Sermon Notes (9.26.21)
John 15:18-16:15
18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated me for no reason.
26 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — he will testify about me. 27 You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
CHAPTER 16
“I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling.
2 They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or me. 4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going? ’ 6 Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you. (CSB)
The Mission
John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
The Opposition
John 15:18-16:4
INEVITABLE & INTENSE
2 Timothy 3:12 – In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
1 Peter 4:12-14 – Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
WHY?
New Identity (John 15:18-21)
When I preach the whole kingdom, both sides of God’s kingdom must be proclaimed. I must preach Christ’s love for the children at the border and the unborn. I have to preach God’s call to sexual holiness and God’s eternal love for the sexually broken. I have to preach that ecology and human economy matter to God. When we worship Christ, everything matters. The troubling sign of our times is that I hear little from the mainline progressives that I don’t also hear on CNN. And I hear little from conservative evangelical churches that isn’t just some retweet of Fox News. In God’s kingdom, we aren’t disciples of Fox News or CNN—we are disciples of Jesus Christ. No one else. The kingdom confronts all of us and names our sin. We love our ideology more than we love the resurrected Christ. Perhaps the sign that we’re starting to understand God’s whole kingdom is that everyone is offended when they hear it. –A.J. Swoboda, After Doubt
Exposure Eliminates Excuses (John 15:21-25)
John 3:19-20 – And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
Misunderstanding Mission & Merit (John 15:26-27)
The world thinks, “If you believe you’re right with God, you must think you’re perfect.” Don’t you see how the world has to believe Christians are arrogant? If the world understood it’s not the sufficient who are saved but the ones who finally admit they’re insufficient…if it understood that, it would be Christian. The difference between Christians and everybody else is Christians say, “It’s not what I’ve achieved; it’s the fact that I’ve been achieved. Christ has come and he has died for me. He has lived for me. He’s done everything for me. My faith is provided. I did not choose him; he chose me. He came for me.” To understand that makes you a Christian. To not understand that puts you outside. Therefore, Christians will always seem arrogant, because Christians are saying, “I know God loves me; I know I’m saved. I know I’m in the family.” Therefore, a person from the outside who doesn’t understand grace must say, “You must be the most arrogant person possible. How could you know such a thing?” The world has to think we’re arrogant. It can’t help it. – Tim Keller
The Provision
John 16:5-15
What Hope Do We Have?
Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.
The Spirit works through means – through the objective means of grace, namely, biblical truth, prayer, fellowship, worship, and the Lord’s Supper, and with them through the subjective means of grace whereby we open ourselves to change, namely, thinking, sharing what is in one’s heart with others, and weighing any response they make. The Spirit shows his power in us, not by constantly interrupting our use of these means with visions, impressions, or prophecies, but rather by making these regular means effective to change us for the better and for the wiser as we go along. – J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit
Holy Spirit Brings Conviction (John 16:8-9)
Acts 2:36-38 – “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do? ” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit Brings Clarity (John 16:10)
Holy Spirit Brings Comfort (John 16:11)
Holy Spirit Brings Confidence (John 16:12-15)
Romans 8:14-17 – For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “’Abba’, Father! ” The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs — heirs of God and coheirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?
Repent.
Remember.
Rejoice.
A Prayer for Salvation
“Heavenly Father, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but through your Son Jesus I can be more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you that he lived the life I should have lived and paid the debt and punishment I owed. Receive me now for his sake. I turn from my sins and receive him as Savior. Amen.”