Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus is getting ready to leave and he's communicating to his disciples all that he needs them to know before he goes.

So he's washed feet.

He's told them not to let their hearts be troubled.

He's honored Judas, and, by this time, has been betrayed by Judas.

And as he walks with the disciples in the dead of night through the city of Jerusalem, he showed the disciples a grape vine and told them that he is the vine and they are the branches and pleaded with them to remain in him.

And now, his focus is on warning the disciples about the persecution that they will inevitably face because of how the world is about to treat him.

And like we would and do, the disciples begin to grieve as they understand that their beloved teacher is leaving.

But like the disciples, we have a good reason to take heart.

In fact, we have four major reasons to take heart!

Have congregation turn to John 16

Remind them about Q&A

So the disciples are losing heart here becuase they are going to lose Jesus, even though he has already told them that they can expect another advocate in the Holy Spirit who will be with them- who will permanently remain with them.

And this is the first reason that we can take heart:

We can take heart because we have the Holy Spirit!

Knowing you have the Holy Spirit, have you ever thought to yourself, "I wish Jesus were here now"?

Is it better for us to have the Holy Spirit rather than Jesus?

How?

he Holy Spirit gives us our power, our stength, our boldness, our conviction.

Living w/o HS is like trying to take on a German Panzer head on on foot; living w/ HS is like having the most accurate, powerful, and effective air support.

You see over and over again in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is associated with POWER!!!

Without the Holy Spirit, we would not be able to live a Christian life.

And he has far more power than we realize- the very same power that lived in Jesus, enabling his ministry dwells in us, his church.

Through the Spirit, we can pray in Jesus' name.

Through the Spirit, we can make bold audacious requests for healing, for courage, for provision, for stength, for encouragement...

The Holy Spirit assures us that we are children of God.

(Ro.

8:14)

No one but a son wakes up the king for a glass of water...

The Holy Spirit helps us to understand who Jesus is.

The Holy Spirit is not jealous of our worship of Jesus- it brings him joy.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement:

1.

The world's sin becuase it doesn't believe (they stand condemned); our sin because we do believe (we stand redeemed).

2. The world's righteousness becuase for them, the truly righteous one is absent; our righteousness, because the one who is truly righteous has purchased us from our sins.

3. The world's judgement becuase their leader stands judged already and being on his side, they stand judged already; our judgement becuase we stand innocent before the judge because of the work of Jesus.

But that's not the only reason we can take heart...

Did you catch it?

The next reason that we can take heart is because...

We can take heart because the Father loves us!

We don't talk about this a whole lot, but not just Jesus, not just the Holy Spirit, but also God the Father loves us.

The Father HIMSELF loves us.

This is amazing.

Becuase of Jesus' love for us, the Father loves us too.

Becuase Jesus paid it all, the Father loves us.

Jesus earned the love of the Father for us.

Becuase we love and follow Jesus, the Father loves us.

We can take heart becuase the Father loves us.

But that's not the only reason we can take heart!

This is another reason that we can take heart:

We can take heart because Jesus has overcome!

Jesus has overcome the world.

How has Jesus overcome the world?

Suffering.

Victory in the Kingdom of God is attained through suffering.

This is why in Acts 8, when persecution breaks out, the growth of the Church explodes.

But Jesus has overcome the world with his suffering on our behalf.

The Father agreed to let him pay the penalty, the Son went, and the Spirit enabled his perfect ministry.

DO YOU SEE HOW ALL THREE OF THEM WORK TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD?!?

This is not arianism- The Holy Spirit < the Son < the Father.

All are equal in authority and title.

They each serve different functions of what the Godhead desires.

Santa- Arias 325 AD (first eccumenical council).

Insert image from open site about Santa

But Jesus overcomes the world!

And because of that, we can be bold and confident, full of the Holy Spirit!

On our own, we would be cowards, but with Jesus, we are BOLD.

We should declare the truth to the world BOLDLY.

This is why the word παρρησια is a theme of the book of Acts.

It means boldness.

See, you remember what Jesus predicted and what happened after his death- the disciples were timid and meek:

But after Jesus rises from the dead and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, the script is flipped:

Because of what Jesus accomplished, we can not only take heart, but we can also be bold!

We can take heart because the end is already written!

Jesus uses the analogy to talk about how our sorrow will turn to joy of a woman giving birth he says:

This is hilariously true, isn't it?

Anyone who has more than one kid understands there's a process that women go through in deciding whether they want another child, and it's hilariously true that they forget the pain.

So it will be with us for our lives- the glory that awaits us in heaven or when Jesus comes back is worth immesurably more than we can endure here.

Tragedy vs. Comedy

There are tragic arcs within Scripture- the Fall, Samson, Saul, David, etc., but the long arc of the story of God is a comedy.

The story of Scripture is one that moves man from fallenness and bondage to sin to restoration and freedom in Christ.

This is what we have to look forward to.

That no matter what happens, if we live our lives in Christ, and loving him and serving him, joy and celebration await us.

God will dwell with us face to face.

We will get to attend the only funeral full of celebration and joy- death's funeral.

The end is already written, guys.

Spoiler alert: Jesus wins.

And by extension, we win!

All we have to do is hold on to Jesus.

Live life by the power of the Holy Spirit (yield to his will) and be loved by the Father and we will know eternal joy.

If you don't know that joy, or the peace that Scripture talks about, or the hope of expectantly waiting for Jesus to be glorified, or you need prayer for anything, after we do questions and sing, let's talk.

Questions and Answers