Sunday, June 17, 2012
TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
(John 16:7)
We are
looking at the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Actually, our desire is not simply to look at the ministry of the
Spirit. Rather, we are longing for the
ministry of the Spirit. If we are not,
then we haven’t recognized our great need.
We began with the question: “Are
we a needy people?” Basically, I
suggested rather strongly that our study of the Holy Spirit will mean very
little unless we are keenly aware of our need.
When we take an honest look at the New Testament and compare what we
find there with what we experience in our lives, we are immediately confronted
with our need. Though the Lord has
indeed worked in many of us, we have to acknowledge that we have only scratched
the surface of what the Lord has for us.
No matter how we may rationalize our present experience, the scriptures promise
us a closer walk with the Savior and greater power to proclaim His gospel. Paul could say, “That I may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable to his death” (Phil. 3:10). O that we might have that same
longing.
After such
a direct focus upon our need, then we moved to an “Introduction to the
Comforter.” As recorded in John 14,
Jesus Himself introduces the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. Literally, He is the One called alongside. Jesus referred to Him as “another Comforter,”
for He is another like Jesus. The very
same word that is translated “Comforter, Helper, Advocate, Encourager” is used
of Jesus Himself in I John 2:1. Though
we are indeed a needy people, we can take courage because the Comforter is
available. Jesus has been glorified, and
He has called to our side His Holy Spirit.
Praise God!
This
morning let’s step back and approach the Spirit of God from another angle. Before we do, let’s take a little commercial
break. How many of you know the meaning
of the terms “ad in” and “ad out”? Be
honest. They are tennis terms. When I am serving and the game has gone at
least four points and is locked in a tie, then the score is “deuce.” The two contestants have the same score, so
it is “deuce.” In order to win the game,
one of the players has to get two more points than the other. So I am serving at deuce, and then I get the
next point. Since I am the server, I am
the one who announces the score, and I say, “Ad in.” “Ad” is short for “advantage.” In other words, the advantage is with me; the
advantage is here. If I get this point,
I win the game. On the other hand, if I
am serving at deuce and lose the next point, I will then announce the score,
“Ad out.” In other words, the advantage
is there; you have the advantage. Now
you can forget that important information until I come back to it later.
I. The Glory of Hearing from God
Let’s take
a walk with Moses in the desert. Moses
is doing what he has been doing for the last 40 years – herding sheep. Up until now, today is like every other
day. But then Moses sees something. A bush is on fire. That is kind of unusual, as he isn’t sure how
or why this one bush burst into flame.
It’s entertaining, but he isn’t about to go out of his way to
investigate why the bush is burning. As
Moses continues to lead his sheep, something catches his attention. It has been several minutes since he first saw
that bush, and it’s still burning. As a
matter of fact, it seems to be flaming as intensely as it was when he first
noticed it. So Moses decides to have a look. As he draws closer, the bush continues to burn
brightly. Then Moses stops in his
tracks. There is no mistaking what he
heard. It was an audible voice, a strong
voice saying, “Do not draw near this place.
Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is
holy ground.” The voice continued, “I am
the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.”
Wow! There was no one around except Moses and the
sheep. Perhaps Moses looked in all
directions to see who might be speaking.
No, I don’t think he looked around.
Instead, Moses immediately hid his face, because he was afraid to look
at God. Moses knew that it was indeed
the Lord God who was speaking to him. It
was holy ground, but it wasn’t comfortable ground. He was in God’s presence in a way that he had
never known.
Consider
Isaiah, who saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. He saw the seraphim above the throne and
heard them crying out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of His glory.”
What was Isaiah’s reaction to this revelation of God’s glory? He cried out, “Woe is me, for I am
undone! Because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have
seen the King.” After his lips had been
cleansed by the burning coal which one of the seraphim laid on his mouth, then
Isaiah heard something far greater than the words of the seraphim. Is. 6:8, “Also I heard the voice of
the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’” Yes, Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord
Himself.
What would
it be like to hear the voice of God?
Without question, these two and others heard that voice. Would you like to have been there? At first, we might say, “No, that would be
terrifying.” Yes, it would be
terrifying, but if we love the Lord, surely we would count it a privilege to
actually hear His voice. It is not
uncommon to hear people say, “I wish I could hear the Lord speak, even as Moses
and Isaiah heard Him.”
II. The Glory of Being with Jesus
But let’s
not stop there. Could there be an even
greater revelation than the audible voice of God? We discussed this in some depth a few weeks
ago. Moses saw a burning bush and heard
God speak, but what about the people who lived in Jerusalem 2,000 years
ago? Let’s read again the words from Heb.
1:1-2, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time
past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His
Son…” At first, we might say, “But Moses
and Isaiah heard more than God speaking through the prophets; they heard the
audible voice of God.” That’s true, but
the emphasis of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus to all other forms of
revelation. There was the prophet-type
revelation, but then there is the Son-type revelation, and there is no
comparison between the two. When Jesus
spoke, He was God in the flesh communicating the divine message. He not only spoke it, but He also lived it,
demonstrating the perfect character of God day in and day out. When His apostle Philip said, “Lord, show us
the Father, and it will be enough for us,” Jesus responded, “Have I been with
you all this time and still you do not know me.
He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9).
What would
it be like to actually see and hear Jesus?
Better to sit under the teaching of Jesus for 30 minutes than to sit
under my teaching or the teaching of any other man for 30 years. Who wouldn’t have a desire to hear directly
from the Son of God?
III. Greater Glory Still
Now let’s
come to the Word of God, which points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to read John 16:1-4…
These things
I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will
put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you
will think that he offers God service. 3 And these
things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these
things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And
these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Let’s put
these words in context. Jesus is
speaking to His eleven apostles shortly before He would be arrested, tried, and
crucified. Jesus knows what is coming,
and He is preparing this little group of men.
He doesn’t want them to stumble.
They have followed him for better than three years, but now things are
going to get really tough, and Jesus knows it.
So that His apostles will not be surprised by the trials that are
coming, He tells them openly what awaits them.
“These things” speaks primarily of what He has been saying in chapter 15. He has told them that the world will hate
them and persecute them, just as it has persecuted their Lord. Now Jesus goes on to tell them that not only
will they be excluded from the gatherings of the religious people, but if and
when those religious people are successful in killing one or more of them, they
will think they are doing service for God!
How could people who claim to be godly possibly do such a thing? Jesus says it is because they don’t know the
Father nor Him, the Father’s Son.
Why has Jesus
waited until now to tell His apostles these things? Well, we should remember that He has given
them warnings about what was going to happen to Him. On several occasions, Jesus told them that He
was going to be mistreated in Jerusalem, killed, and would rise the third day
(Mark 8:31; 9:30-31; 10:33-34). Of
course, His apostles didn’t understand.
They could not conceive of Jesus having to die. How could any human force master this One who
stilled the wind and the waves with His voice?
But while Jesus had predicted His own suffering and death, He had been
more general about what His followers would face. Later in this chapter, He will tell them, “In
this world you will have tribulation” (16:33). But now He is very specific, telling them
they will be hated, persecuted, excluded from the synagogues, and even
killed. He hasn’t told them these things
before, because He was with them. As
long as Jesus was there, everything was fine.
He had answered every question they had ever asked and handled every
problem that they had ever encountered.
No matter what transpired, it was always enough to simply have Jesus
there with them.
But now
it’s different. Jesus tells them that He
has dropped these heavy tidings on them so that when these things happen, they
will remember that Jesus had told them.
What great comfort was there in that?
Can you imagine how the apostles felt at this point? According to their Master, who has always
told them the truth, they are going to face trials that they have never before
faced. To make matters worse, Jesus
keeps hinting that He Himself will not be with them.
If there is
any question about Jesus leaving them, Jesus makes it clear in verses
5-6, “But now I go
away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' 6 But because I have said these
things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”
What an understatement. No wonder
sorrow has filled their hearts – Jesus has now stated bluntly that He is going
away. How can they possibly face what is
coming without Jesus?
Now we come
to verse
7, “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 depart, I will send Him to you.” There it is.
Jesus says to these men who are trembling with fear, “It is better for
you, if I leave you.” I’m amazed that
our text does not immediately read, “But Peter said unto Him, ‘Lord, you will
never leave us.’” Or, “But Philip said
unto Him, ‘Lord, we don’t understand how you can be the Messiah and leave those
you love.’” The way I see it, Jesus
didn’t give them opportunity to interrupt, but He knew well what they were
thinking.
Now stop
and think about it. Jesus said that it
was to their advantage that He leave them.
While you are thinking about that, think of something else. Go back to our discussion about Moses and
Isaiah hearing the voice of God, about how wonderful it would be for us to be
able to see Jesus and hear His voice. If
we apply Jesus’ words to us, we must understand that it is better for us that
we do not see Jesus and hear His audible voice.
If that is better for the apostles, then it is better for us. It is to our advantage that Jesus left this
earth and will not return until that final day when He comes for His own.
Now let me
try to illustrate what Jesus is saying.
Let’s suppose that young Tommy is having a hard time. His parents have split up. He lives with his mom, but he misses his
dad. The kids in his fourth-grade class
are not very understanding. One day
Tommy is on the verge of tears, and his classmates respond by teasing him
without mercy and calling him a
“baby.” Because of all the hurts and
disappointments in his life, he is seriously considering joining one of the
gangs. He has friends who are members of
these various gangs.
But then one day Tommy is
befriended by Philip, an 18-year-old who seems to genuinely care about him. Philip helps him with his homework, takes him
on hikes, and listens to him share his heartaches. As time goes on, it is obvious that Philip
has become a huge positive influence in Tommy’s life. Everyone around Tommy has noticed a great
change in him.
Tommy’s 18th birthday
promises to be a grand celebration. Yes,
Philip is there, as always. After the
festivities are over and everyone else is gone, Philip sits Tommy down for a
long talk. Though delivered with
compassion and gentleness, Philip’s words are firm. He tells Tommy that he is going to be moving
out of state. He also shares that the
main reason for this decision involves Tommy.
You see Philip realizes that Tommy has become overly dependent upon
him. Though he had been a great help to Tommy,
now the time has come for Tommy to learn to stand on his own two feet. He won’t be able to do that, until Philip is
removed from his life for a time. Though
Tommy protests, Philip assures him that this is for his own good.
So what do you think of my little
illustration? Though there may be some
parallels, that is not a good illustration of what we have here. Why not?
Because Jesus did not depart so that His apostles could stand on their
own. As a matter of fact, Jesus left for
the opposite reason. He knew very well
that His apostles were not capable of making it on their own. Then why did Jesus leave? He tells in verse 7: “ 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 depart, I will send Him to you.”
We know the
identity of the Helper (Comforter) from our study two weeks ago. Back in chapter 14 Jesus tells us that the Helper is none other than the Spirit
of truth, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in Jesus’ name (see Jn. 14:16-17,26). Jesus is saying that it is better for them
that He depart so that the Holy Spirit can come to them.
We still
want to cry out, “Why?” Could anything
be better than having Jesus there in person?
Later the apostle John would write these words in I John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.” Yes, they had seen Him day after day,
listened to Him hour after hour, and had actually reached out and touched
Him. This same John was the one who
leaned on Jesus’ breast at the last supper.
Could anything possibly be better
than that? The Jesus who never lied to
His disciples or anyone else clearly said, “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
depart, I will send Him to you.” No
matter how we may feel about the situation, Jesus makes it clear that the best
thing He could do was depart, so that the Helper could come to them.
At this point please allow me to deal with two
questions. First of all, why did Jesus
have to depart in order for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to come? Couldn’t the Holy Spirit come while Jesus was
with them? In a sense, wasn’t the Holy
Spirit with them, because the Holy Spirit rested upon Jesus? Jesus’ words here in 16:7 clearly imply that
the coming of the Spirit would be more than what they were experiencing as a
result of Jesus’ present relationship with the Spirit. His words assure us that the Spirit could not
come while Jesus was still with them.
But why?
We could give all kinds of reasoned explanations, but I
think it best that we simply go back to what John said in that passage that we
are deliberately setting before us again and again. John 7:37-39, “In the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, ‘If any man thirsts, let him
come to me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water.’ [That is what Jesus said. Now in verse 39 we have the explanation of
John]. (But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified).” The Spirit could not come until after Jesus
was glorified. But what is this about
Jesus being glorified? What does it
mean? Again, we don’t have to wonder,
because Jesus Himself tells us. In
John’s account of the gospel there are many references to Jesus being
glorified, but the picture becomes much clearer in John 12:23-24, “But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that
the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone;
but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
In the context of being glorified, Jesus begins to speak of His own
death. Then come to Jesus’ prayer
shortly before He would go out in the garden and then be arrested. Let’s read it in John 17:1-5…
Jesus spoke
these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has
come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have
given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is
eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work
which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with
the glory which I had with You before the world was.
What hour
had come? The hour, the time, of His
death. Jesus was so submitted to the
will of His Father that He could speak of it as already done: “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work with You have given
Me to do” (17:4). Verse 5 indicates that
His being glorified began at the cross and would end in His return to the right
hand of His Father. Jesus’ death would
bring glory to both Him and His Father because this was the very reason He
came; this was the divine plan. And the
way back to His Father and the glory they had shared together for all eternity
was through the cross.
So this is
why it was absolutely necessary for Jesus to depart before the Spirit could
come. It was Jesus’ death, resurrection, and
ascension to the Father that gave Him a reason to send the Spirit. Until Jesus died and rose, there was no life
to offer through the Spirit.
Let’s also
deal with a second question: Who is it
that would send the Spirit? Surely we
can find the answer from simply reading the closing words of 16:7,
“…but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” Jesus says clearly that He will send the
Spirit.” Jesus has already spoke of this
back in 15:26, “But when the Helper
comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds
from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
Again, Jesus says that He will send the Helper, but He says that He will
send Him “from the Father.” Furthermore,
He tells us that the Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father. Now let’s go to Acts 2, where we find the
fulfillment of this promise, the actual sending of the Spirit. Peter is preaching, explaining to the people
what was going on, as the 120 followers of Jesus proclaimed wonderful works of
God so that everyone could understand their speech. Let’s read it in Acts 2:32-33, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being
exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” So in the actual historical account, we read
that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, whom the Father had promised.
However, that is not the end of the
story. Do you remember what we read last
time, when we were looking at John 14?
Let’s read it again in John 14:26, “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 things that I said to you.” When
introducing the Helper, Jesus clearly says that the Father will send Him in
Jesus’ name. So Jesus Himself states
that the Father will send the Spirit, then a few minutes later seems to
contradict Himself by saying that He Himself will send the Spirit. There is no contradiction here. The Father and the Son are one. They work together. Jesus and the Father send; the Spirit
goes. The Spirit is sent by the Father
in that He is the One who initiates everything, but He is sent by the Son in
that the Son is the One who executes the will of the Father.
Conclusion
Now let’s
come back to the main point. Jesus
clearly said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, so that the Helper, the
Spirit, will come.” What could be
clearer? “If I depart, I will send Him
to you.” Here is the great question I
want us to consider: Do we believe
Jesus? Someone responds: “Of course, we believe Jesus. We can always believe Him. Jesus only speaks the truth.” Okay, that’s fine. We know how what we should believe. We can all say the right words. But I am asking you to weigh your response
down deep inside. Do you really believe
that it is better for you to have His Spirit than for Jesus Himself to be
walking beside you in the flesh? If you
could trade the presence of the Spirit for the physical presence of Jesus, would
you do so? Think about it this way: “Do you really believe that you have an
advantage by having the Spirit?”
Please
allow me to return to my tennis terms “ad in” and “ad out.” Picture
yourself across the net from Satan and all his demons. Most of us heard Tracy remind us that all true
believers are engaged in a war, and one of our enemies is the devil. You are serving. Can you see yourself looking across the net
and saying, “Ad in”? Do you hear
yourself saying, “The advantage is mine”?
In reality, it depends upon what you believe and experience of the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit. On your own,
you can never have the advantage over Satan.
Even if Jesus in the flesh were standing beside you, you would not have
the advantage. Remember that Jesus
departed, that Jesus died and rose, so that He might send His Spirit. That is when we can say, “The advantage is
mine.” It isn’t because of any
confidence in yourself, but because your confidence is in Him who has blessed
you with His Spirit, the One called alongside to help you in whatever way you
need.
This week I
challenge you to ponder that great question:
“Do I believe that His disciples were better off having Him leave so
that the Spirit could come? Do I really
believe that having the Spirit is better than having Jesus in the flesh?” When you get alone with the Lord later today,
ponder that question before Him. Do the
same on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.
Let us meditate on this great truth from the words of our Lord.
Lord
willing, next week we will be looking at why it is to our advantage that Jesus
departed and sent the Spirit.
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