Opening Scripture Reading: Mark 11:27-33

Please remain standing for our New Testament reading from Mark chapter 11, starting in verse 27.
“And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him. And they said to him, ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one question, answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.’ And they discussed it with one another, saying, ‘If we say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him? But if we say from man’—they were afraid of the people, for they all held John really a prophet. So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’ The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.”

Opening Prayer

Would you join me in prayer?
“Dear God, I pray that as we come to your word, you would enlighten our hearts and our minds by your spirit. God, that your word would be living and active, sharpening our words and our deeds throughout the week, that we might live lives that glorify and please you. God, I pray for me. I pray that you would, by your spirit, allow me to speak faithfully and true your words, that it would be an encouragement to everyone who hears. God, it’s by your spirit that we glorify you today. I pray that might be true. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
You guys may be seated.

Introduction to the Main Text: John 15-16 Context

Today we’ll be in John chapter 16. I will start, though, in chapter 15, just to give some context. So starting in chapter 15 of John, this is what John writes, in 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.”
[John 16:1-4] “I have said all these things to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.”

Jesus’ Promise of the Helper

“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’s 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 away, I will send him to you.”

The Spirit’s Work in the World

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

The Spirit’s Guidance for Believers

“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 truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Connecting the Texts: Jesus’ Final Charge

We come to the point in John, and it’s actually pretty close to where Pastor Tony is in Mark. Jesus has accomplished all that he has up to the point of his persecution and his death, and he is giving one last charge and encouragement to his disciples. He is warning his disciples that he’s about to die, and they don’t understand what he’s saying. They cannot make sense. Why is he saying that these things are gonna happen? It’s causing much worry and much concern. And Jesus is encouraging them. He’s saying, “Hey, I’m gonna continue to be with you,” but he’s not just going to give them a word or leave them with some sayings. He points specifically to the fact that he is going to send the Spirit.

The Spirit Testifies to Christ’s Authority

We read there at the start in John 15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I’m sending to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” Jesus also, later on in the book of Acts, before he is taken up into heaven, encourages them to wait—wait until the Spirit comes. Jesus is not just leaving his disciples alone. He is going to send a Helper. What is the Spirit going to do? The Spirit, as we see in this passage, testifies not just to us, but to the world, Jesus’ authority, his attributes, and his accomplishments. Simply put, he tells us—the Spirit tells us—who Jesus is, and it reminds us.

Jesus sets out in this context, “This is why the world hates me.” We even saw when we read the passage in Mark—they deny Jesus’ authority. This is the reality of why the world hates Jesus, because they deny that he is who he says he is. The Pharisees and the scribes did it. That’s why they wanted to kill him. That’s ultimately why persecution falls on the disciples, because they continue to declare that it’s Jesus who is Lord. It’s Jesus who has all authority. It’s Jesus who rules and reigns. This is offensive to a world who wants to be their own authority, who wants to do what’s right in their eyes.

But this is one of the things that the Spirit is doing here. He’s bearing witness. You can think of witness in the legal sense, right? As someone gets up and testifies in a courtroom, the Spirit is testifying consistently through Jesus’ ministry about who he is—the virgin birth, the conception. It’s by the Spirit that that is accomplished. Even as Mary goes to Elizabeth, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, again testifying to who Jesus is. As Jesus is baptized, it’s the Spirit that comes down upon him, again establishing who Jesus is.

There are so many points that we can go to throughout the whole of Scripture, throughout Jesus’ work and ministry, where the Spirit continues to establish and confirm that Jesus is who he says he is. We don’t have to doubt. It’s not left for us to guess. In fact, later on, when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus says, “Peter, it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but it was the Father.” And we know that the Father works by the Spirit. And so we just see this beautiful picture of how Jesus’ authority is established by the Spirit, and just how God also works together in that.

Again, Jesus continues to establish His authority after this point. We haven’t gotten to His death yet, but Paul says in Romans, “It was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” Again, it’s just another testimony to the fact that it’s Jesus who is the Son of God, the Messiah, that he has authority to do and say what he does, to promise, and that he will be coming again to rule and reign.

Again, Peter at Pentecost—he declares Jesus’ status to all those who had just killed Jesus. He quotes Joel, saying the Spirit has been poured out on us, the disciples, and it’s the disciples that are declaring that God has made Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. There’s countless other examples throughout the New Testament where this is continually attested to. This is one of the primary works of the Spirit. This is one of the primary things the Spirit does—it testifies to Jesus’ authority.

The Spirit’s Comfort for the Disciples

I think that’s of great comfort to the disciples here. There are a lot of people who doubt who Jesus is. Some say a good man. Some say a lunatic. Some say he doesn’t exist. Right? But we know, especially here, reading the words of God, even right now, I hope in your heart, as the Spirit confirms what I’m saying, what the Word says, that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the Christ, that we’re not here on our own authority, or we’re not making something up, but it’s Jesus who is the Messiah.

I think that’s great comfort to the disciples. I think that’s why Jesus is giving them this encouragement right here and now, right before he is to go face death and persecution, that there is gonna come a Helper. Right? We see what happens with the disciples without the Helper, right? They scatter and they flee. But later on, 40 days later in Acts at Pentecost, what are they doing? They’re going throughout all of Jerusalem. They’re proclaiming boldly the work. And as we continue to read in the book of Acts, they continue to go forward.

I think it’s just such an encouraging thing to see how the Spirit can make those of us who are timid, bold. Because we know who Jesus is and we know that he has life. We know that even though the world hated Jesus, right? That they’re gonna hate us too. That we don’t have to sit here and flounder about like, “Why do they not like what I’m saying?” They did not like what Jesus said. That’s why they don’t like what we’re saying. Because Jesus reminded them and pointed out that they actually weren’t their authorities, as we saw in Mark, right? The Pharisees and the Sadducees are sitting there and they’re like, “Who are you to do these things?” They wanted the authority. They wanted the position. They wanted the power. And Jesus is saying, “No, it belongs with me. It belongs with God. It does not belong to them.”

The Spirit’s Warning and Assurance

If we continue in chapter 16, He says, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God, and they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I have said these things to you so 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 that I’m going to him who sent me, and none of you asks, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”

My guess is here today that we may not know exactly that sorrow that would fill someone’s heart as like, “Oh yeah, Jesus is leaving us. That’s sad.” But I would guess that many here today have felt sorrow in their heart. Could be numerous reasons why you felt sad. Maybe you don’t understand the circumstances of your life. “God, why are you making me go through this thing that I’m going through? God, why do we have to endure this suffering, this pain, this trial?”

The Spirit as Comforter in Suffering

Well, here’s the beautiful thing. What’s a comfort to us in the midst of suffering, right? What is a comfort to us in the midst of just the brokenness of this world, of sin, of even our own sin, right? Well, it’s Jesus. And God doesn’t just say, “Okay, you know what? You guys just think, remind yourself of Jesus.” He sends us the Spirit to help us in that. We’re not alone in this. So when we are suffering, when we are down, we can look to the Helper that God has sent to us. Other translations will use the word “Comforter” to describe the Spirit here, that he comforts us in the midst of our weakness, that he comforts us even in the midst of suffering. Right? That’s one of the primary things the Spirit does.

How does he comfort us in suffering? Well, he reminds us—we go back to that—that he first covers His authority. Well, this is the second portion, His attributes. He reminds us of the things that Jesus is for us. He’s the Son of God. And you know what? For those of us that are in Christ, we are also sons and daughters of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says, “God establishes with you in Christ and has anointed you and has also put his seal and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

The Spirit guarantees in each and every one of us that no matter what suffering—whether it’s rejection from the world as he’s talking about here, or just even temporary suffering in this life, where you would question, “What is God doing?”—well, here’s a seal and promise that we know that we have the Helper, that we’re not alone, that we can depend upon God. He’s given us the Spirit that reminds us of that, that says, “Hey, you know what? Even though others—”

And I think this is the interesting thing here. Notice who’s throwing them out, who’s persecuting the disciples. Right? It’s the Jews. It’s the people that should have known who Jesus is. They’re throwing them out of synagogues. I think when he says, “I’ve said these things to all keep you from falling away,” it would be very easy for them to be like, “No, like, the Jews should be behind us. They should be approving of what we’re doing.” Right? Like they’re the ones we can probably think of today—many churches that would not necessarily agree with everything that’s written in Scripture. Right? They would reject what Jesus, with the Spirit, testifies to.

There are many people today that love Jesus. They’re like, “Oh, Jesus is love.” They’ve made a Jesus of their own invention in their own minds, a Jesus that approves of all sorts of things that he would never approve of. And in fact, when they call us out, when they say, “You know what? Um, Jesus actually just, you know, all love is love, right? Jesus would never condemn. Jesus would never judge”—we hear these sorts of refrains. But in fact, they think they’re offering a service to God by putting us down. They think by rebuking us, they’re actually telling us what God really wants.

Well, the same thing’s happening to the disciples, right? The Jews are rejecting what they’re saying. They’re like, “No, Jesus isn’t the Messiah. No, he’s not the Christ.” They think they’re offering a service to God. In fact, we know of Paul—right, Saul at first—who was persecuting and killing the church because of what they’re declaring. And he thinks he’s offering a service to God. So it’s literally fulfilled later on in Acts. But Jesus makes clear it’s because they don’t actually know Him and they don’t know the Father, right?

The Spirit Seals Our Identity

How do we know the Father? Right there, it said it in 2 Corinthians. It’s by the Spirit. The Spirit ministers to us as believers to seal that God has guaranteed us salvation. He’s given us His Spirit in our hearts. We actually read back in Joel, right, that He poured out, that He gives us new hearts, new flesh. That’s the work of the Spirit on us. Galatians 4:6 also says, “And because you were sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father.’ But you are no longer slaves, but a son, and if a son, an heir.”

Again, the Spirit is there testifying: Who are we now? We have the attributes of Christ. We’re in Him. We are sons, daughters. We are sealed. We’re given a promise. Mark 13 also—we’ll approach as Tony works through Mark—but it says this: “When they arrest you and hand you over,” Jesus is warning again the disciples, “Hey, this is what’s gonna happen. Don’t worry about what you’re going to say. On the contrary, whatever is given to you in that hour, say it, for it isn’t you speaking, but it’s the Holy Spirit.” Right?

So this is a great comfort for the disciples. It should be a great comfort to us to know in the midst of suffering and the persecution that, one, the Spirit seals us, that He ministers the attributes of Christ to us by reminding us that we have adoption, reminding us that we’re heirs, but He also will give us the words to speak when we’re confronted by those that would persecute us for our faith—that He will give us the words to speak that will testify about who Jesus is, that we’re not alone in this.

The Spirit Testifies to Christ’s Accomplishments

Second, we see the accomplishments of Christ. We see how the Spirit again testifies to those accomplishments. Read here in verse 8 with me: “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will no longer see me; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

It can maybe sound a little strange to us, like, “Wait, he convicts the world.” We can think about there, like, “Wait a minute, I know a lot of people that go around life that don’t seem convicted by their sin, right? Don’t seem convicted by their need of righteousness. Don’t seem convicted that Jesus actually is going to return to judge the world.” Well, you can actually think of this conviction more of a legal sense in a courtroom, right? You can think of someone being convicted, condemned by a judge, but maybe they still claim their innocence. That’s the reality of the world around us. There are many people who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit, but they continue to reject His work on their life. Right?

What sets us apart? What sets us as believers apart from the world that may still fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit but doesn’t respond? Well, it’s this. It’s the faith that the Spirit has worked in us. Right? It’s by faith that we see that we are sinners. He reveals to us and we take it. We’re like, “Yes, I am a sinner. I need to turn to repent. I need to trust in God.” That’s the work of the Spirit.

It’s also the work of the Spirit to show us our need for Christ’s righteousness, right? So once we recognize that we’re a sinner, we know that we are not righteous in our own eyes. We can’t do enough good things. We can’t attain enough. Well, where do we go to? Who do we look to? Jesus lived a perfect life. He was righteous before God. He kept the law perfectly. And this is the beautiful thing—this again, how the Spirit works. The Spirit actually is the one who helps give us Christ’s righteousness. It’s again imparted to us, and I hope that’s a great encouragement to you that we see here first, that even though we’re sinners, we all confess today that we broke God’s law—that we see here again, that Jesus is holy, right? He’s righteous, what it says, and He’s going to heaven where you will see Him no more. I think that’s pointing us to the fact that God is holy and we can’t see Him if we’re sinners. So we need His righteousness. We need the righteousness of Christ.

Finally, here we see judgment is coming, and it begins with the ruler of this world. And the reality is for the people who are still in this world, they still serve the ruler of this world. They still serve Satan. Jesus says you can serve one master. He says either you are a son of Satan or you’re a son of God. Those are the two options. This is what the world is convicted of legally, right? They are convicted of sin. They are convicted of righteousness, their need of it, and they are convicted that judgment is coming, but they deny it. They don’t listen to the Spirit.

But for us who are in Christ by faith, we receive this beautiful, beautiful gift, right? That we know that we need Jesus. We need His righteousness because we are sinners. That we know He is returning, that He has victory over sin and death, over the ruler of this age, that He is going to establish His kingdom forever.

The Spirit Glorifies Christ Through Us

Finally, the end here, verses 12 through 15: “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 truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

This is the final bit and it fits with everything else, right? The Holy Spirit continues to administer Christ and all of His benefits to you and me as believers. He makes much of Christ. Notice that the Spirit isn’t making much of His work. There are people today that would emphasize, “Oh, the Spirit is doing this, the Spirit is doing that.” The Spirit is making much of Christ. The Spirit is glorifying Christ. That is one of the primary things the Spirit is doing. Just as Jesus glorifies and makes much of God the Father, He’s not interested in making much of Himself. The same is true of the Spirit. The Spirit is glorifying Christ, not making much of Himself. Verse 14: “He will glorify me.”

How does He glorify Christ? That’s the beautiful thing, right? He uses you and me. When we testify to everything that Christ has done, that is the work of the Spirit, glorifying Christ through us. When we share with others, when we encourage others, when we even remind ourselves, when we remind our families, our children, that’s the work of the Spirit, glorifying Christ. That’s what the book of Acts is, right? The disciples going forward into all the world, telling of what Christ has done. That’s the work of the Spirit. Sometimes people say, you know, it’s the Acts of the Apostles or the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. It’s a beautiful thing.

Suffering as a Means of Glory

We also see, I think this kind of bookends the part on suffering, that even though we suffer, that is one of the means that God uses to glorify Himself. Jesus glorifies God through His suffering. And Scripture makes it clear that we actually do too. 1 Peter 4:14 says this: “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Right? When we suffer for Christ’s namesake, we’re actually bringing glory to God.

When people would revile us for what we say and what we do and declaring Christ and His benefits and our need and sin and a broken world and pointing people back to Jesus, Christ is glorified through that suffering. Paul in Colossians says, “I fill up in my body what was lacking in regard to Christ’s affliction, regarding to Christ’s affliction, suffering.” How can Christ lack anything? Well, it’s just in this, is that as the gospel goes forward, as the message of the gospel goes throughout the world, what do we see? We see all the apostles suffer for their faith, die for their faith. It’s the Spirit that enables them to go through that.

It’s God’s chosen means that He would use suffering in our lives, in the lives of others, to glorify Himself. That’s His chosen means through Christ. How can we expect any less? How can we endure that, though? Well, the Spirit is our Comforter. That’s how. He’s our Helper. He is with us. We’re not alone in this.

Conclusion: Assurance in the Spirit’s Work

He continues to declare to us again and again and again: Who are we? We’re adopted. We’re sons and daughters. If by faith we live, we no longer are convicted of our sin, but instead we stand righteous because Christ has given us His righteousness. We are sons and daughters. This all glorifies God. This all glorifies Jesus. And we can stand assured that we are sons and daughters, that we are not with the world because we actually do sit here and we know that we are sinners. We know that we need His righteousness and we know that Christ is returning.

Wasn’t it great comfort to us that we can have confidence knowing that those things are true because we know that if we believe those things, that’s a sign and evidence of the Spirit’s work in our lives? I know it’s a great encouragement to me, and I hope it is to you as well.

Closing Prayer

Would you pray with me?
“Dear God, I pray that as we go out from here today, God, you would continue to encourage us by your Spirit, that we would see how Christ is continually being made and ministered to us through the Spirit, how the Spirit is at work to encourage us as we share about all that you have done for us. God, how we are able to know our need, how we’re able to look to Christ and His righteousness and not our own. God, how we are to know that He is to come again. What a great comfort that is amidst challenges and suffering of this world. And God, I pray that as we go from here, we will just continue to dwell and think on all Jesus has done for us. And it would be a great comfort. In Jesus’ name, amen.”