'The World, the Disciples and the Holy spirit.' Ch. 15:18-16:33 (Keswick Convention 1973) — Eric J. Alexander

To the end of verse 11. It is the relationship between the world and the Holy Spirit. Then from verse 12 of chapter 16 to the end of verse 15. It is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Christian.

There are these three relationships then. The Christian and the world. 18 of chapter 15 to the end of 6 of 16. The world and the Holy Spirit. Verses 7 to 11. And the Holy Spirit and the Christian. Verses 12 to 15.

Joy, Understanding, and Triumph Through Christ’s Departure

Then from chapter 16 verse 16 to the end of the chapter. Jesus outlines some of the blessings which will be the fruit of his going and the Spirit's coming. And they are first joy out of sorrow. The end of verse 20 is the keynote.

Your sorrow will be turned into joy. Then secondly understanding out of perplexity. And verse 23 is the keynote. In that day you will ask me no questions. And finally triumph in tribulation. Verse 33 is the keynote.

I have said this to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you of tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. There then is the outline of our study for this morning. And it will you may be guessing a triumph of grace if we get to the end of it by eleven o 'clock.

Perhaps it might be helpful to notice our Lord's own explanation in chapter 16 verse 1 of his purpose in all this teaching. I have to keep reminding myself and I hope I may remind you that the whole substance and point of our Lord's teaching in these chapters.

Is that he might succor and buttress the disciples in their weakness and need. As they face this horrifying prospect of the departure of the Lord Jesus from them. And Jesus says in chapter 16 verse 1 I have said all this to you.

And it is the whole of this upper room discourse I think that he is referring to. To keep you from falling away. That's our Lord's great burden for the security of his people. And the truth enshrined in that explanation is that it is the ministry of his word that keeps us from falling.

I have said these things to you. To keep you from falling away. Well now may we look at the first of these relationships. Verse 18 of chapter 15 to verse 6 of chapter 16. The Christian and the world. If the world hates you.

You know that it has hated me before it hated you. Now it's important to notice that the context in which Jesus begins to expound to the disciples what will be the relationship between themselves and the world.

Is the life of fruit-bearing. Of which he has been speaking in the earlier part of the chapter. And the point is that this life of fruit-bearing under fellowship with the Father and the Son. Is not just to be lived out in the context of the mutual love of believers.

It is to be lived out in the context of a secular society. Which is fundamentally hostile to the fruit-bearing Christian. That is what Jesus means by the world. There are various usages of the phrase the world in the scripture.

But here and in so many places in John's writings it is society as alienated from God. And under the sway of Satan as its prince. And it is within the context of this secular society as we would say. That the life of the fruit-bearing child of God is to be lived.

The Christian Chosen Out of the World and Sent Into It

The position of the Christian in relation to the world. You will notice in these early verses of this part. Is a threefold relationship. First of all in verse 19. He has been chosen out of the world. You are not of the world.

But I chose you out of the world. Secondly because of this he is therefore not of the world. That is he does not belong to it. If you were of the world. The world would love its own. And the counterpart of belonging to Christ.

And belonging to the vine. Is that you do not belong to the world. He is not of the world. But the third relationship he has to the world. Is that he is a witness to the world. He is chosen out of it.

He is not of it. But that does not mean that he lives in isolation. He is sent back into it by the same Lord who has chosen him out of it. And in verse 27 Jesus says you also are witnesses. Because you have been with me from the beginning.

Now it's because of what Jesus has done in them. When he chose them out of the world. That the world is hostile to them. When he sends them back into it. I wonder if you know that wonderful fairy story.

I hope you haven't stopped reading fairy stories incidentally. There is a wealth of theology in fairy stories. Have you ever grasped this? C .S. Lewis is the great man who has discovered this. There is that wonderful old fairy story of the animal taken out of the herd by a being from another world.

And this being ennobles and beautifies the animal until it radiates some kind of strange new glory. And then it returns to the herd. And at first they are curious and intrigued. Wondering what this is that's happened to this member of their herd.

And then the curiosity and intrigue turns to resentment and anger. Until the whole place becomes a cauldron of hatred. And they turn upon it to rend it to pieces. They hate the glory that's shining from it.

Now there's a world of theology in that kind of fairy story. Isn't there? It is because of what he has done in them. When he chose them out of the world. That the world is hostile to them. When they stand in it.

Says Jesus the world hates you. And in these verses 18 and 19 onwards. This hatred is related to Christ in two ways. First of all the world hates the Christian as it hated Christ. In verse 18 if the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you.

That is his relationship with the world is the pattern or prototype of their experience with the world. How did the world treat Jesus? Well you see that supremely of course at the cross. The cross is the great revelation of all these things.

How did they treat Jesus then? With indifference you remember. With cynical indifference they gambled at the foot of the cross while he suffered. With contempt if thou be the Christ come down from the cross.

With mockery hail king of the Jews. With hatred and violence they spat upon him and took the reed and smote him. Now if they do that with me says Jesus. Don't be surprised if they do the same with you.

Verse 20 a servant is not greater than his master. But notice also that the world hates the Christian not only as it hated Christ but because it hated Christ. Verse 21 all this they will do to you on my account.

Verse 19 if you look back if you were of the world the world would love its own but because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you. That is his relationship with the world is not only the pattern and prototype of theirs it is the reason for the world's hatred of them.

Now that's an important truth for us as we think of the relationship of the Christian with the world. It is not in other words our oddities and inconsistencies which are to draw upon us the world's opposition.

It is our Christ likeness and holiness which is the real motive of the world's opposition. And it is a grievous error beloved when a man blames opposition that he is receiving upon his relationship with the Lord.

When really it is the result of the inconsistencies of his own life. You may not blame on the Lord Jesus some of the objectionable things that are in your own life that may draw down the opposition of the world.

The World’s Hatred of Christ and the Father

Further Jesus says you can trace this hatred still deeper. They hate you because they hate me. Verse 21 but in verse 22 there is a strong hint of the fact that they hate me really because they hate my father.

If I had not come and spoken to them they would not have sinned but now they have no excuse for the sin. Verse 23 he who hates me hates my father also. That's something that Christian people need to learn is it not.

That the natural man nice and upright though he may be is at heart implacably opposed to God. So that when a man says to you I have nothing against God and all that. He doesn't know himself beloved. The natural man is implacably opposed to God and to his son and to the whole message of the gospel and once that reality is open to his eyes the hatred begins to come out of the heart of the natural man.

This is something very real. Further Jesus says they hate both you and me and my father because of their spiritual blindness and ignorance. Verses 21 to 25 all this they will do to you on my account because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them they would not have sinned but now they have no excuse for their sin. You will notice that this is willful ignorance that Jesus is speaking of. It's not that they have not heard but that they will not listen.

Therefore they are without excuse. Now throughout the scripture you get illustrations of that kind of thing. Do you remember the experience of Stephen in Acts chapter 7 when he is witnessing to the world of the Lord Jesus Christ and has been preaching Christ in all the scriptures to them.

Verse 54 of Acts 7 when they heard these things they were enraged and ground their teeth against him. That was the hatred of the world against God and when Stephen went on to speak in verse 57 we read they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him.

Can you see the picture of these men they say we don't want to listen we don't want to hear this. It is a willful ignorance. Now it's very significant that Jesus extends this hatred of the world which the believer will suffer to the realm of worldly religion.

Persecution Through Worldly Religion

In chapter 16 verses 1 to 4 I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away they will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed the hour is coming when whosoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

Now that prophecy was very literally fulfilled you will remember in the persecuting zeal of Saul of Tarsus. Giving his own account of it in Acts 22 verse 3 following Paul says he was zealous for God and in Acts 26 9 I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now here is another realm you see of the opposition of the world and it's the opposition of worldly religion to the real Jesus in the lives of his disciples. And I want to say to you my Christian friends this morning that one of the most frightening things in all the world is to see the naked hatred of worldly religion for the real Jesus in the lives of his children.

And whether that worldly religion wears liberal clothes or evangelical clothes doesn't matter. I was at a conference somewhere sometime ago and I met a young man who came to see me in great distress. He was the pastor of a certain congregation and he began to tell me about this evangelical congregation that he had come to.

But it had been an evangelical congregation that had been resting upon its laurels and had never been used to being disturbed out of the Word of God. And he began to tell me about some of the things that had happened to him, about some of the experiences he had had with office bearers in that very congregation.

And do you know what had happened to that young man? They had brought him to the verge of a mental breakdown. What was it? Well it was because under this awful diabolical delusion that they were serving God they were hounding the young man out of the place.

And there is a worldliness even in evangelical religion which can produce a demonic hatred of the real Jesus. All that is the negative side of the relation of the Christian in the world. What is the Christian to do in response to the world's hatred?

Well Jesus answer comes in the context of his words about to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in verse 26 and 27. What the Christian is to do is to go into the world sent by the Lord Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses.

You also are witnesses because you have been with me from the beginning. So the Christians response to the world's hostility to God and to the gospel is neither to be isolation nor retaliation but evangelization.

The Christian Witness and the Holy Spirit’s Testimony

And that is the bridge into the next section of the chapter because you will notice in verse 26 that behind the witness of the disciple is the witness of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit.

It is he who will be the witness and you also are witnesses. I shall send to you the Counselor from the Father even the Spirit of truth and he will bear witness to me. Now this is what Peter and the Apostles are testifying to in Acts 5 .32 when they say we are his witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit.

And the same Lord Jesus who took them out of the world to himself and incorporated them into the vines so that they were not of the world sends them back into the world as his fruitful and fruit bearing disciples to bear witness to the world as the instruments of the Holy Spirit.

You see God's attitude to the world is not that he stands back from it. When he sees the hostility and the rebellion of those who did not like to retain God in their knowledge they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

What does God do? He doesn't wash his hands of it and go to some corner and leave them to themselves. He loved the world and sent his only begotten Son and part of that loving and sending is that the Lord Jesus says he is sending you out into the world equipped by his Holy Spirit to be his witness.

And the book of Acts is really the account of the fulfillment of that promise. It is the story of how the Holy Spirit takes up these poor weak frightened men filled them with power from on high and bears witness to the Lord Jesus through them.

The Holy Spirit Convicts the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

Now it's that that brings us to the second relationship the world and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ but he does not only conduct Christ's case before the world to use Dr. Leon Morris's phrase although this is the first element in the Holy Spirit's witness.

You will remember that the word paraclete which is the word John uses for the Holy Spirit has these legal overtones and the normal idea used of the Holy Spirit's work for the believer in the word paraclete is that he is the one called alongside to buttress the believer and to indwell him and then to witness to the world concerning Christ.

But here in John 16 verse 11 he appears to become the in verses 6 to 11 I'm sorry he appears to become not so much the advocate to conduct Christ's case before the world but rather the prosecutor who secures the world's conviction.

You notice nevertheless verse 7 I tell you the truth it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the counselor will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you and what will he do when he comes he will convince the world or as the authorized version puts it he will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.

Now this is the Holy Spirit's ministry as the prosecutor as it were to secure conviction in the world. In witnessing to the world the Holy Spirit is giving evidence in convicting the world the Holy Spirit is securing a conviction and in both cases it is through the believer that he works.

Now specifically he convicts the world of three things concerning which it is either heedless or ignorant. One the solemnity of sin he will convict the world of sin verse 9 because they do not believe in me.

Verse 10 he will convict the world of the necessity of righteousness of righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no more. And thirdly he will convict the world of the reality of judgment.

So there are the three areas in which the Holy Spirit comes to the world acting as it were as a prosecutor. Now you see the great thing that the believer can never do by himself in the world is produce this sense of conviction bring to the world the sense of the reality of God the solemnity of sin the necessity of righteousness the certainty of judgment.

That's the thing that you can never persuade the world of. You can argue men blue in the face you can be the most brilliant intellectual in the world and you'll never bring that kind of conviction to the world because it's the exclusive ministry of the Holy Spirit of God.

And this is why Jesus says it will be to your advantage that I go away I will send the Holy Spirit not only because it will be to their personal advantage he will come to indwell them it will be the beginning of the ministry which will take this hostile world and bring it to see it sin.

Now let's look at these three things that Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do. I take this to mean the Holy Spirit convicts the world of the solemnity of sin in verse 9 and the evidence that he uses to secure this conviction is the evidence of unbelief of sin because they do not believe in me.

Now the Greek usage probably does not mean that sin consists in unbelief but rather as Dr. Leon Morris suggests that unbelief is a classic illustration of sin. Let me quote his words to you. The basic sin is the sin which puts self at the center of things and consequently refuses to believe.

This is the world's characteristic sin and it received classic expression when God sent his son into the world and the world refused to believe in him. Now it is the solemnity of this sin which only the Holy Spirit can drive home to the conscience and stab it awake and this is what you see happening again in the book of Acts.

It's a glorious thing to see how the Lord Jesus has all these promises laid before the disciples and in acts they are fulfilled. In Philippi for example I had the great privilege of standing in Philippi in the ruins of Paul's prison last August in Greece and I could almost hear the cries of that man as the earthquake came and the prison came clattering down round about him and he began to discover that the message of these men who had been preaching was something more than idle old wild fables.

He began to see that there was a living God. He began to discover that sin was a black reality and he cries out what must I do to be saved. Now that's the Holy Spirit coming to convict the world of the solemnity of sin and you see this happening not only in the book of Acts you see it happening in the great revivals.

Isn't this what happens when the Spirit of God comes down upon a community. But men and women who lived lightly to sin who joked about it probably who practiced it apparently with impunity they come to discover the gravity and the reality of sin.

Oh you need to read the story of revival to see something of this. Dr. Edwin Orr in his great book the Second Evangelical Awakening describes at one point how the Spirit of God came down upon that little fishing town of Sellardyke on the east coast of Scotland in 1860.

Let me read you his account of one part of it. He says on March the 12th 1860 a young man under deep conviction went out to sea to fish. After three days of struggle he finally appropriated salvation in Christ.

The Christian skipper saw in the event the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the community. With the return of the ship and the testimony of the young man hundreds of people in Sellardyke became burdened by sin.

They sent for their ministers before whom they gave way to tears. 300 adult inquirers were dealt with in this period and an army officer of high rank summed up his impressions of what he had seen in Sellardyke like this.

Now listen to this. Those of you who are at ease have little conception of how terrifying a sight it is when the Holy Spirit is pleased to open a man's eyes to see the real state of his heart. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of the solemnity of sin.

Secondly the Holy Spirit convicts the world in verse 10 of righteousness and I take this to be the necessity of righteousness. The righteousness of which Jesus speaks I would understand to be that righteousness which God demands which man lacks and which Christ alone provides.

And Jesus points us to this in the phrase he uses you of righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no more. His going to the Father is his atoning work whereby that righteousness which man does not have is provided in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now this is the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry. When men become aware of this you see what happens is similar to what happened in the day of Pentecost when the Word of God was preached and the glory of God was seen in what he had done in the Lord Jesus Christ and they are cut to the heart and he finds himself saying God is a God who demands righteousness and I look into my heart and find I do not have righteousness.

All my righteousness is for us filthy rags. And he cries out as they did to Peter on that day men and brethren what shall we do? And the Holy Spirit will say put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

The Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness because I go to the Father. Thirdly the Holy Spirit convicts the world of the reality of judgment of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged verse 11.

And he does so by revealing to the world the fate of its prince. One of the great significances you see of Christ's saving work is that it is a triumph over Satan. In Colossians chapter 2 verse 15 Paul speaks of Christ's work on the cross in this way.

He says he disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them triumphing over them in it. And here Jesus speaks of it as the harbinger and forerunner of the final judgment. And Sir Edwin Hoskins comments the dethronement of the devil must be exposed to the world and become one of the themes of the apostolic preaching.

Well now there is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world. He convicts the world of the seriousness of sin, of the necessity of righteousness and of the reality of judgment. Now Martin Luther preaching on this comes to the end of verse 11 and says now do I hear someone ask.

Martin Luther is always hearing somebody asking questions and conveniently they're always the questions he just wants to answer. And at this point he says do I hear someone ask by what means will God perform this convicting work.

And he says I answer by sending the Spirit into the hearts of his children. You will notice this in verse 7 of chapter 16 at the end. If I go I will send him to you and when he comes that is when he comes to you he will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.

So that it is the Holy Spirit's work to convict the world through spirit filled and spirit anointed men and women. Now in verses 12 to 15 from the Spirit's work in the world our Lord turns to the Spirit's work in the disciples.

I have yet many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However when the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth. Let me remind you of what our Lord has already taught us about the Holy Spirit's ministry in the believer in these chapters.

They are troubled in heart because they are to be bereft of Jesus physical presence. But Jesus tells them that it will actually be to their advantage when he is glorified. They would have kept him back you see.

They would have said to him Lord you mustn't go away. But Jesus says I have a far better plan than that. The Holy Spirit the other paraclete will not just be with you. He will be everything Jesus was to them.

Only he will be in you and he will continue this teaching ministry. And here in verses 12 to 15 it's the Holy Spirit's teaching ministry on which Jesus lays emphasis. They are not in a position at this moment to receive so much of what he wants to say to them.

But the Holy Spirit will exercise a ministry of instruction and illumination. He will guide you into all the truth. He will declare the things that are to come. That may well mean that the Holy Spirit is going to teach and instruct the disciples on the significance of the death and resurrection and ascension and return of the Lord Jesus.

Now it seems to me important to distinguish between the fulfillment of that promise of Jesus to the Apostles and its fulfillment to believers in future generations. He will guide you into all the truth.

He will declare to you things that are to come. And I would put the distinction this way. The Holy Spirit led the Apostles into all the truth by enabling them to write Scripture. The Holy Spirit leads us into all the truth by enabling us to understand Scripture.

Now that's a very important distinction. We need to compare these words with chapter 14 verse 26 where Jesus speaks of the Spirit's twofold ministry of reminding them of all that Jesus said and of teaching them all things necessary to salvation.

Now in one sense one could say that the fulfillment of that reminding ministry of the Holy Spirit is in the Gospels and the fulfillment of the further teaching ministry leading them into all the truth and showing them things that were to come is in the rest of the New Testament.

But the vital distinction is that the Holy Spirit leads the Apostles into the truth by enabling them to write Scripture. He leads us into all the truth by enabling us to understand Scripture. Now that you see is why it's a very important thing that we do not seek to degrade the rest of the New Testament below the Gospels.

And you will find many people who will say this you see. They will say oh yes of course I accept the words of Jesus very happily. But when you come to the epistles that's just what Peter thinks. Or that's just what John thinks.

Or that's just what Paul thinks. But you see Jesus says ah but that's just where you're wrong. That's what the Holy Spirit says. In fulfillment of my promise to them he will lead you into all the truth.

And that is a cardinal matter in our attitude to the authority and inspiration of the New Testament. When he leads us into the truth and there is a fulfillment of this promise to us. It is not into novel truth.

It is not into truth that is different from Scripture. It is certainly never into truth that is contrary to Scripture. And Scripture is always the final judge and the ultimate court of appeal for everything the Holy Spirit says to any man.

So that when somebody comes and says the Holy Spirit has said this to me. We always bring that word to the arbitrator of Holy Scripture. And the Holy Spirit therefore is this double ministry. He is the giver of truth and he is the guide into the truth.

And in all this work says Jesus he is self effacing. He will not speak of his own authority. He will glorify me and he is Christ exalting. There then are the three relationships in skeletal outline of which our Lord speaks from verse 18 of chapter 15 to verse 15 of chapter 16.

The Christian and the world. The world and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Christian. And now in verses 16 to 33 Jesus outlines some of the blessing which will be the fruit of his going and the Spirit's coming.

Joy Out of Sorrow and Productive Christian Travail

And the first of these is joy out of sorrow. And the key verse is verse 20. Truly truly I say to you you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

Now in verse 16 the beginning of the passage it's obvious that it appeared to the disciples as if Jesus was speaking in riddles. About a little while when they would not see him and then another little while when they would see him.

A little while and you will see me no more. Again a little while and you will see me. Some of his disciples said one to another. Verse 17 what is this that he says to us. A little while and you will not see me.

And again a little while and you will see me. And because I go to the Father. What does he mean by a little while we do not know what he means. Dr. Leon Morris comments it's not surprising that these words of Jesus proved a difficulty to the men in the upper room.

They have puzzled Christians ever since. Well the problem of course really is what Jesus means by these two little while's. In verse 16 it seems certain that the first little while must be the time between his present discourse and his departure.

A little while and you will see me no more. But does he mean by the second little while the period between his death and his resurrection when they saw him in his resurrection body and rejoiced. Or between his death and Pentecost when they saw the evidence of his power in the world.

Or between his death and his return in glory when every eye shall see him. Seems most likely that the primary reference may be to the resurrection appearances of our Lord. But ultimately it may characteristic of John's way of speaking of several things in one compass.

It may refer to all three. Since it is a principle that Jesus is teaching primarily here and the principle is this. It is the paradox in all Christian experience. That life comes out of death and joy comes out of sorrow.

The principle is that God is not bringing them through these days of sorrow without having blessing and glory in view. Any more than Christ is passing through his anguish and death without being assured of a resurrection and return in glory.

Now this is the whole point of the allegory in verse 21 of the travailing woman you will notice. Where Jesus having spoken to them about how the world is going to rejoice and they will be sorrowful. And then when he has come to them a little while and they will see him and they will rejoice.

Their sorrow will be turned into joy. And in verse 21 you get this remarkable allegory. When a woman is in travail she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she is delivered of the child she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a child is born into the world.

Now that's not only a parable of the experience of the disciples you see. A sorrow which is going to give way to joy. It is a parable of Christian experience and a parable of Christian service. And it's a parable that Jesus takes up with this chaste way in which he is able to speak of these things.

You see the point is this beloved that there is some pain in the world that is apparently absolutely meaningless and unproductive. But there is pain of a different order. There is pain in the world which is productive and productive of life.

And that's what Paul is speaking about when he tells the Galatians in the context of his own service. In all the travail and all the agony that he was passing through. He says I can only compare it to one thing.