"Security Blanket" John 16:1-15- 03-26-2017

We are constantly reminded of the love of the Lord Jesus. We remember He loves us in that we are participates in His great salvation. To know we abide in Christ should fill everyone with the joy that we are safe and secure in Him. There are many ways the Lord has embellished His love upon us, He even shows us His love during times of persecution. Last week I read to you an article about the persecuted church in Egypt, how Christians who are being killed for their faith almost daily, millions of Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus. There is something powerful about that kind of testimony. When a suicide bomber goes into a building to blow it up, they are not doing it so others may know Allah, they are doing it for self, when a person dies for the cause of Christ, it is so that God would be glorified and others may know, there is something to this. In Tom Doyle’s book entitled “killing Christians,” he makes a note of how the church grows when she is pressed with persecution. “Oppressors over the centuries have never recognized that the persecution of Christians is always a failed initiative. It just doesn’t work. To the contrary, killing believers routinely accelerates the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church.” “Why,” you might ask, “because the Holy Spirit is in it, because God is in it, because God has given His church the message that can shake the gates of hell, disrupt sin, and march through history as victors. The spoils to the victors aren’t found in material goods, it isn’t found in the items we get here and now, but for people the world over to see the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus and submit to Him as Lord…that’s the reward.

I want to show you something significant surrounding the structure of these particular passages before us.

I want to present to you a secretary blanket of sorts, more like a security bed. So let’s dig in and look at this nice package of passages before us.

It is important for us to back up a little, because part of this message and blanket will reach back into the end of chapter 15. We already know that Jesus was, and is, giving His disciples this promise because there is sure persecution coming their way. As the world hated Him and persecuted Him, so will they do to you, but Jesus said, “I will not leave you alone as comfortless orphans.” The first portion of this blanket is this… I am going to preach these verses a little differently, not in content but in form. I want to lay out what I see as a bed of security and look at the verses separately. The top of this the blanket is the enablement by the Holy Spirit. Vs. 26-27..”you will bear witness of me.

1. The Holy Spirit will come and enable us to stand and speak out for Jesus. He will empower His people to bear witness of the Lord Jesus, and will protect them as well. Look at these verses: Joh 15:26 "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. Joh 15:27  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. When the chapters and verse were inserted into the Bible by Archbishop Stephen Langton and Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro, we are thankful for chapters and verses, it helps us to remember portions of text, but sometimes can get in the way of a holistic/canonical reading of the Bible. This is such a case. Right in the middle of this is you and I as the believer. These verses demonstrate, even in the construction of the word of before us, how God has wrapped us in.

The second portion of this security bed is where you and I fit in and function in this world. The purpose of sending the Spirit is laid out for those that are called by Him. We are in the middle of a great work that God wants to do in the world through His son and aided with the power of the Holy Spirit. Here we are in the middle of this security bed. Joh 16:1  "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. Joh 16:2  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. Joh 16:3  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. There will come a time when it feels like the world is against you, when it will dispel you from its ranks. For the disciples, it was those that were “religious” that thought they were doing God a favor by seeking to kill Him and His disciples. He says, I am telling you these things,  so that that when you get the urge to disperse to run away, when you feel like you have just had enough of the hostility of the way of the world, know that I am with you…hang in there, don’t lose hope, hold on to Jesus. There might be people in the church, that don’t want you to be around because you don’t wear the right close, religious people that feel as if they are more dignified than you, people that think they are doing the Lord a favor by disassociating with you. This type of “religious zealousness” is more reminiscent of a jihadist than a God follower. The Lord sends the Holy Spirit to keep us keeping on…maybe the words of the Lord Jesus, maybe some just don’t even know the Lord.

We are promised by the Lord Jesus, He will give us the words to say when we don’t know what to say. He will help us to speak about Jesus. If you are here today, and you know you know the Lord Jesus, He wants you to tell people, but you might feel inadequate to speak. Good! Just know this, none of us deserve to speak about Him, but He can and will give you boldness to speak more openly about His salvation. You know this security bed can be seen in two ways. There are other things in our lives that bring us comfort and tuck us in. See, the blanket we find in the Lord Jesus is not one that protects for persecution, there is no promise in God’s Word that He will keep us from persecution and trails, but the security He gives us is in the fact that we are not alone.

Before I got married, I don’t think I ever had a comforter on my bed. Most of my life, I had a fitted sheet, maybe a sheet and a blanket. When I got married, my bed was made with or course all of those items, but now with a mattress guard/ cover, a comforter, tons of pillows, and now…even one of those memory foam deals. Talk about a good sleep. Before this I slept well, but didn’t have all of the other items to enhance my rest. When you rest is in Christ Jesus, you rest well, I am not talking about sleep, I’m talking about confidence and security, when all of our hope rests in Christ, the rest will work out for His glory. Before Christ, I never knew what true hope was, I never knew what it meant to have confidence in God, I only saw God as some cosmic magician that once and a while I could call on Him if I wanted something, but now I know He is the only one who I can have true rest. Jesus talking to His disciples said, Mat_11:28  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  There might be a time when you don’t understand everything, those days will come. Jesus’ words ring true, Joh 16:4  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. Joh 16:5  But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Joh 16:6  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Jesus gets to the heart of the problem, and something we should all remember, “they do not know Him or the Father.” He reminds them to keep in mind these things when you are chased abroad and dispersed because of my name sake. It was a natural thing for the disciples to be filled with sorrow, for there were yet to understand the weight of the resurrection of their master and Lord. When the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world of sin: Joh 16:7  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.  This promises is fulfilled in the second chapter of Acts. To recap on the work of the Holy Helper, I advise you to listen to the sermon “The Holy Helper.”

Joh 16:8  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: Joh 16:9  concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; The Holy Spirit will convict sin, shows it is wrong and that we are sinful and I need of saving.

Joh 16:10  concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; Joh 16:11  concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Joh 16:12  "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

Here is the last portion of this bed of security, much more than a security blanket, and not meant to shield from persecution and hard times. This simply illustrates how we are wrapped in power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord will judge based upon the work of the Son. The ruler of this world has been destroyed, he is as good as crushed in the eyes of the Lord. In the eyes of the Lord, the head of the serpent has been crushed, when Jesus stepped out of the tomb He stomped the head of the devil when he broke over the threshold. Jesus said He has many more things to tell them and they were unable to bear it now. Enter the world of the Holy Spirit once again…

1. The Holy Spirit will give you certainty of absolute truth, foreshadow the truth of things to come, and declare to you His will for you. Joh 16:13 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. Joh 16:14  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you .Joh 16:15  All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Here is the bottom portion of this bed of security. This is how the Lord works in the lives of believers. He gives us assurance when all the rest of the world thinks we are out of our mind. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will give us certainty. In an age of uncertainty, the Spirit makes us unshakable. The Spirit will not say, look at me, but look at Jesus. He will affirm the Word of the Lord as absolutely true. This is our Lord’s last expansion of the great promise of the Comforter. First, He was spoken of simply as dwelling in Christ’s disciples and guiding them. Then, He will aid as He has promised, to remind the apostles of the facts of Christ’s life, especially of His words, His life and His resurrection.

I had the privilege of sitting down with a dear saint of the Lord this past week. We begin, in short, to discuss the sovereignty of the Lord, and why hardships, sickness and adversity come our way. He said to me, I think that our situations in life, sickness, disease and old age is God’s way of reminding us that there are better days coming. Trials and tribulations are used by God to show something is better for the believer. One cannot claim this attitude without the aid of God. Since we are prone to complain, one does not comes to grips with this life and its troubles easily without the comfort and aid of God almighty. There is security in knowing Jesus and the Helper gives us that peace and help. It is an amazing this to see this laid out in such a simple way, that even the sentence structure of these verses shows that God will never leave us, but has us wrapped up in him.