Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 66:1-14

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.’ Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: ‘Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame. ‘The sound of an uproar from the city! A sound from the temple! The sound of the Lord, rendering recompense to his enemies! Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?’ says the Lord; ‘shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?’ says your God. ‘Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.’ For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.” (Isaiah 66:1–14, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 16:16-33

“‘A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.’ So some of his disciples said to one another, ‘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 am going to the Father’?’ So they were saying, ‘What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.’ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, ‘Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.’ His disciples said, ‘Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’” (John 16:16–33, ESV)

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8, ESV)

Introduction

As we read the scriptures I think it is important to try our best to identify with the people originally involved. I’m thinking of the author and the original audience, or the characters in a particular narrative. In John 16 it is important that we identify with Christ and his disciples. We should, if we hope to understand the meaning of a particular passage, put ourselves there to the best of our ability.

Context matters. In fact, context matters in two ways: One, we are to pay attention to the literary context – how one particular passage of scripture fits into the rest of a book, and that book to the rest of scripture – that is the literary context, and we must pay attention to it. But there is also a historical context. There is a setting. Here I am thinking of the life situation of the author and his audience, or the life situation of the characters in a particular story. Context matters both in a literary and historical sense.

And so it is good for us to try, to the best of our ability, to put ourselves in the shoes of the author or audience, or the people in a particular story. Here in John 16 we should try to identify with the disciples of Christ on the night before the crucifixion. When did they live? What had their experience with Christ been like up to this point? What were their hopes and fears? What did they know, and not know? Of course we are limited in our understanding of these things, but the scriptures do give us insights. And so we should try,  to the best of our ability, to identify with these disciples of Christ.

Upon the first reading of this text it can be hard to understand why the disciples were so confused about Jesus’ teaching. To you and I the teaching might seem rather straightforward, but the disciples were utterly baffled by these words of Jesus: “‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” (John 16:17, ESV)

When you hear of their confusion are you not tempted to say, brothers, what is hard to understand about this? Clearly when Jesus says, “A little while, and you will not see me” he is referring to his death and burial! And when he says, “and again a little while, and you will see me”, he is speaking of his resurrection – he will rise from the grave and you will see him again, brothers! And clearly the words, “because I am going to the Father” refer to the ascension. Didn’t you know that Jesus would die, and rise, and then ascend to the Father? This is what we are tempted to say.

But we should remember that hindsight is indeed 20/20. You and I see this teaching as basic and clear, but only because we live after the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord.  The original disciples had not yet experienced these things. And for this reason the words of our Lord seemed mysterious to them. Clearly, the work that Jesus would accomplish through his death, burial and resurrection, so exceeded their expectations that they struggled to comprehend what it was that he spoke about as he predicted these things. They did not even have the proper categories to interpret what Jesus was saying to them.

And so considering the historical context – the life situation of the disciples on this dark and gloomy night – helps us to understand their confusion.

Not only should we attempt to undersigned their confusion, but also their fear and sorrow.  These brothers were confused by the words of Jesus because they lived before the cross of Christ, and before the resurrection. And they were also overrun by fear and sorrow, and for much the same reason. Why did they fear? Why were they sorrowful? Well, they were human. The future was uncertain to them. The words of Christ were rather disturbing to them.  The circumstances of life were dark and gloomy.  And as a result they were overrun by fear and given to despair.

This you can certainly identify with, I’m quite sure. You know what it is to be fearful concerning the future, and to have sorrow in the heart. You say, how do you know this, Joe? Well, for one, I am your Pastor. I have the privilege of knowing you well, and I know something about your struggles. Two, I know that you have battled with fear and sorrow due to the simple fact that you are human. We are all touched by sorrow. We’re all affected by fear. We present ourselves to others as if it were not so, but this is only posture and pretense. In reality, we know what it is to fear and to be given to despair, and so it is not hard to relate to the disciples of Christ in this regard. They were human and so are we.

We are given to fear for a number of reasons. First of all, we are frail, and we know it. We like to think of ourselves as big and strong and indestructible, but deep down we know this not to be the case. We are quite frail. Secondly, we live, not in the garden paradise of God, but in a fallen world which continually threatens us.  The truth of he matter is that there are reasons to fear. Thirdly, we fear because we do not know what the future holds. We can remember the past, and we can act in the present, but the future is a mystery to us. These things combined lead us to fear.

God does not fear, mind you. He is not frail. He is not threatened by anyone nor anything. And the future is no mystery to him. He sees the future as clearly as the past and the present. God does not fear. He is not human, but divine.

Sorrow also comes upon us for the same reasons mentioned above, but it sets in when we loose hope. A person is consumed by sorrow and despair when they begin to see and believe that the future is only dark and gloomy. There is no light – no glimmer of hope.

The disciples of Christ were beginning to give in to fear and sorrow. They were being swallowed by it. Darkness was pressing in and had begun to envelop them as they they thought  about their frailty, the threats which threatened, and the uncertainty of the future. Sorrow filled their hearts as the fear set in and hope began to flee.

Of course, I say all of this, not so that we might merely understand the disciples in order to sympathize with them, but so that we might see ourselves in them. That is the point of it all. I want you to see yourselves represented by these men. And I want for you to see that their struggles were common struggles. More than that I want for you to notice Christ’s words to them. And now that you have identified with them in their struggle, I want for you to also be encouraged by the words of Christ, just as they were.

Jesus provides a remedy to our fear and sorrow. He opens the way so that we might live with joy and peace and courage in this world.

Christ desires that his people live with joy, peace, and courage in this world. 

Notice, first of all, that Christ desires for his people live with joy, peace, and courage in this world.

In verse 20 Jesus speaks to his troubled men, saying,  “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (John 16:20, ESV)

In verse 22 he says it again: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22, ESV)

In verse 24 Jesus says, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24, ESV)

And in verse 33 hear Jesus say, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV)

It is understandable that the disciples of Christ were tempted to fear. And it is understandable, given their human frailty, that they wrestled with hopelessness and despair. But notice that Christ is not willing to leave them there. He spoke to them. He gave them his word. He revealed truth to them so that they might have joy and peace and courage in this world.

Notice three things:

One, Jesus did not say that they would have joy and peace and courage because things would go well for them in the world. Quite the opposite! “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world”, he says.

How often I have heard people say, if only my circumstances would change, then I would have joy and peace! Two things need to be said in response to this: One, you will find that “better circumstances” will not bring true joy and lasting peace. Two, why wait for joy and peace? You can have it now, brother; you can have it now, sister, if you would only learn that joy and peace come, not from favorable circumstances, but from a heart that trusts in God, and a mind that knows his truth. Joy and peace are not connected to circumstances in the way that you might think. There are some who “have it all” and yet do not have true joy and lasting peace. And there are some who “have nothing” and yet their hearts are alive –  their souls full – with the joy of the Lord. It’s not about the circumstances. It about the heart and the mind. Jesus’ words here make that abundantly clear:  “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world”

Two, notice that Jesus did not rebuke his disciples for their fear and sorrow. This is probably a pastoral, or a methodological observation more than anything. But notice how patient Jesus is with his disciples. I’m sure that after walking with them for over three years Jesus would have hoped that his disciples would have been stronger in the end. But they were not strong. They were quite weak, in fact. And yet Jesus was patient with them. He instructed and encouraged them in their weakness. And he is the same way with you and I. Were our faith in God strong, we would never fear. If our hearts and minds were fixed squarely upon God and his truth, we would never be given to despair. But our faith is not always strong. And we do not alway set our gaze squarely upon God, fixing our minds upon his truth. We are frail creatures – prone to wander and prone to leave the God we love. Our Lord is patient with us.

But notice, thirdly, that Jesus is not willing to leave us in our fear and in our sorrow. He calls us out of it.  If we are indeed children of the King then we ought to have joy. There ought to reside within the heart of Christians a deep and true and lasting happiness. And there ought to be peace too! The soul of a Christian should have a quietness to it. The Christian should walk with courage and confidence and firmness in this world – like a bold lion, and not like skittish lamb.

Brothers and sisters, I am not saying that this joy and peace and courage is an automatic thing. Far from it! It must be cultivated. But it is ours in Christ Jesus! We are to fight for joy and peace and courage. This is why Christ commands his disciples to “take heart” (16:33). It is something that they must decide to do.

Christ encourages us towards this end with the reminder that suffering will lead to life. 

But notice that Christ does not command his disciples to do something without first providing them with the resources necessary to accomplish it. He commands them to “take heart” – that we have seen – but he first of all gives them the information that they need to, in fact, take heart. This is how our God works. His commands are always based upon truth. The imperatives of scripture are based upon indicatives. It is never do this… period, or just because. But do this, because, or for, or given that. And the same is true here. The command is to take heart. The expectation is that there would be joy and peace in the heart of the believer. But notice that the reason for it is also given, and it centers upon the reality of the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is the hinge upon which it all turns. It is the resurrection that turns sorrow into joy, and fear into courage.

Notice how Jesus encourages us towards joy and peace and courage by reminding us that suffering will indeed lead to life.

I do not mean to say that all suffering will lead to life (suffering is not redemptive, or life-producing, in and of itself). But Christ’s suffering certainly lead to life.

Remember that Jesus said “a little while, and you will see me no longer”. This was a reference to his death. It was his death that caused the world to rejoice and the disciples to weep and lament. Christ would suffer. His disciples would suffer. The world would rejoice.

But remember also Christ’s words, “again a little while, and you will see me.” When they saw him again their “sorrow [would] turn into joy.“

Notice that the resurrection is not mentioned explicitly in this passage, but it is the hidden event – it is the unstated phenomenon which changes everything. The disciples would not see him, but after the resurrection they would see him. They would be filled with sorrow because of the his suffering and death, but they would soon rejoice and have courage and peace.

What I am trying to communicate here is that the disciples of Christ would have joy and peace and courage, in the world, not simply because they would be reunited to an old friend whom they had been separated from for two days, but because their friend – through his suffering and death and resurrection – had laid ahold of life – resurrection life! This is why they would rejoice. Death was defeated when Christ rose! This is why no one would be able to take their joy from them. They, through Christ’s resurrection, had access to resurrection life and hope that transcends the grave. It is the resurrection that enables all who have faith in Christ to say, “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55–57, ESV)

The illustration that Jesus provides of a woman in labor is helpful, isn’t it? I’ll give it to you ladies – the whole childbirth thing is rather impressive. What’s more impressive is that you’re actually interested in going though the experience more than once! But why is that? It is because all of the pain and suffering leads to life. The suffering produces life. It’s amazing how a woman can experience agonizing labor for hours, but when the child is born, and is lain upon the chest of the mother, the memory of the pain and suffering fades away. Sorrow turns to joy because suffering has given way to life.

Jesus says, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” It is so important to see that this joy is not the result of a simple reunion of friends, but it is an ever abiding joy which springs from the reality of the resurrection. Christ defeated sin and death and Satan through the cross and by his resurrection from the dead. This is the reason why the disciples of Christ have joy in the world despite the trouble that we experience in it.

We have hope. We have hope in Christ. We have hope in the resurrection of Christ. Gloom and darkness, desperation and despair may press in upon us, but the hope remains. Like a beam of light cutting through the darkness, the reality of the resurrection cuts through all of the troubles of this life leading us, not to sorrow, but to peace and joy and courage in the Lord.

Suffering leads to life. It was through Christ’s suffering that life was earned. And for those who are united to him by faith, the suffering that we experience in this world is not the final word – we have hope in him which can never be taken away. Here is one reason for our joy and peace and courage.

Christ encourages us towards this end with the reminder that suffering will lead to the Father.

Also, see that Christ encourages us to have joy, peace and courage with the reminder that suffering will lead to the Father.

Again, not all suffering leads to the Father (suffering is not redemptive in and of itself). But Christ’s suffering certainty did! It was through his death and resurrection that a way to God was made. He is the door. He is the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. Christ’s suffering provided a way to the Father.  And also our suffering, if we are united to Christ by faith, also leads to the Father. We have access to him now, in Jesus name. And we will be with him for all eternity if we have been cleansed by Christ’s atoning blood. This certainly is a reason to have joy and peace and courage in the world.

It is this reality – our love for God, and the love of the Father for us in Christ – which lead Paul to reason in this way:

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31–39, ESV)

Listen to Jesus’ words:

16:23: “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23–24, ESV)

The meaning is this: In that day – in the age after the resurrection, which is the the age in which we live now – we will not ask Jesus for things (as the disciples did when Jesus was with them on earth), but we will the Father! We will have direct access to the Father in Christ’s name.  Jesus Christ is our mediator. We go through him to the Father.

16:25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.” (John 16:25, ESV)

Things were still mysterious to the disciples as they lived in the hours leading up to the crucifixion, and in the days before the resurrection. But after the resurrection Jesus would speak plainly about the Father. Things would become clear. I think here of the road to Emmaus passage in Luke 24 where the Jesus, after his resurrection, teaches the scriptures to his disciples, and shows how the law and prophets and Psalms point to him – and they got it! Things became clear in light of the resurrection. They could not see it before, but in the light the resurrection things became vivid.

16:26 “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” (John 16:26–27, ESV)

Notice again that Christ is our mediator. He is the middleman between God and man. But that does not mean that we go to him, and he goes to the Father for us. Instead it means that he has opened up for us access to the Father. If you are trusting in Christ – if you have true faith in Christ – “the Father himself loves you”.

16:28: “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”” (John 16:28, ESV)

“His disciples said, ‘Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’” (John 16:29–33, ESV)

Conclusion 

“Take heart; I have overcome the world”, Jesus says. This is a command. The fact that it is a command tells me two things. First of all, we will probably struggle from time to time, lacking joy and peace and courage. But if we are in Christ, we are not to remain there. We are take heart. And we are to take heart by fixing our minds and hearts upon the truths of God. In Christ Jesus there is life eternal. The resurrection proves it. And in Christ Jesus – through faith in him – there is the love of God the Father. Lay ahold of it if you do not have it. Repent and believe. And if you do have it, then cling to it. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’”

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 44:1–5

“But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.” (Isaiah 44:1–5, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 16:1-15

“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. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine 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.” (John 16:1–15, ESV)

Introduction

Let us again use the imagination to put ourselves with Christ and his disciples on the night of his betrayal – the night before his crucifixion. The passover meal was finished. The betrayer had been sent out to do his deed. Christ, it would seem, left the upper room with the eleven who remained, having said to them, “rise, let us go from here” (14:31). Now Jesus is walking with his disciples in Jerusalem, or he is standing somewhere with them, and he is instructing them. In particular, he is equipping them with what they will need for the difficult journey ahead. As a commander equips his troops with weapons and ammunition, instructions and encouragement, so that they might fight the good fight, so too Christ equips those who are his with those things necessary for the battle. Of course, the weapons he gives are spiritual, and not physical. The Christian’s weapons are Spirit and truth. And that is what Christ, our commander, gives to his disciples – the promise of the Holy Spirit, and truth.

God Preserves Us By His Truth

I’ve asked you to use the imagination to put yourself there, not only so that you might see what Jesus gave to the eleven disciples who remained with him on that night, but so that you might also see what Christ has given to you! These words spoken to the original disciples of Christ – though they, in some respects, apply only to them – by and large apply to you and I as well. What he said to them, he says to us. He was preparing them to live in this world in the time between his first and second comings, and he prepares us also. He gives the Spirit, and he gives truth.

When I say that Christ equips his people with truth so that they might fight the good fight I am attempting to draw your attention to the simple, but often overlooked, fact that Jesus taught his disciples. He instructed them. He challenged their belief, and sought to change their minds. He was deeply concerned that they believe the right things. Jesus taught his disciples. He was called Rabbi, which means teacher. His followers were called disciples, which means learner. Though it is true that Christian discipleship involves more than the dissemination of information, it certainly does not involve less than that. Thought it is true that walking with Christ involves more than laying ahold of true doctrine in the mind – we are also to obey God from the heart, walking in holiness, loving God and neighbor – we should not forget that the foundation of our faith is truth.

I emphasize the centrality of truth and the importance of doctrine in the Christian life for two reasons:

First of all, this passage makes much of it. The Spirit, we learn, will guide the disciples of Christ “into all the truth” (16:13). Truth, among other things, is what they will need to stand firm in this world which is hostile to the things of God. Truth would serve as a foundation to them.

Secondly, as I continue to look out upon the modern church I grow more and more concerned that this is the very thing which is so often neglected in our day. There are forms of Christianity which minimize the importance of doctrine, or teaching. I say “forms” (in the plural) because there are many different manifestations of it, but they all seem to do essentially the same thing. They seek to reduce the Christian life to one thing are another, to the exclusion of doctrine. “What matters”, they say, “is that we love Jesus”, but they are opposed to doctrine which would seek to teach what the scriptures have to say about him. Or, “what matters is that we live holy”, but the basis for holiness, or the way to holiness, is neglected. Or, “what matters is that we serve the poor”, or “that we evangelize.” “Relationships matter”, they say. And on and on the list goes. But when it comes to doctrine – when it comes to the vital truths of the Christian faith – truths clearly set forth in scripture, mind you – these they want noting to do with.

I am painting with very broad brush strokes, I know. Not all churches are like this today. There are many churches that have not given in to this trend. By no means am I saying that we are the last ones standing.  But I am concerned that a great many have abandoned doctrine, believing in one way or another, that the facts of the faith are far less important than other aspects of it – love, obedience, emotion, service, and so on. And of course even these churches – the ones that have abandoned doctrine – do teach something. I am not saying that they teach noting at all. But my concern is that in these anti-doctrinal traditions the Christian faith – and here I am using the word faith to refer to the Christian faith as a body of truth, a collection of doctrines – has been reduced down to a few fundamental doctrines, the idea being, that if a Christian believes these fundamental things – these, essential things – then the teaching ministry of the church has accomplished it’s purpose.

I’m ranting a bit, I know. But I think this is an important issue to discuss so that you might understand something about what we are trying to do here. We are a confessionally reformed church. And one of the things that means is that we believe that doctrine is very important. Doctrine (teaching the truths found in scripture – not some of them, but all of them) leads to life. Doctrine matters. Truth transforms. Renewal in life comes by way of the transformation of the mind (Rom. 12:1). Doctrine is not the only thing, I know, but is a foundational thing. It is the truth of God’s word that the Spirit of God uses to transform the heart which leads to obedience.

Here in John 16 Christ is preparing his disciples to live in a hostile environment after his death, burial, and resurrection, and his ascension to the right hand of the Father. And what does he now say to them?

“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… (John 16:1–4, ESV)

Christ has already warned his disciples that the world will hate them. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you”, he said (15:18). Here Jesus is more specific. Jesus predicted that his disciples would be “put out of the synagogues”. This reveals that Christ had in mind the unbelieving Jews when he thought of the persecutors. They would drive Christians from the established places of worship and push them to the fringes of society. It was the unbelieving Jews who crucified Christ, and much of the persecution that came upon the early church did, in fact, come from them. Indeed, many who persecuted Christians, even to the point of death, thought that they were doing so “in the service of God”. Think of Saul’s behavior before he was converted and became our brother, Paul.

Christ knows all of this. And how does he prepare his disciples for the trouble ahead? He teaches them. He instructs them. He gives them truth so that they might remember these things. To remember is to recall information. He gives them information so that they might remember it and live by it.

Notice here that when Christ thinks of the disciples whom he loves – as he looks into their deeply troubled eyes – he sees that the greatest threat to them is not suffering, nor is it death, but it is apostasy. In Jesus’ assessment of things, the worst thing that could happen to one of his followers is that they fall away. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away”, he says.

This might sound extreme to you, but realize that for the one who is in Christ, death is life. The Christian is made alive spiritually at their conversion. And physical death – the first death – is not really death, but for those in Christ it is the first resurrection. This is what Revelation 20 teaches us. John – the same John wrote wrote the Gospel that we are now studying – said, “I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4, ESV) These are the souls of those who have died physically. And where are they? They are alive with Christ – their souls are ruling and reigning with him. Paul takes courage in the same thing, saying that he “would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8, ESV) Death is not the worst thing that can happen to the one who professes Christ. Apostasy is. To apostatize is to fall away. An apostate is one who claims to be a follower of Christ, who identifies with the people of God, who tastes, in one way or another, of heavenly gifts, and then falls away in the face of temptation, or persecution, or for some other reason. This is the thing that Jesus is warning against. This is the greatest threat to the one who claims to be a disciples of Christ – not suffering, and not even death. The worst thing of all is to be found not in Christ in the end.

You’re thinking to yourself, Joe, I thought you were a Calvinist who believed in the perseverance of the saints! I thought you believed that if a person is truly united to Christ by faith – truly saved – then he or she will persevere, or be preserved, until the end, and cannot fully or finally fall away. Why then this talk about falling away? 

Brothers and sisters, you know I believe in the perseverance saints. You know I believe that if someone is truly in Christ, having been predestined to receive adoption as sons and daughters from before the foundation of the earth, that they will indeed remain in Christ and as sons and daughters, for God will preserve them.

But notice that what Christ says here concerning the danger of apostasy by no means undermines that doctrine. In fact all of the passages in scripture which warn against the danger of falling away, or coming short, or failing to obtain salvation, by no means undermine the doctrine of perseverance, but rather complement it. “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God”, the writer to the Hebrews warns. (Hebrews 3:12–13, ESV) The scriptures are filled with encouragement, warnings, and exhortations like this to continue on until the end, and to never fall away. Finish the race, brothers. Fight the good fight, sisters. Enter his rest, Christian, lest you seem to come short of it. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And on and on I could go.

These warning passages do not mean that a true Christian – one who is truly saved – can in fact fall away. They simply reveal that preservation is a process. The question is not will God preserve his people, but how will he do it? The answer is that he will do it by means of word and Spirit. Preservation is a process. Preservation comes to us through means.

I preserve the vegetables that I buy from the store by putting them into the refrigerator. I preserve my children by teaching them to look both ways before they cross the street. And I preserve my money by storing it in a safe place – my wallet, a safe, or a bank. Did you notice the repetition of the word “by”. The word “by” indicates that there is a way or means by which something is accomplished. Preservation is a process. It involves the use of means. We preserve things by means of refrigerators, education, and wallets. And God uses means to preserve those who belong to him. The means that God uses to preserve his elect are word and Spirit.

His word instructs us; his word encourages us; his word warns us. His Spirit, enlightens, encourages, and empowers. For the one who is truly in Christ, these means are effective. The true Christian hears the warnings about apostasy and heeds them. The true Christian has the Spirit, who is our helper – the Paraclete. The true Christian perseveres. But this is brought about by the power of the word and through the work of the Spirit. The false believer – the temporary believer – does not have the Spirit, nor does he pay attention to the warnings contained within God’s word. He is a disciple on the outside only, and not inwardly and from the heart.

Jesus’ mission is to keep those given to him by the Father. And how will he keep them till the end? In part, by giving them his word. “I have said all these things to you [ἵνα – in order to, or for the purpose of] keep you from falling away.” (John 16:1, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, if anything has been clear in the sermon up to this point it is that truth matters in the Christian life. The word matters for so many reasons, one of them being that God uses the truth of his word to preserve us. We are on solid ground when know the truth and live according to it. Though the storms of life beat against us, we will not be shaken.

God Preserves Us By The Spirit

Notice also that God preserves those who belong to him by the Holy Spirit. Two things should noticed about the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Holy Spirit is the one who works within the world, proving the world wrong, leading some to repentance and to faith in Christ.  Secondly, it is the Holy Spirit who works amongst the people of God, strengthening them in the faith they already possess.

First, let us consider the Spirit’s activity within the world.

Look with me in the middle of verse 4 where we left off, where Jesus says, “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.” In other words, Jesus did not speak explicitly about the persecution because, for one, he was with his disciples and served to shield them from the danger. Two, they needed to first witness the mistreatment of their master before the could understand the saying, “‘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.” (John 15:20, ESV) But now Jesus tells them about it in order to prepare them.

Verse 5: “But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” This may sound strange to us given that Simon Peter did ask, “Lord, where are you going”, in 13:36. I think the meaning of this is that they did not really seek to understand where Jesus was going. They stopped asking that question. They pulled back from seeking answers to that important question, and had allowed sorrow to overrun their hearts (vs. 6).

In verse 7 we hear Jesus repeat something that he had already said: “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.” Evidently Jesus wanted his disciples to understand the significance of his death, resurrection, and ascension to the Fathers right hand, and the subsequent pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Much has been said about this in previous sermons (on 14:15ff.).

In verse 8 -10 Jesus builds upon what has already been said about the Spirit: “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.” (John 16:8–11, ESV)

Where, then, will the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Holy Trinity, be active once he is sent by the Father? Will he be active amongst the people of God only? No. He, will not be “shut up” with us only (to use Calvin’s language), but will be active within the world also – the world that is hostile to God and to the people of God.

And what will the Spirit do in the world? Christ said that he would convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. And so we are to picture the Holy Spirit – the third person of the Trinity – as an active force within the world. He will convict, which means to prove wrong, to rebuke, or reprove. The meaning is this, I think. Just as Jesus had a different effect upon different people- judgment to those who disbelieved, and grace to those given to him by the Father who would believe – so too the Spirit has a different effect upon different peoples. He convicts the world. To the elect of God, that conviction leads to repentance. To the non-elect, that conviction leads to condemnation – the Spirit proves them guilty. The point is that the Spirit is active within the world – convicting the world – leading some to repentance and proving others wrong or guilty in their sin and condemnation. At the heart of this teaching is the idea that the Spirit will help Christians in their witness. As the gospel is preached, the Spirit will be active. He will convict the world. Whether that conviction leads to repentance or condemnation is another story.

Notice that the Spirit convicts concerning three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.

“Concerning sin, because they do not believe in [Jesus]” (John 16:9, ESV). If they would turn to Christ and believe in him, their sin would be taken away. To remain in unbelief is to remain in sin, and under the guilt of it.

“Concerning righteousness, because [Jesus has gone] to the Father, and you [see him] no longer”. (John 16:10, ESV) Jesus, by his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to the right hand of the Father has been proved right. He has entered into glory by virtue of his sinless life. He is the righteous man. And one of the things his righteousness does is prove us to be unrighteous, if we are not believing in him. We need a righteousness like his, but we cannot find it in ourselves. It can only be found through faith in him.

And “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:11, ESV) The final judgment has not yet come. And for that reason the gospel must still be preached. Men and women must be implored to repent to trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. But there is a sense in which the judgment has already begun. When Christ died on that cross and rose from the dead on the third day, sin and death and Satan were defeated. The ruler of this world was judged. Not fully and finally, mind you. But the work is finished, so that we might rightly say that victory is won. This foretaste of judgment serves to warn concerning the final judgment. The Spirit convicts the world concerning that.

Again, this is not to say that this conviction (or “proving wrong”) of the world will have the same effect upon all. I do not equate it with effectual calling, in other words. It is not exactly regeneration that we are talking about. Here the message seems to be that the Holy Spirit will be a help to the Christians as they witness in the world. The Christians, through their witness, will extend the ministry of Christ after he ascends to the Father. And the Spirit will bring the power. The Spirit will extend the ministry of Christ as he works in the world through Christian disciples. Just as Jesus divided people as he proved them wrong, exposing their works as evil – leading some to repentance and confirming others in their condemnation – so too the Spirit would work in the world in this way.

And so in this way the Spirit will preserve us. He will be a help to the Christian as he or she serves as a witness for Christ in this hostile world, proving the world guilty concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. For some this will lead to repentance (these are the one’s given to the Son from all eternity; these are the ones whom the Father draws); for others this conviction will serve to confirm them in their condemnation. The Spirit of God is with you, brothers and sisters, as you witness. He is a help to you. Christ’s ministry  continues, not just through the word, but also by the Spirit.

Notice, secondly, that the Holy Spirit also preserves us by working amongst the people of God, strengthening them in the faith they already possess.

In verse 12 Jesus says,  “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” Growth in Christ works like this, by the way. Learning is a process for us. There are some things that, if they were said to us now, we might not be able to bear. But as we continue to grow in our understanding of the things of God, we will be able to bear them later. Such was the case for the disciples. There was much that they simply would not understand that side of the cross, and that side of the stone that was rolled away. There were things that they would not understand until Pentecost, when the promised Spirit was poured out. Christ is patient with with us.

He said to them in verse 13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” This is not a promise that if we open our Bibles and read, the Holy Spirit will magically cause us to fully and completely understand the things of God. No, the scriptures must be studied. They must be rightly divided and handled with great care. Instead, this is a promise to the Apostles that the teaching ministry of Jesus would not end with his ascension to the Father. He would continue to teach by way of the Spirit. The Apostles would remember what Jesus had said. More than that, they would understand the words and works of their Savior. Certainly this is connected to their teaching ministry and the writing of scripture.

The Apostles – the eyewitness of Jesus – spoke and wrote with prophetic authority. They were inspired by God in a unique way. But that does not mean that this promise has no application for us. Though we must make a distinction between ourselves and the Apostles, we should still acknowledge that the Spirit is active within Christians as he leads us in the way of truth.

Christ then says, in verse 15, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine 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.”

Again, notice the Trinity. It is the Triune God who preserves his people – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Spirit glorifies the Son. The Son has all that is the Father’s. And it is that which belongs to the Father and the Son that the Spirit gives to the people of God.

He is our helper. He convicts the world of sin, righteous, and judgment. He guides us into all truth.

Conclusion  

Word and Spirit, brothers and sisters. God preserves his people by word and Spirit. To neglect one or the other is foolish.

Be students of the word. Be not content with milk, but desire solid food. Seek understanding. Build your house upon the rock, and not the sand. Know God’s word, and obey it. Move on to maturity in Christ.

But as you go, go in by the power of the Spirit. Trust in God, and not yourself. See that more information will benefit you noting. Words are without effect if they are not accompanied by the transforming power of the Spirit. Pray for God’s help. Pray that the Spirit would indeed be your helper until the end.

Old Testament Reading: Psalm 69:1-13

“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore? O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” (Psalm 69:1–13, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 15:18-27

“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.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ 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. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:18–27, ESV)

Introduction

Expectations are a very powerful thing, aren’t they? And we all have them. We may not even realize that we have expectations, but we certainly do. We expect that life in general, and certain aspects of life in particular, will go a certain way. It’s not that expectations are bad in and of themselves, but I think you would agree that they can have a devastating effect upon us if they are false.

I enjoy very much taking couples through pre-marital counseling. We talk about a diversity of things. But one of the issues I am sure to touch upon is expectations. “What do you expect marriage to be like?”, or “what do you expect from your future spouse?”, is the question. If the answer sounds like it is based off a scene from a Disney film rather than the scriptures, I know that some serious conversations are needed. False expectations concerning marriage inevitably lead to disappointment. I am here thinking of those instances where expectations are too high, but I suppose it is also possible for expectations to be too low. A bride or groom might assume that marriage will be so difficult that they in fact set themselves up for failure. Either way, the point it that expectations are powerful. When they fail to square with the reality of things, they lead to disappointment and failure.

As I think back upon the last few Christmases in the Anady household, I notice a pattern. There is usually one present that our kids expect to receive. It’s the one that they have made it clear that they want. And what do Lindsay and I do with those presents? It’s cruel, I know, but we love to hide those presents and bring them out only after all of the other gifts have been opened. And to do it right you have pause for little while – you have to play it off as if that’s it – no more presents. Now mind you, I usually have smirk on my face and a tone to my voice which keeps their hope alive just enough so as not to crush them on Christmas morning. But what is it that kids have? They have expectations. They assume that things will go a certain way.

Unmet expectations lead to disappointment, and if the matter is a serious one (think marriage, or something like that, and not Christmas gifts) the disappointment can lead to despair. For this reason it is important for us to help foster realistic exceptions – expectations that square with reality – in the people that we have influence over.

This is exactly what Jesus was doing with his disciples in the hours leading up to his betrayal and eventual crucifixion. He was preparing them for his departure.

He encouraged their hearts with the word that he was leaving them for a good reason: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1–3, ESV)

He comforted them with the promise that he would not leave them alone and helpless: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth… I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16–18, ESV)

And he also instructed them concerning the way to an abundant and fruitful life in this age between his first and second comings: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4–5, ESV)

So you see, Jesus is preparing his disciples to live in this world until he returns. And of course he was not only preparing the 11 disciples who remained, but all of the faithful, including you and me. These are words of preparation. And here he prepares us by addressing our expectations.

How will it go for us in this world as we live under the New Covenant, in this age between Christ’s first and second comings? What exactly should we we expect? To expect the wrong things will inevitably lead to disappointment and despair, and so Christ equips us with proper expectations.

Q1: How will it go, then, for the followers of Christ as we live in this world awaiting the Lord’s return?

A: The simple answer is this: As it was for Jesus, so will it be for us. 

And how was it for Jesus in this world? Though some believed in him, the vast majority rejected him. To use the language of Isaiah 53, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3, ESV)

Look at verse 18 and see how Jesus prepared his disciples (the 11 who remained, and you and I through their word): “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”  Verse 20: “Remember the word that I said 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.” (John 15:18, 20, ESV)

Two things are to be noticed concerning the way that the world responded to Jesus Christ.

First of all, the world hated our Lord.  The crucifixion was the ultimate expression of this hatred, but it was not the only expression of it. The whole of Jesus’ life and ministry were marked by conflict with the world. He was despised and rejected from beginning to end by the world – that is, by those not given to him by the Father. Jesus emphasized this with his disciples in order to prepare them for life in this world. “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you”, he said. Expect it. Do not let the persecution take you by surprise.

But notice, secondly, that there were some who did receive Jesus’ word. They were few in number. They were the ones given to Jesus by the Father. When they heard Jesus’ word, they received it. And there is a promise here in this passage that the same thing will continue after Jesus’ departure. Verse 20 begins by warning, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” But it ends with this encouragement: “If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”

I take all of this to mean that the same pattern will continue after Christ’s ascension to the Father. Christ was hated by the world while on earth – his followers will be hated by the world too. But some did believe in Christ while he was on earth – and there will also be some (the elect) who will believe upon the word of Christ spoken by his people after his ascension to the right hand of the Father.

And so we are to be optimistically pessimistic concerning the world. On the one hand, we should expect to experience (to one degree or another) resistance, hostility, persecution, and hatred. But on the other hand, we ought to expect victory. The gospel will go forth. The kingdom of God will advance. The word of Christ will “not return …empty, but it shall… succeed in the thing for which [he] sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11, ESV)

I’m sure there are some who are thinking, I don’t know if I like all of this negative talk concerning the hostility of the world towards Christians. Perhaps you’re thinking, I have dear friends who are non-Christians. They do not hate me, nor are they hostile towards me. In fact they are really very nice people!

Let me say a two things concerning this.

First of all, I think there is again some confusion over the word world. If we demand that “world” mean every individual person on the planet without exception then we have Jesus saying that every individual person on the planet hated him and will hate you if you are a Christian. It is far better to recognize that the word “world” is consistently used (78 times) in John to refer to this place in which we live in a more general way. It refers to all of the peoples of this earth, Jew and gentile alike. It also carries with it moral implications – this world is in darkness, and is in rebellion against God, and the things of God. So it is true, the world – the way of the world – is hostile to God and the things of God. And Christians, as long as they live in this place, should expect to face a degree of hostility and hatred. But that is different from saying that every non-Christian hates and is hostile toward every Christians. Brothers and sisters, I’m glad that you have non-Christian friends. Jesus was, in a way, and to a certain degree, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, was he not?

With that said, we should also recognize that there are different levels of hatred, and different manifestation of it. Here I am pointing to the reality that, in a sense, everyone not in Christ – everyone in whom the Spirit of God has not worked – all unregenerate peoples – do, in fact, to one degree or another, hate Christ and his gospel. It may be that their revulsion to the gospel of Christ manifest itself in relatively mild way. But if the Spirit of God is not calling the sinner to repentance, there will be some degree of hatred toward the the word of Christ. In other words, not all who are of the world respond to the gospel, and to the Christians who preach it, by screaming, “crucify him!” But if the Spirit be not active in regenerating the heart, the gospel will in some way be pushed to the side. To say it yet another way, I would bet that if you were to speak to your good friend who is not in Christ – not about the thing that happens to bind you together as friends – be it work, politics, a hobby, or some other thing – but about the gospel of Jesus Christ, there would be some level of hated or destain for that message – that is, unless the Spirit of God is at work in the heart.

And so when you hear Jesus warn that the world will hate his disciples, do not take this to mean that every individual who is not in Christ will respond with all out hatred and hostility – that is not the point. The point, rather, is that when we ask the question, how will it go, for the followers of Christ as we live in this world awaiting the Lord’s return? the answer is,  as it was for Jesus, so will it be for us.

Persecution should not take us by surprise. Hatred and opposition should not catch us off guard. Though the gospel will advance, and though the kingdom of God will grow, the age between Christ’s first and second comings will be generally marked by a degree of trial and tribulation for the people of God. “‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted [Jesus], they will also persecute [his followers also].” (John 15:20, ESV)

Q2: The second question, then, is why does the world hate Christ and those who belong to him?

A: The answer: The world hates Christ and those who belong to him because they are not of this world. 

Look with me at verse 19 where Jesus says to his followers, “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.” (John 15:19, ESV)

First, it is important to remember that Christ is not of this world. This has already be said in John’s gospel. Jesus spoke to the non-believing Jews who opposed him saying, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” (John 8:23, ESV) Jesus’ origins were heavenly. He came to us from the Father. He belonged, then, to a different order of things. He did not belong to this world, nor to the systems, or way, of this world.

Second, it is important to remember that you, if you are in Christ, are not of this world. You’ve been born from above. This too has been established in John’s gospel. Those who believe in Christ believe in him because they have been born of God (John 1:12-13). In John 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus that “unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, NET) And throughout John we encounter this truth, that Jesus has chosen some out of this world to belong to him. That theme is here in John 15. See verse 16 where Jesus speaks to his disciples saying, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…” (John 15:16, ESV) And notice again verse 19: “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.” (John 15:19, ESV)

The meaning is this: Those who believe upon Christ believe upon him because Christ has graciously chosen them and called them. But notice that they have been chosen out of the world. Two things are implied here. One, when we hear that those who belong to Christ were chosen and called out of the world it reminds us that we were no different from the world before Christ graciously intervened. In other words, Christians are not Christians because they were the cream of the crop. No, all were of the world and Christ graciously chose us out of the world. Two, when we hear that those who belong to Christ were chosen and called out of the world, does it not remind us that Christians no longer belong to this world – to it’s systems and ways. We, like Christ, belong to another order of things. We have been chosen out of the world and belong to it no longer. To use Paul’s language, “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” (Colossians 1:12–13, ESV)

This is why the world hates Christ and those who belong to him.

The world loves it’s own people. The world has great fondness for those who think and live as they do. Peter comments on this phenomenon, saying, “With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.” (1 Peter 4:4, ESV)

The world, which lives in darkness, is irritated by the light.  Jesus spoke to this issue when he said to his non-believing brothers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” (John 7:7, ESV) When Christ or his followers confront the world concerning their sin – either through words or by refusing to “join them in the same flood of debauchery” – the world bristles at it, to one degree or another.

Consider also that the gospel which brings life to those who believe is also a word of condemnation to those who reject it. That, I think, is what verse 21-25 are getting at. Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’” (John 15:22–25, ESV)

This passage is not saying that if Christ had not come then world would have stood totally guiltless in every way before him. No, that thought is absurd and contrary with the rest of the scriptures. What is meant here is that when Jesus came, and as he presented himself to the world, the works that he preformed and the words that he spoke force people to a decision concerning him as the Christ. That is the sin that is in view here – the most serious of sins – the rejection of Jesus as the Christ. In other words, when Christ came he spoke the final world concerning God’s love for the world and the way of salvation; and when this final word was spoken it also prompted men and women to give their final response – yes or no – concerning him as the Christ, the long awaited Messiah, the Savior.

You see, the same thing happens today. When the gospel is proclaimed to a person for the fist time, it does not turn them from being innocent to guilty – for we are indeed born in sin and guilt. But it does bring the individual to a crossroads of sorts (pun intended). Having been exposed to the good news they must then respond in one way or another. They have heard God’s final world through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are indeed prompted to respond. If they reject Christ, they have committed the most grievous of sins.

Remember that the good news which brings life to those who believe is also a word of condemnation to those who reject it. This has already been said in John’s Gospel: “Whoever believes in [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:18, ESV)

Listen to how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 2:15. To Christians he writes, “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”

Brothers and sisters, it is no wonder that the world hates Christ and those who belong to him. We are not of this world. We do not belong to it – the kingdom of heaven is our true to home; we have been raised with Christ and are seated with him in the heavenly places; we are sojourners and pilgrims on this earth, having been born from above – and as a result we do not live according to customs of this world. We do not walk in the same way. We think, and speak, and live in a way that is different from the world – or at least we should. The world loves it own. If we were of the world, the world would love us. But because we are not of the world, the world to one degree or another, is trouble by us.

Q3: The third question that comes to mind is if this is all true, how then can a Christian possibly stand in this world in the face of such hostility?

A: The answer: The Christian will stand with the help of the Spirit, with an ever increasing love for the Father, and the Christ whom he sent. 

Look with me at verse 26 where Jesus says, “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. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26–27, ESV)

I wish that I had time to say more about these two verses, but notice this – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all mentioned. I think this is very significant. It is a reminder that we are united to, and in the service of, the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He, in all his power and glory, stands with those who are his as we live in this world, though we be not of it.

The Holy Spirit is our Helper. He is sent by Son, proceeding from the Father, in order to bear witness concerning Jesus the Christ.

The point is this: we are not alone. Christ did not leave us as orphans – helpless and vulnerable. No, though it is true that we live in a hostile environment, we serve the Lord of lords, and King of kings, who has richly supplied us with all that we need, and supports us in every way, so that his purposes might prevail.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, what do you expect as you walk with Christ in this world? It is not right to expect hostility from every person on the planet who is not a Christian. We should not withdraw out of the world. But we should not be surprised when the world is hostile towards us. We are to be in the world, but not of it.

Are you willing to suffer scorn as a follower of Christ? I find that many Christians are tempted to go the way of the world – to think, and talk, and walk in the way of the world – in order to earn the love and respect of the world. This is not the way of Christ nor his people. We need not be unnecessarily freakish – we need not provoke the world to anger in an unnecessary way. But we ought to come to terms with this reality – to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully, and to live according to it, will, with out a doubt, to one degree or another, be met with hatred as we live in this place awaiting the Lord’s return.

May we walk worthy, trusting in Triune God to keep us to the end.

Old Testament Reading: Psalm 80

“To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved! O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River. Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name! Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (Psalm 80, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 15:1-17

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:1–17, ESV)

Introduction

The message being communicated to us in this most beautiful passage is that Christ came, not only to pay for sins so that we might be forgiven by God and experience eternal life in the future, but also to fill us with abundant and fruitful life in the here and now.

The tendency among some Christians, I think, is to reduce, or minimize, or constrain the work of Christ on the cross so that in our minds it pertains only to the future. We think of the cross of Christ and the work that was accomplished there and we think, he earned something for me that I will enjoy in the future. Or, Jesus died so that I can go to heaven someday. He died, we think to ourselves, so that I will not be condemned in the final judgment. These things are indeed true, but John 15 compels us to see that there is so much more to be said about the life that is available in Christ.

Consider again Jesus’ words to his disciples in 14:19: “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” Clearly Jesus is referring to his death and resurrection. The promise is that because Jesus lives (because he has risen from the grave) those who believe in him will also live. But when will Christ’s followers come to experience this resurrection life? That is the question.

Brothers and sisters, life in Christ it is not something reserved exclusively for the future, but it is here and now. If you are in Christ, you have been made alive through the word and by the Spirit. If you are in Christ, you have been born again. The resurrection life of Christ is something that pulsates through the Christian in this life, and will enliven to the uttermost in the age to come. That seems to be the heart of the matter here in John chapter 15.

Jesus uses the imagery of a vineyard to illustrate this principle.There are three things that I would like to focus upon in this metaphor. First of all, we should take note of the variety of persons represented; secondly, we should consider the command that is given; and thirdly, we should consider the result of obedience.

A Variety Of Persons Represented

Notice, first of all, the variety persons represented in this metaphor.

Jesus is here represented by the vine. God the Father is represented by the vinedresser, or gardner. And then there are two types of branches, representing two types of people – those who are truly united Christ, who remain in him, and bear fruit, and those who do not. Let us then consider these figures, one at a time.

First of all, we hear Jesus say, “I am the true vine” – a vine represents Jesus in this metaphor. 

It is right for us to think of a grapevine. They were common in the region where Jesus ministered, and they are common in our region too. Jesus is here represented by a vine – that is to say,  the large, stable, life giving part of the grape plant out of which the branches which produce the fruit naturally grow.

The image, at it’s most fundamental and basic level, communicates this simple principle: Jesus Christ is the source of life. Life – that is to say, spiritual, or eternal, or resurrection life – is found in him. He is the source of it. He is the one in whom life is found. He is the vine. That is the most basic truth to be grasped here. Do you want life? Look to Jesus for it.

But notice that Jesus calls himself “the true vine”. He is not only a vine, nor is he simply the vine, but he is the true vine. The implication is that there is also some sort of false vine.

I suppose we could say that a false vine is anyone or anything which people look to as a source of life other than the risen Christ. Man-made religion would be an example of this – religion which sets it’s hope upon the obedience of man, rather in the obedience of Christ for us. I suppose that materialism would also be an example of a false vine – hope in money and possessions. Moralism should also be mentioned – that is the belief that man is basically good and capable of laying ahold of life through the performance of good deeds.  The truth of the matter is that every person who has ever lived has tapped into a vine of some kind, looking to some person or thing as the source of life for them. To speak in a most general way, they have either tapped into some created thing (most likely themselves), or into the Creator (through the Christ whom he has sent, the only mediator between God and man). They are either in the true vine, who is the Christ. Or they are in some false vine, who’s end is death. Jesus is true in that he alone has life to give, whereas all other vines are false, meaning that they lead, not to life, but to death. I think this certainly a part of what is meant by the word true.

But I think there is a deeper meaning here – one that would have been much more obvious to the disciples of Christ who heard this at first. They were Jews who were well aquatinted with the Old Testament scriptures and with the history of their people. We tend to be lacking in this regard, and so we miss the connection that they would have easily grasped.

Vineyard imagery is used very often in the Old Testament to describe God’s covenant people.

Psalm 80, which I read not long ago, is an example of this. The Psalmist cries out to God, saying, “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.” (Psalm 80:7–9, ESV) This is obviously a reference to the Exodus and to the birth and establishment of the nation of Israel in the promised land. Israel is pictured as a vine planted by the hand by God.

We could read many other passages in the Old Testament and see this demonstrated. I think of Isaiah chapters 5 and 27. I think also of Jeremiah 2:21and 12:10 and following. I think of Ezekiel 15:1–8; 17:1–21; 19:10–14, and also Hosea 10:1–2. Israel is God’s vineyard.

But two things should be noticed about the vineyard imagery contained in these Old Testament texts.

First of all, in most of these passages, God, or the prophet through whom the Lord spoke, is mourning the condition of God’s vineyard. God planted it. He tilled the soil. He built a wall around the vineyard, and yet it produced wild grapes (see Isaiah 5). I think also of Ezekiel 15 where the prophet asks the question, what good is dry and dead grape wood except to be thrown into the fire as kindling? You can build a house out of cedar! But who would even bother making a peg out of the dead and dry wood of the grapevine? The implication here is that Israel was more dead than alive. She was planted to bear fruit, but she had wandered far from God and had become fruitless. Judgment was, therefore, on the way.

Secondly, in many of the passages containing vineyard imagery there is a promise given that a day will come where God will cause his vineyard to produce fruit and fill the earth. Isaiah 27 is an example of this. “In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day, ‘A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day…” (Isaiah 27:1–3, ESV) Psalm 80 also contains a promise for the future. After the Psalmist laments Israel’s current condition in verses 12-13, saying, “Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it”, he then pleads with God, saying in verse 14, “Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.” Now isn’t that interesting? The Psalmist is praying that God would have regard for the vine which he has planted, and then he makes reference to the son – “the son whom you made strong for yourself.” He continues in verse 16 “They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!”

Here is the thing that I am trying to demonstrate to you: When Jesus said, “I am the true vine” his Jewish disciples, without a doubt, understood him to be making reference to these Old Testament passages.

Jesus is the true vine – he always has been.

If God’s people were alive under the Old Covenant it was because they were united to Christ vitally and truly by faith.  They were believing upon the promise of the Messiah. They were looking forward to, as the Psalmist was, “the son whom [God] made strong… the man of [God’s] right hand… the son of man”, who is Jesus the Christ.

But under the Old Covenant there were dead branches, were there not? At certain times there were so many dead branches that it provoked the prophets to speak and write as they did, lamenting the state of God’s vineyard. And why were these branches dead and dry and barren? Though they were of Israel according to the flesh, they were not of Israel according to the Spirit. They were God’s people externally, but not inwardly.

Jesus Christ is the true vine. He is true in that he is the fulfillment to these Old Testament prophesies concerning the restoration of the vineyard of God. And he is true in that he has been the source of life for God’s people from the moment that sin entered the world. He alone – yesterday, today, and forever – has life in himself. All who have ever been made alive in the Spirit, from Adam’s day forward, were made alive in Christ, through faith in him, who is the true vine. The New Testament makes this so abundantly clear.

Listen to how our Confession talks about the work of Christ on the cross benefiting, not only those who lived during and after Jesus’ death and resurrection, but also those who lived before Christ. In Chapter 8, entitled “Christ the Mediator”, picking up in paragraph 6, we read,

“Although the price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after his incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit thereof were communicated to the elect in all ages, successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the seed which should bruise the serpent’s head; and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, being the same yesterday, and to-day and for ever.”

Isn’t that beautifully stated?

Christ is the true vine in that there is no other besides him who can give life. And he is the true vine in that he is the true Israel of God. When Israel was called out of Egypt and planted in the promised land, it was indeed a whole nation that was planted there. But above all else, it was the Christ who was planted. It was the seed of the woman promised from long ago who was preserved. All who lived within Israel believing upon the promise of the Christ were alive in him. Those of Israel not believing upon the Christ were likened to dead wood in the vineyard of God.

For those who would like to further explore my interpretation of the word true, I would encourage you to go to John 6 and to read from verse 22 onward. It is there that we find one of the “I am” sayings of Christ – “I am the bread of life”, he says. By the way, this is  the last of the “I am” sayings of Christ here in 15:1 – “I am the true vine.” But in 6:32 you will notice that Jesus calls himself the “true bread from heaven”. He compares himself to the mana that came to the people of Israel through Moses. That was real bread that came to Israel, but Jesus is the true bread. The mana nourished Israel physically, but it is Jesus the Christ who is the bread from heaven who gives true life – eternal life –  yesterday, today, and forever.

He is the true vine because he is the possessor of true life. And he is the true vine because he alone is the giver of true life by virtue of his life, death, resurrection, and assertion to the right hand of the Father.

You’re thinking to yourself, my goodness, he has spent an awful lot of time on the first five words of this passage! I think it is necessary. The rest of the passage becomes more clear as we understand the vineyard imagery against it’s Old Testament backdrop.

The second figure that we encounter in this metaphor is the Father, and Christ tells us that he is the vinedresser. 

We are to think here of the owner of the vineyard. The Father has planted his vineyard, and it is the Father who cares for his vineyard.  This too should be considered against the backdrop of the Old Testament texts already mentioned.

God loves his vineyard, Israel. And notice again the concern of the Father. It is that his vineyard – his people – would bear much fruit. He planted them, protects them, and prunes them so that they might be fruitful! This is what I was emphasizing earlier. Our tendency is to think about the Christian life as if it is all about the future. No! God desire is to make us fruitful… now. And so he prunes his people. The dead wood he takes away. That which has life in it he prunes, so that it might produce more fruit.

It is here that we must turn our attention to the third and fourth figures in the metaphor. The branches represent people, and clearly there are two kinds.

There are branches that bear fruit. These have life in them, indicating that there exists a real and vital connection to the vine which gives life. Clearly,in this metaphor, these fruit-bearing branches represent true followers of Christ. These are those who have faith in Christ, and the fruit which they produce is evidence to the fact that they are indeed in Christ.

Look at verse 8: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” When Christians bear fruit, God is glorified. And when Christian bear fruit, they prove to be Christ’s disciples. Notice that the fruit does not make us into disciples of Christ, but rather it is a proof of an authentic and vital union with Christ.

And what does the Father do with these fruit-bearing branches? He prunes them!

I know nothing about pruning grapevines except that there is a right way and wrong way to do it. It takes skill. I doubt that you prune a grapevine with a gas powered hedge clipper. Skill and precision are needed! But I do get the general principle – it is through the process of removing unnecessary things – leafs and twigs and branches – that greater health is produced within the branch, and within the vine, leading to a greater yield of fruit.

Bothers and sisters, this is what the Father does with his people – he prunes them. He, over time, removes those ungodly or unnecessary things which sap the life from us and limit our fruitfulness. This is sanctification. It is the process whereby the Father makes us more holy and fruitful in the Son and by the Spirit. We should rejoice in it, though it may be unpleasant for a time. This is what the Father does with those who are his – he cleans them. If you are in Christ, you are already clean (as were the disciples to whom he originally spoke these words (see verse 3)). But he cleans, or prunes those who belong to him more and more throughout the Christian life.

But what does the Father do with those branches which do not produce fruit. The text tells us that he “takes them away” (verse 2).

This verse here has been the source of much debate throughout the ages.

There are some who insist that these fruitless branches represent those who were truly united to Christ by faith, and yet, because of their fruitlessness, lost their salvation, having been removed from the vine and cast into the fire.

What are we to think of this?

First of all, this view contradicts many other clear statements in scripture concerning the preservation of the saints. John 10:27-29 is an example of this, where Jesus is heard saying, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 17 could also be sited, along with many other scriptures.

Secondly, this view turns the gospel of grace into no gospel at all. Salvation, all of a sudden, depends upon you, and your good works! This turns the gospel on it’s head, turning it from good news to bad.

Thirdly, this view abuses the vulnerability of metaphorical language. It seizes upon the looseness of the metaphor and crams unbiblical teaching in to the gaps. It presses the metaphor too far.

Jesus is not teaching that someone can be really and truly united to Christ by faith and then severed. Rather he is building upon the Old Testament imagery and is warning that, though some may appear to be apart of the people of God externally, their fruitlessness is a sign that no true and vital union to the life giving Savior exists. This passage warns against merely external religion. It warns against slackness in the Christian life. To be in Christ will lead to fruitfulness. If there is a lack of fruit, then we should certainly pause and examine our hearts.

This passage also warns against apostasy. Brothers and sisters, there are plenty of New Testament texts which describe to us people who have some degree of connection with Jesus, or some degree of connection with the Christian church, who, to borrow language from D.A. Carson, “by failing to display the grace of perseverance finally testify that the transforming life of Christ has never pulsated within them.” (Carson, PNTC, 515)

Most specifically, I think this reference to the fruitless branch that is taken away is a warning to the non-believing Jews. Certainly they considered themselves (and still do) to be a part of the vineyard of God on the basis of their ethnicity. But there is a warning here that to reject Jesus as the true vine is to be severed from God’s vineyard, who is the true Israel of God.

This is most certainly not a symbol of one who belongs to Christ truly and then looses his or her salvation. Consider that the same John who wrote this Gospel dealt with the question of those who appeared to fall away from Christ in a most direct way, saying, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19, ESV)

Branches that bear some fruit are pruned so that they bear more. Branches that bear no fruit – they are dead, lacking a vital union with Christ, not having the life of Christ pulsate through them – these are cut off and throne into the fire. Without a doubt this symbolizes judgement.  It is a sobering thought indeed.

More can be said, but we must move on for the sake of time. In summery, there are four figures in this metaphor. The vine represents Christ, the Father is the vinedresser. The branches that bear fruit are true disciples of Christ whom the Father prunes in order to make them more fruitful, whereas the fruitless branches represent those who, though they may appear to be a part of the covenant community, lack any vital union to the savior. They are dead wood – fruitless branches – who are cut off and throne into the fire.

Christ’s Command

Notice, secondly, the command of Christ in this passage.

There is one command that appears time and again in this passage. Jesus commands his followers to do one thing if they hope to be fruitful – abde, abide, and abide.

Verse 4: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4, ESV)

Verse 9: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” (John 15:9, ESV)

The word abide means to remain. Here again the emphasis is upon remaining in Christ. Just as a branch must remain in the vine if it is to live, so too must the Christian perpetually remain in Christ if she is to live. We do not come to Christ for salvation and then go on alone. No, we are to walk with him in an ongoing communion bond, on the basis of the covenant that he has made with.

Our relationship to Jesus is like a marriage, in other words. He is the groom, we the bride, according to the scripture. Too often do we view our relationship with Jesus as if it were a court date. It is not a court date, it is marriage. There is a covenantal communion bond that exists between us and Christ. If we are to enjoy the life that is found in him – if we are to bear fruit – then we must remain in him.

But how do we abide in Christ, exactly?

I often find that what Christians want is a checklist. Tell me what I must do to abide in Christ! But the first thing we must develop, is not a check list, but an attitude – an attitude which permeates every aspect of our life and being, which says, Lord, I need you! It is an attitude of dependence that we need – an attitude of humility, and of weakness – which drives to look to Christ always and in every circumstance for the strength that comes from him, by the power of the Holy Spirit. When Paul tells us to “walk by the Spirit” he is communicating a similar concept, isn’t he?

But notice that once we have adopted this mindset there are also some things for us to do.

First of all, to abide in Christ means that we are to keep his word.

Notice in verse 3 that Jesus says to his disciples, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” It is by the word that we are made clean initially, and it is by the word that Christ prunes us progressively through the ministry of the Spirit of  Truth, who is the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit who makes holy.

Christ has appointed preachers and teachers to read the word to the church, and to explain it so that we all might live by it. You need the preaching of Christ’s word if you are to abide in him. We live in a unique time in history where we, as the people of God, have access to God’s written word. We ought to read the word often. But notice the emphasis in this passage upon obedience. Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:10, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, it possible to be in church every Lord’s day, and to read your Bibles morning and night, and to not abide in Christ. We are to encounter God’s word, it is true – but we must be sure to obey it! It is better to read the Bible a little and to live by what it says than to read it a lot and to fail to practice it. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22, ESV)

Notice, secondly, the emphasis upon prayer in this passage.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7, ESV) Here the Christian is invited to pray and make requests before God. It is through prayer that we enjoy ongoing communion with our Savior. And what a gift that it is!

Notice, thirdly, the love we are to have for one another.

“This is my commandment”, Jesus says, “that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12–13, ESV)

Brothers and sisters, there is no abiding in Christ apart from Christ’s church, who is called the body of Christ, his bride, his temple, and his flock. My heart fears for those who claim to love Christ and yet hate his church. How can we claim to love Christ and yet hate the bride for whom he died?

This entire passage is peppered with references to the corporate nature of the Christian life. He is saying it all to his disciples, we are not one, but many. God’s vineyard consists of many branches gathered together in the one vine. And Christ concludes this entire section saying, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:17, ESV) It will not do to say, well the church is dysfunctional today. Brothers and sisters, the church has always been dysfunctional. Read your new Testament. Perhaps you have misunderstood the gospel if it is messiness of other peoples lives which keeps you away from Christ’s church.

So how do we abide? Above all else we are to cultivate an attitude of dependence upon Christ so that we rely upon him for all things. After this we must recognize the way in which the Holy Spirit uses the word and prayer within the context of the church to transform lives.

The Result of Obedience

Notice, thirdly, the result of obedience to Christ’s command.

The result is fruitfulness.

Many have sought to pinpoint what exactly this bearing of fruit represents. Is it that people will come to Christ through us when we are fruitful? Is it that our lives will become more holy? Or we will be more loving and joyful people as we abide in Christ?

Honestly, I’m not sure why we feel the need to reduce fruitfulness to one of these things or the other. Is not the idea that as we abide in Christ, who is the true vine, we will, as branches, inevitably produce fruit which Christlike?

Lord, make us fruitful, we pray. May we abide in you. And as we abide, may your word and Spirit bring life to us – more and more life – abundant life, so that our life produces more and fruit until the day we die, to the glory of your name. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Zechariah 2

“And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he said to me, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.’ And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, ‘Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’’ Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: ‘Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.’ Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” (Zechariah 2, ESV)

New Testament Reading: John 14:15-31

“‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.’” (John 14:15–31, ESV)

Introduction

As I think back upon the last five sermons preached at Emmaus two things come to mind.

Concerning the four advent sermons devoted to the topic of the incarnation the thought occurs to me that we need to talk about the Holy Spirit. Two sermons were devoted to the doctrine of God in general, and two to the doctrine of Christ, but what about the Holy Spirit? He is certainly of no less importance than the Father and Son. He is fully God, just as the Father and Son are. And the work that he does in creation and redemption is certainly of vital importance. We need to, at some point, give proper attention to God the Spirit so that we might fully understand his person and work. That is one thing that comes to mind as I reflect back upon those four sermons leading up to Christmas.

And concerning the sermon that Phil preached last week on the topic of sanctification I simply think, we need more of that! In particular we need to give more attention to our progressive sanctification. To be sanctified is to be holy. God is holy, and his people must be holy if they are to worship and serve him. The problem, of course, is that we are not holy in and of ourselves. But God has made us holy. He has justified us, having declared us not guilty on the basis of Christ’s finished work (that is the legal side of it). But he has also sanctified us in a definitive way. Those who are in Christ have been made holy, being clothed in Christ’s righteousness, being set apart for the worship and service of God – this is definitive sanctification. It is a one time event which happens at the beginning of the Christian life. But there is also a sanctification that this progressive. This is the process whereby Christians – who have been set apart, who have been cleansed by the blood of the lamb, who have been declared not guilty by God Almighty on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ – are progressively made more and more holy, really and personally, by Christ’s word and Spirit dwelling in them. More of this is needed, I think. Our personal holiness matters. Progressive sanctification matters.

And so these two things are on my mind as I reflect back upon the last five sermons preached in 2015, but I also know that we need to continue our study of the Gospel of John. And so I sat down to study, returning to where we left off, and what do I read? In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It is the need for real and personal holiness that is being emphasized here. And in verse 16 we hear Jesus say, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…” It is the Holy Spirit who assists and empowers the believer to live a life of obedience before God.

A Christian Is One Who Obeys The Commandments Of Christ

Let us consider, first of all, that a Christian is one who obeys the commandments of Christ.

Look at the repeated emphasis upon this fact throughout verses 15-31. In verse 15 Jesus says to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In verse 21 Jesus says it another way: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Drop your eyes now to verse 23 where Jesus says,“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” In verse 24 Jesus says it in a negative way: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” And in verse 31 we see that Christ himself is an example to us of this very thing when he says, “but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father…”

Remember that Jesus is here preparing his disciples for his departure. He is preparing them to live in the world after his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father. They will no longer see him in the flesh, and so Jesus is preparing them for this new phase. He has made it clear that they are to continue his work in 14:12, but here he emphasizes the need for obedience to the commands of God. The Christian is one who keeps the commands of Christ. The Christian is one who obeys the word of God.

The question might be asked, what exactly are the commands of Christ, or what is the word of Christ that we are here called to obey?

There are some who would suggest that we are only obligated to obey that which is commanded in the New Testament scriptures, as if the thought communicated here were that we are to obey only that which Christ and his Apostles have said – the Old Testament scriptures are done away with, then. That cannot be the idea here. For the very Word which took on flesh and dwelt among us was the very Word which spoke in ages past through Moses and the prophets. Notice also that Jesus explicitly links his words with the Fathers words in verse 24, saying, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” There is no disharmony between the word of Christ and the word of God the Father. No, the Father and the Son speak in perfect unison. With that said, there is a sense in which Christ speaks a new word to us. His commandments are new – not in the sense of altering the old, or replacing the old – but in the fact that they fulfill and advance the old. And so when Christ says that we are to obey his word and his commandments he is calling us to obey all that God has ever said, with special consideration given to the way that Christ’s first coming, and the ratification of the New Covenant, has affected and advanced that which was commanded under the Old Covenant.

The point is this: Christians are to keep God’s word. We are to obey it. Obedience matters. Holiness matters. Your sanctification matters to God. The Christian is to take great care to walk according to God’s precepts – to obey him in thought, in word, and in deed.

It Is The Christian’s Love For God, And For The Christ Whom He Has Sent, That Is To Motivate Obedience

But notice, secondly, what is to motivate the Christian’s obedience. It is the Christian’s love for God, and for the Christ whom he has sent, that is to motivate obedience to the word of Christ. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”, and “whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me”, and “if anyone loves me, he will keep my word”, and lastly, “whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”

This is very significant. Our love for Christ will motivate our obedience to Christ, and our obedience to Christ will demonstrate our true love for him. Our love for God, and for the Christ whom he sent, is the motivating factor behind our obedience to Christ’s commands.

Think with me for a moment about the Protestant Reformation. The first and most important doctrine of the Protestant Reformation was the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The question at hand was (and continues to be) how is a person saved? How can a person’s sins be forgiven? How can a person escape from the wrath of God and come to posses eternal life? The Roman church responds to that question by saying that a person is justified – saved from their sins – by faith and obedience. A Christian’s obedience, in other words, contributes to his or her salvation, according to Rome. The Reformers, on the other hand, insisted that the biblical teaching on the subject was that a person is justified by faith alone. We are saved from our sins, not because of what we do or don’t do, but because of what Christ has done for us, in both his active and passive obedience. For Rome, a person is justified before God when he believe and obeys. For the Reformed, a person is justified before God when he believes upon Christ. Period.

Indeed, it is the Reformed position that is the biblical one. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV) But what do you think the complaint of Rome was against the Reformers? Well, for one, they complained saying, if you remove the requirement of works for justification, you will loose all power to motivate the people to obey the commands of God.

This is true of Rome, and it is true of every works based religion. For them the motivating factor behind obedience to God is fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of eternal death. Remove the threat of hellfire and all motivation for holy living is lost, according to the legalist.

But this is not the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died in the place of sinners. He lived and died as our substitute. He obeyed the law of God perfectly for us, and he suffered and died in our place. We are made right with God by looking to Christ and trusting in him alone. We do not add to his finished work in the least, for he has paid it all. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, beginning, middle, and end – thanks be to God!

This being said, all agree that good works matter. Obedience matters. Holiness before God matters. The one who knows and loves God obeys God, and the one who obeys God proves that his love is true. But how important it is that we put obedience in the proper place. To put it in the wrong place will have the effect of changing the gospel into no-gospel-at-all.

Hear this brothers and sisters. Our obedience – Christian holiness – contributes, not to our justification, but is a part of our sanctification in Christ. Our obedience to God’s word does not somehow complete our salvation (as if Christ got us started and then left something undone), but it is rather the product of the full and finished salvation that we have received through faith alone in Christ Jesus our Lord. I’ve said it before, but it is worth repeating: good works (obedience, holy living) is not the root of our salvation, but the fruit of it. Obedience is not the ground or foundation of our right standing before God, but is the product of it.  We agree with Rome that holiness matters. But we disagree as to what role it plays in the Christian life, and as to what motivates it.

So what motivates the Christian who’s sins have been washed away by the blood of the lamb to live holy before his God? If it is not fear of judgment – if it is not fear of failing to attain to God’s standards, and thus falling short of salvation – then what motivates the Christian to obey?

The answer is love. If a person loves God truly, and is loved by God, then he will obey. His love for Christ will compel him to walk in holiness before God. It is love, and not fear, that motivates the true Christian to obey.

In the moment that I utter these words I know that some of you are thinking of passages which seem to say otherwise.

Paul, for example, exhorts Christians to “…work out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling…” (Philippians 2:12–13, ESV). But this is not a fear of failing to earn salvation by our good works, but rather a fear and trembling at our own weakness, being mindful of our propensity to sin and to turn from the God who saved us. Notice that Paul immediately comforts us with these words: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13, ESV)The point is this: fear and tremble concerning your own weakness. Trust in God who saves!

And it is indeed true that the Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  Paul says so in 2 Corinthians 5:10 where we read, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, ESV) For the Christian this will be a judgment, not unto heaven or hell, but a judgment involving rewards, or lack thereof. But listen to how Paul introduces this. He says, “yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” (2 Corinthians 5:8–9, ESV) It was not fear of eternal hellfire motivating Paul. It was not a question of if he had done enough to earn a place in heaven, but a desire to please the Lord whom he loved.

Yes, brothers and sisters, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And live knowing that you will indeed stand before the judgment seat of Christ. But above all of that, may it be your love for God, and for the Christ whom he has sent, that motivates your obedience to him.

It Is The Holy Spirit Who Empowers The Christian To Live A Life Of Obedience

But you say, what about all of those times where my love for God is lacking? What about those moments in my life where I find myself loving the things of this world more than God and Christ? 

Brothers and sisters, this is indeed a valid concern. We are to obey God, it is true. And we are to obey God being motivated by our love for him. But the truth of the matter is that in our weakness we do not love God as we ought. We find that our love is often misdirected.

The Christian life is a struggle, that is the point! And it is because the Christian life is a struggle that Christ encouraged his disciples promising to send “another Helper”. If obedience, holiness, love for God, sanctification were automatic, why would we need a helper? But Christ promised to send another Helper that we might have victory in these things.

The helper, as you know, is the Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit who empowers the Christian to live a life of love and obedience before God.

Notice these seven things about the Holy Spirit. We will have to move through these seven points rather quickly for the sake of time.

First of all, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. He is a he, and not an it. He is God in the same way that the Father and Son are God. And yet he proceeds form the Father and Son accomplishing a particular work in creation and in redemption. I do not have the time to demonstrate this fact from the scriptures today, but it needed to said.

Secondly, notice that the Holy Spirit is here called the Helper, which is the way that the ESV translates the Greek word transliterated Paraclete. It is difficult to find an English word that adequately communicates the thought behind the Greek word παράκλητος, which is why we find such a diversity within our English Bibles. Some translate the word “comforter”, others “counselor”, while others use “advocate”. Helper is probably best. The idea behind παράκλητος is someone who offers assistance in a situation where help is needed. And that is what the Holy Spirit does. He comes along side and dwells within the believer in order to assist the believer in a variety of ways.

Notice thirdly that the Paraclete would not be sent by Christ until after his resurrection. Take note of the use of the future tense throughout this passage. In John 14:16 Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…” Look also at verse 26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The coming of the Holy Spirit was yet future in relation to the interaction between Jesus and his disciples described here in John 14. This truth has already been emphasized in John’s gospel. In 7:39 we read, “Now this [Jesus] said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39, ESV)

Two errors can be made in regard to this fact. On the one hand some have imagined that the Holy Spirit was not active at all before the resurrection and glorification of Christ. This would be a mistake. The Holy Spirit has always existed, and he has always been active in creation and in redemption, fulfilling a particular role within the Godhead. But on the other hand, some fail to recognize the significance of the glorification of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Jesus the Christ was uniquely and fully anointed by the Holy Spirit. After accomplishing our redemption as the second Adam, Christ was glorified and sits now at the right hand of the Father. He, as a man, possesses a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15), that is to say, a body (not a spirit) fully anointed with and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of body that Adam would have had should he have passed the probationary test in the garden. It is the kind of body that all who are in Christ will have for all eternity, beginning with the resurrection at the end of the age. Jesus Christ, therefore, has become a life giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). He is fully empowered by the Spirit, and he has the power to give the Spirit to those who are his. It is through the ministry of the Spirit that we are in fact united to Christ – he in the Father, we in him, and he in us. The Holy Spirit was poured out in this way for the first time at Pentecost. It is not that the Holy Spirit did not exist before; and it is not that the Holy Spirit was inactive before. But it was not until Christ accomplished redemption for us as the second Adam that he was able give the Spirit to his people in this way.

We live now in the age of the Spirit. In eternity the Spirit will empower all things to the fullest extent. But the Spirit has broken in upon this age. Under the Old Covenant the activity of the Spirit was reserved, for the most part, to the people of Israel. In this age the Spirit is poured out upon all flesh. Under the Old Covenant a select few were anointed with the Holy Spirit – mainly prophets, priests, and kings. In this age, the Spirit is poured out upon all of God’s people. More on this another time.

Notice fourthly that the Holy Spirit is described as another Helper. Christ was a helper to his disciples while he walked on earth with them. The Holy Spirit would be sent as another Helper. The point to see here is that Holy Spirit continues the work of Christ. It is not as if the Father has his plan, the Son has his, and the Spirit his, each working independently from one another. No, the Father sends the Son who sends the Spirit. There is perfect unity of purpose within the Trinity. Any doctrine which undermines the unity of purpose within the Triune God is to be avoided.

Notice fifth that the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. The Spirit’s work is bent towards to the furtherance of truth. The Spirit works with and promotes the Word of God within the hearts and minds of the people of God. Many today look for movement of the Spirit. The truth of the matter is that the Spirit will be found moving most powerfully where the truth of God word is being proclaimed. If there is movement where there is no truth, rest assured that it is not the movement of the Spirit, for he is the Spirit of truth.

Sixthly, notice that the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Concerning this we must confess that he himself is holy. But he is  also the one who makes holy. He is the one who sanctifies his people and works obedience in them, Again, if the Spirit is moving with power than we ought to see this effect. The Spirit is holy and he makes holy.

Seventhly, it is through the Spirit that God and Christ are with us today. The promise of Christ is that he would not leave us orphans but would come to us. He would not be perceived by the world, but only by his disciples. When Judas (not Iscariot) asked how this would be, Jesus clarified that he and the Father would come and make their home with them. Given the context, this is a reference to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would come and bring the presence of the Father and Son.

Application

What then can we say by way of application?

The first thing is this: brothers and sisters we should strive for holiness. We should be holy in our thoughts, holy in our speech, and holy in our conduct.

Secondly, we should acknowledge our need for assistance. The Christian life is a struggle. The flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit the flesh.

Thirdly, let us live in continual dependence upon the Spirit. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16–17, ESV)