[0:00] All right, it is great to be gathered here today and to open God's word, something so sure and steady that our souls truly longed for.
[0:15] Before we dive in, let's take a moment to pray. Father, thank you for everything today. Thank you for this time that we have been called to set aside to gather as your church family, body with many members, with Christ as the head.
[0:40] And so, Father, with that, we submit to you the authority of your word right now. And Father, teach us. We ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen.
[0:50] Amen. Amen. I guess you could say that change is on the brink. Change is on the brink in this passage.
[1:03] We see this incremental unveiling occurring in the passage. In verse 4 and 5, it kind of indicates that something is revealing itself incrementally.
[1:18] Don't you see that? I did not say these things to you from the beginning. Meaning that Jesus was incrementally revealing something that he didn't just dump on the disciples then to disciple them in a specific way.
[1:35] And this is an incremental discipleship. And so, up to this point, the disciples' concern has been pretty much self-centered, to say the least.
[1:50] Haven't we seen that in the many questions that they asked? It's similar to if your parents or your wife or your husband were to leave the house for a week.
[2:01] You might say, well, but who's going to do everything that you just did? All this stuff that's going to burden me? And what? I'm going to have to worry about all of these things and all these additional responsibilities.
[2:15] It's the unknown. There's a lot of stress involved with this. Each and every one of those concerns being actually masked selfishness. Because it's going to create uncertainty in your life.
[2:28] And this is the disciples' disposition all along. They're concerned about themselves. And from this, sorrow, in verse 6, because I have said these things to you, that he will be going, he will be departing, sorrow has filled your heart.
[2:51] This reminds me of back in chapter 14, thinking back to the disciples' troubled conditions that they were in, the questions that they previously were asking.
[3:04] The unknown has really thrown these disciples gathered with Jesus for a loop. Quite a tizzy, I would say. The whole ordeal has pulled the anxiety trigger of what it's going to look like.
[3:19] And Jesus addresses for the second of three times their troubled condition. And here, indicated by their sorrow. And this is astonishing, church.
[3:29] This is absolutely astonishing. This is Jesus' last night upon this earth. And Jesus is considering their emotional condition and not paying attention to his emotional condition.
[3:47] And the trouble that lay waiting ahead for him. And the pain that lay waiting ahead for him. The absolute torture, horrific torture, that lay waiting ahead.
[3:57] He is concerned about their sorrow. Think about that. That's just astonishing to me. The unknown that seems laying ahead for Peter leaves him in emotional paralysis of, what am I going to do?
[4:13] I'll follow you. Where you go, I'll go. Thomas is completely lost. And Philip is looking at all these opportunities, possibly missed of, just show us the Father and it will be enough for us, right?
[4:24] And Jesus expounds upon his earlier refrain here in this passage of what was spoken about just a little bit previously in chapter 15, verses 26 and 27, regarding the refrain previously of how the Holy Spirit will bear witness to an unbelieving world.
[4:47] Remember, they were talking about, he was talking about the hatred of the world. But there was just like a little glimpse of hope and the Holy Spirit will help you. But I'm not talking about that right now. I'm talking about the hatred.
[4:58] Now he's talking about the Holy Spirit, how the disciples will be commissioned as the apostolic body to declare and build the foundation of the church.
[5:14] Why this way? Why does Jesus have to go away? You know, we have just this defect, I think, in human nature of like thinking of things of how they ought to be, through our perspectives, right?
[5:30] And we can come up with all of these possible other situations. Well, Jesus, why don't you just appear to the Roman leader? Why don't you just reveal yourself like you're revealing it to us?
[5:40] Why not these other ways that make sense? But thinking about this incremental discipleship plan that Jesus has had in mind up until this point, this exceeds all logic, all understanding.
[5:59] This is a discipleship plan that isn't motivated by people's needs, but what God has been planning all throughout the days of the prophets, sending all the way back to Ezekiel, back to Isaiah, through Jeremiah, through Joel, of the promised anticipation of the kingdom.
[6:23] And what's the focus of this disciples' mission at this point of juncture? Stepping into their role of laying the foundation of the church, a role that is dependent and centered upon the events at the cross.
[6:40] That's why Jesus has to go. The cross is central, right? Before the cross, proximity is with the incarnate Jesus Christ.
[6:53] But after the cross, as verse 7 says, proximity is the indwelling spirit Jesus is going. He will send a helper, meaning the cross is the means of propelling the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
[7:10] There is no other way. This is God's plan. And the cross is the inauguration ceremony. As horrific as it may be, is the inauguration ceremony that propels the mission of the church to go to the ends of the earth.
[7:27] As verse 7 says, if I go, I will send it him to you, right? How will this look like after the cross? Well, Jesus provides some insight here.
[7:38] And we're going to break his insight into two sections as John has broken it up in this passage. Because he gives us two realms of how this is going to look.
[7:50] From one perspective, we will see the world's experience of the Holy Spirit. And the other side being the church's experience of the Holy Spirit.
[8:01] And thank you for putting that up there. I forgot about it. And here we go. Let's look at the first section of the passage where Jesus indicates the world's experience with the Holy Spirit.
[8:15] He says, look with me in verse 8. Keep your Bibles open. We will use that a lot today. It says, and when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
[8:33] He will convict the world. Meaning the world's experience of the Holy Spirit being in rebellion against God will be conviction.
[8:45] Confiction. Verse 8 gives this word known as convict, which can mean expose. It can mean to reprove. And this is to show or prove one to be guilty.
[9:01] No matter the world's going to hate the church. The term convict is in its like exposing nature brings to mind the relationship between light and dark, right?
[9:14] This is the reality that we can ignore the blemishes upon our face and we can live just fine in complete ignorance.
[9:25] And have dimly lit rooms where we can't see those wrinkles, can't see the blemishes. But what Jesus does is he illuminates. And it's not as if he creates the blemishes.
[9:38] He just makes the blemishes known. He is the light. God's light came into this world. But the people loved the darkness rather than the light.
[9:52] Living ignorant of sin. 1 John 1.5. John later in his letter would say that God is light. And there's no darkness in him at all.
[10:06] So it is the same when Jesus, when it comes to the sinful condition of anyone who is apart from Jesus Christ. This takes us back to last week's message.
[10:18] If anyone, he says in John 15. If anyone, if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin.
[10:30] And now they have no excuse for their sin. Jesus Christ is the light that shines in the darkness.
[10:43] And it is through the words and the works of Jesus Christ that the world is guilty of their rejection. No wonder the world hates the church.
[10:57] Our blemishes have already been present. And what the Holy Spirit does is expose those blemishes. Just as Jesus Christ in his earthly incarnation exposes those blemishes.
[11:13] And this exposure will occur in three different realities. And John notates Jesus' words in three realms. They will expose sin. The Holy Spirit will expose righteousness.
[11:25] And the Holy Spirit will expose judgment. So let's look at sin. Concerning sin. Why? Because they do not believe in me.
[11:37] The exposure of sin that the Holy Spirit will reveal to an unbelieving world is meant to convince them of their need for a savior. This is the convincing relationship that the world will have with the Holy Spirit.
[11:54] Which should be good news to us because guess what? Salvation becomes present in our lives because God initiated it. Because God came.
[12:06] And he helped the world understand. And what sin does he have in mind here? Notice it's sin singular. Why the singular sin?
[12:17] What sin is he talking about? Is he talking about lying or cheating or robbing or killing? What's he talking about? The one sin that is unpardonable.
[12:28] The one sin that will lead us continually down the road to destruction. The sin of unbelief is the singular sin.
[12:42] The role of the Holy Spirit is to convince an unbeliever of their unbelief. Church. And have them turn away from their sin. What do they turn to?
[12:54] Look. John doesn't make us guess too much. Concerning righteousness. Turn to righteousness. Because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ has continually exposed the reality of righteousness of God versus self-righteousness.
[13:14] Many of the interactions with the Pharisees, Jesus was addressing their self-righteousness. Right? And the Holy Spirit will then not only convince the world of their need for a Savior to bring an unbeliever to belief, but now he will continue to direct their attention off of any righteousness of their own.
[13:39] Right? Right? And toward the righteousness of Christ in verse 10. And where does this righteousness, where is this found? We could always play the Jesus card and be about 80-90% right in all of the church questions and say, Jesus, you're bound to get something right.
[13:59] But there's something specific regarding Jesus where righteousness is fully on display. What does he say? Because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer.
[14:11] He's saying, look at the death. Look at the resurrection. And there you will find righteousness. The Holy Spirit then will reveal to us, just as the songs we sing, Christ alone our hope is found.
[14:30] The Holy Spirit will direct the world to true righteousness. And look, as John concludes this section in concerning judgments, because the ruler of this world is judged.
[14:46] The ruler of this world is known as the father of lies in that any regard to truth, the ruler of this world is bound to whisper into our ears to make us doubt God's word and God's promises and make us lean on ourself.
[15:05] And what Jesus does through the Holy Spirit is prove to us that apart from the Holy Spirit, our judgment is severely flawed.
[15:19] The Holy Spirit will bear witness to our forgiveness. And this is something that I believe the church can attest to continuously day in and day out.
[15:32] We are refreshed by the realities of what God has accomplished for us on the cross. There's not a day that we don't think about that. There shouldn't be at least a day where we don't think about Christ's forgiveness and his pardon for our sin.
[15:46] And so if you're not in Christ today, the Holy Spirit may say to you regarding your sin, regarding where your righteousness is found, and regarding the judgment that Jesus Christ paid in his flesh.
[16:05] Peter, emotionally paralyzed Peter, later in his writings, says something that I believe should encourage you, non-Christian. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.
[16:27] This means that if you're apart from Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is tugging you right now, you are utterly under God's control.
[16:38] God is choosing you. You can surrender your hatred and anger towards God because it is not God whom you are angry at. It is sin.
[16:50] It has always been sin. So let the day of salvation begin today for you who are not in Christ and trust in the message of Jesus Christ. That is the only hope we have as the Holy Spirit convicts you even now of your road to freedom.
[17:09] So may we be diligently found in him without spot or blemish. But to the church, the second section here is the church's experience of the Holy Spirit.
[17:23] It continues, turns off of the world's experience and then to the church's experience. And he says, I still have many things to say to you.
[17:36] He's been kind of incrementally revealing things. And here again, it's like, really? You're going to leave us hanging like that? I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
[17:50] Meaning that there's still more ahead. This is a cliffhanger that drives us nuts in life, right? And how will the world be exposed to their need of Jesus Christ?
[18:02] How will all this occur without Jesus Christ? If Jesus Christ is going, he better speed up his words, right? Logically speaking, if you've got things to say, this might be a time to say it.
[18:14] But maybe that's the point of what he's trying to say regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It says in verse 13a, When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
[18:38] For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. The Holy Spirit will guide authoritatively into all truth.
[18:57] The message given to you will be divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. And it says in verse 13, And he will declare to you the things that are to come.
[19:13] He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. And verse 15, All that the Father has is mine.
[19:24] Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Of course he has more things to say. And he's going to say it through the power of the Holy Spirit.
[19:38] Now, based on the authority given to these men, the Holy Spirit will declare three times in this passage. It's like, okay, we got it. He's going to declare. Let's declare. And the glory of God will be declared.
[19:51] The glory of God is central. And the glory of God is Jesus Christ. This is the declaration. Now, if we're not careful with context, we might find ourselves in quite a bit of an error.
[20:09] Because who is the intended recipients of such empowering? Look at this context. He will guide you.
[20:21] Declare to you things to come. Take what is mine and declare it to you. All the Father has is mine and will take it and declare it to you.
[20:34] Here within the text, Here within the text, Jesus Christ reveals to these 11 disciples of their apostolic mission. This is rooted in the proclamation and penmanship of the gospel.
[20:52] And now context is key. Because these men would be called to hold on to the promise of God. That is what he's calling them to do.
[21:04] And its application has little to do with our emulation of receiving that similar authority, but of that continuous revelation, but that of conservation of the revelation.
[21:21] Let me explain for a moment. When we're talking about emulation and conservation, these disciples were specifically called for emulation. To take what the Holy Spirit says, declare it, and they would write it.
[21:35] And upon that, the church then conserves the meaning of the message of what was originally told. And Jesus is telling these men to hold on to the promise that's being revealed to them.
[21:50] And isn't this the same message these disciples have given to us today? These disciples have given us the promise of Jesus Christ that they've produced through their apostolic documents that continue to serve the church with the same promise that is a sure and steady anchor.
[22:12] Look at 1 John 1.4. John later would write in his letter. And we are writing these things. 1 John 1.5.
[22:25] This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you. John's busy, right?
[22:38] Peter's busy too. He says in 2 Peter 1.19. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. And even Peter later in chapter 3 in verse 15, he even endorses Paul's apostleship of him uniquely being called as an apostle.
[22:58] And he says, Our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you. How did he do it? He wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him. As he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.
[23:14] And don't we see the Holy Spirit speaking to us today as Hebrews 3.7 says, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says.
[23:24] We may ask, what does this mean for us today? How do we take this and apply it to our lives?
[23:35] Well, this means everything. Because we as his church rally around, build our lives upon, test all things according to truth and false, according to the authority of God's word as proclaimed and declared by this apostolic body.
[23:56] This is unique. Ephesians 2.20 says that there's a building project going on. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
[24:09] Christ himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
[24:28] So how does the Holy Spirit empower the church today? The disciples had quite a mission laying waiting ahead. A mission of suffering.
[24:38] A mission of preserving and proclaiming. Penning everything. How does this apply today? A bit differently than he empowered the disciples. As far as revelation is concerned.
[24:50] The church today is revelatory in a sense of revealing the truth of the gospel according to the special revelation given to the apostolic body. And the word of God is the means of which the world and the church depend on.
[25:04] The truth. The truth. The truth. The truth. And so as this church. I think this challenges us. To rest upon the guidance of the Spirit to the truth given to these disciples.
[25:20] I think this challenges us in that. Because the revelation that tied together the past defined the present and anticipated the future was given to them.
[25:34] And church the Holy Spirit residing within us will always be quenched if our Bibles are closed. When the apostles are not speaking through the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives.
[25:49] That is when the Spirit within is quenched. You can pray all you want. You can plead all you want. But if your Bible is closed it should be no surprise. And if the world depends upon the Holy Spirit to convict them.
[26:05] And the church depends upon the Holy Spirit to empower. To guide them. And all the while our Bibles are closed. We shouldn't be surprised why we're discouraged in life. Why we might be frustrated in our faith.
[26:18] And we must remember how God has been revealing his word all throughout time. It was upon stone tablets God engraved his word for his people to meditate upon day and night.
[26:31] And so too it is upon the papyrus and the pen that his people continue to meditate upon day and night. Maybe this sounds challenging.
[26:44] This is just boring stuff talking about that book. Right? The problem isn't the word. The problem is us. The problem is us.
[26:56] We desire more. We desire something new. We desire something fresh. There's a whole market that's built.
[27:09] And it's in between every play of the Super Bowl to try to sell you something. We are programmed to be incontent. Miscontent.
[27:20] Or what am I looking for here? Discontent. Discontent. Discontent. Discontent in life for wanting to... We're discontent in not finding value in everything that's been given to us.
[27:36] And we undervalue that which has been given to us on account of always wanting something more, never being satisfied, never being content. I think you understand what I'm trying to say. Why is this boring?
[27:47] Well, many focus on... May view focusing on like this old stuff and not the new as kind of pharisaical and dry.
[27:58] Right? Jesus told those Pharisees, you keepers of the law. Right? And you and your rigid systems. This... You know, anybody who upholds the book are pharisaical. Right?
[28:09] And that's putting God in a box. I've heard that one too many times. However, we must remember to never exceed the boundary line that God himself has created for us.
[28:23] To be people declaring God's word are not putting God in a box. It's keeping God within the confines that he created. He created us boundaries of truth.
[28:35] Truth in error. Truth in false. Truth in false. And many of us, thinking about boundaries and accountability of what the Holy Spirit has defined to them, is kind of like constraining, quenching the spirit.
[28:48] But Jesus Christ has countered all these concerns earlier in chapter 14 and 15. We really need to open up the context here to understand. Because how else has Jesus Christ instructed us thus far of how to love him properly?
[29:05] Chapter 14, verse 15. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Chapter 14, verse 21.
[29:16] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. Chapter 14, 23. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.
[29:30] Chapter 15, verse 10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. And way back to chapter 8, verse 51.
[29:43] Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The way of salvation and all truth is revealed within our hands.
[29:55] The sooner we realize this, the sooner a lost world can begin to know the true God and the Holy Spirit can work through the church as it was intended to do. And we see the Holy Spirit will empower the conviction of the church rallied upon God's word.
[30:13] So what do we do with this? We build our lives. All the constructs of our lives are meant to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
[30:26] Jesus Christ being the cornerstone. This is not to bore us. This is for the benefit of the lost world of knowing the one and true God in which the Holy Spirit will be used through us to convict them.
[30:44] And the world will hate us, probably. But guess what? Jesus Christ already said they would. So we can be devoted to that mission or be devoted to ourselves.
[30:56] I say, let's be devoted to the word of God and embrace the word of God. Rally around, build ourselves upon that foundation and shine as bright lights in the city as we're given sinners.
[31:11] Let's pray as we continue to close in song and continue to meditate upon what this means in our own lives and how we might be straying from the word of God.
[31:22] Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.