WWUTT 972 I Am Going to Him Who Sent Me?

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Jesus’ Warning About Persecution and the Coming Helper

Thank you, Becky. Still in John chapter 16 today, I will begin our reading in verse 1 through verse 11. As Jesus said to his disciples, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they 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 I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me where are you going.

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer.

Concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. So yesterday was just those first couple of verses that we got to with Jesus saying, I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away.

These will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. And that latter statement that Jesus makes there, we see that all over.

We see it from little minor things, you know, where there's there's kind of personal squabbles that will happen between two Christians and one person will believe that they are in the right and God is on their side and the other person might believe that God is on their side.

And maybe one person is truly being biblical and another person is not. Or maybe they're both being unbiblical. Maybe both persons don't have it right at all. And it's rather that they're trying to pull Jesus into their corner to justify themselves rather than submitting themselves fully to Christ and treating one another with kindness and love and patience as they should.

Then there are some sort of bigger situations that will happen where somebody was secular, not even Christian at all. But they will pull Jesus into their corner as though they truly have the inside track on what Jesus really meant from the Bible, though they probably haven't even attended church in years.

They see Jesus as some great prophet, some nice guy that just spoke some really pithy things about 2000 years ago. He's no different than Buddha or Gandhi. So they'll think that they've tapped into Jesus better than you understand him.

You who studies your Bible daily, who attends church and desires to be with the saints who worships God together along with his people. You can't possibly know God, but they know him because, you know, they saw some sort of meme somewhere about Jesus.

So therefore they know Jesus better than you do. So we'll have those kinds of situations as well. And then there's the kind of persecution that's going on today. And I had talked about this yesterday where you've got a group of people, LGBTQ, will sue a Christian baker or florist because they won't do a gay wedding.

And they'll start saying things like, well, Jesus would bake the cake. Jesus would go to a gay wedding. Then you've got the politicians that will start doing this same thing. They'll say Jesus was a socialist.

Jesus would vote for universal health care. Jesus would not vote for Donald Trump. You know, Jesus wouldn't own a gun. All of these ways that they'll use the name of Christ to try to justify themselves, try to stir up some sort of nominal Christian fan base.

And then let's take it to even greater measures here. The Muslim extremists, those waging jihad who will kill and persecute Christians, and they will do this in the name of God. They will think that they are doing the work of God by putting Christians to death.

This is right in line with what Jesus said here. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God as opposed to like a Democrat politician. They probably don't actually think that what they are doing is in the name of God.

They're just using that name to try to stir a fan base. But a Muslim actually believes what they are doing when they're persecuting Christians. They think they're doing the work of God. And so the Pharisees that would put Jesus to death, they thought they were doing the work of God.

And likewise, when they would do the same thing to the apostles, they thought they were doing God's work. But if they had truly known God, then they would have known who Jesus was. Since they did not know Jesus, they did not know the father either.

John 16, 3, Jesus says, and they will do these things because they have not known the father nor have they known me. So when a Muslim persecutes a Christian, it's not just because they know God but don't know the son.

You know, they know the God of Abraham, but they never knew the son. No, they don't have the father either. This also goes for orthodox Judaism. We might think that we have a common thread there, and historically that may be the case.

But the orthodox Jew does not worship the same God that we do because they don't know him. If they don't know Jesus, they don't know the father. This is back in John, chapter eight, where Jesus said to the Jews, why do you not understand what I say?

It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. This is to the Jews that Jesus was talking to here. You don't know the father unless you know the son.

In Matthew, chapter 11, Jesus said 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. It's in 1 John 2, 22, where we read who is the Antichrist, but he who denies the father and the son.

If you deny one, you deny the other. You do not have the father or the son unless you know the triune God who is revealed to us through Jesus Christ. A couple of years ago on this podcast, I was talking about how everyone knows God, the father, but not everyone knows God, the son.

And I took that from Romans, chapter one. It was actually a certain teacher that I was listening to that had kind of led my thoughts in that direction. I'm not going to deflect my wrong statement onto somebody else, though.

I'm going to own the thing that I said and that it was wrong. But anyway, I was basing that statement on Romans 1, 18 through 20, where it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes.

Namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Even going on into verse 21 here, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. So based on that, the statement that I made was everybody knows God, the father, but not everybody knows the son. And it was my friend Roger Patterson.

He works at answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum out there in Kentucky. He actually emailed me and said, I don't think you quite have that right, because if we don't know Christ, we also do not know the father.

And Roger was right. I had that. I had that wrong. I was incorrect in that. We do not know God, the father, unless we know the son, for it is the son who reveals the father to us. So that statement in Romans 1, 18 through 21 is really that everybody knows about God, but they don't personally, relationally know God because we cannot get to God except through the son.

Jesus said that in John 14, 6. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the father but by me. And Jesus is speaking relationally. We have a relationship with Jesus. And when we do, when we are in his word, his word abides in us, then he will abide with us.

And we have fellowship with him and fellowship with the father. We get to know God. So every single human being knows about God. According to that apologetic statement in Romans chapter one, what can be known about God is plain to everyone because God has shown it to them.

His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived in all that has been made. No one has any excuse to say that they don't know about God, but no one truly knows God unless they know the son.

If you know the son, you know the father and you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you who has been given to us by Christ. And Jesus is going to go on to talk about that here with his disciples as we continue in this section of this discourse here.

The Hour of Persecution and the Promise of Christ’s Return

So he says they do these things to you. Those who persecute you will do these things to you 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 when their hour comes.

It's in 1 John 2 18 that we read children. It is the last hour and you have heard that antichrist is coming. So now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. Satan is the ruler of this world and he is presently having his hour.

This has been going on ever since Jesus ascended into heaven and the apostles had been commissioned to go out into the world, taking that apostolic message of the gospel to the nations, verifying what it was that they were saying, having come from God through the miraculous signs and wonders that they did.

They were put to death over it. They were kicked out of the synagogues. They were persecuted by the rulers and authorities, just as it was promised by Christ would happen to them, that they would endure persecution.

And this is going on because it is that hour of persecution. But then an hour is coming where Christ will return. It will be the last hour and he will usher in his peaceful kingdom forever. And we will dwell with him in his kingdom where there will be no more crying, no more tears, no more pain.

All of the former things will have passed away and everyone who does evil will be removed from that kingdom. And we will live forever with him in incorruptible perfection. What a beautiful thought and what a beautiful hope it is for us to have every day looking forward to that kingdom.

Whatever is happening to you today is passing away. It's temporary. It is not going to last. We don't even take it with us. We get to be in God's kingdom forever, glorifying in him as he glorifies in himself, sharing in the same glory that God the Father has with the son and with the Holy Spirit and has shared with them for all eternity.

We're going to read about that when we get to John chapter 17. Anyway, continuing on, Jesus says, I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you and hold fast and not be surprised when that persecution comes upon them.

I did not say these things to you from the beginning, Jesus says, still in verse four, because I was with you. So he didn't tell him in the beginning and he gives the reason why. And the reason he did not tell them in the beginning had nothing to do with his sales pitch of come follow me.

OK, it's like that's not really the way that you motivate people to come and follow you. Hey, come follow me and you'll be persecuted. Jesus said to his disciples, come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

The reason why he left out the persecution part was because persecution was not going to come upon them as long as they were with Jesus. Yeah, there were people that threatened to persecute him. They even picked up rocks.

They even they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff at one point, but were unsuccessful at any of this. No one was able to persecute Jesus because the appointed time had not yet come. The times that had been set by the father for Jesus to go to the cross, which was going to happen at Passover.

That's what's going on here, right? We still have the upper room discourse going on. They've had the Passover meal. Jesus is about to become that sacrificial Passover lamb. All of these things, according to what had been prophesied, the times that had been set by the father.

So in the meantime, the three years of earthly ministry that the disciples have been with Jesus, he didn't need to warn them about the persecution that was to come, only telling them about the persecution that was going to come upon him because nothing was going to happen to them as long as he was there.

But now he's going away from them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me. And none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Remember, Jesus has commissioned his apostles to go throughout all the world to go into all nations, making disciples, baptizing in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, according to the Great Commission that we read at the end of Matthew chapter twenty eight.

So for the disciples to go out even further, Jesus has already said to his disciples, you'll do greater things than I have done. And he's talking about their outreach is going to be even farther than what Jesus did.

There will be more followers added to the kingdom under the apostolic ministry than there was when Jesus was here on Earth. He accomplished the work through his life and his death and his resurrection, and then commissioned his apostles to go out with the message of that work, the same message that they had heard proclaimed by Christ.

So as the apostles go out into all of the surrounding regions and to the end of the earth, wherever they go, God will be with them. The Holy Spirit will be with them. Now, if Jesus had remained, if he was just there on Earth commissioning the apostles to go out, he could not have been with them the entire time.

As Jesus is in a fleshly, earthly human body, God incarnate, he can there are limitations that Jesus accepted when he became incarnate. And one of those was he gave up omnipresence. He can be everywhere at all times if he wants to be.

But in his incarnation, he gave up that omnipresence. He could only be where his body was. And so this was the same as well in commissioning his apostles to go into all the world. He cannot be with them if he's just in this body in one spot.

So he ascends back to the father and says, it is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, the Holy Spirit. But if I go, I will send him to you so that no matter where they are, Jesus is with them always.

That's at the end of the commission in Matthew 28. Lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age, because in going back to his father and being seated at his right hand, Jesus assumes once again that omnipresent quality of God.

And now he can be with his disciples wherever they go. And in whatever generation they live in, Jesus is with us now. All who follow Christ have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. And Jesus is our advocate before the father.

He is our mediator between God and man. We lift up our prayers to him and he hears us no matter where we are, because he is God, because he is seated at the right hand of the father. He has gone away.

He has sent us the helper. We have the Holy Spirit within each and every one of us who follow Jesus Christ. If I go, I will send him to you, Jesus says. And when he comes, this is where we'll pick up tomorrow.

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

And that's where we'll pick up in our next lesson. Understand the Holy Spirit that the apostles had when Jesus was sending them out into all the world and said, I am going to be with you always. The Holy Spirit that they had dwelling within them is the same Holy Spirit you have dwelling within you.

There is no difference between the spirit that the apostles had and the and the spirit that you have. Now, there were gifts that were given to the apostles that you and I do not have, but that doesn't mean they had more spirit than you and I have.

We have the same Holy Spirit dwelling within us, all who are followers of Jesus. So do not fear and do not be afraid. It is that Holy Spirit that we've been promised, according to Ephesians chapter one, that is the seal upon our hearts for the day of redemption.

We have that assurance that our sins are forgiven and we have an eternal destiny with God in heaven because Christ has poured the Holy Spirit into our hearts. It is through the spirit. We hear this word.

We understand it. We love it. We love God. We desire to please him. We want to be like him. We are growing more in his image each and every day. All of these things happen because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Same spirit we have that the apostles had. So take heart, delight in God, love him more each day. It's not that you need more spirit. You probably just need less self, but you already have all the spirit you are ever going to get, and God is never going to love you more than he already loves you now.

He has sent his son to die for your sins, and all who believe in him have fellowship with God. You know the father through the son, and you have the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift that you have given to us, this grace and this mercy that you show us day by day.

Forgive us our sins and help us to be convicted over our sins so that we will ask forgiveness from you and know that we receive it. If we are faithful to ask forgiveness, you are faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And may we go throughout our day pursuing that righteousness, desiring to live in the grace of God that we have been given. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Closing Thanks and Ministry Sign-Off

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