The Helper Will Come
John 15:26-16:15,
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. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 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. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going 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. 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 go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
This morning we continue our walk through this amazing farewell discourse that Jesus has with his disciples. In just a matter of hours, Jesus will be betrayed, falsely accused, tortured, abandoned, and crucified. But before all these things take place, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is to come. He wants them to be ready. And so the big question of our text this morning is…What does Jesus say to prepare his disciples?
If we were to summarize Jesus’s message to them in a sentence, I think it would be this: Hard times are ahead, but the Helper will come.
So following that main idea, this sermon will have two parts: first, we will cover the hard times that are ahead for the disciples and what that means for us… and then we will spend the rest of our time considering that second part… the Helper to come.
Part one: hard times are ahead.
Part two: The Helper will come.
1. Hard times are ahead.
Last week we studied the end of John 15 where Jesus tells his disciples that the world will hate them because they hated him. And now Jesus tells his disciples how that hatred from the world will play out in their lives.
First, in John 16:2, Jesus says,
“they will put you out of the synagogues.”
This means they will be outcasts among their Jewish kinsmen. They will be scorned and shamed for the sake of being associated with Jesus.
And second, they will be killed for their faith in him. Again in verse 2, he says,
“Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.”
We read in Acts 12 that the Apostle James was killed by the sword. And though we can’t be certain about the details, it is believed that all of the apostles, except perhaps John, were killed for their faith. Why does Jesus tell them these things?
Jesus gives two reasons here.
First, in John 16:1, he says,
“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away…”
And then again, in verse 4,
“I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”
Jesus wants his followers to faithfully endure the hard times when they come.
The Lord only knows what trials are before each of us… But Scripture makes clear that all followers of Christ will face persecution of some form or another…
2 Timothy 3:12,
“all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
And in Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas say to the disciples,
“through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God”
I’ve heard it said that everyone is either in a hard time, coming out of a hard time, or about to go into a hard time. And whether it’s overt persecution, or some other trial of various sorts, Jesus wants you to be ready to endure!
So how do we endure the hard times?
We remember his words. In verse 4, Jesus says,
“I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”
What a gift this book is to us! That we can read the words of Jesus to us! That we can cherish and store God’s thoughts and God’s words in our hearts! So that we can remember his words to us when the hard times come!
When our son Daniel was just a few months old, he went through what the experts call a “sleep regression.” I didn’t know what this was before becoming a dad… but it’s essentially when your baby starts sleeping well through the night and then one day decides, “that’s not my thing anymore.”
And I remember several nights being so angry at our baby as he would get us up or not go back to sleep. And… he’s just a baby, doing what babies do!
And one morning I read these words from Psalm 119,
“I remember your name in the night O LORD, and keep your law.”
And this verse hit me like a truck… I was not remembering the LORD in the night as I was angry with our helpless baby. And so I committed it to memory. And oh how precious has that verse been to me during the rough nights! And while my nighttime frustrations have still not completely vanished… I now have a weapon for that fight.
Our Cities Church Leader Affirmation of Faith has such a helpful paragraph about this … In Article 11 titled ‘Living God’s Word by Meditation and Prayer’ it says this,
“We believe that faith is awakened and sustained by God’s Spirit through His Word and prayer. The good fight of faith is fought mainly by meditating on the Scriptures and praying that God would apply them to our souls…”
We can remember the story of Charles Spurgeon from last week… who was comforted in his depression as he applied the word of God to his soul… That’s the Christian life! It is a daily fight of faith! And our weapons are the Word of God and prayer.
So… When a tempting image pops up on your phone:
“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and give me life in your ways!” (Ps. 119:37).
Or when a tension arises in your marriage or with your kids:
“Put on then as God’s chosen ones holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…” (Col. 3:12).
Or when that wave of anxiety or depression sets in:
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you…” (Isa. 26:3)
As I mention scripture memory, don’t hear this as simply another burden to add or a box to check in the Christian life, but consider this question:
Am I making good use of the treasure of God’s word? For he has given this gift to us that we may remember his words in the hard times.
God has given us his word, and he has also given us His Spirit. And this leads us into part two of the sermon, which is where we will spend the rest of our time. In part one, Jesus tells his disciples of the hard times that are ahead, and now part 2…
2. The Helper will come.
Jesus tells them that the Helper will come.Look with me, starting at the second half of verse 4. Jesus says,
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going 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. 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 go, I will send him to you.
Surely this was the most pressing hard time for the disciples, because their Master was leaving. And Jesus says “it is to your advantage that I go away.”We can imagine the disciples saying, “how is it possibly better for you to leave us?!”
The answer is the Holy Spirit.
As Pastor Jonathan told us a few weeks ago from John 14, the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus in our lives. While Jesus is God who dwells with us… the Holy Spirit is God who dwells inside us believers! What a gift He is to us! God dwelling in us! Christ dwelling with us by His Spirit!
He is the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Lord and giver of life, who eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son and is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son and who spoke through the prophets.
That’s who the Holy Spirit is. And in this most anxious hour for the disciples, amazingly, Jesus comforts them with this promise of the Holy Spirit.
We’ve looked briefly at who the Holy Spirit is, and in the rest of our time we will look at two things the Holy Spirit does…or the work of the Holy Spirit.
Kevin DeYoung gives this great image to describe the Spirit. He says “the Holy Spirit is a spotlight.” He shines a spotlight on sin, and He shines a spotlight on Christ. So that’s how we’ll approach the rest of our text.
The Holy Spirit shines a spotlight on sin.
Look at verses 8-11,
8 “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
Jesus says the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment. What does he mean here?
The Holy Spirit convicts concerning sin. This is fairly straightforward: To not believe in Jesus is to reject God Himself and thus not believing in Jesus is at the root of all sin.
What about verse 10? Jesus says, the Holy Spirit convicts “concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father.” As Jesus goes to the Father, The Holy Spirit will make plain that the world has committed the greatest act of unrighteousness of all time by murdering Jesus, the Righteous One.
And lastly, verse 11, he will convict “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” 1 John 3:8 tells us that the “reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” And on that last day Jesus will do that finally and climactically as He casts Satan, his minions, and all who follow him into hell.
I have been praying that the Holy Spirit would do his convicting work in this sermon. If you do not believe in Jesus this morning I pray that the Holy Spirit would make the realities of sin, righteousness, and judgment plain to you: That you are a sinner in desperate need of salvation and that apart from Christ you will die in your sins and be separated from God in hell forever.
And if you are a Christian, my prayer is that we would have a fresh gratitude for the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Because it is good when the Holy Spirit shines a light on our sin. And when he does, he also shines a light on our Savior.
The Holy Spirit shines a spotlight on Christ.
Look with me at verses 12-15,
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Like any good teacher, Jesus knows the capacity of his students… I have plans to teach my son many things: how to read his bible, how to drive a car… We’ll get there, but right now it’s Don’t throw your food. Don’t hit other kids in the face!
Jesus has taught his disciples many things and as he ascends back to the Father, the Holy Spirit descends to continue that work of teaching in his disciples and “to guide them into all the truth.” What does it mean that the Spirit will guide them into all the truth?
First, this means the Spirit will guide them to understand the teachings of Christ. He will cause them to remember his teachings, and to understand them fully after Jesus is raised from the dead.
And second, the Spirit will guide them to the Teacher himself… He is the Spirit of Truth who will guide them to the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Look again at verse 14, Jesus says,
“He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
The main job of the Holy Spirit is to point to another. To glorify another.To shine a spotlight on Jesus Himself.
Theologian Fred Sanders says that studying the Holy Spirit can be slippery, meaning, when we try to focus in on just the Holy Spirit, we find ourselves inevitably being pointed back to Jesus. Because his job is to glorify Him!
Sanders says this,
“…even when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see and understand his work, what he primarily directs our attention to is not himself but Jesus Christ.”
So when we consider the work of the Holy Spirit: He is a spotlight shining a light on sin and shining a light on Jesus himself.
What does this mean for us today?
If you are here and you’re not a follower of Jesus… Scripture speaks of those who resist the Holy Spirit. I would urge you today… don’t do that. Let the Holy Spirit shine a light on your sin and let him guide you to Jesus.
Jesus who lived the perfect life that we all owe to God and who died on the cross as a substitute for his people. And who rose on the third day conquering sin and death for all who trust him. Believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved. Commit yourself to Him, and receive the Holy Spirit into your life!
And if you are a follower of Christ, the end of chapter 15 says that the Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ, and He empowers us to do the same. This is what we see in the book of Acts…
Disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they boldly bear witness to Jesus. They can’t stop talking about Him! And as we seek to be welcoming witnesses as a church, as we seek to invite others into this joy of knowing Jesus with us, oh how we need the Holy Spirit’s help!
And amazingly, in Luke 11 Jesus says,
“if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Let’s do that as a church! Let’s ask for more of the Holy Spirit. More of his fruit in our lives, that we may be powerful witnesses to Christ in our homes, workplaces, and everywhere else we go. For the glory of Christ and our great joy in Him!
