John 16:1. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
That you should not be scandalized when you are put to suffering on any account that you should not dread the offence of the cross, and turn aside because of it. How considerate our Master is! It seems as if he might be angry at us if he suspected that we could be offended by anything that he did or suffered, or that we had to suffer for him; but he knows the weakness of our flesh, and, therefore, he speaks with so much elabouration of comfort.
John 16:2-4. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.
When you meet with rebuke, and slander, and jesting, and jeering against you for Christ's sake, he has told you of them.
«Temptation or pain he has told you no less;
The heirs of salvation, you know from his word,
Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.»
John 16:4. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
While they had his presence, he was like a wall of fire round about them. They did not want to be protected then from dangers not come. And the Lord has not told us yet some of the things which he will reveal to us by and by, because the trial has not come. You feel as if you could not die at peace just now. You dread death. You shall have dying grace in dying moments. Do not be questioning yourself as to whether you have got dying grace now. You do not want it yet. You shall have it when the time comes.
John 16:5-6. But now I go my way to him that sent me: and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
It often happens, that if we were to inquire a little more into the sorrow, it would vanish. They did not ask him why he went away. They fretted because he was going. Now he tells them where he was going.
John 16:7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
It is a better thing for us in this world to have the Holy Spirit in us than to have the corporeal presence of Christ with us. We are better helped by the Holy Spirit than we should have been if Jesus had remained on earth.
John 16:8-12. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me: Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.
Partly because their sorrow incapacitated them for hearing any more; partly because their spiritual infancy did not permit them as yet to learn the deeper doctrines which are rather meat for men than milk for babes. O you that are teachers of others, imitate the prudence of Jesus. Do not teach people too much at once. Do not try to make a little child understand all that an advanced and experienced saint knows. Say, as your Master did, «I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.»
John 16:13-14. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me:
Now that is a sure mark of the Holy Spirit. If there be any spirit. which does not glorify Christ, it is not the Holy Spirit; it is not the Comforter. If you hear any doctrine which detracts from the dignity of Christ's nature, from the glory of Christ's person, from the perfection and the necessity of Christ's sacrifice, you may depend upon it that it is not the doctrine of God. Reject it at once. It may poison you. It cannot build you up. «He shall glorify me.»
John 16:14-15. For he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
The things of the Father are Christ's. We learn them as Christ's. The Spirit brings them to us as Christ's, and so Christ is glorified, and we are comforted.
John 16:16-19. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? We cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him.
And that is a very sweet thing. Sometimes we are afraid to pray; sometimes we feel as if we could not bring ourselves to the prayer. But it is so sweet. «Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him.» There is the essence of prayer in the desire to pray. There is really a request which Jesus Christ can read in the heart that longs to make a request and scarcely dares do it.
John 16:19-20. And said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Not merely shall your sorrow be taken away, but it shall be transformed. As the alchemist thought that he turned baser metal into gold, so in very truth by a heavenly alchemy does Christ turn the sorrow of his people not in this case only, but in many others, into joy.
John 16:21-24. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.
They had asked so little that it came to nothing, and they had not yet learned the art of using his name in prayer; and a great many Christians have not learned it yet. Often they say, and they say very properly, «for Jesus Christ's, sake.» That is good, but there is something better than to ask in his name. Suppose a person calls at any door and asks me to relieve him, out of love to some friend of mine. That is very well; but suppose he says, «I come from that friend of yours, and he told me to use his name, and to put whatever you did for me to his account. Why, that is a stronger plea altogether. Happy are they who know how to use the name, the authority, the claims, the rights of Jesus as an argument with which to back their prayers.
John 16:24. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
You have got some joy, but there is room for more. Brethren, has your joy ever been full yet? Full? Could not you be more joyous? Oh! there have been times with some of us when we could not be more joyous than we were. We have asked, and we have received, and we have been so glad, that we hardly knew how to live under the blessed delirium of gladness. We have seemed to be carried away with an intense delight because God has heard our prayers. «That your joy may be full.»
John 16:25. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs:
In short, parabolic sentences.
John 16:25-27. But the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father A t that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
That is a very precious truth. While Jesus does pray the Father for us, yet we are not to look upon that as if Christ's prayer made the Father love us. No. Not only is it not Christ's prayer that makes the Father love us. It is not even Christ's death that makes the Father love us. Often do we repeat that verse:
«Twas not to make the Father's love
Towards his people flame,
That Jesus, from the realms above,
On the kind errand came.
‘Twas not the pangs that he endured,
Nor all the woes he bore,
That God's eternal love procured,
For God was love before.»
It is an exposition and display of the Father's love; and the prayer of Christ, though blessedly useful, does not make the Father love us, or willing to grant the request. «For the Father himself loveth you.» Notice the blessed condescension of Christ that he should mention his people's virtues. He says to these men that had been with him, who really do not seem as if they had loved him very much, and certainly were not very strong in faith, but were often in such a state of unbelief that he had to say, «Where is your faith?» Yet he says, «The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.»
John 16:28-31. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
Are you at this moment full of faith? Do not trust yourselves. Do not begin to glory in the strength of your faith.
John 16:32. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
Oh! you that say you believe tonight, beware lest tomorrow you should be scattered in unbelief and fear. Whatever faith we have is God's giving, and if it remain with us, it will be because God keeps it there. But there is not one among us that has any faith to spare. We do not know but that the very hour is come, even now, that will try us and make us ask whether we have any faith at all.
John 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.
There is a blessed word of good cheer for us, everyone!