There are things the apostles didn't understand until after Christ's resurrection, things they didn't understand until after they had received the Holy Spirit, and some things they never understood this side of heaven. In the same way, while we have the advantage of having God's Word at our fingertips, most of us still have a lot of questions. And today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg explains how our needs are met in Jesus, even when questions remain. Truly. Truly Jesus says, I say to you, You will weep.
and lament. But the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful. but your sorrow will turn into joy. That is the twentieth verse.
of John chapter 16. And it is the focus of our study this morning. Jesus has been preparing his disciples for the fact that he's going to be leaving them. Classically, and perhaps best known of all, the beginning of chapter 14. Where he tells them that he's going away to prepare a place for them, and if he goes and prepares a place for them, he will come again and he will take them to himself.
And that, of course, is not met by an immediate sense of affirmation, but is followed up by a bunch of questions, notably on the part of uh Other disciples, we don't really know where you're going. How can we possibly know the way? That's Thomas. He says to them later in 14: I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.
What in the world can that possibly mean they're saying? It is to your advantage that I go away, he says here in the seventh verse of chapter 16.
Now in rehearsing that, it becomes clear that his followers are having a really hard time grasping what he's saying. And so it's no surprise that we read in the twelfth verse here of 16, if your Bible is open. That Jesus says to them, you know, I still have many things to say to you. But you cannot bear them now. I've been telling you these things, and it's clear that you're not on track.
And there are more things that Um I have to say to you, but now is not the time for that. And then he explains when that time will be. Under the agency of the Holy Spirit. Verse 13. When the spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the 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.
Now it's important that we pause just for a minute and make sure we understand what is being said here. This little phrase, he will lead you into all truth. is um notoriously misinterpreted in all kinds of contexts. As if somehow or another, the fact of the work of the Holy Spirit to do what we're asking Him to do this morning, namely, illuminate our minds, clear away the mist from our eyes, open the ears of our understanding, open the pathways of our heart, in asking that. that we are actually being the beneficiaries of what is being said here, that he will lead us into all truth.
It's become very contemporary, hasn't it, for people to talk about my truth.
Well, of course, that's just my truth. And as those who want to believe the Bible, we want to stand away from such a notion. We know that truth is found in Jesus and in Christ ultimately alone. That does not mean that there is no other truth elsewhere, but any truth that is real truth finds its reality there. And yet in local Bible studies, you often find people saying, well, my truth, my feeling in relationship to this, and it's more often than not my feeling.
So that experience Trumps truth. I know the Bible says this about divorce. But my feeling on this is I know it says we should be this, but my feeling about this, and so on.
So what is Jesus promising there? He's promising the fact that that which the disciples do not grasp When the Holy Spirit comes, They will be then led into all the truth. And having been led into all the truth, They will then preach the truth. They will then record the truth. They will then provide the truth to to the generations that are to come.
And where is that truth to be found? It's to be found in the scriptures. It's not a looking into ourselves as is a contemporary perspective, but it is looking out from ourselves to the objective truth that is provided for us in the scriptures. That is what Jesus is dealing with here in verse 13. He's pointing out to these folks that the ministry of the Holy Spirit will more than compensate for his physical absence.
And so it is that you come to verse 16. And Jesus' somewhat enigmatic statement in verse 16, a little while and you will see me no longer, and again a little while and you will see me, it gives rise to a discussion. There it is, verse 17.
So some of his disciples said to one another, discussion. Yeah. And you may be here this morning and you're just coming to the Bible for the first time. You maybe have been invited here and you've never really read a gospel. And you, I hope, are being struck as we ought to be struck.
By the straightforward honesty of the way the writers record the events. Of the life and ministry of Jesus. They provide us with an unvarnished picture of what is going on. And so, instead of what we might imagine, that the disciples, after Jesus said, a little while you will see me, no longer, a little while you will see me, they said, got it. Yep, thank you.
That's lovely. Instead of that, no. They are all at sea.
Now this is not new. For example, in a remarkable situation, after Jesus has explained that he's going to suffer and be killed and after three days rise again. Uh Peter whom some regard as the first pope. took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Anybody reading the Bible goes, No, that doesn't make any sense at all.
Why would he be rebuking him? I thought he was the foundation. I thought he was the key to the whole thing. Why, if you were inventing this, You wouldn't write it in this way.
So when people say, you know, what we have in the Gospels is something that was all cobbled together 200 years later, and after they cleaned it up and figured it out, they put it all down in a way that would immediately appeal to people. Read it. It doesn't look like that at all, does it? It doesn't look like an invention. It looks like what it is.
The record. Of true. Events So look at what they're saying, the discussion.
So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he says? They don't immediately get it. He keeps saying this a little while, no little while, a little while. Yeah. And so they were saying, verse 18, what does he mean?
By a little while. And classically We do not know. what he is talking. About. No.
Greatest teacher ever known. To man. Speaking. Mm. Hmm.
It's true of all of us. We are by nature blind. And we're deaf. Open up my eyes. That I may see.
I wonder has God opened your eyes? And again, I say to you, you may be wondering about the things of Jesus and the Gospel.
So let me encourage you. Let me encourage you. Don't go looking for some feeling in your tummy. Read your Bible. You get a feeling in your tummy, that's okay.
But that's not the issue. No, you're going to have to read the Bible because your mind matters. You have to read, Mark, learn what is in the Bible. You're going to have to dig, learn, study, think. Because the truth of the gospel is not the discovery of the casual inquirer.
And you will seek me. And you will find me. When you search for me With all your heart.
Now, Jesus joins in this little discussion by in verse 19 saying to them, Uh he I he could tell uh that they wanted to ask him. I don't think we have to make this supernatural. If you're in company with a group of people, you can overhear conversation. He knows they desperately want to try and get an answer. None of them wants to put up their hand.
And so he says, is this what you're 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. The discussion then gives rise to Jesus' declaration. That was the second one. which is our truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament.
That's the first thing they need to know. you will weep and lament. They they knew that their Old Testament. There's a time to be born, there's a time to die. There's a time to weep, there's a time to laugh, there's a time to mourn, and there's a time to dance.
That is the reality of human experience, both in Christ and outside of Christ. But it is particularly here mentioned in this regard. When they find themselves after the crucifixion in despair. Then they will display their sadness. in their tears and in their lament.
We can't delay on this, but it is Perhaps useful just to make a little note in your notes. The disciples were not Stoics. The idea that somehow or another Christianity, the reality of who Jesus is and what he's done, transforms us entirely from the experiences of life, from the sadnesses, the pains, the disappointments, the bereavements, the heartaches, all of that. The Christian experiences all of that. And Jesus.
legitimizes the tears. By his own tears. If fear is simply an expression of unbelief. Then, what do we make of the hesitancy of Jesus? Father, save me from this hour.
You will weep. You will lament. Secondly, he says And the world will rejoice. The world will rejoice. In other words, he says, I want you to know that while you enter into the reality of sadness and disappointment and so on, you should be aware of the fact that what's going on around you will not be as sharing it with you.
In fact, it is the very antithesis of that. You will weep and you will lament, but the world will delight in apparently having disposed of him. Uh in such a decisive fashion. And thirdly, he says. And you will be sorrowful.
but your sorrow. will be turned. to joy. That is quite a lot, isn't it? It's a lot for us just to think about it, but to be there in the immediacy of it and experiencing it, and they're looking, I would imagine, at one another now and saying, That was the answer?
To the question? See, Jesus didn't really answer their question. He answered their need. The people say, well, if he doesn't answer my questions, listen. You're going to have more questions than you've had hot dinners.
Jesus comes to answer your need. What is your need? Your need of him as a Saviour, as a lord, and a king. All of us have questions. They look at one another and say, well, this is it.
So Jesus, masterfully as a teacher, provides. Third point. The illustration. The illustration. Discussion.
Declaration. illustration. Truly. Truly. And then he says, let's look at it this way.
When a woman is giving birth, She has sorrow. because her hour has come. But when she's delivered the baby, She no longer remembers the anguish. For the joy That a child has been born. into the world.
Now Jesus knew this. by observation. He knew this by observation. We know from the Bible that he had siblings. and that he presumably had at some level Um experienced.
are the very reality about which he now speaks. We speak, I speak as a man with great hesitancy in an illustration like this. This is where our wives know what we don't know. in terms of the subjective reality of it. You see, the disciples were strangers to the notion, to the idea of death.
and resurrection. And so Jesus says, well, listen. You're familiar with what happens when a baby's born, aren't you?
Well then think about that. An expectant mother suffers with Joy. and withhold. The birth is the occasion of first of all pain And then secondly, Joy. She is there in anticipation.
of a reality whereby one Not yet born. will emerge From the womb. And so setting that picture in their minds. He then goes on by way of explanation. which is our final heading.
Discussion? Decoration. Illustration. Explanation. Notice So, verse 22.
So So also you. You have sorrow now. But I'll see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take the joy from you. When he says now, he's using this for those of you who are English majors proleptically. In other words, that which is yet to come, the impending cross, he speaks of it as though it is already present.
So you have sorrow now. Speaking about the nature of what is about to be. Just as The birth. is the cause of pain and the source of joy. That, he says, is true of the cross.
Just as this child eventually emerges from the womb.
So he wants them to know that he himself will emerge from the tomb. And when that happens, he says. your sorrow will be turned to joy. And that joy, says Jesus. is a joy that is unassailable.
It is not a joy that emerges from circumstances being beneficial to our liking. Because so much of our lives are marked by things that impinge upon what we would regard as happiness and success and so on. Is there then a joy Is it possible to be like C.S. Lewis, surprised by joy? By a reality About which Jesus is speaking here to disciples that are about to get it.
But not yet.
Some of us, perhaps. are about to get it too. If you follow what he says again, after the resurrection, he says, in that day you will ask nothing of me. You've all been filled with questions all the time. You're not going to be asking these questions as before.
You won't be asking questions like: What do you mean you're going to prepare a place for us? What do you mean that you will come again? No, in that day, When that happens, Things will fall into line. And you will then pray. And your prayers will be to the Father.
Because up until now you've asked nothing in my name.
Now they're going to ask the Father. For good things. Who is delighted to give good things to them that ask him? They're going to ask the Father for the reality of the Holy Spirit that the Father is delighted to give to them, not only in the reality of Pentecost, but in the ongoing experience of their Christian pilgrimage. On the basis of all that Jesus is.
You will ask In His name. And he says, I want to encourage you. Ask. And you will receive. That your joy Maybe full.
I need to say by way of conclusion, Just one thing. And it is this. that there is an interpretive question in all that we've been discussing this morning. I say discussing the thought that there is something of a dialogue going on between us. The great dialogue, of course, is what's going on between God the Holy Spirit and each of us.
The way in which I've unfolded this text Is Understanding that what Jesus is expressly addressing here is the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. In a little while, You will be signed. In another little while, you will be happy. Their sorrow will be turned into joy. on the basis that they see the risen Jesus.
That's the way I've chosen to approach it. I've chosen not to front-load it with the question that I want to give to you now. Not that we can unpack it, but in order that you might know and can think these things through. Because apparently you're sensible people, and so you can study the Bible. and uh ask for God's help.
Many Many commentators Tackle this section in the way that I have tackled it, but not all do. And some of the folks that don't are biggies. If that's okay. You say, how big? Calvin.
Augustine? J C Ryle. They say, no, what Jesus is not talking about here, he's not talking about Easter, he's talking about the Paraceae. He's talking about the day when he returns. That is when your joy will be full.
That is when all that will take place.
Well, of course, that is perfectly true. But is that what he's talking about here? Would I even dare to have a different view from Augustine? Yeah. Yeah.
It's just a different interpretation. The truth is the truth. The meaning is the meaning. The interpretation is what we fiddle with. No, I get it.
I say I'm now convinced. that we have to set them in opposition to one another. Easter is not the return of Jesus. There's no collapsing of Easter into the return. It's not as if the return of Jesus denudes Easter of its significance.
No, it is Easter that gives impetus. To the return of Jesus. It is Easter that gives rise to the ascension, which gives rise then to the return. Easter is a historical reality. It opens the door.
Because it is true. As Paul says at the end of 1 Corinthians 13, now we see through a glass darkly. But then Face to face.
Well, that's what the disciples Experienced. You're gone, I'm gone, you'll weep and lament. But when you see me, Face to face. That was then. This is now.
What do we anticipate? That we too will see him face to face. Then I shall know fully.
So that Augustine and Calvin and Ryle and Don Carson and all the others, we will then be able to sit together, have a cup of tea or whatever else it is, and finally find out who was right on John 16, 16 to 24. Then I shall fully know. even as I have been fully known. Because, as he goes on to say, in fact, by the time he gets to the end of chapter 16, he says, in the world you will have tribulation. But I have overcome the world.
Jesus is absolutely right. In that day. You.
Well Rejoice. What a great prospect. Listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg. Here at Truth for Life, we want everyone to hear Jesus' message of hope.
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Monday we'll learn why our failures are never final with God. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
