I invite you to turn in your Bibles, if you have them this morning, to the Gospel of John, the very end of chapter 15. You'll remember last time that we considered the hatred of the world and that there is a great instruction given to us here about the world's hatred of the Christian that Jesus gave. And immediately following that explanation of that, he breaks into a teaching about the work of the Holy Spirit. So that's really important to see that as a connection where he said in verse 18, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. And rooted in that hatred now of the world against the Christian and against the work of the Lord, he applies and gives us the work of the Holy Spirit. So we're going to pick up at the end of chapter 15, verse 26, and read through verse 15 of chapter 16. I have to say before I read, this is my favorite passage in John. This is just wonderful. I know I say it, but I mean it this time. It is fabulous. I can't believe I get to preach this today. Okay, let's read and give our attention at John 15, verse 26. 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. 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's 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'm 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 the 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. And 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. And there ends the reading of God's Word. The theme that we keep coming across here that is embedded in this teaching of Jesus as He's preparing His disciples for His absence is that they really can do nothing without the Lord's help and without the Lord's strength. And that's something that we struggle with. That's something that we don't believe like we should. We don't have the power to make it through this life on our own. We don't have that strength. There is absolutely nothing that we can do to uphold ourselves. That is the overwhelming message. Jesus already said it in chapter 15. Without me, you can do nothing. That means nothing. When tragedy or death comes, like it did in the past few weeks, the people who mourn do not have the strength in themselves to get through it. They don't. With all the opposition that happens in the world, if things go the way that it could, there's no way we could get through it. That's why it's always challenging to talk about somebody like Polycarp who said, go ahead, send me the lion. Because I don't have the strength to go do that. Neither did he. We don't have the strength and we don't have the power and yet we forget this basic point each and every day. And the result of it is that often we get up every morning and without that sense of real dependence on the Lord, one of the first things we should do getting up out of bed is acknowledge the Lord before our foot hits the ground and say, let me go in your strength today. But we have all our plans and all our ideas and rarely do we think much about him as we're going through all of this, how he upholds our lives. What we have to have is a fresh understanding of the strength that we have in this life is something that is given to us to lead a life that's meaningful at all. It's a strength that's given to us from heaven. And that is what Jesus is doing for us and explaining for us in John chapter 16 now. He is explaining how we are going to be as we've been looking, kept in his absence. He's explaining how we are going to have real and abiding help when he leaves the earth. He is giving us the answer, and now the answer that he has been working to and everything has been building to in the gospel of John is now given today in this particular text. It should have the effect, by the time we're done, of making us stand a little stronger and stand up a little taller to this great truth that he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And that should be a great encouraging message for us today. I want to look at this this morning by looking at the, you'll notice here in this first section, the disciples sorrow and concern about the statements of Jesus regarding the future. They're scared. They're fearful. And then Jesus's help, he explains to them to help them to know how they're going to fulfill their mission here. But not just about their mission. The help he's going to give them so that they are strengthened themselves as they go through this. We're continuing here in this passage to look at Jesus preparing his disciples for his absence. So if you notice here, in chapter 16, verse 1, is the link and transition between Jesus' discourse about the hatred of the world and his help in leaving us here, also captured in 26 and 27, which we'll refer to. But notice verse 1, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. That's a great statement. My intention in speaking to you is so that you will not fall away. We have a robust doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Jesus is not letting his sheep fall away. And the way he's not letting his sheep fall away is about to be explained to them. And so he says all of these things, and it's important because he's summarizing now the things he has been saying. Everything I'm telling you, I'm saying to you has a goal. I don't want you stumbling. Now remember we looked at last time, there's a certain kind of hearer in the kingdom. There's a certain kind of a soil in the kingdom that when persecution or tribulation comes because of the word, remember that in the parable of the soils, because of it, they fall away immediately. Jesus described that. What they signed up in Christianity, what they signed up for was not Christianity. When they came to Jesus, they didn't really want to follow Jesus. They didn't listen to what they were joining. And I think it should go without saying that the prosperity gospel in America that has been so prevalent that has taught that if you're a believer, God will prosper you financially, and you'll never have any pains and any amount of suffering. And if you do go through those things, that's evidence that you have a lack of faith is the very stuff that will not hold up for what is about to come. It's tied to the falling away of what is said by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2. That day will not come unless the falling away comes first. I think you're going to sees a lot of that in this country and in the ideas and the thoughts that have been maintained that people have been taught that it's all about living to the fullness and having the best life now theology. That just can't endure. It can't endure persecution. That idea can't endure persecution. Now Jesus made it very clear that we are united to him and because we are united to him because by faith joined to him, there is now an automatic enmity, an antithesis, if you will. The most despised antithesis in the church today is the antithesis that Jesus describes here between the Christian and the world. An antithesis ordained. An antithesis that is a rewarded fruit of election. Because I have chosen you, therefore, you are hated. That's what election has brought to you. That's your reward of it in this life. You're identified with me. You belong to me. And this helped the apostles, as we looked last time, to get through all their hardships, that when they were brought in front of councils and they were beaten for the name of Jesus, remember in Acts, beaten for the name of Jesus, they went out rejoicing that Jesus would consider them worthy to suffer for his namesake. That kind of perspective we need again. It's a really powerful one. And Jesus now, at this point, is addressing this, this antithesis of the hatred of the world. And in a general point, he says, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they hate me, they will hate you. I confronted them about sin, John 7, remember? They hated me for it. That will be true about you also. And now at this point, Jesus gets a little more specific. Look at verse 2. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. Now here's what's going to happen. Because you're a follower of me, says Jesus, you will be thrown out of worship services. He'll be unsynagogued. Now, that happened already. Remember in John chapter 9? They unsynagogued him. That man who was born blind and Jesus helped. They cast him out of the synagogue. This is just what's already happened in John. You will be excommunicated from the social and the religious life of Israel. Your friends will no longer speak to you at times. Family members will disown you at times. Burials will be dishonored. And ultimately, they might even kill you for me. Now, I'm not really excited about preaching this today. Really. Look at how we live. Look at how we live. These are the passages we read, and we just hope it was for the disciples. But it's not so. In the history of the Christian church, this has been proven. We see how prevalent even the prosperity ideas it is in Reformed churches today. That this is not the sort of stuff we want to listen to. This is the stuff that we could just set aside like the bad-tasting medicine in the cabinet. But hear Jesus and contemporize what he just said for a moment. Remember, Jesus is looking at the religious community of faith. A time will come if you're following me that you will be scoffed at. Among the people of faith, you will be attacked at, packed over what you believe is truth. You will be excluded from religious and social events from people. Your friends and family may disown you. Some may rather see you dead. And they'll think they're doing God a favor. That's remarkable statements by Jesus. Imagine hearing that. Now notice the heart of this. Jesus is saying the reason is, they don't know me. They don't know me. There are a bunch of people today in churches that don't know God. This is what Jesus is saying. This will happen. And the reality is, as we looked at last time, with the wicked positions of the world and the culture that's now being accepted inside the church, who do you think is going to do this? Anyone who has a conviction on anything today is the one who's not appreciated. And we see that today, that they scoff at religion. Jesus said these things, the exclusive claims. Think about saying today, think about saying today this truth. Just, just, this is an easy one. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to heaven except through me. We've fought this one for a long time. Who accepts that today anymore? And where? There's all kind of roads to heaven. We've been writing and talking about this for a long time. We fought that battle. Now it's getting a little more complex as the church has invited the culture in. Now they're saying, no, no, no. The way of happiness is you will accept whoever I want to marry. You will accept however I define myself. If I want to be a man and I'm a woman, that's my business. You think this is going to be easy in the future to say sorry? that's not biblical. You see it. You see it. All the stuff that's flooding in, and we're not united in standing against it. Because many people who don't know the Father and the Son are accepting it. This will be normalized. Now, this is not exciting. I admit, this doesn't feel like encouragement, does it? You may be hated and you'll be killed, maybe. You understand Jesus saying that when you became a Christian, this could happen? Well, I don't want to think about it. But if you could put your, be in the shoes of the disciples for a moment, it must have been really exciting the whole time to walk around with Jesus in the ministry, to have him at the forefront. Think about having Jesus himself walking in front of you, taking all the hits. I'd be bold. I mean, there's my hero. There's my champion. Yep. Yep. I'm standing with him. But then Jesus says, I'm going away. You're doing what? Imagine the fear that hit them. I mean, they felt untouchable with Jesus. I would love today to have Jesus walking with us on the earth. He could deal with all this stuff, right? Nobody's going to mess with him. But now he just said, I'm going away. Verse 5, but now I go away to him who sent me, and none of you asked, where are you going? Why are you going there? Because I said these things to you. Here's what's happened to you. Here's what's happened to you. Sorrow has filled your hearts. You know, whatever you felt hearing this right now that sort of made you go, oh, imagine hearing it that day. It just put them in the doldrum. I mean, they just felt major sorrow and discouragement that they're going to have to face this. I mean, it must have been amplified a hundred times for them when you have Jesus standing right in front of you and he's taking the hits. You know, you kind of feel this today, a little bit. You get a little sense of the disciples today. What's happening right now? We've been so accustomed to religious liberty and protections. We've had a wall around us. It's really been wonderful. A wall of protection that has been given to us constitutionally in this land and all these things. That is a wall that has been given to us so that we can practice and we have felt safe. We have felt untouched. We have felt that no one can mess with us. And I've often wondered if that's made us just a little bit more relaxed. Not standing for things the way we should. That wall's coming down. That wall's coming down. It's exactly what's happening right now. The wall of protections for us to exercise our religion in this country is coming down. So now what? Well, Jesus was their wall. Jesus himself was their wall. I'd take Jesus over the Constitution, by the way. Jesus challenges them. You should be asking about where I'm going, what that means for you. I really want you to ask that. I really want you to think about that, but you're not. You're so filled. You're so full of fear. I am saying all these things to you so that your joy would be full. Remember he just said that? I want you to have joy in this life. Jesus had said these things so that they would not be made to fall away. By the way, that's exactly what a true prophet did. The false prophets in Israel always said, oh, don't worry about anything. Nothing bad's gonna happen. It's all love. Is Jesus saying that? I'm telling you this because I love you, and because I'm not going to let you fall away. You need to know what you signed up for, what I called you to, actually. Look carefully at verse 4. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. So translate. I'm now telling you because you're ready. You know, in many ways, they're sort of in the Christian faith, spiritual infancy, And then under the right conditions at the right time, we can hear things for the first time. Aren't you a perfect example? Doesn't your world, your home is not of this world sound a lot better now than it did 10 years ago? Doesn't I've prepared a place for you sound a lot better now than it did? Sometimes our Christianity is so circumstantial, isn't it, to the things we face, death, sorrow, suffering, changing world, we can now be prepared to hear things for the first time. And this is where I think what's happened. They're now ready to hear this. They're ready to be taught in this. They're ready to receive it. I've seen this the whole ministry. It's remarkable. I know there's some people who mark in their Bibles when the pastor preached this text and this sermon, And they always know when he did that because they shouldn't do it again. And I always thought, no, no, I should do it again because you're going to hear it differently the next time. I promise you. But I always rework them. I want you to know. Listen to this. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. Verse 7. It is to your advantage that I go away. You've been fighting this the whole time. You tried to stop me, Peter. where's he going what's he talking about going away in john's gospel that always means the cross it's to your advantage that i'm going to die i'm going to be resurrected why was it so necessary because i'm going to go achieve for you salvation i'm going to go cheap for you forgiveness. I'm going to go secure your place in heaven, and I'm going to go the favor of the Father. He's about to say in John 16, I'm going to finally, you need to understand, and you're going to understand the Father loves you. All of this is going to happen through my going away. And I know you can't uphold yourselves. I know you don't have the strength. I know you have your grip on your swords. Remember Peter chopped off an ear? That's R-A-R's. I know you grip your weapons. I know you're scared. But here's one of the greatest things my work is going to secure for you. The helper is going to come. When I depart, he's going to come. The spirit is going to come. Here's the marvel of the Christian message, beloved. I mean, it is really a marvel that we don't ponder. He's not dwelling over there. He's not dwelling over there. He's going to dwell in your bodies. He's going to indwell you as a guarantor of my purchased possession because I'm going to come get you at some point. But he's going to enter you and he's going to seal you for the day of redemption. The entire New Testament sees the work of the Spirit as the dynamic and dynamite power of God in this age. I mean, this is what Ephesians 1 says when it begins by saying, there is an exceeding, you haven't even realized the exceeding abundance of power that is given to you by the work of the Spirit. This is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you. Remember in Acts, when tongues of fire happened, all of a sudden it created boldness, and these guys were incredible. Jesus says, when I go away, he's going to come. Now, here's our problem. Is that for us, and the way the Spirit has been taught to us, the way we have heard the teaching of the Spirit, for us in our time, has been too sentimental. In other words, we focus on him sentimentally. The Spirit's going to come, and he's going to comfort us in all of our aches and pains. The Spirit's going to come in all of our personal afflictions, and he's going to be a helper to us, and he's going to fix our problems. This is how generally the Spirit is preached. Jesus here calls him the Paracletos. What that means is he's appearing on your behalf as what? A mighty defender. A mighty defender. If they try to touch you, which they will, guess who rises up in your place? Listen to the effect of Jesus saying it now. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world, Satan. The Spirit now who dwells in you is greater than Satan in the world. Understand that. Because I know you're all scared of this. The reality is, he's your security wall, is what Jesus is saying. No nation, no people, no document, no sword could ever give you what the Spirit gives you. They don't want to mess with him. This is the effect of this. They don't want to mess with him. The third person of the Trinity is coming. And watch out when he comes. You see how we've had this soft, pathetic view of God. And it really does work its way out in every person of the Trinity. I believe this is the confidence Jesus wanted to inspire when he said it. Sure, he's going to care for you. He's going to minister you when you have hurt and pain. Sure, that's what he's going to do. But there's something else he's going to do. He's going to defend you. He's your defender. That's what this means. And I think Jesus captures that now by saying he's going to do two things in my absence for you. Are you afraid of what I'm leaving you here to do? Are you afraid right now? Let me tell you first what he's going to do for you when he comes. I'm going to send you on a great mission. And here's what he's going to do. The success of your mission is his. here's what he's going to do. Verse 8, when he comes, this is what he's going to do in the world. Then he's going to come back to what he's going to do for you. He's going to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. This is really important to focus on just for a minute here. With everything happening right now, you think it's going to go well for people? Really? who are taking the basic morality that is written on the human heart and Romans 1 suppressing it and suppressing it and suppressing it and legislating to legalize that. You think that's going to go well? Not going to go well. And we don't realize this. We're scared. Not going to go well. Because the Spirit is here and he's not going to let it go well. So it's amazing. The Spirit is actually going to be doing the convicting of the world and the judgment on the world in these things. That's His business. That's His work. And through you, through your voice, He's going to bring great conviction about the truth. He's the Spirit of truth. I just love that. That is the most encouraging statement in our day. The Spirit of truth has come to you. The only deposit of truth you have, he's going to minister the truth through his church in testifying about Jesus. He's not speaking on his own. That's what Pentecostalism's got wrong. He is going to minister the truth as it is in Jesus. He's going to bear witness about the Son. Come back to that. Which says to us, don't be afraid to speak the truth. We looked at the way we should do that. Sometimes we fail, but we can't be afraid to speak the truth because this is the work of the Spirit in the earth. He is the Spirit of truth. That means you're going to make a lot of people really uncomfortable at times. That is evidence of his work. You see, this is what we fought God on. We don't want to be viewed that way. We don't want to be viewed as thinking we're right about it. There's truth. Speak it. That's the work of the Spirit in you. Tell the truth. That's what we need more than ever today. And it's going to have an effect. The whole New Testament says it's going to diffuse the fragrance of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing. It's an aroma of death to those who are dying, and its aroma of life to those who are being given life. And Jesus says the Spirit also is going to bring deep conviction about righteousness. You see, I think this is such an important point. You know, people are so uncomfortable about righteousness is exactly what needs to be made known today. There is righteousness. There's that righteousness, of course, of Christ. But notice what he's saying here. It's the same thing from the beginning. Cain killed Abel because his deeds were righteous. There's something that the world's going to see in you. They're going to see righteousness. They're going to see, yes, Christ's righteousness coming out. But they're going to see a righteous love for what's true and what's right. And it's going to have a great convicting work in the world. And then he's going to also convict of the judgment to come, which is falling. In other words, their life will be a righteous warning to them of the judgment to come unless they repent. That's part of your status. And that's why in this world, they're fighting so hard right now. Open the spiritual eyes. They're fighting so hard because these things are bearing down on them. Understand that? The truth bears down on them. Righteousness bears down on them and judgment bears down on them and they fight with all they have against it. That's what's going on. It's evidence. We boast about, 2 Thessalonians 1, we boast about you and the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and all the afflictions you're enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom for which you're also suffering. See? It's evidence. But I want to close with this. Now, Spirit's not just going to do this and He's going to do something for you. Verse 13, when the Spirit of truth comes, He's going to guide you in all the truth. He's not going to speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will tell you the things to come. He's going to minister to you the Word of God constantly and keep you and uphold you in that truth so you never fall away. That's the work of the Spirit. And the Father and the Son sending the Spirit with the purpose of making known Christ. Look at verse 14. He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Now I said this was my favorite section to preach but now I found my favorite verse. the spirit is going to take what is Christ's, stop. What is Christ's righteousness that far exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees? Everything that is good and right of Christ's word and how we find a righteousness before God by which we can stand. And he will, if you had some knowledge of the Greek here, you'd see it. He will evangelo it to you. He'll preach the gospel to you. That is the word for the heralding of the gospel to you. He's been doing it for you your whole lives. It's future active. What that means is, is when he comes, he's going to constantly be keeping you in the truth and herald the good news about Jesus to you. You don't see his work? Church can't fall. He will continue to do this for you. He's going to give you comforting words of peace, comforting his people with the gospel. That's why Paul went around, and it was he who did this for the churches. He maintained the ministry of the paraclete by giving comforting message of the gospel. And every time the word is faithfully proclaimed and the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, you say, there's the work of the Holy Spirit right there. He's committed to do this for you. He's committed to keep you this way. Well, I could go on a while. But dear Christians, I guess I have to say, to close this, you have nothing to fear. I know that feels like an easy thing to say. But I think this passage challenges us, as the whole New Testament does, to begin to live knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and the exceeding abundance of power that is given to you through the work of the Spirit. He dwells in you. He loves you. He will keep you. He's your wall of protection. You don't need a greater one. You will fulfill what he called you to do. You will do exactly what he called you to do. So sleep well tonight. You're his. This is our God. And he is the spirit of truth. And what a comfort to know that he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Let's pray to Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father, thank you for this great truth, the spirit of truth who has come to dwell within us and for encouraging us in this, in these days, to not lose heart and to know that you will fulfill your perfect will and then the glorious kingdom will come in all its fullness. We give you great praise and thanks for saving us and loving us and securing us with a guarantor. Receive our blessing today, O Lord, and give us confidence in your work. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.