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[0:00] Morning. We'll have to remember at this table behind me this morning. Last week, we wrapped up John chapter 15, which naturally brings us to John 16.

[0:19] Don't know exactly how far we're going to get in John 16 this morning. I hope to get through the first seven verses.

[0:29] Don't know if we'll make it that far or not. But to recap on John 15, because it's kind of imperative that we do so, because the first several verses of John 16 are closely tied to what we covered last week in John 15.

[0:47] I told you in John 15 last week that verses 18 through the end of the chapter, John 15 was a very good scripture to use, in particularly for evangelism, what to expect when evangelizing and so on.

[1:06] And this, what we read here in John 16, is closely tied to that. All that being said, all of it's tied together, because this is all part of what the Bible readers and theologians and people on those lines refer to as the farewell discourse of Jesus Christ to his disciples.

[1:30] So it all begins at the very end of John chapter 13 and kind of culminates at the end of John 17, at the end of the great high and priestly prayer of Jesus Christ.

[1:43] These are the instructions and this is the exhortation, the encouragement and warnings that Jesus Christ is giving his disciples all through these chapters we've been covering for the past several weeks again, beginning at the very end of John chapter 13.

[2:01] So we're over chapter wise, we're over halfway through the farewell discourse of Jesus Christ chapter wise.

[2:12] We've got two more chapters, chapter 16 and 17, but in chapter 15, we know this chapter began with Christ saying, I'm the true vine.

[2:22] And telling his disciples that they must abide in him, by extension we must abide in him if we're going to produce fruit. And that fruit production is how God has glorified.

[2:35] We read about all this and talked about all this through John chapter 15. In John 15, Jesus Christ, he gives instructions to his disciples, he gives them encouragement, he tells them in John 15, 13, one of my favorite verses, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

[2:56] And Christ, if you'll remember in John 13, this all began with Christ explaining that he was going to lay down his life, not that he hadn't done so before over the three years leading up to this.

[3:08] But he was explaining it in more detail now and giving them more detailed instruction and more encouragement because this is the eve of the death of Jesus Christ.

[3:19] It's the eve of his arrest and his crucifixion. And so the time, it's imperative that he gets these things, that he conveys these things, I should say, to his disciples.

[3:33] And last week again, we covered what to expect in evangelism and Christ was telling them in the last passage there of John 15, what they could expect, that people were going to hate him.

[3:46] And folks, that ain't changed in 2,000 years. People still hate the followers of Jesus Christ. The world hates the followers of Jesus Christ. We might get along with some of them.

[3:57] We might be friends with some of them. They might be in our families. They may live in our households. They might be a spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever the case is. But nevertheless, the world cannot stand Christ, cannot stand the Bible, cannot stand Christianity.

[4:14] I'm talking about true Christianity. And therefore, they cannot stand the disciples of Jesus Christ. And that's kind of where we left off last week, which is a somber note to leave off on.

[4:30] But that's what Christ was again, conveyed to his disciples. So all that being said, John 16, beginning with verse one, he says, these things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended.

[4:44] So in Christ's words here, he's saying, I'm telling you these things. Now, not just what we covered last week or last week in the week before, but beginning with the very first parts in John 13 of this discourse that Christ is giving.

[5:03] He's saying, these things am I telling you now or have I told you that you won't be offended? Now, this word offended 400 years ago, didn't have the same meaning that it has now.

[5:16] When we think of being offended now, somebody hurt our feelings. That's not necessarily what it means here. The Greek word used here is skandalitso, which means to become a scandal really in its truest form.

[5:31] But it also means to not stumble, to not fall. So that's what Christ is getting at here. When he says, these things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended, that you don't stumble.

[5:44] He's saying, I'm giving you warning that these things are going to happen. There were no ifs, ands, or buts in what Jesus Christ was telling or has been telling his disciples over the past few chapters that we've been in in this farewell discourse of his.

[6:02] There was no room for them to question anything. Jesus Christ was putting everything out there in very plain language and very plain black and white. And one of the things that he put out there was that the world would hate the disciples of Jesus Christ.

[6:20] And again, 2000 years later, that has not changed. If you don't believe me, go out to a sidewalk and start preaching Jesus Christ and see how much hatred comes your way.

[6:32] Not everybody's going to be hateful to you. Some people give you a thumbs up. Some people give you a pat on the back. Some people might even bring you a bottle of water or give you some kind of encouragement. But there's all kinds of other things out there the world hates to hear about Jesus Christ.

[6:48] And Jesus said that it would be that way. These things have I spoken unto you. I've told you these things that you should not be offended. Folks, this should give us encouragement.

[6:59] This basically what Christ has been doing with the disciples here. He's been prophesying to them. He's been telling them what the future holds for them.

[7:11] And he's leaving nothing out. He's leaving nothing out or leaving nothing to be questioned by these disciples. And he's done it for, but he's done it for a reason. And that reason is that they should not fall away, that they should not stumble.

[7:25] And folks, we have an entire book from Genesis to Revelation full of prophecies, many of which have already been fulfilled. But folks, we talk about it all the time.

[7:36] We've talked about it's been brought up this morning. Vern brought up about a glad reunion day. One of these days, folks, that's prophetic language and that's prophetic scripture that we have.

[7:48] And that's what we have to look forward to. So Christ here is saying, I've told you these things that you don't fall away. I've told you these things that you don't doubt, that you don't doubt your faith, that you don't doubt me.

[8:02] These are the reasons I've told you all of these things. And folks, we encourage ourselves with the Word of God in the same manner.

[8:12] The words that Jesus Christ was speaking to the disciples here, he being God in the flesh, these were the words of God.

[8:22] And we have the entire Word of God here and we need to encourage ourselves in the same manner. Not necessarily that we're going to suffer.

[8:33] We don't encourage ourselves that we're going to suffer, although Peter talks about that. Peter says we should rejoice in our sufferings that were suffering as Christ did.

[8:44] You find several verses like that throughout the New Testament. But folks, we can encourage ourselves because Christ has promised to walk with us.

[8:55] Christ has promised to be with us, that's this comforter that we've been reading about here throughout the past chapter. So that we've been in, that's the comforter we're going to read in this chapter here.

[9:07] Remember, Christ said, if I go away, I will pray the Father and He will send another comforter. Christ was the comforter at this time for the disciples.

[9:17] But he said, I must go away, but if I go away, I will pray the Father and He will send another comforter. And we have that comforter.

[9:27] But remember, not long after Jesus said that, He said, I will not leave you alone. I will come to you. In the form of the Holy Spirit, Christ comes to us.

[9:41] Y'all have heard me say it over and over again. You cannot separate the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. So if the Spirit is with us, Christ is with us. The Son is with us. If the Son is with us, the Father is with us.

[9:53] You cannot separate those three. It is an impossibility. And I'm telling you these things just as Christ told the disciples this morning. To encourage you.

[10:04] To encourage you. When persecution comes your way, and it will. Christ promised it. Christ promised it. Y'all heard, I've heard it last week, what Paul wrote to Timothy, that all of them that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

[10:18] It shall happen. Not may suffer persecution. Not might. Not it could happen. They shall suffer persecution.

[10:29] And I also said last week, we have not seen persecution. And our neck of the woods and our part of the world, like other parts of the world, have seen. They're not kicking in our doors and taking our Bibles and all this stuff yet.

[10:44] Yet. But it is coming. These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. Verse two, they shall put you out of the synagogues.

[10:56] Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. My goodness, what kind of encouragement is this? You know what it meant to be put out of the synagogue?

[11:09] And we see that happen. We see that happen in the Bible. With the first century church. We see them being put out of the synagogue. We see them being ridiculed.

[11:20] We see them being persecuted. We see all these things going on. But what kind of encouragement is this? They shall put you out of the synagogues. Folks, on the surface, it's not encouraging at all.

[11:35] It's not encouraging at all. If somebody had told me the day that I got saved, let's just say five minutes before I got saved. If someone had brought up persecution to me, if somebody had brought up rejection of my friends, that some of my friends were going to turn their backs on me, that some of my family might hate my guts, things along those lines, I would have second guessed if I even wanted to do that or not.

[11:58] When the time came, five minutes later. If that would have happened. But folks, these disciples have been across for three years at this point. We haven't even got to this part of the scripture yet, but Jesus tells them here in the next couple of verses, He says, you know, these things I didn't tell you at the beginning.

[12:18] But He says here, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Do you know what that meant? That meant they were cut off. They were cut off from really in their mind any type of spiritual blessing, because all they had to go by was the Old Testament.

[12:35] And within the group of Jews there in the synagogue, where the Torah was read, where the prayers were made, not to say that they couldn't pray in their own homes, or whatever the case was, but they were ostracized.

[12:48] But not only were they ostracized as far as the religious aspect of Judaism goes, they were ostracized socially as well. Because if you were put out of the synagogue, no one wanted anything to do with you.

[13:03] He says, you'll be put out of the synagogues. He says, they shall put you out of the synagogues. And again, there's no room here for questioning.

[13:14] He says, they shall do this. They will do this. And we actually see this in the book of Acts. It happens. This type of persecution that Jesus Christ is bringing up here, though, here.

[13:27] He says, yea, the time cometh. Again, no room for questioning here. The time cometh. It is coming. It is coming.

[13:37] Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And again, we see this in the book of Acts. You take Saul Tarsus as a prime example.

[13:51] What did Saul do? You read in Acts chapter 8 that he was consenting to the death of Stephen. Stephen, the one that preached a scathing sermon, but a very true sermon, to the religious folks there.

[14:05] And they got mad because he told them the truth. And they took him out. They took him out of the city, not the synagogue, but either way, they put him out. And they stoned him. And Saul was consenting to his death in Acts in chapter 8.

[14:18] And then again, in Acts chapter 8, just a couple verses after that, you read that Saul was breathing threatenings to the church, breathing threatenings to those that are following Christ. And in Acts chapter 9, you see Saul of Tarsus.

[14:32] And he's on his way to Damascus to do what? He's gotten letters. He's going to arrest and imprison believers in Jesus Christ.

[14:44] So we see this type of persecution. And why was Saul doing that? Because he thought he was doing God a service. He thought he was keeping the law as God wanted him to keep the law.

[14:58] So we see this very thing happening with one of the greatest examples in scripture, Saul of Tarsus, who later became Paul.

[15:09] Whosoever kills, you will think that he'd do with God a service. It was no different in the Old Testament. No different in the Old Testament, the prophets that came and preached. Read the first couple of chapters of the book of Amos sometime.

[15:22] Read the short sermons that were being preached about the surrounding nations, about the pagan nations. I've used that as an example several times over the years.

[15:35] When Amos is preaching to the pagan nations, I can hear those Jews in my mind yelling at Amos, amen, preach on, brother, preach judgment on those heathens, preach judgment on those pagans, but then it gets to Israel.

[15:53] And he says, for three transgressions and for four of Israel. And I bet you could hear a pin drop when he got to that part because he's pronouncing judgment on his own people, on the Jewish people.

[16:08] But folks, that judgment was coming from God. But they hated Amos for it. They hated Isaiah for it. They hated Ezekiel for it.

[16:19] They hated Jeremiah for it. They hated all the prophets for doing what? For doing what Stephen did. And Acts chapter seven for preaching a truthful and an honest sermon.

[16:30] Acts chapter seven and eight, as a matter of fact. But he says that, who serve will kill if you will think that he doeth God, a service people, many people, especially those within the church world.

[16:47] I won't say those that are saved. But many people in the church world will hate other people in the church world because they think that they're more correct about their theology than someone else's.

[17:02] Now, their salvation is between them and God. But folks, I've heard some ugly things come from not only individuals within churches, but entire churches.

[17:14] In fact, entire denominations. Some will think this, and I'm not talking about just Baptist or just Pentecostal. I mean, you got a figure between denominations and subdenominations.

[17:26] There's 56,000 forms of Christianity in the world today. That was the last count that I had probably about 10 years ago. There might be more subsects of Christianity now.

[17:39] But there's entire groups of people that call themselves Christian, and they think that they're doing God a service that, in my opinion, aren't really Christian at all, and they're not doing God no service.

[17:53] But it's because they think that they are in the right and that they think God is going to approve. And folks, it's not just Christianity. Why do Muslims do what they do? They do it in the name of Allah.

[18:05] Do they not? They think that they're doing their God a service. And it's not just with them. It's with many others that have that mindset.

[18:17] Anyway, verse 3, verse 3, And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me. And he said basically the same thing in the last chapter that we were in, that people will hate us, people will despise us, people will reject us, not because we're special, but because of who we are affiliated with.

[18:42] It's because who we have allegiance with. We have allegiance with Jesus Christ. We identify ourselves with Jesus Christ and as followers of Jesus Christ.

[18:55] And this is the reason that they hate us. But again, y'all heard me say it time and time again. When it's so many times in the Scripture, we have a what and we have a why. The what to this is that they shall put you out of the synagogues and they will.

[19:08] Anybody that kills you will think that they're doing God a service. And the why Christ gives. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.

[19:20] And I said last week and I'll say it again this week. This is the root cause of hatred of Christianity and hatred of Christ is ignorance of God and ignorance of the word of God.

[19:37] Now use that term ignorance in the most literal form that I can. They don't know God. They don't know the word of God. Now many of them might have an intellect about the word of God.

[19:51] They might have knowledge of the word of God like I did before I got saved. I knew a lot about the Bible. I knew a lot about the historical aspect of the Bible and things along those lines.

[20:01] But folks that did not save me. That did not save me. He says these things will they do. They will hate your guts not because you're special or anything along those lines.

[20:14] But because of whom you are affiliated with and because they are ignorant of the one that you are affiliated with these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.

[20:27] These are strong words from Jesus. Where did the disciples go when they first began evangelizing? In the upper room when the spirit was poured out and Peter began preaching who was there.

[20:40] I understand it was a bunch of people from a bunch of different areas that are speaking a bunch of different languages but it was Jews. It was Jews. He says they had not known the Father nor me.

[20:53] It was Jerusalem where they were at. A bunch of Jews around. I'm not saying there wasn't a Gentile here and there. I'm not saying that at all. But it was mainly Jews.

[21:04] And Christ here is saying people will hate you because they have not known the Father. Now by extension you and I, everybody in here, were all Gentiles.

[21:14] But Christ speaking these words to these Jews, he would have been speaking about Jews. Mainly about Jews because they were in Jerusalem when the evangelism began.

[21:26] It's a sad, sad, sad statement but it is no different nowadays. Somebody that is brought up in a house with parents that love God and a child goes out and they don't want anything to do with God.

[21:40] They don't want anything to do with the Bible. Although they've been raised in that their entire lives. They want nothing to do with it. And that's a sad, sad statement. And it's nothing to do with the parents if they've raised those children right.

[21:54] It's nothing to do with them at all if they've raised them in church. They've raised them with the Scripture. If they've raised them with praying. If they've participated in intercessory prayer on behalf of their child.

[22:06] They've done all these things. It has nothing to do with the parents. They've done all they can. Folks, that just shows us that each person is responsible for their own sin.

[22:21] God addresses that three different times in the Book of Ezekiel because God so many times in the past had judged Israel as a nation. But in the Book of Ezekiel, God lays it out very plain in black and white and says, no, each man's sin shall be upon his own head.

[22:40] Because these Jews, they had the mindset, well, I might sin, but it's not going to come directly at me if I do. My punishment won't come directly at me. It'll come to everybody. It'll be dispersed evenly.

[22:51] That way it won't affect me as bad. God says everybody's sin will be upon their own head. These things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.

[23:01] Those Jews back in Ezekiel's time were exactly in the exact same boat. They did not know the Father. The Jews during Moses' time.

[23:12] What was their issue? What was the issue when God implemented the sacrifices and all that we read about in Leviticus and in Exodus and in Deuteronomy and in Numbers and all these other places, not institutes these sacrifices, they started depending upon the ritual.

[23:32] They started depending on the going to the tabernacle and the bringing of a sacrifice. They were not focused on God. And the very first of those sacrifices, the burnt offering was for sin and it was to bring people into a right relationship with God.

[23:52] All the rest of those offerings were because of a relationship with God in one way, shape, form, or fashion. But they were concentrating more upon the ritual, upon the religion, upon the doing, much like the church is today, much like the church is today.

[24:12] And folks, people were like that because they don't know the Father nor do they know Christ. That's a sad, sad state with the availability of the Word of God and the availability of preaching and all these other things.

[24:29] The availability of people expounding upon the Word of God and explaining the Word of God. There is no excuse really for anyone in the world now to not know God and to not know Christ.

[24:44] Verse four, but these things have I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you.

[24:59] These things have I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. Again, Christ here encouraging his disciples, encouraging these 11 that he was gathered with saying, I'm telling you these things, I'm telling you future events that are going to happen to help you to help you folks when trials come our way.

[25:25] Who's the first person we want to blame? God. We want to look at God and we want to say God. I've gone to Sunday morning service. God I've gone to Sunday evening service.

[25:35] I've gone to Wednesday service. I've been to every revival. I've helped in Bible school. I've cooked meals. I've closed naked people. I've done this and I've done that. Why are you doing this to me?

[25:47] Because when trials come our way, it is not a sign that God has abandoned us. Those trials are meant to refine our faith.

[25:57] The trials are meant to fortify our faith. And that's what Christ is saying here when he says these things have I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. What good are they going to do for these disciples to say when they're being killed, when they're being dragged through the streets, when they're being thrown in jail and all these other things are happening, what good will it do them to say, well, Christ told me about this.

[26:24] The same good that it will do you and I to remember that Christ warned them and he has warned us with the same thing. The same good that it will do.

[26:34] What good is that? That Christ is God and that Christ is omnipotent and that Christ is omniscient. He is all powerful and he is all knowing and Christ has said, low with you all way.

[26:49] Even to the end, the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And if Christ has promised that he will be with us, regardless of the trial that comes our way, it is not a sign that God has tossed us to the side or threw us out in the weeds and left us for dead.

[27:07] It is meant to fortify and to encourage us. It is meant, as I said before, to refine our faith in him.

[27:18] That's why it's important to remember that Christ warned us of these things to happen. It's not to discourage us from serving Christ.

[27:30] It's to encourage us to serve Christ and to do what Christ has commanded us to do in the Scriptures. I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you all of them.

[27:43] And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, as I said before, three years before this, when Christ was going around and he was pointing out the disciples and he was saying, follow me, follow me, follow me.

[27:58] If he had went up to Levi at the receipt of customs and he had said, follow me so that you can be persecuted, follow me so that you can be rejected, follow me that you might be killed at some point in the future.

[28:11] Do you think Levi would have left the booth or the building that he was in and just fell right in behind Jesus Christ and followed him? No he wouldn't have. I didn't tell you these things at the beginning.

[28:24] Why? They needed three years, three years with Christ for him to even get to the point to tell them about these things.

[28:34] Three years with Jesus Christ, they needed for that. Folks, I've been walking with Jesus for a little over 15 years now. Most of you all have been walking with Jesus longer than I have.

[28:46] But I still need that encouragement from Christ. I still need that encouragement from the Word of God. I still need Him to encourage me.

[28:57] I still need Him to guide me and to instruct me and to be the one doing the teaching as I read through His Word. If again, I said it a little while ago, if somebody told me five minutes before I got saved that persecution was going to come, that suffering was going to come, that dissonant that was going to happen to me, I don't know that I would have went through it.

[29:25] I understand salvation is of the Lord. The Lord is salvation. I understand I didn't have anything to do with my salvation. It was God that saved me. The folks would I have repented, would I have truly trusted Christ knowing that these things are going to happen.

[29:41] The morning I got saved, the morning that it happened, I know that I went down a center and I know I came up saved. I know that that happened.

[29:53] Nobody can convince me otherwise. But persecution and rejection of family and friends and the thought of suffering for the cause of Christ was the furthest thing from my mind that morning.

[30:07] And if you're sitting here and you're saved, it was the furthest thing from your mind. You didn't come up off an altar, come up off your bedside or wherever it was that you got saved.

[30:17] You didn't come up off there thinking, okay, where's the nearest cross so that this world can just crucify me? None of us thought that. We learned these things as we go on.

[30:30] This was, it's something that I learned. I didn't understand when I got saved, you know, we won't get into details of my pastor, nothing like that.

[30:41] I used to hang out with a rough crowd. I used to go to some rough places. But when I got saved, I thought, I'm Spencer Bonn, Gardener. I've got this many friends that used to do this with me.

[30:51] Once they see that I got saved, they're going to want to fall right in line with me. That was my thought process. Why? Because the rejection part hadn't been shown to me yet, because it didn't take long.

[31:04] It didn't take long at all. I started telling people what happened. I started telling people I'd met Jesus. I started telling people Jesus Christ had saved my soul. I started singing the praises of God instead of singing about the ungodly stuff that I once sung about in the music that I used to listen to.

[31:22] And all these things happened. And those friends, one by one, were leaving me. They were leaving me. They were looking, falling in line behind Spencer like I thought that they would. That was rejection.

[31:34] Not necessarily persecution. We're talking about persecution here in these scriptures here. But it was rejection. It was rejection. I didn't know about that. I had to learn about that firsthand.

[31:46] But then when I got into the scripture and I got to reading, I learned that Christ had promised those types of things would happen. These things, if I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them.

[31:58] Oops. Again, fulfillment of prophecy is just an encouragement and an affirmation to me that Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is who He says that He is and that I can trust anything that Christ said within the pages of the scripture.

[32:14] Is an encouragement to me that I can trust these things. And these things, I said not under you at the beginning because I was with you. And these, when the disciples were with Christ as they were here, they had a form of a shield.

[32:31] They had a form of comfort. They had a form of protection. But remember the context that we are in here that began the end of John 13, the context is Christ is leaving this world.

[32:47] He says these things, I said not under you at the beginning because I was with you. He was with them right here in this upper room, in this discourse that He is giving.

[33:01] But remember the context is He is leaving. He is leaving. But He does not want them to worry about their. Remember John 14, he says not to let your hearts be troubled.

[33:13] He says you believe in God. Believe also in me. He begins with that. Why? Because their hearts were troubled. Their hearts were troubled at the thought of the Messiah of the world leaving them.

[33:30] And folks it shows that they did not have a complete understanding of everything that was going on. No more than you or I, either one, have a complete understanding of the entire word of God.

[33:42] I'd like to tell you that I do, and I'd be a liar if I did it. I don't have a complete understanding of everything that's in this book. But I understand enough to know that I'm a sinner and that God is a wonderful and powerful and mighty Savior.

[33:57] And that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. And I'm going to cut it off right there. Didn't make it to verse 7, did we? That's alright. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that?

[34:08]  Alright, God bless you all. I appreciate you. Thank you.