Sermon: Temporary Sorrow, Lasting Joy

Well, good morning. Would you turn with me in a copy of God's word to the Gospel according to John in chapter 16 this morning? If you are going to use a pew Bible, you can turn to John 16 on page 902.

Been spending the last number of weeks together in the upper room, Jesus and his disciples. We continue this morning in chapter 16 and beginning at verse 16. Before we hear God's Word read and preached, let's ask the Lord to give His help to us and His blessing upon it. Would you join me as I pray? Our Father in heaven, your word tells us that no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. And so we are so thankful this morning that we have

received the Spirit who is from God so that we might understand what you have freely given to us in the gospel. We ask, O Lord, that as we hear your word read and preached, that your Spirit would give understanding to us, would give us faith to believe this word, and especially faith to trust in Christ. And we do pray, O Lord, that this morning you would, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you would guard us and that you would guard this word as it goes

out, that the enemy would not come to snatch it up from us before it sinks into the depths of our heart. O Lord, would you produce fruit from it. For we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. John chapter 16, beginning in verse 16. Listen carefully, for this is God's Word. "Jesus continued to talk with his disciples and he said to them, 'A little while, and you will see me no longer, and again a little while, and you will see me.'

So some of his disciples said to one another, 'What is this that he says to us? A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me. And because I am going to the Father.' So they were saying, 'What does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about.' Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, 'Is this what you are 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? Truly, truly, 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. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and

your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech,

but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.' His disciples said, 'Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech.

Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God.' Jesus answered them, 'Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.

But take heart; I have overcome the world.'"

Well, for the last number of weeks, we have been with Jesus and his disciples in the upper room, hearing the conversation that they have shared with one another in the final hours of Jesus' life and ministry on Earth. And we're coming to the close, coming to the end of that discourse that Jesus shared with his disciples. If you look just ahead, the discourse that Jesus shares with his disciples ends here. The upper room discourse does not end at chapter

16. It continues through chapter 17. But the discourse that Jesus has is no longer with the disciples, but with the Father. And so here are the last things that Jesus is telling his disciples before he goes out to be betrayed, to be crucified

And He tells us here what awaits Him. And He tells us in this passage all that this will mean for them.

As the time is nearing, Jesus tells Him what awaits Him, and that's what our passage begins with. We see the disciples confused about what is Jesus talking about? What does He mean by, "You will not see me in a little while, and then again, you will see me." Jesus is explaining to his disciples what awaits Him, what is yet to come in His work of redemption, in His ministry. And it seems, in this passage, that Jesus has not

one event on His mind, but multiple events, several events. So verses 19 through 22, and then at the end of our passage, in verse 32, what Jesus says there seems to make sense of Jesus's death and His resurrection. But then in verse 28, He seems to be talking about His ascension, going to the Father in glory, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which He's already talked to the disciples about many times throughout the upper room.

Jesus seems to have multiple events on His mind, all that is yet to come for Him in the plan of redemption. So as Jesus anticipates these events, all that's to come, what He's also focused on is preparing His disciples, preparing them for what all of this will mean for them. What does it mean for them that they won't see Him, and then they will? Well, in part, Jesus is telling his disciples that what this means for you

is that you will have sorrow, you'll have tribulation. As we were reminded last week, you will be hated in the world. That's some of what this will mean for you, all that awaits me, and what it will mean for you. But what Jesus seems to emphasize in this passage is not the hardships of what it means for them, but the blessings. The blessings of what all that awaits Him means for them. These are blessings that will come to them by virtue of

what Christ will do for them when He leaves them. And these are blessings that come from Him and through Him and are found in Him. Blessings that these disciples, and us, are able to enjoy and experience in our lifetime, not just in Heaven, but even now while Jesus is away. And so these blessings that Jesus informs us about, tells us that we can find in Him, these blessings are promised to us with the purpose of filling us

with comfort, with courage, as we face what is yet to come in our lifetime. And so this morning, what I want to do is I want to show you three blessings from John 16 that believers in Christ have to experience and enjoy in Him even while they remain in the world. Three blessings that we may enjoy as believers in Christ, finding them in Christ even now as we remain in the world and wait for the consummation. The three blessings are joy, love,

and peace. Joy, love, and peace. That first blessing that we have in Christ that's produced in us is joy. See this in verses 16 through 24. The joy that Jesus is speaking of here in these verses is much deeper, it's much richer, it's much more full than a feeling of happiness. A feeling of happiness which can come one moment and leave the next. This is a joy that Jesus is speaking about that springs from the heart and can be filled to fullness.

Now, we have to know, where does this joy come from? We need to be clear about that. And Jesus tells us, "It comes from me, in me, through me." And especially from His death and His resurrection. All that the death and resurrection of Christ will accomplish for us. It's just hours at this point, as Jesus is talking with his disciples, that He will be leaving them. He says to his disciples, "A little while and you will not see me."

One of the simplest ways that I've heard people try to explain death to a little child is to say, "We won't see Grandpa anymore." What does it mean that Grandpa died? We won't see him anymore. And Jesus says something similar here, "A little while and you will not see me." It reminds us when Jesus says this, that when He was crucified, He really died. It didn't just seem like Jesus was dead, He was truly dead. There was no pulse.

He was buried in a tomb. The disciples did not see Him. And just as it is for us when we lose a loved one, the emotions that fill us up and come out of us are sorrow and lament, weeping perhaps. So it would be for Jesus' disciples, and rightly so, because Jesus was their teacher, their Lord, their friend, the Messiah that they had hoped in and put their trust in,

and now they would not see Him any longer. But Jesus here tells us there's not just one reaction to the crucifixion of Christ, there's actually two. There's two different reactions to the crucifixion. If you show up to Spartan Stadium this fall, you will find in that stadium, on any given Saturday, two completely different reactions to the same play. Depending on the outcome, there will be two vastly different reactions. For some, there will be elation and

joy, and for others, there will be disappointment and frustration. And the same crucifixion that caused the disciples to weep caused the unbelieving world to rejoice.

Once again, we're reminded in John and from the scriptures that there is a world of a difference between the Church and the world. There's a huge difference between believers and unbelievers, and the difference is in what one thinks of Jesus. Whether one trusts in Him, believes in Him, believes that He is the Christ or not. That is the key difference, what you make of Jesus. Maybe you've heard a past theologian speak of Jesus

and ask the question: Who is Jesus to you? Is He a liar? Is He a lunatic? Or is He your Lord?

We might say, is Jesus a stumbling block to you? A stumbling block for your faith, a stumbling block for your life. Or is Jesus the cornerstone of your life, of your faith? Two vastly different responses to the same event in Jesus' crucifixion. And Jesus, in our passage, makes a heartening promise to those who believe in Him. He says, "Yes, you will have sorrow about the crucifixion, but it will not last. Your sorrow will turn into joy,

just like a mother's anguish turns into joy when the laboring is done and a child has been delivered into the world." Now, I've had, I guess what you could call the privilege. Sometimes I don't always know if it's quite a privilege to watch your wife in such anguish. I've had the experience, we can at least put it that way, of seeing Sarah, standing alongside of her, trying to help her through four times of anguish when our children were ready to enter the world.

Now, there's this discrepancy here, but for the four times that I've seen the anguish, I've only seen that anguish turn into joy three times, at least in the immediate aftermath, and I'm not going to go into that now. You can ask me later if you want.

One of the most remarkable things about being in that delivery room was to see tears of anguish give way almost immediately to tears of joy.

The very first pictures that we have, Sarah and I have, with our newborns, taken just minutes after delivery, our faces, Sarah's face is not marked with anguish, but with joy, smiles

from one moment to the next. And Jesus is using this analogy, this perfect analogy, to describe the experience that his disciples will have when Jesus would be raised from the dead. Jesus would not stay dead. On the third day, He would rise in glory and in power, and He tells his disciples, "In a little while, I will see you again, and you will rejoice." Their sorrow turned into joy

Now, Jesus is making a point here, I think, about chronology, timing. Now sorrow, then joy. It's a pattern which we see described throughout scriptures of Jesus' life and even our life as believers. So first, Jesus' humiliation, then exaltation. First the cross, then glory.

For us, we might say now light momentary afflictions, then the eternal weight of glory. A then and a now. But I think Jesus is making another point about the disciples' joy by choosing this particular analogy. In choosing this analogy, I think Jesus is viewing his death and his resurrection as one event, not two. So more like two halves in the same game, rather than two different games altogether. Or you might say two parts in the same event rather than two

separate events. Here's what I mean. After the resurrection, the disciples would view the crucifixion differently than they did at first. In light of the resurrection, Jesus' crucifixion isn't defeat, but victory. And in light of the resurrection, Jesus's death for the disciples is not bad news, but good news, a reason not for sorrow, but for joy. And isn't that how we think of the cross even now?

We'll sing about the cross often, and the feelings and the emotions, the affections that we feel in our hearts springing forth from us are not sorrow, but joy because of all that the cross means and proven to mean through the resurrection. God's wrath is satisfied. Sin and Satan are defeated. Amen. The world and death are conquered. Amen. And access to God, the Father, has been opened to us.

So no longer, as the disciples would reflect upon the crucifixion after the resurrection, no longer would it be a source of sorrow, but a source of joy, much like a woman views childbirth after the delivery, after the child has been born.

Psalm 126 says, "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." And isn't that the case for us believers in Christ? Amen. The Lord has done great things for us. Amen. And we can be filled with joy. The source of Christian joy is Jesus.

And because He is our source of joy, our joy cannot be taken from us because Christ can't be taken from us. We have Him and our joy is secure,

cannot be taken away, and this joy that we find in Christ is a joy that is lacking nothing, because in Christ, nothing is lacking.

And so Jesus here doesn't mean to dismiss our sorrows, the sorrows that we may experience in this life, but what He wants you to know, what He wants you to believe, is that in Him and from Him comes surpassing joy. Surpassing joy that can be enjoyed even now and will most certainly continue into eternity. So that's the first blessing we find in Christ. The second is love, love of God the Father. And I wonder this morning, dear friends, if

any of you wonder whether or not God the Father loves you.

Maybe some of you get anxious just hearing that question expressed out loud. Could the Father not love me? If the answer is, "No, He doesn't love me," I don't know what I would do. Perhaps some of you think this morning that what Jesus is doing in Heaven right now is sitting at the Father's right hand, not ruling and reigning and interceding for you, but what Jesus is having to do at the Father's right hand right now is

persuade the Father to love you, convince Him that He should love you.

Listen to what John Owen observed about Christians as they thought about the love of God the Father. He says, "How few of the saints are experimentally acquainted." That means personally acquainted,

practically acquainted. It's real. It's not theoretical. "How few of the saints are experimentally acquainted with this privilege of holding immediate communion with the Father in love? With what anxious, doubtful thoughts do they look upon Him?" What fears, what questionings are there of His goodwill and kindness? At the best, many may think there is no sweetness in the Father at all towards us, but except for what is purchased at the high price of the blood of

Jesus. It is true, the blood of Jesus alone is the way of communication, but the free fountain and spring of it all is in the bosom of the Father. Friends, if you are unsure whether God the Father loves you, would you let what Jesus tells you in verse 27 sink deeply into your heart and fill you up this morning? Jesus says, "The Father himself loves you." And He loves you not because Jesus is sitting at the right hand,

twisting the Father's arm to convince Him to love you.

John Owen says, "It is the high price of the blood of Jesus, that alone is the way of communication." But where does it come from? What is the source? Where is the head of the fountain that leads Jesus to come to Earth and to give his life for you? It is in the heart of the Father.

What that means is Jesus didn't die to convince God the Father to love you. What it means is that God the Father sent the Son for you and to die for you because He loves you, because He loved you. This is what Jesus brings us into. He brings us into the love of God the Father, and this love cannot be compared to the amount of water that's in the shallow kiddie pool in your backyard. The love of God is to be compared to a vast,

deep ocean of water.

Would you look with me at John 17? Look ahead with me. Verses 24 and 26. Jesus says in these verses that the Father has loved the Son since before the foundation of the world, from eternity past, and He says in verse 26 that the Son came into the world so that the love with which the Father loves the Son, an everlasting love, may be in them.

Who is the them in 17:26?

Who is it? It's not the unbelieving world. It is you, believer in Christ. The same love which the Father has for the Son may be in you. He loves you, child of God, as He does His very own only and only begotten Son, and this love that the Father has for the Son and the Father has for you is a love that is never changing, it's never increasing, it's never decreasing. This is a love that has no beginning and a love that has no end.

Jesus brings us into the love of the Father, and this ought to establish our joy, it ought to banish doubt and our fears and our anxieties, our questions,

and it also ought to cast out our fear. Do you see and did you notice what the practical duty or the practical response to this good news is?

Jesus tells us that we ought to pray because the Father loves us, to pray like children because we are His beloved children. Ask boldly, ask in faith, ask in Jesus' name, and keep asking. Jesus has brought us into communion and fellowship and love that He shares with the Father, and it ought to lead us to pray, to make us want to pray.

So this morning, Jesus wants you to know without a shadow of a doubt that the Father loves you as He does His own Son, and that just as the Son has unrestricted access to the Father, so you in Him have unrestricted access to God the Father. That's the second blessing. Joy, love, third is peace. The blessing of peace. What are the first returns, the early returns to all that Jesus has said to His disciples? Well, we see

that they have some confidence, some new confidence, but it seems to be mingled with self-confidence. They've misjudged the hour, the hour that Jesus was speaking about in verse 25. They thought that when Jesus says, "The hour is coming when I will no longer talk to you in figures of speech," they thought, "This hour is here," in verse 29. "You're not speaking in figures of speech anymore. You're speaking plainly to us."

But that hour that Jesus was speaking about when he would speak plainly to them about the Father, that hour would only come after the hour of his trial, of his death, and his resurrection. That hour is not yet. And so sadly, Jesus has to inform his disciples again that this time of testing will reveal that their faith, their understanding, is yet lacking.

They will be scattered, each to their own home. They will desert Jesus and leave him alone in the hour of his greatest trial.

I want you to notice how long Jesus thinks about that fact, that the disciples will desert him and leave him. He does not think about it long. He does not dwell long on their absence. Instead, what you see Jesus doing is finding hope, drawing encouragement, finding peace in the reality as he says in verse 32, "I am not alone, for the Father is with me."

Brothers and sisters, if it is true what Jesus has said and what I've said this morning, that the Father loves you as he does his own Son, then here is yet another source of encouragement and refreshment and comfort to you this morning.

Even when Jesus is going to be deserted by all of his earthly friends, the Father is with him. He has not abandoned the Son. And so will he abandon you? He will not.

Sometimes we sing, "Even when friends may fail me and foes assail me, he will be with me to the end, saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end."

And God the Father is with us to the end, and so this is a great solid ground for peace. You are not alone.

It is so simple. It is so simple to console children, to reassure children. When an evening thunderstorm, powerful thunderstorm, begins to roll through,

make the trees blow in the wind, and the lightning and loud crashes of thunder, they begin to be scared. So simple to bring peace to them. All that you need to say, all that they need to know is this: "Daddy's here. Mama's with you. You're not alone. You can rest easy."

And that's the case for us with Jesus. Jesus is honest. He does not promise no tribulation, no trial, no persecution, no hatred. Jesus does not promise that your family won't fail you, that your friends won't desert you. But he does promise that even then, even in the raging storm, you may have peace in him. One of my favorite verses to share with friends and family is Isaiah 26, verses three and four. It says, "You keep him

in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock." Dear friends, your peace does not come through peaceful circumstances. Your peace comes from, through, in the Prince of Peace. He is a solid rock. He is trustworthy, and that's what Jesus wants you to fix your mind on, your hope in. "Yes, you will have tribulation, but in me, you may have peace."

So along with all this, Jesus finally gives one more reason that we may have peace in Christ, and it's the last statement he makes in all of his discourse with the disciples. See it at the very end. "I have overcome the world." I have overcome the world. What an incredible statement.

Yes, they may throw their worst at you. I have overcome them. And you notice that Jesus does not declare his victory that he has overcome the world after his resurrection, but before his crucifixion. I have overcome the world. When Jesus goes to the cross, he goes as a victor, as a conqueror, having already conquered the world over all the enemies of the Gospel. And this declaration of victory, of conquering, is a declaration that is completed but has ongoing

effects. It's a once for all act that has ongoing effects even now into the present, and so Jesus has conquered. He's overcome the world. And so Jesus says very plainly and simply, "Take heart. Be of good cheer. Fresh courage take. Find peace in me."

After all Jesus has said to his disciples, preparing them for what he will endure and all that it means for them, Jesus leaves his disciples with the blessings, the blessings that can be found in him even in the midst of trial, even in the midst of our circumstances. He gives us, assures us that in him we may find peace and love and joy. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your Son. We thank you that you have sent him into the world,

and that you sent him into the world to be a conqueror, to conquer our enemies of sin and death and Satan. Thank you that you sent him in the world to be our reconciliation, that he would restore peace with you, our God, that we might be the recipients of your love. We pray, oh Lord, that this word which has gone out would bear fruit in our lives, in our hearts, and I ask that you would do this by the power of your Spirit, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.