John 16:1-15 pt 1 Theme: The Work of the Holy Spirit

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to John's Gospel, chapter 16.

John's Gospel, chapter 16, we will consider verses 1 through 15. The Gospel of John, chapter 16, verses 1 through 15.

This is message number 96. Please join me as I open this up in prayer.

Our glorious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Lord, we have gathered together to hear from you, to devote ourselves to your word.

And God, we ask that you will speak. That you will make yourself real to us in this moment in a unique way.

We ask that you will just leap off of these pages. And what you would have for us to do and be will be made evident through your manservant here today.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. In preaching, sometimes preachers, they look around the room to feel the pulse.

To see what's going on, to see how they are to deliver the message. Sometimes they use what's going on in the congregation to figure out what to preach about.

They want to know your marital problems. They want to know your unique sinful problems or whatever it is that's going on in your life.

Therefore, they can take that problem and shoehorn it into the text.

That is not what we do here. Although sometimes what's presented to us in the text that's delivered from the preacher might seem to touch on your unique sins.

Your unique situation that's going on in your life. I do not look around.

I do not try to feel the pulse. I just want what

God's word has to say to be brought forth in its unique context.

And to try to make application to our context today. And although we are finishing up with chapter 15.

We are still studying the same conversation that Jesus was having with his disciples.

Judas has left to betray Jesus. While Jesus with the other 11 disciples are walking to the garden of Gethsemane.

And listen, this conversation has been profound and eye -opening to say the least.

At least it has to me. John 15 and it's carrying on through 16 and 17.

So far as I've been walking through the text and I've been looking and we've been looking and noticing what's taking place here.

I seem to find unique moments in these chapter divisions that I'm like, this is my favorite chapter.

This is my favorite chapter. This was my favorite chapter. This was my favorite chapter. And I seem to have said that in chapter 15.

It's become one of my favorite chapters. And luckily for us, it continues to grow because we're in that same conversation here in chapter 16.

Jesus has announced that he is the true vine. That Israel is not the true vine.

They were a vine, but he is the true vine. He is who Israel was pointing to. And that his father was the vine dresser.

And that those that are branches that are a part of the vine, who is Jesus, they are to abide in Jesus.

They are to remain in Jesus. And that we abide in Jesus. We bear fruit.

And those that bear fruit, we know that that takes place through the pruning of the vine dresser. We abide by believing in the name of Jesus and loving one another as ourselves.

And this takes place, this pruning takes place as we gather together as a corporate body under the word of God.

Where the father with his snips and with his knife prunes us. And last week from chapter 15,

Jesus began to warn his disciples about the developing persecution that is on the horizon.

And during the ministry of Jesus, the attention was on Jesus. And it wasn't on his disciples.

The disciples were not getting persecuted during the ministry of Jesus. Jesus was being persecuted during the ministry of Jesus.

Several times, I'm not sure how many times, but the text gives us several times where they tried to attack

Jesus. Or they tried to stone Jesus. They tried to seize Jesus. And Jesus would slip out of their hands.

And he would say something like, it's not my time. And over and over they tried to trick

Jesus with questions. They were aiming to persecute him.

Not his followers, him. However, once Jesus has ascended to the father and the baptism of the

Holy Spirit takes place, the attention, the gaze of the world will then focus on the followers of Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus is no longer there for them to persecute. Jesus tells them, his disciples, that they will be persecuted, hated, and witnesses for him.

However, this sequence is out of order. It's backwards. We see in Scripture that their witness caused the hatred that brought about the persecution.

It was their witness that caused the hatred that brought about the persecution.

This persecution that Jesus is warning them about. You're going to be persecuted.

Well, why are they going to be persecuted? Because they're going to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. That is the same sequence for you and I today.

Listen, I mentioned earlier, I do not read the pulse. I'm not checking the pulse of the church.

I truly believe that most of y 'all are far more godlier than I am.

And I don't believe that there's only one way to do this. I've mentioned that several times. But this is what the text tells us.

If you do not witness, you will not be hated. And therefore, you will not be persecuted.

The persecution comes because of witnessing. When you're witnessing, people begin to hate you and you will be persecuted.

But if you do not witness, you will not be hated. And therefore, you will not be persecuted.

And if that's you, this text is not talking about you. And there's no way that I can make application for it to be talking about you.

The disciples of Jesus are to be persecuted because they're witnesses for Jesus. Now, you might know some people who are persecuted, scare quotes, because they're angry and bitter.

I would use other words, but I'm behind the pulpit. I'm trying to tone it down. Right. There's a lot of Christians who are angry or angry and bitter, not witnesses for Jesus.

And people come against them. That's not what Jesus is talking about here. That's not persecution. Persecution is being a witness for Jesus Christ and being hated for your witness.

Now, I've been that angry and bitter Christian in my life. During our series on Revival, I mentioned that I did not want to be persecuted.

Anybody here want to be persecuted? No? We don't want to be persecuted, right? And if you remember, during our series on Revival, we walked through the book of Acts and I mentioned how

I did not want to be persecuted. And at the same time, I did not not want to be persecuted. And that is still my position.

I do not want to be persecuted. And at the same time, I do not not want to be persecuted.

Because I want my whole heart, my whole self, everything that I am to be aligned with Jesus Christ and what it truly means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Our theme for this week is the work of the Holy Spirit. And my proposition is this.

God is in control. God is in control. Please join me as I read for us our text.

John chapter 16 verses 1 through 15. Jesus is still speaking.

He says, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that they're offering so to God.

And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me.

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

I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now that I am going to him who sent me and none of you asked me, where are you going?

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you, it is to your advantage that I go away.

Or if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you.

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

Concerning sins 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.

But when the Holy Spirit, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

For he will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak.

And he will declare to you all the things that are to come. He will glorify me.

For he will take what is mine and give it 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.

In our outline today, we're going to see the work of the

Holy Spirit in persecution and helper. Prosecution and prosecutor.

And lastly, revelation and glorify. So point number one, this is all we'll get to today.

This is a large portion of text. It's persecution and helper. And hopefully next week we'll get through the next two points.

That's not a promise. I'm a week by week sermon builder. We'll get through the persecution and prosecutor and revelation and glorify.

But as we transition concerning persecution, I want to give you a quote from Leonard Ravenhill.

If you have not dove into Leonard Ravenhill, very passionate preacher. Theology is a little different, but he is a brother in Christ.

He says this, quote, The early church was married to poverty, prison, and persecutions.

Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity. End quote.

He said this a long time ago. How real is this in our day?

My dear brothers and sisters, the promise of living a godly life is not health and wealth, but hatred and persecution.

2 Timothy 3, verse 12. We looked at this last week. It says this,

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

That is not a popular message. That is not something that the masses want to hear.

That's not something a preacher with his finger on the pulse wants to say. The message of this church should not be popular.

Pastors should not be known for their personality, but for their faithfulness and for the preaching of God's word.

And if you have entered the faith for prosperity, my dear friend, you have entered in through the wrong door, especially in the reformed context.

Now, as we enter into our first point, we're going to see that the Holy Spirit is the primary agent that brings about persecution as well as help.

But the Holy Spirit is the primary agent that brings about persecution as well as help.

This point will also, as well as the other two points, will not be detached from last week's message nor every message we've done so far in chapter 15.

This is one conversation. Point number one, the persecution and helper of Christians.

This is going to be taken from verses 1 through 7, but we're going to begin by looking at verse 1.

Verse 1. Again, this is Jesus speaking. He says,

I did not say these things to you from the beginning. Oh, excuse me.

I looked. That was verse 4, excuse me. Verse 1. I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

Jesus begins this chapter by saying, so there has to be a context.

I did not say these things to you. I said these things to you to keep you from falling away.

Now, if you remember, Judas has already left to betray Jesus. The disciples don't know that yet.

The disciples are about to witness one of their own, Judas, walk up and betray

Jesus with a kiss. They're about to visually see a disciple of Jesus Christ fall away.

Peter himself is about to betray Jesus three times.

They're about to see, right then and there, falling away.

The Greek word here for falling away is scandalous. In its systematic domain, it is a figurative stumble.

It's not a literal stumble, right? It's not someone who stumbles over. It's not someone who's doing what

I'm doing today, right? I'm up here stumbling, right? It's not someone who stumbles around literal.

It's a figurative. It's spiritual. This is a spiritual stumble. Jesus is not saying to them that you're going to physically fall down, but he is saying to them that when persecution comes upon them, he doesn't want this persecution to be a stumbling block, a spiritual stumbling block, meaning he doesn't want what's about to come upon them, catch them by surprise.

So therefore, Jesus is telling them up front that persecution is coming.

Imagine if he was to tell them that health, wealth, and prosperity is coming, and then all of a sudden persecution comes.

Something is coming that they were not expecting. That would be a stumbling block.

And so Jesus is warning them that persecution is coming, and he is telling them this so they do not fall away once it comes, that they are not caught off guard so they will not stumble, which is what we looked at last week.

So if you look back at last week, chapter 15, I want to read to you verses 18 through 20.

This is what Jesus was saying, and we walked through the last two weeks.

Verse 18,

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

If you were of the world, the world would love you 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 that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

Do we have any servants in here? This word servant is actually slave.

A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, speaking of the master, they will persecute you, speaking of the slave.

Any slaves in here? If they kept my words, meaning believed his words, they will keep your words, believe your words.

Some's going to persecute you. Some are going to hear you preach the gospel. They're going to repent and believe.

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

Jesus here is calling them. He is calling you.

He is calling you and I to bear witness of him, which will in turn cause hatred that will bring about persecution.

Again, you don't have to stand up on the street corners like some of us do, but you are, as a

Christian, called to be a witness that makes, that causes people to hate you, that will bring forth persecution.

However, the cause of their witness is the spirit of truth, the

Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will bear witness to them, Jesus, and then through the

Holy Spirit, they will begin to bear witness to the world, the person and work of Jesus.

This means that the spirit is the primary agent of their persecution.

And while Jesus is on earth, Jesus bore witness about the father. And now that Jesus has went to be with the father, the

Holy Spirit is going to bear witness about Jesus to his followers and more about that next week.

Although as we've been walking through the book of John, we've been seeing Jesus, as they gaze their eyes on Jesus, he points to the father.

And now when the Holy Spirit comes, as the apostles are looking to this Holy Spirit, the

Holy Spirit's pointing to Jesus. And that through their witness, as you see in the book of Acts, as they're witnessing through the

Holy Spirit, they're pointing to Jesus. They're doing what Jesus did.

Though Jesus pointed to the father, the Holy Spirit points to Jesus, and us through the

Holy Spirit will point to Jesus. And we'll get more into that next week. So let's begin by bringing verses 26 and 27 from chapter 15 into our context.

So I want to read for you chapter 15, verses 26 through 27, and then in chapter 16, verses 1 through 3, so that you can see how the

Holy Spirit is the primary agent of persecution. 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.

Speaking to them, he's going to bear witness about Christ. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have said to you all these things to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue.

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

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

In the context of Scripture, to be removed, to be put out of the synagogue is to be removed from Jewish life.

Everything concerning Jewish life was built around these synagogues.

It is to have the same life as a leopard. When a leopard would walk into a city, they would have to scream, leprosy, leprosy, leprosy,

I'm a leopard, people stay away from me. Someone who was removed from the synagogue did not have to do that, but guess what the people who were a part of the synagogue did?

They stayed away from those that were not a part of the synagogue. It was to be alone.

It is to be removed from the city. And I'm not sure, I don't even think we have an equivalent to measure what this is,

We do have church discipline. People can be removed from the church. However, this is more like being removed from a nation.

This is more like if someone was to do something here that would cause us to remove them from the church or kicked out of America.

They can have no dealings in America. This is how serious this is, to be removed from synagogue.

It is to be disowned by everyone. Everyone you know.

It is to be without the ability to come and to participate in Sabbaths and feast days.

It is to be removed from the ability to celebrate holidays. It is to be cut off, severed from their people, to be removed from the old covenant.

This is what Paul is talking about concerning circumcision in Galatians, about anyone who preaches a false gospel, let them be anathema.

Removed from Christ, severed. He gives the imagery, sorry ladies and gentlemen, of circumcision.

The foreskin being removed from a person and sent elsewhere.

That's what it means to be cut off. And that's what takes place when someone is removed from the synagogue.

They are removed from their people. We saw this in John 9, that the parents of that man who was born blind were unwilling to be removed from the synagogue, but they were willing for their son to be removed from the synagogue.

Turn back with me to John 9. I want you to think about this as a parent, so you can see how serious this is.

What would make you say, oh, you know, don't take us out, but you can take the child out.

What would make you throw your child out? Like this is how serious this is. Look at verse 18.

So Jesus had healed a man who was born blind from birth. It says, the

Jews did not believe that this man had been blind and had received his sight until they called his parents.

The parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, is this your son who you say was born blind?

How then does he now see? His parents answered, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

But how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself.

Look at verse 22. His parents said these things because they feared the

Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess

Jesus to be Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore, his parents said, he is of age, ask him. The rejection of their son.

They threw their kid under the bus, as we would say today. I cannot tell you anything that would take place here in our country that would make me throw one of my children under the bus.

Even if it's been a bad day and I've been yelling at them. Like in my head, I've already beat them two times, right? I'm not going to give my child over like this.

This is how serious it is. I think sometimes we can read this and just glance over and not really take what's coming to us.

Not really ingest what God has for us.

This is why it's so important to be a part of a church where a pastor, a preacher is going through books of the

Bible expositionally. Once Jesus has ascended to the Father, his disciples will confess that Jesus is the

Christ. And therefore, because of that, they will be removed from synagogue.

So Jesus is warning them. They're about to be disowned by their nation. They're about to be lepers.

They're about to be cut off. He's warning them. We see something like this, but probably not still the equivalent when it comes to certain sub -Christian cults, right?

Such as Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and stuff like that. Whenever you stop being a part of that sub -Christian community, to leave a community is to be disowned by that community.

By that community, not by a nation, but by that community. If someone was to be put out here for a heinous sin, because that's what it would take, something very heinous that's being unrepented of,

I will not say that we just disown him and have nothing to do with him. I would encourage you to, when you see this person, to witness to him.

Not necessarily feast and fellowship, but to witness to him, to call him to repentance, or even her, to repentance.

But if you left Jehovah Witnesses, which we have a member here who has, and we know people that have left

Mormonism, and they were disowned by their community. However, still, what we see here in the text, to be removed from the synagogue is much worse.

Like I said, it is as if you were excommunicated here, and then all of a sudden, you could have no dealings with anyone anywhere in America.

You were welcomed nowhere. The religious leaders of that day, as well as political leaders of that day, persecuted the church, thinking they were offering service to God.

And I think it's fair to say that religious leaders and political leaders throughout time that have attacked the church did so thinking they were offering service to God.

But in truth, they do not know God. They did not, do not know

God, because to know God is to know Christ. We have seen the horrific persecution of Christians done by religious leaders, or done by other religions, such as Jews, Rome, the

Vikings, the Roman Catholic Church even, and Islam. And this persecution of Christians, they think that they were offering service to God, but in truth, they did not know

God. And we can have this debate concerning the Catholics, and I'm up for it, and the persecution and killing of Christians.

They thought they were offering service to God, but in truth, they did not know God. We're to love one another.

We're to be known by our love for one another. And yes, the best of men are men at best. We get that.

We understand that. The Apostle Paul here is a great example of this.

Turn with me to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. As we know, the

Apostle Paul, who was known as Saul, was a persecutor of the church. He was involved with the stoning of Stephen.

And the text tells us that they lay their feet, or someone said that Stephen, I mean that Saul, Paul here, was holding the coats of those.

Some say it was laid at his feet. I kind of see this as Saul here was a leader of a synagogue.

I kind of see this as those who were stoning him were laying their coats at his feet, saying, look what we're doing for synagogue.

Look what we're doing for God. Paul gives his testimony in chapter 1, verse 13.

He says this, For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how

I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.

So what did he do? He persecuted the church of God violently with the intentions to destroy it.

He says, I was advancing in Judaism beyond many. Beyond what many?

For doing what he was doing here. Of my own age, among my people, so extremely zealous was

I for the traditions of my father. But when he, speaking of God, who set me apart before I was born and called me by his grace and was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the

Gentiles. So he who he was trying to destroy, he now preaches.

The apostle Paul was extremely zealous for the traditions of his fathers, the traditions by which he was serving

God through destroying the church. That he thought he was serving God by destroying the church.

Paul represented the most zealous and most religious Jew and so on and so forth with Rome, the

Vikings, and the Roman Catholic Church in Islam. The religious Jews believed that Christians were blasphemers who worshiped

Jesus, who was merely a man. To them, Jesus was nothing more than a man, a blasphemer who claimed to be

God. Rome persecuted the church, the Christians, the

Christian church, not for believing in Jesus, but for not believing in their many gods as well.

You see, Rome respected the Jews, although they only believed in one god because it was an ancient religion.

But they didn't see Christians as a part of this ancient religion. They didn't understand Baptist covenant theology, let's say.

Because we believe that the way Abraham is saved is the same way that we're saved. That true children of Abraham are those who have the faith of Abraham.

They saw Christians pop up in this Jesus character, and that this Jesus was being worshiped, and it was a new religion.

They didn't like new religions. And they would take you in if you also worshiped their gods.

Again, to them, we were just atheists. We were nothing more than atheists because we denied their gods.

We said, no, Caesar's not Lord. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. Jesus is

Jesus Christ. And so because Christians would say things like that, we were put to death as atheists.

They wanted us to worship their god as well as Caesar. And as you read in church history, faithful Christians who abided in Christ, they did not worship

Caesar and were put to death. And Rome had many different ways of putting Christians to death.

They would pour hot tar on them and set them on fire and use them as candles.

They would crucify them, saw them in two, bottom to top.

They would start in your private area and saw all the way to your head.

They would feed you to lions. They had many different ways of killing

Christians. They crucify you, right side up, upside down, did not matter to them. They boil you in oil as you're dipping that turkey in the oil.

Imagine a live person being dipped into something like that. Rome wasn't playing.

They perfected killing. The Vikings killed for Odin. The Roman Catholic Church killed over theology.

And Islamic Muslims kill over land. And all of them did so believing that they were offering service to God or gods.

And Christians just so happened to be the butt of their joke. They were at the tip of their spear.

Jesus was not only telling His disciples, warning His disciples of this coming persecution.

He is also telling us through Holy Scripture. You and I, all of Christians everywhere, warning us of persecution.

And again, persecution, just like witnessing, just like evangelism, can come in different levels, let's say.

It can be, as we see with Jake, who left Jehovah's Witnesses, that this community has rejected him.

It's persecution. It could be that you might not be in a religious family, but you become a

Christian, and now your cousins, your family, want nothing to do with you. That's a form of persecution.

And all those who desire to live a godly life in Jesus Christ, what will they be?

Persecuted. It's not always at the tip of the spear. Well, it is at the tip of the spear, but that spear doesn't have to be a literal spear.

And that kind of persecution hurts too. If you are put to death, or if you are persecuted for your faith, those who are doing it believe that they are offering service to their gods.

Atheism has its own god as well. To believe something is to be in a religion.

If you believe in the Big Bang Theory, and that we were all just nothing that became something, we all come from an animal that somehow walked out of the, that stardust fell into the ocean, created all these many different fish, and one day one of these fish had lungs and gills that walked out, monkeys, so on and so forth.

That's a belief that is a religion. So that when it comes, excuse me, they're offering service to God.

And he tells them this, so that when it comes, they will not stumble over what God has planned for us, or allow this persecution that God has planned for us to hinder our walk with God.

And what we need to take away from everything is that God is in control. And we know that as Reformed people, right?

But do we understand that God is in control of our persecutions? Do we understand that?

That God is in control of our persecutions. If you're living a life right now, and it's not because you're facing the cross, you're facing lions, guess who's in control of that?

God. But if you're abiding in Christ, and the persecution that you do receive, it might be a rejection from a child, it might be a rejection from a parent.

Jesus said that he came to make halls the vision. God is in control of that. That is persecution.

We do not need to, listen, don't envy those that had a walk on that ice sheet that I talked about last week.

I ain't envying those for nothing, right? But if you want to experience just a little bit of persecution,

I would say please come out with us as we go out and witness. Yesterday, we definitely received a lot of hate from people in the community.

Read with me verses 4 through 7. Jesus says, but I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, speaking of the persecutor, you may remember that I told you.

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

But now that I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asked me, why are you going?

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

It is to your advantage that I go away. Because if I go away, the helper will come to you.

But if I go, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Excuse me for my misplacing of words. In verse 4, Jesus tells them why he is telling them and why he didn't tell them from the beginning.

He's telling them to warn them, verse 4. He didn't tell them from the beginning because he was with them, also, verse 4.

The persecution was aimed at him, Jesus, not them. Jesus was the one who was testifying against the world.

He was testifying against the world, not his disciples. Remember John 7, verse 7, it says,

Jesus speaking to these religious leaders, he says that the world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it that its works are evil.

So Jesus was pointing to the Father. And then everything that Jesus was saying, he said to himself that he gets from the

Father and he gives it to them. So it's the

Father's testimony that their works were evil. So when the

Holy Spirit bears witness to them, he's going to bear witness to the words of Jesus, which the world's works are evil.

And as the disciples go out and witness, he's going to be bearing witness to the disciples that the world's works are evil.

And then as we're going out and we're proclaiming and we're witnessing, the Holy Spirit through us is going to be proclaiming and witnessing to this world that its works are evil.

But Jesus is saying to them that he was being persecuted.

His disciples are not being persecuted because the disciples at that time were not doing what Jesus was doing.

Jesus was the one being persecuted because he was saying that their works were evil. And we saw this with John the

Baptist. John the Baptist testified against the world that its works were evil. And we saw what happened to John the

Baptist. He ended up with his head chopped off and on a platter. He had many different ways of killing people.

This is one of the ways that Islamic extremists like to kill

Christians, by cutting off their heads. Now concerning a fallen away, Jesus has already told us that a fallen away is coming.

But he also told us who it is that would fall away, and he told us it would be a false convert over the word of God.

Now did Jesus use those words? No. But that the word of God through the

Holy Spirit will bring about persecution. And listen, if you're not a Christian, you will fall away when persecution comes.

That's what Jesus is saying here. A fallen away is coming. I'm telling you this so that you will not fall away.

Because those that fall away, they went out from us because they're not of us. Now we're using different scriptures to bring it into the context here.

But Jesus tells us this in Matthew chapter 13. If you turn with me to Matthew chapter 13, this is the parable of the sower.

The parable of the sower. Chapter 13 verse 1 is where we'll start.

It says, The same day Jesus went out of the house and he sat beside the sea, and a great crowd gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down.

And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables singing.

A sower went out to sow. Here's the parable. A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they did not have depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and those thorns grew up and choked them out.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

He who has an ear, let him hear. If you jump over to verse 18 through 23, he explains this parable.

He says, Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, speaking of the gospel, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is what was sown along the path.

Verse 20, As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but he endures for a while.

And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, the word of God, when persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Verse 22, As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, the word of God, and it proves unfaithful.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold and another 60 and another 30.

We see these different levels of how the word is given. We go out.

Yesterday we went out and we scattered seed. The word fell on a lot of ears yesterday.

And as we're preaching, sometimes I just imagine the devil coming and snatching those words up, right?

Snatching those words up. And sometimes we can even believe when we witness to someone that God saved somebody and persecution comes.

And they're no longer a part of the church. Or that the riches and the seekfulness of this world has taken place in their heart.

And they chose the world over the word. And they stopped coming to church.

They stopped following Christ. They stopped abiding in Christ. But there are some, if you're here today and you're a

Christian, you're a good soil that the seed fell on.

And God has, through you, produced fruit. Some 60, some 100, some 60, some 30.

So we see that verse 19 connects with verse 4. Verses 20 and 21 connect back to verses 5 and 6.

Verse 22 connects back to verse 7. And verse 23 connects back to verses 8 and 9.

If you want to do the math there, go through that. Maybe next week we'll kind of slow it down there and walk through it.

I'm not sure yet. Again, I'm a week -by -week preacher. But you can be sure of this.

You here today, who hopefully every one of us are good soil Christians, we can be sure of this, that the good soil who heard the word of God and understood it, who was changed by it, went through the same kind of persecution and tribulation over the word of God that the others did and fell away.

The same kinds of persecution and tribulation, those that the seed fell in good soil, went through that same kind of persecution and tribulation, but did not fall away.

They, we, went through the same kind of deceitfulness of riches, but proved faithful because of the word of God.

Because of the word of God. Again, this is something I don't think that we're actually connecting as we read the scriptures.

My dear friends, the Bible tells us that the word of God does not return void, that it will accomplish its purpose, that as we're out there preaching and the devil is out there snatching up or as we're out there preaching and people profess faith and they eventually, one way or another, walk away from the faith.

But that's what the word of God intended to do. Because God is in control.

We are not in control. God is in control. We are slaves of the one true

God. And that's how we need to view ourselves. My dear friends, the

Bible will accomplish the purpose it was sent out to accomplish.

It will remove those from the vine or it would either remove those from the vine or it will grow those in holiness.

So if you're here today, one or two things is going to happen. As you're under the word of God, this word is either going to cause persecution to come and the word of God is going to remove you from the vine.

Or the word of God is going to cause persecution to come, but the Father is going to prune you and grow you in holiness.

Those are the two things you can be sure of as you're attending church under the word of God.

And my fingers are not on the pulse. It's hard.

Right? This is a tough message. This could be a message of depression.

This is not something that we want to say and this is not something that you want to hear.

But since we preach verse by verse through the Bible, this is what the Bible says. And you and I can be sure of this.

We can be sure that the word of God, the good soil who heard and understands this, that the word of God is in control.

We can be sure of this. Now verses 3 and 4, verses 3 and the first part of verse 4, they connect with verses 8 through 11 and we will look at those next week.

So if you're thinking he's skipping over something, no, we're going to look at that next week. However, the second half of verse 4, we find out why

Jesus didn't say these things to them from the beginning of his ministry and the reason why was, we already read it, because he was with them.

So if you look in the second half of verse 4, he says, I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you.

Persecution was to be aimed at him, not them. And in verses 5 through 6, we're going to see why the disciples needed a helper.

And in verse 7, we'll see that the Holy Spirit is that helper. Again, let's look back at those three verses real quick.

But now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asked me, where are you going?

But because I said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 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. But if I go, I will send him to you.

We've already seen several times in the book of John that Jesus made this statement, I am going away to him who sent me.

However, in our context, he has answered this in many different ways. The last time we saw this, he was speaking about the cross.

He was speaking about his burial. He is going away, meaning that he is going to be put to death. This time, he is clearly speaking about his ascension.

He is clearly speaking about him going to the Father. And the reason Jesus is saying it like this is because his disciples don't seem to be worried about him leaving.

They seem to be more worried about something else. Now, this gospel doesn't tell us what the disciples are doing or what they're saying.

We're only seeing one side of the conversation. So as we're looking at this, we have to use conjecture concerning what's going on.

And by what Jesus is saying here is that they, the disciples, seem to be more worried about the hatred and the persecution that's going to come than they do about him leaving.

And us today, sometimes concerning the end times, we can seem more concerned about persecutions or things that might come instead of the victory that's being won in our persecution.

We can be more worried about, oh, I wonder if this is the mark of the beast, or I wonder if that's, just name it, whatever it is.

We can be so worried about what's coming. I wonder if this president's the Antichrist. I wonder if that guy's the

Antichrist. I wonder what he's going to do. We're so fixated upon this. We don't understand that the persecution that's coming upon us,

God is gaining victory. He's gaining ground. The blood of the martyr is the seed of the church.

Jesus has been telling them that they're going to be his witnesses and that they're going to be hated for their witness of him and that through their witness of him, they will be persecuted.

And Jesus here is acknowledging that sorrow has filled their heart, meaning that they are troubled.

They're troubled. They're discouraged. They're about to be put to death.

He says that when their hour comes, they will kill you. Troubled has filled their heart.

And because the sorrow has filled their hearts, he then tells them that a helper is coming and that this helper is the

Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that calls them to be witnesses of Jesus Christ was brought about the persecution, which brings about the persecution, will also bring about help during the persecution.

Again, look back at verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage.

This advantage here is for their persecution as well. It is to your advantage that I go away.

If I do not go away, the helper will not come. If he does not leave, the

Holy Spirit does not come. We are not indwelled with God in us if he does not leave.

Now, the work of the Holy Spirit as helper will be expounded on next week. We're coming to our end here.

We'll look at it next week as we enter into our next two points, specifically concerning verse 7.

But real quick, I want to look ahead and give you a preview of next week. We're going to see that the Holy Spirit is the prosecutor that brings about prosecution.

We're going to see that the Holy Spirit brings to them revelation to write down which we have.

Amen. And lastly, we're going to see that the

Holy Spirit that glorifies Jesus causes us to glorify

Jesus. We're no different than the apostles in this case.

The apostles are set apart in many different ways in the writing of Scriptures. They had unique gifts that we don't have.

But in the same way that they glorified Jesus, you and I too today will glorify

Jesus through that same Holy Spirit. Persecution is the result of those who are abiding in Christ, believing in Jesus Christ and loving one another, as well as bearing witness against the world that its works are evil.

My dear friends, if Jesus doesn't go to His Father, these things that we just elaborated on do not take place.

As well as the fact as we today who have God, who have the Holy Spirit, God the

Trinity dwelling in us, He tabernacles in us, He's living in us.

We would not have this unique relationship with God. If Jesus does not die for our sins, bury, rises again, and ascends to the

Father. Now the Holy Spirit is a gift given to us by Jesus, and it's only in the gospel.

So the way in which, if you're here today, the way in which that you get the Holy Spirit is you have to believe something.

You have to believe that God left heaven, and as He left heaven,

He took on flesh, and that He lived the life that you and I could not live.

And that He died the death, taking your punishment there. That He rose again on the third day, proving that He is who

He said He was, God. That He ascended to the Father, and He's coming back again.

That's the totality of the gospel message. He lived the life that we could not live.

He took the punishment that we deserve, and His death and burial. He rose again from the grave, proving that He is

God. He ascended into the Father, and He's sitting on the right hand of the

Father on the throne of David, and He's ruling and reigning, and He's putting all of His enemies under His feet. And the last enemy will be death when

He returns again. That's the full gospel message. And we can be assured that when we believe in Jesus, all of that is a part of who

Jesus is, His person and work, that we will have the Holy Spirit. We will have the

Holy Spirit, and this Holy Spirit is going to cause you to be a witness for Jesus Christ. My dear friends, if you lived in the

Christian faith for a period of time, and you know this, you believe this, and you have not been driven by the

Spirit to go out and do these things, again, it doesn't matter what it looks like, you might not have the

Holy Spirit. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. We are available to anyone who wants to talk.

If you're sick in body, we'd love to pray for you. If you have questions about the message, if today is the first day that you've believed and put your faith in Jesus Christ, we'd like to talk with you.

Let's pray. Father, thank

You for this day. Thank You for Your Word. Even the heart to swallow portions of Your Word.

We love You. We're so grateful that we have this Word. It doesn't pull punches.

I know throughout my time of study, I've been convicted. Lord, I do pray that You grant me repentance where I fell.

Lord, we're about to enter into a moment where we partake in Your supper. We do ask that You use this to grow us in holiness, but that You also prevent those who are unwilling to repent and live for You to partake in these things.

We know that You will use these things to grow us in holiness, and we trust that as we partake in these things, we are being conformed to the image of Your beloved