THE NEVERTHELESS OF HIS GOING AWAY John 16:1-16
Introduction
• Saying good-bye is never easy, whether it’s at an airport, a family reunion, or the deathbed of a loved one. The Last Supper was no exception. For Jesus and His disciples, this was their last meal together.
• The task of Jesus on earth was drawing to a close. He had been with His disciples for over 3 years. Now He comes and says to them, “I’m leaving you”. Do you think they were joyous over His news?
• No, they were more than sad. They were so sorry for themselves, they were whining. “Oh, Jesus it’s going to be hard for us if you leave. If you go Jesus, who is going to calm the storms? Who is going to miraculously provide bread for us in the desert? Oh Jesus, you can’t go! You are going to make things too hard for us.”
• It was a lot easier for these disciples when Jesus was with them to do all their work for them, to take care of everything for them, but now He was going away. They were feeling sorry for themselves.
• Yet Jesus acts as if they should be glad.
• He is the Great Nevertheless, so different than we are. His ways are above and beyond ours.
• This is our 4th out of 6 sermons looking at how Jesus is the Great Nevertheless.
o The nevertheless of His caring & love – Lazarus
o The nevertheless of His continuing – in spite of Herod’s threats
o The nevertheless of His surrendering – Gethsemane
o And today we consider the nevertheless of His going away
• Jesus had been preparing, teaching, and training these disciples and now He is leaving them. Why the sudden shift in investing in them only to up and leave them? Jesus tells us in verse 7.
1. “I tell you the truth”
• “Let this sink in. Listen carefully because I’m about to tell you something very important!”
• All of us need to take seriously what God says.
• Satan would love to get us to ignore or doubt what God says – Genesis 3:1
• Notice the recurring phrase “these things”. You can count on what I’m saying. One day you’ll be able to look back and understand, but now you must believe Me. “These things” will happen!
a. He was going - Jesus was serious. He wasn’t joking. He was leaving them.
b. His disciples would find it rough going
1) He was giving them a warning. When He left they would stumble. They would be excommunicated and killed.
2) Because of verse 5, He was spending time explaining to them.
3) And Jesus wants us to know that our Christian walk will be tough going as well. Being a disciple of Jesus is extremely difficult. Following a Lord that we can’t see is not easy.
2. “It is expedient for you that I go away”
• “for you” – Whatever was drawing Jesus away was somehow supposed to be good for Jesus disciples.
• His departure seemed so disastrous. Yet Jesus said it would be to their profit.
• Why would His leaving be good?
a. Better for them not to be dependent on the visible
1) For 3 ½ years they had become so accustomed to having the bodily presence Jesus with them.
2) Remember later after Jesus had risen from the dead and Mary Magdalene comes to the garden? John 20:17
3) Remember after Jesus had risen, Thomas wanted to “touch” him? He was walking by sight.
4) [Illus] - When I was 8 or 9 years ago we had a pastor resign our church in Rhode Island. The church was growing at a fast clip. The pastor had his own TV program. The reason he gave for leaving was that too many people were coming because of him and not enough were coming because of the Lord.
5) God wants each of His followers to walk by faith and not by sight. It would be best for the disciples if he removed His bodily presence from them. It was getting in the way of them walking by faith.
b. Better understanding of Christ
1) There were too many things happening that the disciples were not able to comprehend.
2) Much of what Jesus had taught them had gone unheeded because they hadn’t sunk in.
3) The disciples were too close to the trees that they could not see the forest
c. Better opinion of death
1) If Jesus stayed on earth, then His disciples as well as each of us would dread death because it would separate us from Him.
2) But now He is in heaven waiting for us.
3) I do not fear death. He conquered it – He plowed a hole through it – He waits on the other side.
4) I found it easier to give up my brother Glenn in death because I knew who had left here to go and prepare him a place.
• It was expedient and profitable for them and us that Jesus left earth for heaven.
3. “for if I go not away, the Comforter, will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send
Him unto you”.
• [Illus] – A mother was unable to go to church one Sunday, but was anxious for her oldest son, Willie, to go. After he returned she quizzed him about attending, since she had that women’s intuition that he had not gone to church. She asked him what the sermon text was. “The text was – er – let me see – something about ‘Keep your shirt on and you’ll get a blanket’”, he replied. “Willie! There’s nothing like that in the Bible. I’m going to call the minister and ask him.” So the call was made. The pastor informed her that the text was, “Be patient and the Comforter will come.”
• Jesus said if He were to stay, something else would not happen.
• He had promised them moments before in John 14:16 that another Comforter would be sent to them. He would be like Jesus.
• Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the divine Trinity.
• I must confess something. Baptists over the years have not emphasized the Holy Spirit enough. On the other hand, some other Christian denominations have not emphasized the Father and the Son enough.
• Jesus said you either have Me or you have the Spirit.
o You feel it better for Me to remain
o I know it is better for the Spirit to come.
• John 7:39 – God had a plan worked out. The Holy Spirit would not come to dwell in men until Jesus, God the Son, had completed the work God the Father gave Him to do. Jesus’ remaining would hold up the Spirit’s coming.
• Why is it better to have Jesus gone and the Spirit present?
a. local vs. universal
1) The physical body of Jesus could be in only one place at a time.
2) The Spirit can be in all places at the same time. He is with us here in this place, with our vacationing members in their various places, and with all our shut-ins. He is gathered with each local church body this morning in worship, He is with each Christian all over the world, and he is moving and working were God’s people are not.
3) Is it better to have a local Jesus or a universal Spirit?
b. temporary vs. permanent
1) Jesus presence was only temporary and occasional. He may be in Jerusalem today and in Galilee a few days from now.
2) The Holy Spirit is always everywhere at all times.
3) [Illus] My sister and her husband bought my brother’s car after his death. They left out yesterday morning to drive it back to Denver, where they live. The Spirit was with them when they left, He is traveling with them all the way to Colorado, yet He remained at my parents apartment when that red Chevrolet Cavalier headed west, and still the Spirit is permanently at each place they will pass along the way, including Denver, their destination.
c. outer vs. inner
1) Jesus had to deal with people on the surface – face to face.
2) The Spirit can deal with the inner person. He dwells within each believer. He constantly dwells close to each unbeliever and has access to their minds and heart.
• John 16:16
• [Illus] – In St. Peter’s, Cologne there are 2 pictures of the crucifixion of Peter, that stand side by side. Why you may ask? In the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon came and ransacked the city. He stole the original from St. Peter’s. While the first picture was gone from the city, the artist, in the absence of the original, painted another picture. In time the original was restored. They placed the two pictures side by side. Experts say they can hardly tell the two apart. [The Heritage of Saints by Herbert Lockyer]
• The Holy Spirit is a master artist. In the absence of the Original, Jesus, the Spirit is painting the likeness of Jesus upon the unworthy canvas of the life of each Christian.
4. “And when He is come, He will:”
• The starting place to understand why the Spirit was to come is to look at the name Jesus gave to Him – “Comforter”
• The word refers to an advocate. It literally means “one who is called alongside to defend, support, advise, assist, and help”
• He was just what these soon to be “orphaned” disciples needed.
• I’m sure after the ascension the disciples must have felt all alone. Jesus knew the disciples would feel alone, but He knew they would not be alone.
• The Holy Spirit was sent on mission to non-Christians and to Christians.
a. Non-Christians
1) Reprove the world of sin
a) We are experts at covering up – of ignoring and denying sin.
b) When the Jews crucified Jesus they didn’t believe they were sinners. They believed they were serving God.
c) But after Pentecost, when the Spirit came, many were pricked to their hearts when they heard the story of Jesus death retold – Acts 2:37.
d) It was the work of the Holy Spirit.
2) Reprove the world of righteousness
a) It is truly amazing that people would put their trust for all eternity in a crucified Jewish criminal.
b) That is the work of the Holy Spirit – to convince each of us that the only way toward “righteousness”, or right standing before God is to trust in the saving work of Jesus.
c) It is His righteousness and not our own that God accepts on our behalf.
3) Reprove the world of judgment
a) None of us, on our own, want to admit our accountability to God and that we will face His judgment.
b) What makes a man, woman, teen, or child feel that deserved judgment lays ahead? That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
b. Christians
1) Will guide you into all truth
a) Jesus knew that the disciples would be confused and afraid when He left them. He wanted to assure them the Holy Spirit would come into their lives as a guide to direct them in all truth as He had.
b) [Illus] - Jim Lovell was one of the astronauts of Apollo 13. Before that mission he was asked by an interviewer if he had ever had a close call while he was pilot, and this is the story he shared. “I remember this one time I’m in a banshee at night in combat conditions, so there’s no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shangri-La and we were in the Sea of Japan. My radar jammed and my homing signal was gone because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. So it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be, and I am looking down at a big black ocean. So I flip on my map light, then suddenly, zap, everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone, my lights are gone, and I can’t tell even what my altitude is. I know I am running out of fuel, so I am thinking about ditching in the ocean. I look down, and then in the darkness, there’s this green trail. It’s like a long carpet that’s just laid out beneath me. It was the algae – it was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. It was leading me home. If my cockpit lights hadn’t shorted out there’s no way I would have been able to see that. You never know what events that transpire to get you home”
c) The Holy Spirit works like that algae that led Jim Lovell back to his carrier. He leads us in uncertainty. He illuminates the path before us. He leads us to follow His footsteps.
d) Psalm 23:3
2) Will lift up Jesus
a) The Holy Spirit does not move upon churches or individuals so that they will be glorified.
b) We as believers need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not so that we will be exalted, but rather so that Jesus will be glorified in our lives.
c) [Illus] - James Packer share the story of how he was meditating on the Holy Spirit on night before a message. “I remember walking to church one winter evening to preach on the words, ‘He will glorify me’ [John 16:14], seeing the building floodlit as I turned the corner, and realizing that this was exactly the illustrating my message needed. When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are placed so that you do not see them; in fact, you are not suppose to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building which the floodlights are trained.”
d) The Holy Spirit is the hidden floodlight focused on Jesus.
3) Will speak of things to come
a) Certainly this refers to the writing of the New Testament, which the Spirit inspired God- chosen men to be the writers of.
b) Yet the Spirit still speaks to many about future events.
4) Will teach only Christ’s doctrine
a) [Illus] A man in Tennessee insisting that, “I was led by the Holy Spirit” was arrested for wife beating and child-abuse. His defense consisted primarily of claiming that an emotional experience at a revival meeting meant that (1) he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and (2) he could do as he pleased because he was “Spirit –filled”. The judge had other ideas.
b) The Spirit will teach you what Christ desires for your life and empower you to do it.
Conclusion
• “I tell you the truth” is what Jesus said and what he did. His disciples didn’t understand or believe Him. Will we?
• He’s gone but the Spirit is here.
• Christian - God’s Spirit is trying to get your eyes on Jesus!!!!
• Non-Christian - God’s Spirit is trying to get your eyes on Jesus!!!!
• [Illus] Mendelssohn, the great composer and musician, once visited great cathedral in Europe. It housed an organ widely proclaimed to be the finest ever built. As he walked in, the organist was practicing on the instrument, so he listen. After a time he went to the organ loft and asked permission to play the instrument. The organist looked at him and refused, saying he did not know him and they could not allow strangers to play the organ. Mendelssohn sat down and listened some more. Later he persuaded the organist to let him play the instrument. As he sat down his fingers glided smoothly over the keys, and his feet pressed the pedals. The vast cathedral was filled with music such as the organist had never heard before. After a time the organist walked up and placed his hand on Mendelssohn’s shoulder and asked, “Who are you?” “Mendelssohn” was the reply. When the organist gained composure, he said, “To think that an old fool like me nearly refused to let Mendelssohn play our organ.”
• God’s Holy Spirit, the Master Designer, is waiting to touch your life and make the chords vibrate that have too long been silent.
• INVITATION
