John 16 (Part 2) :16-33 • Grief turned to joy

We're in John chapter 16 so open your Bible there, John 16. We're going to finish the chapter, Lord willing today. Let's see here, we're going to read verses 16 down through the end of the chapter then we'll open up in prayer. So follow along with me in your Bible as I read. It says,

17 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’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity to come together as the body of Christ. Gather in this place, open our hearts to your Holy Spirit, open our hearts Father, to the ministry of your Word among us. Lord, we come to you today that you would nourish our hearts and souls, that you would feed us Lord God, that you would strengthen and encourage us to walk after you with a whole heart. We look to you Father, to do this. We pray that you would speak to our hearts in Jesus name, amen. Amen. The kinds of statements that Jesus was making to His disciples were obviously very confusing. They were concerned to the point that they were now turning to each other and asking what they thought He meant by His statements, in “A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” And that is arguably confusing and so here they are thinking that Jesus is talking in circles and so what do they do? They ask each other, dumb idea. I mean, this is like the blind leading the blind you know. What do you think He means? And you know, we Christians, we do this, what do you think that this means? And I think that's one of the most dangerous questions that you can ask in a Bible study, so what do you think this passage means? I mean, you're going to get almost as many different answers as you have people willing to speak up. But you know, there's a difference between interpretation and how we personally interpret things and what a passage actually means, you know. And what these guys were struggling with is, what does He mean when He says this? Not this idea today that we talk about is, well, what does that mean to you? Who cares? You know. It's what is He saying and what does He mean by what He is saying? So knowing that they're seeking clarification with one another, Jesus begins to speak. Look at verse 19 with me again, it says here that, “Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him.” Probably nobody wanted to speak up and sound the figure, you know, make it look like they were kind of dumb or they didn't get it. And so Jesus just finally spoke up and He said, “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’?” But before He goes on and actually explains what He means, you know, by this, He begins to speak to them now about how the next several hours are going to impact them emotionally. And He says in verse 20, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” And by the world now, He's referring to unbelieving Jews who thought they'd gotten rid of a particularly pesky problem in the person of this Jesus of Nazareth character who goes around kind of upsetting the apple cart, as it were, as it relates to the little comfortable religious system that they'd put together and were forcing upon the people their particular brand of legalism. And the Romans, they also are under this description of the world who's going to rejoice because they just want the Jews to go home and be quiet. They really don't like their religious stuff and in most cases, when there was some sort of a religious issue, the Romans really wanted to get out of it altogether. You know, we see this later on in the Book of Acts, you know, when there were this huge upheaval over Paul. When the centurion figured out that this was a religious issue, he's like, I don't even want to deal with this, you guys can just, you can take your religion and go home for all I care. And so that's kind of the way they felt. So crucifying Jesus to the Romans was just like, oh, good, well, you got that over with. Now we can just, this thing can die down and we can get on with the business of life, and whatever, and so forth. So Jesus says, those people are going to be relieved and they're going to be joyful in the next several hours, you, however, are going to be sorrowful. But then He adds this little tag on the end. But He says, “…but your sorrow will turn into joy.” That's an incredible statement and then He goes on and launches into this metaphoric example of a woman who's in the throes of labor and is dealing with all of the pain and difficulty that attends the birthing process and how that is replaced when the baby is finally born with just the sheer happiness and joy that the woman feels just at the idea that a new baby is here, a new life. I've been privileged to watch that 4 times when my own kids were born and it is truly an incredible experience. But man, I tell you, while it's going on, whoa, look out! You know, there was a gal who came into our fellowship a number of years ago and she kind of came from a pretty rough background. And some of the folks in our fellowship had really just gathered around her and just were ministering and discipling her and she was pregnant and getting ready to have a baby. And so I decided to go up to the hospital here and hang out in the waiting room while she was giving birth and one of our, one of our gals here, in fact, Amber, you were there, you were in the room with her. And I don't know if they've remodeled things up in the OB area up at the hospital, but at this time, the waiting room was just right across the hall from one of the rooms. So I was just like… and this gal was screaming like there was no tomorrow. I mean, you just, you wondered what was going on in that room and it was embarrassing to kind of sit there and I'm hearing this girl just screaming at the top of her lungs and nurses would walk by and kind of look at me like, whoa!, you know? What was really funny is that once the baby was born, I could hear her say in this loud voice, that wasn't so bad, you know and it was hilarious, you know. Oh, it was just…, and I was sitting there thinking, no, that was bad. I wish I would have recorded, no, I don't. But, then Jesus takes this metaphor and He connects it to His disciples. Look in verse 22 in your Bible, He says, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,” and He says, and you know what, nobody's going to be able to take your joy then. Nobody's going to be able to steal your joy. Now, Jesus is obviously talking about how the disciples would be filled with, well, they're already filled with grief and sorrow just at the words that He's saying, that He's going to go away, even for a short period of time. But when they witness His death and they know that He has died on that cross, they will give way to a kind of grief and sorrow that, you know, is as big as grief and sorrow can be. But all that grief and all that sorrow will be transmuted into joy when they suddenly find Jesus standing in their midst saying, peace, peace be with you. And as Jesus said, nobody's going to be able to take your joy away. This idea of sorrow now, joy later, this is a recurring theme in the Bible, this is not a one-time thing. This is something that God talks about a lot in the scripture, it is a recurring theme several places. Let me show you a Psalm, Psalm 30, the latter part of verse 5 says,

And later in the same Psalm, David goes on in verse 11 and he tells the Lord,

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; (and he says) you have loosed my sackcloth (which was the clothing they would don in times of sorrow and mourning and he says) you've clothed me now with gladness,” This is something that we see again, over and over and it was a promise to the people of Israel through the prophets. We see what's going on with Israel today, with the war that's going on with Hamas and so forth. I don't know if you saw it, I shared a short video on our YouTube channel, just kind of my thoughts on the war, but guys, this has been going on for a long time. These hostilities are ancient in origin, this is nothing new, this has been happening for a long time. But there have been promises that God has given to the nation of Israel related to these ongoing challenges. Let me show you something from Isaiah chapter 60.

“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, (the Lord says to Israel) with no one passing through, (people avoid Israel altogether at certain points of time, He says) I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age.” So God's promise to Israel is that, even though you're going through these great times of difficulty, there is coming a day when your sorrow will be turned into rejoicing. Guys, it's coming and I hope that brings comfort. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be praying for Israel, we should, we need to be praying. In fact, we need to be praying, you know, for all the people who are caught in the midst of this difficult thing that's going on right now. But God promises better things. Let me show you a promise from Jeremiah 31, He says,

Jeremiah 31:13-14b (ESV) “Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow…and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.” That is a specific promise for Israel there in Jeremiah chapter 31 and isn't this the same principle that we all see about just life on this planet, on this fallen, broken world that we're living in? We're trying our best to squeeze all the happiness out of this world that we can, but there's not much to be found sometimes. There's a lot of scary things that happen in life and though we're somewhat oblivious to them, most of us, when we're in our younger years, we get older and wiser and we see what's going on in the world and we begin to recognize the brokenness for what it is and it's hard. And it's difficult sometimes not to even become saddened or even bitter at what's happening in the world. You can only witness the start of so many wars that rise to the forefront in our cultures and in this world and all the things that are happening and the ethnic cleansing that happens and all these other things. And the power struggles and we deal with it and we, and you know, here we are living in a world where we get to watch it all in color instantaneously, live, you know, things we don't want to see. In fact, I think I told you guy, that I read an article recently by somebody, I don't know who they were, but made the point that the human emotional psyche isn't equipped to hear and see the things that we're hearing and seeing today. To know so personally and so intimately, the dangers, the struggles, the pains, the agonies, the difficulties that people deal with on a day to day basis, a minute to minute basis. And we see it and it's on the news, it's there for us. You just open up your app on your phone, or you turn on your TV, or whatever you get the news, and it's just all there, and it spills out at you. It's difficult not to become hard and sad, and depressed and if that kind of is hitting home with you, then I would really encourage you to take a break from the news. Take a break, just be in the Word for a protracted period of time. Get your emotional stability built back up, you know.

I think that's important and one of the reasons getting back into the Word is so important is because as much as we struggle, as much as we mourn, as much as we are filled with sorrow at the things that happen in this life, the Bible reminds us that there's coming a day when it will be over. It wasn't that long ago we were finishing the Book of Revelation and we had a promise that's, I'll put it up on the screen, it's beautiful. John says, Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV)

This is speaking of what is coming, this is what the Bible constantly reminds us about. Though sorrow exists for a night and we are in that nighttime of sorrow in this world, joy will come in the morning. Joy will come, you guys. What a wonderful, joyous time when our Savior comes to catch away His church. I can't wait, I've told Him several times, you can do that anytime. I just want to make sure He knows that He has my permission. You can do that anytime, Lord, please and thank you. As if it mattered what I say, but... The next thing Jesus prepares His disciples for, is a change in procedure as it relates to praying. Look what He says in verse 23, in your Bible, He says, “In that day you will ask nothing of me.” That's a change, they've been living with Jesus, they've been asking, peppering Him with questions, you know, and talking and every day. Can you imagine having that unbroken fellowship with the Lord that these guys were able and just, you'd come up to Him, just say, hey, I have a question. There's something that's always kind of been on my heart and just lay it out for Him, you know, sort of a thing. But He says, “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father (and there's another change) in my name, he will give it to you.” And then He acknowledges, verse 24, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Never before had the disciples prayed to the Father and asked for something in the name of Jesus. But that's what He's telling them to do and He says, this is going to be a change of procedure about the way you do things. Not that they'd never prayed before, certainly they'd prayed. But He says, I want you now to pray in my name and that brings up confusion, I've noticed for believers. A lot of questions pop up about praying in the name of Jesus and the first particular question that often comes up for believers is, who should they be addressing in prayer? People want to know if it's wrong to address Jesus directly and sometimes they wonder if it's okay to address the Holy Spirit when they're praying. Well, here's what we know okay, we know that Jesus taught us to pray, our Father who is in heaven. That's the way He taught us and so we are to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit helps us when we pray and the Bible tells us that. So the Holy Spirit is right there with us, praying to the Father, guiding us, helping us and so forth. We are even to pray in the Spirit, which has to do with spiritual gifts. But, you know, when you think about praying to the Father in the name of the Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you see this beautiful expression of the fullness of the triune God all together in our time of prayer. But you know, in both 1 Corinthians and Romans, the apostle Paul, he does speak of those who call upon the name of Jesus. So, you know, there are no prohibitions against not addressing Jesus directly and so, I'm not going to correct somebody if they do it. If I hear somebody and you've probably heard me do it, and so it's like, you know, hey. But, I will tell you there are no biblical examples of anyone praying to the Holy Spirit. Not that I'm going to correct somebody if they do it, but once again, the Holy Spirit is, He is in us and praying with us and through us, right? So He's involved in our prayer, He is not shown in the Bible to be the focus of our prayer in terms of addressing Him. But again, I wouldn't correct somebody for doing it. But again, we'll just kind of, we'll just stop and just say, the Bible, Jesus taught us to say, our Father in heaven, you know, and to go that way. The second area of confusion seems to surround the issue of asking in Jesus name and people wonder sometimes what that means. And one of the reasons we wonder about that is because we don't think about doing things in somebody else's name. That was a very common thing back in ancient times. If someone was sent out to convey an edict or a decision that the king wanted to pass along, that person would be recognized by their clothing and a ring they wore as the king's representative. He would have a ring on his finger that had the crest of the king, and that ring signified his authority. He could even use it to press it into the clay that they would put on an edict or a written notice, and people would see that impression in the clay as it hardened, and they would say, that's a word from the king. Doesn't matter who spoke it, I know that it came from the king. And so, a person who came to give a message would say, I give you a message in the name of the king and people knew what that meant. That's he has the authority to do that. Well, we ran into this idea of speaking in someone's name, asking in someone's name back in John chapter 14. I'll put it on the screen for you, this is what Jesus said. He said,

Now you read that passage there and it almost makes it sound like using His name is a magic formula that we just have to tack on to the end of our prayers and we will always get what we want, you know? But listen, once again, to come in the name of someone means you're coming as their representative. You're coming as His representative, right? And that's why the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians what he did, look at this,

You see, that's what it means to do something in the name of the Lord Jesus, to do it as His representative. So that includes prayer, right? In other words, when you pray, pray as His representative. Pray with Him in mind, for His glory, for His purpose and for His will. But the thing you have to know and I think Christians learn this after a period of time, is that praying in the name of Jesus does not obligate God to answer my prayer. That's not, it's not a magical key that I add to the end of my prayers to make sure that I get what I want. Lord, I want a new car, in the name of Jesus, you know nor something like that, it's not a magical formula. So here what we have to ask ourselves is, what does it mean? What does it mean? I'm going to advance 3 things and for you note takers, we'll put them up on the screen. Thing number 1, 1. Praying in Jesus’ name means our approach to God is based on His merit, not our own.

This is a very important statement and what that means people, is that apart from Jesus, you have no right to come before the Father, let alone ask any requests, you have no right. When you come before the Father and you say to Him, Father, I come to you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, that is your key and your access to the throne of grace. He is worthy and by transmitting that worthiness to you through His name, you and I can now come to the Father anytime and approach Him with any request that's on our heart. But please understand people, it's not because you're worthy, it's because He's worthy. The Father sees you robed in the righteousness of His Son and so, when you come before Him robed in that righteousness and declaring the authority and privilege of being called by the name of Jesus, you are heard in heaven and it's a glorious thing. But it means, again, approaching God is based on His merit, not yours. So, people, when you mess up, and I know you do from time to time, because so do I, don't ever let Satan whisper into your heart and say, now you have no right to come before God because you messed up, you really did it this time, now you have no right. You never had a right, ever, He gives you the right and it is based on His merit, what He did, His life of perfection, not yours. You can always come to the throne of grace through the name of Jesus Christ and His authority, amen? Don't let the enemy whisper to you that now you can't come to God. You can always come to God. Now, when you have messed up, the first thing out of your mouth ought to be, God, I messed up and confess your sin. Knowing that He is faithful and just, and He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness and then you can move on to the business of whatever your business is. Number 2, 2. Praying In Jesus’ Name Means Seeking to accomplish HIS WILL, not our own. I've already alluded to this. Listen, you know that example I gave you earlier about a king sending out his servant to give a message in the name of the king? If he did that and the servant began to speak to the subjects in a way that wasn't in accordance with the message, the heart and the mind of the king, that servant would be acting contrary to the authority he'd been given, you with me? You've been given authority, but that authority does not extend beyond the heart and the will of your Savior in whose name you are coming and so you have to keep that in mind. As we approach God in the name of our King, we ought to be making requests that are in keeping with His heart and not just our own. And that's why the apostle Paul wrote what he did in 1 John 5:14, where he said,

Now here's the question that comes from this, I get this a lot. So how do I know that I'm praying according to His will? You ready for my incredibly deep answer? Well you can't always, you can't always know and that's why we add to our prayers, not as I will, but your will be done, amen, right? We add that, that's not a meaningless tagline, that is an attitude of submission and surrender to the ultimate will of God, which I'm not always privy to. Because living on earth as I do, I'm somehow just very disconnected to the heart and will of God unless it's just blatantly revealed in the Word of God. But many times, I don't know how to pray and I know it's the same for you. That's one of the ways the Holy Spirit jumps in and He helps us when we don't know what to say, He jumps in and helps us. But, even so, we need to be able to be free to say, Lord, you know, here, I've laid this before you, I just want you to know, God, I love you, and I surrender to your will, and I don't know if I'm praying what you want. So I just, Lord, let your will be done, not as I will, but your will be done, amen? That's, it's such an easy thing, but it's an attitude of surrender. I know some people are afraid to say, “Thy will be done,” because they're afraid it might just work and God might do something that they don't want Him to do. But listen, we need to be more sold out to the will of God than our own will, amen? That's an important thing. Number 3, 3. Praying in Jesus’ name means having the goal of glorifying God. And once again, we read back in chapter 14 this, John 14:13,

“Whatever you ask in my name, (Jesus said) this I will do, (why) that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

So how do you know if your prayers are focused on bringing glory to God? That's another question. I heard someone once say and I think this is probably an interesting answer, but this person said that, a good barometer of whether or not our prayers are focused on the glory of God is how we react when they go unanswered. Think about that for just a second, I'll let that soak in. How we react when our prayers go unanswered, right? It tells a lot about, you know, what our motives are, what our heart, what the heart behind our prayer really is. I think that's pretty interesting, you know. When we get all frustrated and angry because, you know, God didn't answer our prayer just the way we wanted, you can be pretty sure you're focused more on what you want than what glorifies His name, you know? Lord, I want to just, I want to bring glory to you and I want my prayers, I want my prayers to bring glory to your name and Lord, I know I don't always do that, you know. That's just, we should ought to, we have to admit that to the Lord on a regular basis. But, I want my heart to be tuned to yours so that what I pray is in line with what you would have me pray and what would bring glory to your name. Look again with me at verse 28, this is where Jesus says,

And then the disciples begin to go, oh wow, this is great, now you're talking straight and we can understand what you're saying and they… I want you to notice though something and this is just a kind of a side point, at the end of verse, or actually in verse 28, did you notice that Jesus says, “I came from the Father,” did you catch that? Notice now at the end of verse 30, now they're talking, the disciples are talking.

Did you notice the difference? Jesus said, “I came from the Father,” they responded by saying, now we know you've come from God. Do you know anybody can come from God? A prophet can be sent by God, an angel can be sent from God. Jesus made a unique distinction about His coming by saying, “I came from the father.” Now that speaks of deity and so when the disciples are saying, well, now finally we understand everything you're saying, they really don't, but they're going to get it. But what they're saying is, now we can understand better what you are saying to us and that's why Jesus says here in verse 31, “Do you now believe?” And He says, the hour is coming, in fact, it's here right now, when you will be scattered and He's talking about how they were scattered and ran for their lives, most of them, when He was arrested. In fact, all of them. Peter's the only one who kind of went out into the shadows and then kind of came back a little. Jesus said, “Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” And then we have this lovely ending to chapter 16, where Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.” That's important. Our peace is in Him, okay? Stop looking to the world for your peace, our peace is in Him. “That in me you may have peace.” I'll tell you, this is what you're going to get from the world, you're going to get trouble and tribulation. But He says, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” and this is a message for all believers for all times and it explains very simply, how to endure. Because we are called brothers and sisters in Jesus in this life, in this world, to endure. The world tells us that our purpose for living is to have fun and to have happiness. I just want to be happy, it is just, it's the refrain of the world. You are called to something different, and it is to endure. Now, it doesn't mean that you're not going to be happy, it doesn't mean that there is no joy, it doesn't mean we live a joyless existence. There is joy in Jesus Christ, you guys. In fact, it's a better joy than the world offers, it's superior to the world's joy, why? Cause it doesn't go away and it can't be changed by circumstances. Sue and I were watching a documentary about the German Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this was yesterday, wasn't it? And the testimonies, you know. He was hung by the Nazis for getting Jews out of Nazi Germany and criticizing the government. He was hung one month before the Germans surrendered in World War II, 30 days. They hung Dietrich Bonhoeffer, fairly young man still but those who saw him hang said, I've never seen anyone go to their death with such peace in their heart. He had peace, he had confidence. It says he walked confidently up onto the gallows before they took his life, preaching the gospel with his last breath. Where does that come from? Where does that kind of peace and confidence and joy come from? That comes through Jesus Christ and only through Jesus Christ. You see, what Jesus said here when He said, I have overcome the world. Well, He said something important, because the Greek word, overcome, it means to conquer, it means to prevail over an enemy. Be of good cheer, I have prevailed, I've conquered. Well, I don't see it. Well, listen, it's all winding up, don't worry, don't worry. It's all winding up and it's going to come to a final conclusion. Well, why didn't He just, when He died on the cross and rose, why didn't He just put an end to it right there? Because God is willing and wants no one to be lost, but all to come to repentance. People say all the time, well, why didn't Jesus come, you know, 50 years ago? Would you have been saved if He came 50 years ago? I wouldn't have. The reason He tarries is because He wishes that no one would be lost, but that all would come to repentance. But it's going to wind up, okay? It's going to come to an end but meanwhile, in this world that we are living in, we are, through Him, conquerors. Isn't that what Paul said? Look at Romans, we'll end with this. Romans 8:37 through 39, he says,

“…in all these things we are more than conquerors (in fact) through him who loved us. For I am sure (absolutely positive) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, (that speaks even of demonic principalities and powers) 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.” Listen, if you have struggled at all with discouragement or even depression, by viewing the world and the challenges and the struggles that are in it, I would encourage you to memorize and meditate on this very passage, Romans 8:37 through 39, because this is our hope, this is our hope. Because Jesus conquered, we too will conquer, amen. Let's stand together, we're going to close in prayer. If you need a prayer this morning, we would be more than happy to pray with you. Just come on down front after we close and we'd be happy to pray with you.

--- Father, we thank you so much for the work you're doing in all of our hearts. We thank you for the Word that we've just been able to open our hearts to and consume. But Lord, most of all, we're thankful that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We're thankful, Lord, that we don't deserve forgiveness, but you give it to us because we've put our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. And it is by faith in Him that we are saved, not by our good works, not by trying to be good people, but by trusting a good God. And we thank you for that, Father. We praise you for that, Father and we pray in the name of Jesus for the nation of Israel. We pray also, Lord, for the Palestinians, we pray for the people that are caught in the middle. We ask you, Father God, to bring this conflict to an end, we pray that you'd protect your people. We pray in Jesus name that you would bring peace to Jerusalem. But we pray that prayer, knowing that peace will never be fully achieved until the Prince of Peace sits on the throne there in Jerusalem and we know that's going to happen. And so our heart also longs to say, come Lord Jesus, the Spirit and the bride say, come. In the authority that is ours through Jesus Christ, our Savior, we pray, and all God's people said, amen. God bless you, have a good rest of your day. ---