The Father’s Love For His Son

I invite you to turn to the Gospel of John this morning, the Gospel of John, chapter 16. We have the privilege of coming to the table this morning. John, chapter 16. And if you're looking for that, you'll find that on page 1013. I'm sorry, that's Luke. Don't go to Luke. John 16 is 1048 in your pew bible and i'm going to read at verse 16 to the end of the chapter 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's 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 and 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've asked nothing in my name ask and you will receive that your joy may be full now our text 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've loved me, and I believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I'm leaving the world and going to the Father. His disciples said, Ah, now you're 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 one 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 there is the reading of god's word i think it's important to understand this section comes and is really the end of jesus's teachings and discourse in the gospel of john bringing it to a climax, this particular section that we have read. And it comes in a long stretch of problems and distresses that have come upon the disciples where Jesus is counseling and helping them with wonderful words of assurance and comfort through their hardship and their inability to understand precisely what is going on. They can't seem to get it. A lot has happened to the disciples. If you put together the sort of tsunami of problems that have fallen upon them all at once, you'll remember that in the supper, Jesus revealed that one of them would betray Him. One of their closest companions in the ministry would utterly turn over their Lord and betray Him and bring about an agony among the disciples that I still don't think we appreciate to see a loved one like this defect in that way Judas one of the most painful things to see is that and then that he was doing it to Jesus to Jesus then of course he keeps telling them that he's leaving them he keeps announcing throughout these sections that I I'm going away I'm going away and they don't understand that they can't process that it has it has caused them great grief so much so that jesus comes to them and says let not your hearts be trouble i think it's always important to say no one else can say that sean hannity can't say that he shouldn't be saying that only jesus says that only jesus has the power to say that peter hears about the denial or peter hears about the cross and you'll remember so well that he wanted to stand up and rise against such a thing that he would ever that he would ever abandon his lord at an hour like that even if all do it all never do it and we know what he does he fails miserably this is all distressing but then the great distress if it's starting to set in he's going to die all the pains we feel when we hear of our loved ones who've died even like a news last night suddenly a loved one dies this is all on their minds there are general hardships in life and then there are those circumstances that are so distressing that your heart is thrown in total and complete panic because where's the answer in this how do i go forward in that how do we find a way forward through this this is where the disciples are This is where the disciples are, and they just can't understand what Jesus is ultimately saying to them, how he is comforting them, and what he is saying. They're still perplexed. They're really struggling, and Jesus's aim this morning in this particular passage as he draws it to a close is to speak some of the most clear, comforting words that he has spoken to cheer their hearts and to leave them with abiding peace. That is his goal in this section. For what is about to transpire, you remember reading there a few minutes ago, is one of the greatest soul-distressing things that is going to happen. These events. But I want to start for a minute here on this confusion about Jesus. There was so much confusion in the Gospels with Jesus' speech. It wasn't just among the blind, in other words, those who were unbelievers, as he spoke to them in parables. Sure, he made things clear, but it was hard. It was hard for the disciples to grasp often what he was saying. They couldn't understand spiritual realities well. They had some understanding of it, obviously, but it was all still very perplexing for them. Jesus was a perplexing figure for them. listening and following and not fully understanding everything understanding how it was all transpiring why things were happening the way that they were looking at what seemed to be defeat so jesus acknowledges this in verse 25 when he says these things i've spoken to you in figurative language he's been doing this a long time it's an interesting word in proverbs i've been speaking and parables. They couldn't grasp what you grasp. I think of that promise of the new covenant that I raised that all of them would know the Lord. Hold on to that through this sermon. They couldn't grasp all that yet on their side of the cross. They were trying. They were trying. And they couldn't put it all together. Jesus was making statements that were remarkable here. He said in this particular section that I'm now going to speak to you about things plainly about the Father. He had made a promise in the previous section here of the one that we're considering that I read. Remember what he said, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you in all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, the Spirit, He will speak. 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 i'm going to speak the spirit's going to take that and come proclaim it to you that's what he said he's going to take my speech and he's going to come and tell you and you're going to see things then well this is the benefit of course of pentecost this is what we've been studying in Acts. You see these men with understanding in the book of Acts, don't you? The benefit and blessing of why Jesus said, I need to go away, because then you get the Spirit, and you're going to understand things. You're really going to understand things. What's going to become clear to you? You see, this is what this section is really leading us to as a conclusion what is the truth that Jesus really wants to make clear to them that he will he will speak the spirit will take and the spirit will make clear what is he talking about gives us an insight on it here in John 16 of what matters to him that we understand I'm moved by this because he keeps raising the father he keeps raising his father uh it's it's quite a moment we typically in the gospel of john focus on the son and we focus on the spirit a lot there's a lot of discourse on the holy spirit um but it seems to me that john is equally concerned about us understanding the father because jesus is concerned about us understanding his father and that's what this section is all about what haven't we understood about the father that seems to be the question that we have to to answer here in light of this of what haven't the disciples why is it so perplexing for them it has to do with something they've not yet understood about the father was raised in the prologue of john no one has seen god at any time john 1 the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him what an interesting phrase you see all this declaring going on in john's gospel he's he's explaining him he's making plain things about the father he's describing the father so that we would understand the father so it's jesus concern that then the spirit would take his speech and speak what jesus is saying something now particularly about the father that's the insight into this and it was no small issue for the disciples you'll remember uh in john 14 that philip came up concerned about the father philip had come up to jesus and said show us the father we want to see the father we see you jesus but we want to see the father remember jesus said have i been with you so long philip i am in the father and the father in me wherever revelation there is of me you're learning the father see he made a tie there that i don't know that we've always been real clear about what Jesus was exactly after and what he was saying. And I think John 16 really clears that up. Because inside of us, there's some kind of fear of God. I'm not talking about the reverential kind of fear that we all should have in worship and in awe of his majesty and glory. I'm talking a kind of spirit of bondage fear. Romans picks up on it. God has not given you that spirit. We have a spirit by which we cry out what? Abba, Father. What are the Scriptures constantly talking about when they're talking about this? It was God's absence. It was God's hiddenness. It's the unknown about God that makes us question things. We don't understand. It seems so mysterious to us. God seems so mysterious to us. Distant. Who doesn't hear, really think about, especially at times of hardship, His distance? And whether He's really good and whether He's really answering us. You see, these things become real for us at times. And struggles for us at times. Where is God? You can't just blame the pagans for asking that question. we say it we say it just as much there's always this lingering question in our minds of doubt how do i know god is for me it's that hiddenness it's that hiddenness of god it's the mystery that we just he's a miss he's mysterious to us what is he really like i'm sure i'm touching on something that we've all experienced at some point and all of this is exacerbated and all of it is is magnified in distress in the problems that we face this is why people struggle with assurance because of this unknown hiddenness of god in his supreme justice that he then brings to bear on consciences by which it's all written on our hearts that there is a god and we know it everyone having some conception and understanding that their lives are out of harmony with him you understand that jesus is speaking so tenderly to his disciples here and and philip has asked i want to see the father it was that burden to him that uh that fear the absence of god in the hiddenness that he wanted to know was god really for him you see he wanted that jesus says some amazing things here in that day in that day when i go away and you see me again In that day, I'm going to tell you plainly about my Father. Now what is He talking about? Well, this is the Spirit's work. The Spirit would then take from Jesus' mouth as He would be ascended and risen and seated on the throne, He would take from Jesus' mouth the things that Jesus wanted to have made known about the Father. It's amazing. What does Jesus want us to understand about the Father? What does Jesus tell the Spirit to make clear about the Father? Well, look. Look at verse 26. Probably some of the most beautiful language in all of Scripture. 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. Let that set in for a minute. What a beautiful statement. The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and believed. Notice He says that there. That I came from God. I came from the Father and I've come into the world and now I'm leaving the world and going to the Father. What is He really making clear for them here? Jesus has just said, I'm going away and on His mind is the excruciating agony of what now He has to go endure on the cross for them. He's thinking about that and He's explaining to them this means something for you. This means something that now on the other side of that, on the other side of the cross, You will understand. I'll make sure of it. I'll make sure of it. What? I'm not even saying that I shall pray to the Father for you. That makes us a little on edge. You think, wait a minute, you're the intercessor, you're the mediator. What do you mean? You're the high priest forever for us. And listen to the heart then of what he's saying here. Think about it for a minute. Jesus has been praying a certain way on earth. and he prayed for us how many of us love the high priestly prayer that now he breaks out into look at verse 2 in chapter 17 listen to it actually start verse 1 when jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life. That they know you. The only true God. And Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Such a beautiful verse, isn't it? Does Jesus have to continue to pray that way? Of course not. Jesus does not have to continue to pray that way. Does Jesus have to continue to go to the Father and say, save those whom you gave? Does He? Does Jesus have to continue to go and ask that you would be supported and that you would be accepted as if when you sin, the Father is blazing hot, ready to strike? You see what we do. That's how we think. and that the Father has to look at the holes and say, okay, okay, okay. I'm calm now. Does He want, the Father want, does Jesus want His children to go forth unsure about whether God loves them? Does He? God sent forth His Son as a what? Propitiation that He might be the justifier of the one who has faith. Jesus is saying, I don't have to do that. I don't have to do that. I don't have to pressure my Father to be gracious to you. I don't have to convince Him to be merciful to you. On the basis of my going away and the cross, it's done. That's what He's saying. This is what all is on His mind of what the benefit of the cross will really accomplish. You pray in My name, you have direct access to Him. he loves you because you love me see the bond the union ready the father loves you and the reason is because you've come to me so jesus is is not now praying save them or about whether the father accepts you he wants you to know that the father this is his burden has a deep love for you and you need to know it. Now, I know we cheaply throw around the love of God. We put it on bumper stickers. John 3.16 is the most abused verse in the Bible. I get it. But we should never react. We should really think about what is being said to us by the love of God. there's no pressure for him to give us grace it's done whatever of his hiddenness and justice that so terrifies our consciences when we sin and the things that we go through he wants you to know i've satisfied that that is over that is done that's what it is finished means you have god you have god you have his heart if you will it's so beautiful it's it's hard to even fully proclaim it in all of its all of its beauty but you see the danger then in philip's statement the danger of what we struggle with that philip continue to struggle with that we continue to struggle with this is this is what is going to make christianity um something that really is embraced by us when we understand this see the struggle in the disciples to understand this that's what that's what this is what philip has done is make jesus lesser than the father he's struggling with that and think about the truth of what we confess think of who is saying this to us about the father's love we confess this is the right faith that we believe and confess that our lord jesus christ the son of god is god and man jesus doesn't want purposes divided we should always guard ourselves from thinking as christians that god the father is angry and that jesus's intercessory work is just to calm down his burning hot wrath at us that is not how he wants you to think that is not what jesus told the holy spirit to tell us if you survey your bibles you'll see it everywhere paul understood it blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who did what blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly families he chose you in christ he loved you now i think that goes without saying that that has some kind of bearing on christian joy doesn't it some kind of bearing on christian joy because that's what jesus is aiming for here that the full implications of that would be believed and received in the life of his sheep The practical bearing is overwhelming, isn't it? There's a reason 1 John says that you shouldn't sin, but if you do, I understand you will. You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And when you confess, He, the Father's faithful and just. He's going to forgive you all your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Do you think of him this way? This is what Jesus is having us think about. I came from him and I go back to him. It was our plan. It was our plan. The Father sent me for this purpose. To save you. And I'm doing it. And I'm going back. That's how he's thinking. That's the high priestly prayer. The way it's spoken is if it's good, it's already done, isn't it? It's a moving moment in the Gospels. See it with the disciples. Ah, now you're speaking plainly. Now we get it. It's really an interesting response, isn't it? Now you're not using figures of speech. Now we're sure that you know all things and have no need that anyone should question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God. It's a beautiful confession here. It's similar to Peter's confession. Right at the end, before their greatest trial, they're about to endure, which you see here in verse 20 that Jesus references 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. This is about what they are to go into and face, and right before that, Jesus does this for them. It's a glimpse into the future. It's a glimpse of what the Holy Spirit would do constantly. it's an opening of that door but they were so slow so slow to understand so slow to listen this is why we preach the gospel all the time by the way we're just as slow we're just as slow here's what happened this comfort that jesus just spoke was so powerful so penetrating that it completely shattered the sorrow that jesus mentioned in verse five that had overcome them had filled their heart and even though there will be for a moment they he has taken his powerful word and cheered them in a way unlike in the Gospels yet. Notice what happens here. As soon as he spoke with comforting clarity on the plan of God, on the covenant we call of redemption, it overwhelmed them with joy. We believe. We believe. We're convinced. We see it. We believe you. We believe you about this love. We don't need to question. We see who you are. What a glorious moment. What a climax in the Gospels. But it's what follows here that I want to close with this morning and I want you never to forget. The disciples begin to have the light go on. They have confidence in Him. But Jesus knows this hour of deep lament and sorrow that they are about to face is just here. It's come, that hour. They don't even realize the depths of what they are about to face and see and experience. They don't understand it. But it's going to be hard. It's going to be painful. And after they say, we don't need to question you. We believe you came forth from God. Look at how Jesus responds, verse 31. Now you believe? We're better translated, I think. You believe at last? Confirming their faith, he then says, a time is coming when you will be scattered each to his own home. You will leave me alone, yet I am not alone for my Father is with me. Ponder that for a minute. This is the moment in the Gospels. As I put this together and look at it, right then and there in the Gospels, that he says, rise, let us be going. The betrayer is at hand. The hour when the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered is right here. Right here. You put it together. They were an awful failure in the midst of this. The disciples failed miserably. They will have now to face, and you know how hard this was for Peter, for in John 20, Jesus has to come and do a major restorative work in him. He had given up. The failure was that painful. The failure was that bad. That they were in his deepest distress, they utterly abandoned him and couldn't even do what they willed to do. That's how fickle we are. That's how weak we are. It doesn't take but a little bit of sorrow to come and we fall apart. The greatest of them happens right here surrounding Jesus' death. The greatest failure of his own. And yet, this is the point I'm trying to make here. He loved them so much and wanted them to know the Father's love for them so much that He made it as clear as possible right before it happened. I have spoken these things to you so that in me you may have peace. See it? He knows what's going to go happen. And He's saying this. Predicting it. Calling it out. So that when it happened, they could look back on their terrible desertion of Jesus and realize the son never deserted his father's will for them. Never did it. So that meant that he told them he loved them before they abandoned him. Let that set in today. Let that set in. They would always be able to look back and remember when he said it, what he said, what it was planned, then to have the high priestly prayer say it's as good as done, all before their greatest failure recorded in the Scripture. I want you to have peace. I want you to have peace. And so he then applies it in general to every tribulation under the sun in this life. In the world, you will have tribulation. And it's going to be hard at times. And it's going to be things that you didn't expect, twists and turns that are really challenging and hard. And you're going to mess up. But be of good cheer. I've overcome it all. I've beat it. I've done it for you. darkness seems to take away light but the Holy Spirit will constantly come and proclaim to us over and over again how deep the Father's love is because Jesus wants you to know it. When we feel that God has abandoned us or we feel that we've failed in this or that or whatever form of tribulation we have in this world he is saying I've loved you before it all began and nothing's going to take that do you question my presence do you question my goodness then you need to look at the cross you question where God is then you need to look at the father delivering over his only begotten son to tell you about his love do you question that's the victory that's the victory so you can look at death in the face that terrible enemy which i hate and it's the one thing i want to curse in this life right and say jesus beat you jesus beat you for me 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 everything believe him and don't be unbelieving let's pray Heavenly Father thank you for this word to us thank you for your love it's overwhelming and may we appreciate today the benefit and blessing of being able to come to this table knowing that if we have jesus and have believed in him and love him by your grace then we know we stand in your love and nothing can separate us from it thank you for encouraging your sheep today with this wonderful word to us in jesus name we pray amen