abide in him, to be men and women, young people, children who abide in him.

Because if we are not abiding in our Savior, delighting and enjoying in him, we will not have the courage to speak.

We will not have the courage to suffer for him.

But when we look to Jesus in his suffering, we will see his willingness to suffer for us, his willingness to endure such hardship.

And this should shape us as we follow him.

Recognizing we are looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We stand looking to Jesus, knowing and seeing his suffering, but knowing and seeing what his suffering produced.

That we do not need to fear anything in this life.

We don't need to worry about what people can do to us.

What can they truly do to you when you are eternally secure?

Because what is guaranteed is our future, and that is joy.

Joy that is unspeakable, joy that we cannot even begin to imagine, joy that is not able to be taken from us, no matter what anyone does.

Allow your view of Jesus' suffering to help enable you to stand in the face of persecution.

Let him reveal himself to be sufficient for you.

As you gaze upon the cross, knowing and understanding he has the victory.

He has defeated sin and death.

Jesus moves from encouraging his disciples to remember his suffering to remember his word, which should appear on the next slide as it bings behind me.

Verse 1 of chapter 16.

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

Verse 4, I've said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.

Now a better way of understanding verse 4 would be to read it as your hour.

When your hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.

Throughout the gospel, this gospel, there has been reference to Jesus' hour.

This section, back in chapter 13, at the beginning, begins with Jesus knew that his hour had come.

His hour to suffer and die and then be glorified.

To complete his work, the work that he'd begun.

And now we find Jesus declaring to his disciples, remember these words when your hour comes.

There is a real sense that Jesus is showing the expectation he has that these men, these disciples, are going to continue in the work to witness about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, empowered by the Spirit, that the work is going to continue to those who would come after.

Any who would claim Jesus as Lord and Savior, any who would seek to follow Him, you and I to deny ourselves and pick up our cross.

Because what Jesus is wanting for them is to be prepared and encouraged.

That though suffering is around the corner for these men.

Persecution is a certainty for each of them.

That when it comes, they may not be shaken.

They may not be perplexed or confused or disorientated by it.

But rather they would remember, of course, this is happening.

Of course, this is taking place.

Why wouldn't it?

We knew it would.

If we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ, we are on the same road, this road that leads toward life, the same road as our Savior, then we should not expect any difference from Him.

Who endured the cross for our sake, who promises that this is the path we should also walk.

It's so natural, so instinctive for us to believe that something is wrong when we face opposition.

To think, oh, clearly Jesus is not in control.

Clearly, Jesus is not for me.

But here Jesus is saying, declaring to us, hear my words, know what I am saying.

You are going to be persecuted, but I am with you.

You are going to be persecuted, but I am delighting in you.

You are going to be persecuted, but I am sustaining you.

You are going to be persecuted, but I am in control.

You are going to be persecuted, but I have the victory.

What is their response?

They left the presence of the council rejoicing.

That they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

These men have just been beaten and they leave rejoicing.

That they would be counted worthy, worthy to suffer dishonor for the name, the name of Jesus.

That they would be counted worthy to suffer because Jesus was so evidently at work in and through them.

This is not our natural experience.

And I wonder whether for us who live in a society, in a culture where persecution is very light, where this seems so alien to us, and I'm not saying we should look for this kind of suffering or persecution.

But we should remember and expect that it will come and that we would be praying, oh, may I rejoice on that day.

May I rejoice in my Savior, knowing that I would be counted worthy to suffer dishonor for his name.

Would you do that work in me?

Because I pray that would be my response.

I would hope that is my response.

I can't guarantee it, but I pray that in that moment the Lord would meet me and help me to rejoice and be found, that I would be found worthy to suffer for him.

What Jesus is reminding us of is that the ability to be able to rejoice is only by the Spirit.

Through our devotion to him and his word.

Be men and women, young people, children, who are constantly reminded of who he is, who he is, in order that we might stand.

That for us, instead of rejecting the faith, we rejoice all the more in the faith.

Only the gospel by the spirit has the power to do this.

It doesn't make sense any other way.

This is a work of the gospel by the Spirit enabling us to respond in such a way that you will not be able to do this naturally.

When persecution comes, if you are not devoted to Jesus, if you are not hungering after him, you will struggle to stand.

His word is living water, his word is what brings us life.

This is a theme throughout the gospel.

That belief in the word of Jesus that brings life.

Belief in Jesus that brings life, because it is by his word that we come to know him.

Brother, sister, let us not be neglecting what is vital for us.

But let us be men, women, young people, children of the book.

May we delight in this word, his word, in order that we might stand firm, that we might not be shaken when our hour comes.

But rather we would be able to truly rejoice in facing such persecution.

That we might say, Yes, this is what he said would happen.

What a joy that we are counted worthy.

Finally, Jesus calls his disciples to remember his spirit.

Jesus knows the heart of the men that are stood before him, his disciples, hearing all that he has been saying.

This man they have grown to love dearly.

They have been with him, heard him speak, ate with him, lived with him.

And now he is speaking about leaving them and departing and going from them.

And this has brought confusion and sorrow to them.

And Jesus has full knowledge, clear knowledge of this, knowledge of their emotions in this moment.

And that's evident.

He's sensitive to it in verse 6.

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Jesus understands that they are struggling, struggling to grasp what is taking place, struggling to have confidence in this moment.

And as Jesus senses this, he wants them to understand, to realize his departure from them is actually for them.

Verse 7.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.

For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you.

There is a real danger for us as Christians to sometimes think, oh, I feel like God could have had a better way of doing this.

Maybe you can sit there and be like, oh no, I'd never say that or think that.

But let's be honest.

How many of us had have had a moment where you've either said or thought something like, oh, it would be so much easier if Jesus would stood here?

Or of course the disciples have such faith.

Well, they walked with them, they spoke with them, they were with Jesus.

Of course they have such faith.

It's easy for them.

And what Jesus is plainly saying here is no, no.

That you may think it would be better for me to stay, to remain, but I know what is best.

I know what is going to be the most beneficial thing for you and those who would come after you.

Brother, sister in Christ, we need to be careful to not neglect the centrality of the work of the Spirit.

This text has been filled throughout this passage with the importance of the Spirit.

That his work is not secondary to Jesus.

That his work is one of illumination, that his work is one of strengthening and enabling.

If you know me, you will know that I love God's word.

I love understanding his word.

I love knowing how to rightly consider his word.

I will not just sit back.

If I hear someone saying something and it's like saying this is what the Bible says and it's not what the Bible says, I'll be like, I need to say something.

I can't help it.

So understand me, I completely am sold out on the importance of God's word.

That our minds would be engaged, that we would be people who think rightly.

But for all the knowledge we can have about God and his word, for all the right thinking we can have about doctrine, about holding a right theology, it is worthless without the work of the Spirit.

It is worthless without Him helping our knowledge, helping the truth we know, helping the correct doctrine we hold, to not just be head knowledge, but heart knowledge.

That the truth we hold should be felt.

That good theology leads to emotions being captured by God.

That our faith is not just us coming to understand to think rightly, but our faith is also helping us to feel rightly.

And that only is possible through the Spirit.

Because what Jesus is speaking of is one of the most significant moments within redemptive history.

That though the Spirit has been at work throughout creation, he has always been there, he has been with God's people, what Jesus is alluding to is a far more significant reality that is about to take place.

No longer will God be dwelling with his people, but rather God will be in his people through the Spirit.

That at Pentecost in the book of Acts, the Spirit comes and dwells in his people.

God's people.

Do we grasp what is happening?

We can hear that, and I have heard it from a child.

That story.

Oh, isn't that lovely?

We need to remember this is the spirit of the living God, the eternal God, the self-sufficient God, the infinite God, the immutable God, unchanging, the omnipotent God, all-powerful, the omniscient God, all-knowing, dwelling in you and I.

Do you feel and grasp that?

This is what has happened, how crazy and yet glorious it is.

That is so wonderful that the effective work of Christ is so effective that God would not just dwell with us, but in us, helping us, walking with us.

There is no lack for us, brother, sister.

God is working and doing what he has started in us.

That God's work of redemption, his work of sanctification is exactly what we need.

We are never left to our own devices.

That his spirit dwells in the life of every believer.

That when persecution comes, remember, brother, sister, remember you are not alone, you are not abandoned, the spirit of the living God dwells in you.

We need to be sensitive to not just our physical reality, but our spiritual reality.

That our fight is not against flesh and blood.

But there is more at stake in this world than what we physically see.

Because what we need to appreciate is the hope of people coming to saving faith, coming to Jesus as Lord and Savior is a work of the Spirit.

Enabling us not to just see with physical eyes, but to see with eyes of faith, to see Jesus for who he truly is, to see who we are in light of him.

Verse 8, when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.

People are not able to come to Jesus without the conviction of their own depravity.

The good news of Jesus is not good news without this realization.

Why do I need a savior if I'm already a decent person, a good person?

Why do I need a savior when people look at me who work with me and think, oh, they're a good worker?

Who people look at me and think, oh, they're a good friend, they're a good parent.

It is the Spirit that enables us to see the utter depth of our brokenness, our utter need, being convicted of our rebellion against the Creator God, thinking we know how to live, we know what to do.

And God, our creator, is being rejected in that moment.

In order that we might rightly see and experience the beauty and the glory of the gospel, the Spirit convicts us.

As we have been preparing to plant Redeemer, I have just had moments of waitiness, walking to go and play football with a group of local men in the community who are so far from the Lord, who have no idea about Jesus, thinking, how will they ever come to know?

How?

Or thinking about the hundred houses on my street, knowing, pretty much guaranteeing all of them do not know him.

All the people who live there.

There is a weighty reality, and they are all headed towards death.

I cannot bring them to saving faith.

I can't.

But the gospel, by the work of the spirit, can.

The spirit at work in the lives of people to open up their eyes to be able to see Jesus their Savior for who he is.

That is what has the power to save these men, women, children.

And man, do I pray that the Spirit would move with power and authority in our day, in our situations, among people we know that they would come to see Jesus for who he is and that they would return to him, turn in repentance and faith, that they too might know his life.

We desperately need to be people who are sensitive to the work of the Spirit in us.

Because if we are not, what are we doing?

We are not just flesh and blood guys.

The Spirit of the living God dwells in us.

He is doing this in order that we might proclaim and make much of him.

Verse 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

In all we do.

Brothers, sisters, are we depending upon the Spirit who is seeking to help us, seeking to enable, sustain, direct us?

Because the truth is for us, we will never stand without Him working.

The result of being people who are depending and resting on the Spirit is clear.

Look at verse 14.

Any time in your life where you are just enamored by Jesus, just captured by him, enthralled by his beauty, captured by all that he has done in your life, glorifying him, know that that is a work of the Spirit.

This is what he does.

Brother, sister in Christ, in many ways it is simple.

It is simple, but it is not easy.

Are you ready to stand?

Are you ready to not forsake Christ?

To hold firm to the gospel?

Are you willing to step out and speak, to not just be Gripped by fear but by faith in God.

It is this that we need to live in light of.

It is not if we are persecution persecuted, sorry.

It is when.

And to be able to know in the depth of our being, it is worth it.

The joy that is set before us is far greater, far weighter than anything we can face and endure in this life.

John the Gospel writer, toward the end of his life, was imprisoned on the island of Patmos, having suffered much for the gospel.

And he has this vision which we read about in the book of Revelation.

And in that vision of Jesus' return, we hear these words.

And I saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people.

And God himself will be to them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain nor any more.

For the former things have passed away.

Brother, sister, it is worth it.

It is more than worth it to stand firm in your faith with joy.

Keep gazing towards this day, knowing this day is coming, the Lord is returning, and he will have the victory over everything.

So let us stand, remembering his suffering, remember his word, remember his spirit.