How to Take Heart in Trying Times
Text: John 16:25-33
Well, this morning, we’re returning to our study of John’s Gospel, and just to remind you all of what where we were… Let me give you a quick re-cap. In chapter 13, Jesus went to the upper room with His disciples, and they celebrated the Passover together. . He in essence instituted the Lord’s Supper… Jesus has washed the disciples feet and told them about forgiveness. And Judas has left to go betray Jesus. And so, Jesus has told them to be prepared for what lies ahead. He’s stressed the need for Christians to love one another. At the end of John 14, in verse 31, we see that Jesus and the disciples left the Upper Room… Then in chapter 15, probably as they were walking towards the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus taught them about the vines and branches… and how we all need to be connected to the One True Vine, and how apart from Him, we can do nothing. He taught them how He would send the Holy Spirit and explained to them the ministry of the Holy Spirit – how He would lead us to all truth, and how He would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. He told them how He wanted them to have joy and that their joy be full. But also, Jesus explained to them that He was going away… and how tribulation, trials, and persecution was coming.
A lot of instruction has taken place over the last few chapters.
That brings us to what we’ll be looking at today – John 16:25-33 (READ).
So, there’s a lot we could look at from this passage, but there are three obvious things that I want us to really zero in on today.
FIRST – Jesus wants to glorify God the Father, and He wants us to know God the Father. Right there in verse 25 Jesus says, “I will tell you plainly about the Father.” He doesn’t say, “I’ll tell you plainly about Myself.” … He wants to show us the Father – He wants to glorify the Father – He wants us to know the Father.
So, let me ask you – How deep is your knowledge of God the Father? What do you know of His character and attributes? And here’s another question – How can we know Him? Jesus said in Matthew 11:27, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” Now make no mistake about it – Jesus is saying exactly what you think He’s saying there. No one can know the Father, unless Jesus reveals Him to them.
Now turn back to John 1:18 (READ)… This really confuses the worldly…
Jesus says, “No one has ever seen God – but the only God who is at the Father’s side has made Him known.” Of course Jesus is speaking about Himself. He reveals the Father to whomever He chooses.
There are billions of people on this planet, and many of them think that they know the Father. They have some notion of God. Some idea, or concept of God. He’s up in heaven, sending natural disasters down on occasion… or maybe sending an occasional blessing down. But their understanding is surface level. They’ve never really taken the time to work through what it means that God is Omnipotent – All Powerful… Or Omniscient – All Knowing… or Omnipresent – Everywhere all at once (In all places, at all times, all at once). They’ve never stopped to work through the process of God’s holiness and what that means. Their head starts swimming when they think through the fact that God is utterly and totally just, but at the same time He is the Justifier of the sinner who has trusted in Jesus.
I could go on… To think of the God who sent His Son to suffer and die – To think of God in Christ reconciling the lost to Himself – as the God who gives the Law, yet saves by grace.
Thinking is hard! Or at least that seems to be the mindset of many folks today.
And I get it, sometimes I try to think but nothing happens… Some of you will get that later.
The point is – Do we know about God, or do we know Him? Has Jesus revealed the Father to you?
And I know some folks say, “Hey I’m saved… I don’t need to know a bunch of theology and doctrine. I’m good with just being saved.”
But here’s the thing… One day, as I go into eternity, I’m going to stand before God, and don’t want to have to say, “Well God, I sure am glad You saved me, but I really don’t want to know You… I just want the benefits of knowing You.”
You see that’s the mindset of what we call “Hook Up” culture… all the benefits of marriage, but not the actual thing. But the Bible says we are the Bride of Christ. Jesus is coming for a Bride.
So Jesus says, “I will show you the Father.”
Church, I pray that we know all the members of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that we would honor Them.
Secondly, verse 27, we see that one thing we can know about the Father is that He loves us. God loves us because we love Jesus and believe.
That’s so interesting to me… in just a few hours, every one of these guys is going to abandon Jesus and run away. Fear is going to overtake them. And so… this verse is one of those that gives a sinner like me great hope.
Let me tell you why. There are times when I don’t love God as I should. There are times when I love myself, my sin, or other things more than God. In-fact; we could argue that every time a believer sins, it’s because his or her love for God has faltered in some way. A moment of weakness. A moment of selfishness. And we find ourselves in sin, giving into temptation. But here Jesus tells the disciples, “You have loved Me.” Knowing full well that their love has not yet been perfected. It’s not yet fully devoted to Christ.
You see, 1 John 4:18 tells us that “Perfect love casts out fear.” And that word Perfect” is the Greek word “Teleios”. It means brought to completion or brought to maturity. Fully developed. It’s the kind of love that comes from knowing God better and better. So really, Jesus is saying, “Hey guys, I want you to know God better and better, so I will speak plainly about the Father… SO THAT… you can love Him better and better, and more and more. So that your love for God will grow, and mature, and be brought to completeness.”
So God sets His love upon us, even though we’re not there yet. He meets the sinner where they are.
But that doesn’t mean the sinner gets to stay where they are. Once God sets His love upon us, He begins to work in us, to transform us, to make us more and more like His beloved Son with Whom He is well pleased. So, here’s the deal! God loves you, not because your love is perfect, but because you’re in Christ. If you’re in Christ, He can’t NOT love you. And so, even though we’re not fully perfected in our love, Christ’s love is perfect.
You want to think deeply about something – think on that. It will blow your mind! And I’d be willing to bet that as you do that, you’ll come to the conclusion that IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
Isn’t that kind of what verse 27 says, “God loves you because you love Jesus and have believed.”
Now… one other thing I want you to see from this passage. If you are in Christ, and God has set His love upon you – the world is going to come at you. In verse 30 the disciples say, “Now we believe.” And Jesus immediately calls them out. Look at verses 30 & 31 (READ).
“OH! SO NOW YOU BELIEVE! Let me just tell ya’ fella’s. In just a few hours you’re all going to run away and hide.”
It’s one of the prevalent themes in John’s Gospel account. The heart is deceptive above all else. People believe unto a point. They believe certain things about Jesus.
People can believe all kinds of things… but the Bible tells us that our belief… our faith… is to be founded on truth. Not the wisdom of the world. Not the vain philosophies of man. Not on opinion or the latest trends. THE TRUTH! You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free! And guess what? Jesus is the Truth! He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
But when the world believes the lie… and the world loves the lie… when you and I speak the truth, and stand on the truth – the world isn’t going to like that at all.
Now I hope you see how all of those things fit together.
As we know God more and more, and better and better, we grow to love Him more and more as well. And as our love for God grows, so does our faithfulness and devotion to Him, and like 1 John 4:18 says, “Perfect love (Fully developed, every maturing love) casts out fear.” So we need not fear the world, or what the world might do to us, or say about us. It just doesn’t matter – because we have Jesus!
Church, understand this – the world, and the things of this world, the world system… none of it is a friend to the Christ and His Church. In-fact; when Jesus returns He’s going to burn it all up. That’s what He thinks of it. He’s going to destroy it with fire.
Now imagine this with me for a second. Let’s say you have a pillow and let’s say the family dog got ahold of that pillow and used it for a litter box… so you took it out and put it in the dumpster, and a family of rats moved into it and used it for a bed. And just before the day the trash truck comes and empties your dumpster, your spouse goes out and gets that pillow and places it back on the bed.
You see it and you’re like, “What are you doing? That pillow is nasty! It needs to be burned.” And your spouse says, “No, I love that pillow… it’s been in our family for a long time, it’s still useful, and it’s comfortable.” And you’re like, “Get rid of that thing! It’s soiling everything it touches… and if you use it, you could end up really sick. It can actually hurt you if you use it.” But your spouse, is like, “But I love that pillow.”
What I’m trying to do with that illustration is show us a picture of our Groom – Jesus, and us, and the world. To Him, the world going to the dump heap and is going to be burned. But we’re still holding on to it.
Now Jesus has said all of these things, about knowing God the Father, about God’s love for us, and our love and faith in Jesus… and about how in this world we will have trouble, because He wants us to have peace… that’s what He says in verse 33, “I have said these things to you, that in Me, you may have peace.” He didn’t say we would have peace in the world… but in Him.
If you know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you can have peace. No matter what the world throws at you. You can have peace because He has overcome the world.
Jesus is the source of true and lasting peace. We need to rest in that. And we need to take heart… or as the King Jimmy says, “Be of good cheer.”
We can take heart in knowing that Jesus has won! He has overcome the world. And He’s coming again, some day, and will make all things new. The trials and tribulations of this world, should drive us closer to Him – because He is the One who has overcome the world.
CLOSING
