Sermon Tone Analysis

vv 1-4) Persecution

[1] The disciples probably cherished the hope of the hope of the Jewish people generally- that the Messiah would set up His kingdom and that the power of Rome would be broken.

Instead of that, Jesus told them that He was going to die, rise again, and go back to heaven.

The Holy Spirit would come, and the disciples would go out as witnesses for Christ.

They would be hated and persecuted.

Jesus told them all this in advance so that they would not be disillusioned and to keep them from “falling away.”

What do you think Jesus means by saying “to keep you from falling away” or “stumbling?”

“To keep you from falling away” is the greek word skandalethron.

It was not a stumbling-block which might trip you up… it is used of the spring of a trap which might go off when you least expect it.

[2] Jesus warned His disciples of the coming opposition because He did not want them to be surprised and fall away because of it.

I also find it important that Jesus didn’t expect them to immediately leave the synagogues either, or leave them by their own choice.

Because of Jesus they would be forced to leave.

At the time when the Gospel was written these words had acquired a special relevance from the inclusion in the synagogue prayers of a curse on the Nazarenes, which was intended to ensure that the followers of Jesus could take no part in the service.

Excommunication from the synagogues was considered by most Jews to be one of the worst things that could happen to a person.

But this would happen to the Jewish believers.

The Christian faith would be so hated that those who sought to stamp it out would think that they were please God, like Saul of Tarsus (Acts 8:1-3, 22:3-5, 26:9-11).

This shows how a person may be very sincere, very zealous for the things of God, and yet very wrong.

In the 20th Century most Christian martyrs were victims of the atheistic, communist state.

Historically, this was unusual.

Through most of history, most Christian martyrs were targets of those from other religions or even sects within Christendom.

The world Jesus uses for service is “lateria,” which is the normal word for the service that a priest rendered at the alter in the Temple of God and is the standard word for religious service.

How are we to avoid the monotonous drudgery of religion?

[3] Ultimately failure to recognize the deity of Christ lay at the root of the matter.

The Jews would not receive Him, and in so doing they refused to receive the Father.

[4] Jesus warned the disciples in advance so they would not be moved by these afflictions when they happened.

They would remember that the Lord had predicted persecution; they would know that it was all part of His plan for their lives.

Jesus had not told them much about this earlier because He was with them.

For there was no need to trouble them or to cause their minds to wander from the other things He had to teach them.

But now that He was leaving them, He must tell them of the path that lay ahead for them.

I believe that is one of the reasons God often remains silent in our prayers of, “what is going on God?”

He doesn’t want to distract from the lessons at hand.

It is quite shocking that our glorious gospel is hated so passionately.

Why is the Gospel hated so?

vv 5-7) Benefits of Jesus’ departure

[5] Peter had asked this question earlier:

and Thomas asked a similar question:

Therefore Jesus must mean not only the words of the question, but the heart of it.

Their previous asking was in the sense, what will happen to us when You leave, not in the sense Jesus meant here- what will happen to You when You leave.

Peter was diverted immediately and he made no real attempt to find out where Jesus was going He had been concerned with the though of parting with Jesus, not with that of the Master’s destination.

He had in mind only the consequences for himself and his fellows.

[6] The disciples were more concerned with their own future than with His.

Before Him lay the cross and the grave.

Before them lay persecution in their service for Christ.

They were filled with sorrow over their own troubles rather than over His.

Jesus excused their lack of interest in His fate, knowing their great sorrow.

They had sorrow at the moment, but their future was brighter.

The disciples could only see the sorrow of Jesus leaving; but Jesus’ departure was an essential step in their growth.

[7] Nevertheless, they would not be left without help and comfort.

Christ would send the Holy Spirit to be their Helper.

It would be to their advantage to have that Helper come.

How though?

When a loved one is near death we often think it is the best to let death take its course.

We say, “It will be better for them to go, and to stop the suffering.

it is to their advantage to go away.”

But when someone we love is near death, we usually don’t think that it is to our advantage that they go.

Yet Jesus here said that it wasn’t for His advantage, but for theirs.

To your advantage that Jesus is arrested?

To your advantage that Jesus’ ministry of teaching and miracles is stopped?

To your advantage that Jesus is beaten?

To your advantage that Jesus is mocked?

To your advantage that Jesus is sentenced for execution?

To your advantage that Jesus is nailed to a cross?

To your advantage that Jesus dies in the company of notorious criminals?

To your advantage that His lifeless body is laid in a cold grave?

It was better because Jesus could be with every believer all the time:

A promise that could not be fulfilled this side of the cross.

It was better because now we can understand Jesus better.

It was better because now we can have a more trusting relationship with God.

God wants us to walk by faith, and not by sight, and if Jesus were here bodily, there would be great temptation to walk by sight, and not by faith.

It was better because Jesus’ work is better understood as He is enthroned in heaven.

He would empower them, give them courage, teach them, and make Christ more real to them than He had ever been before.

The Helper would not come until Jesus went back to heaven and was glorified.

Of course the Holy Spirit had been in the world before this, but He was coming in a new way- to convict the world and to minister to the redeemed.

vv 8-11) The Holy Spirit’s work in the world

[8] The Holy Spirit would convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement.

This is generally taken to mean that He creates an inward awareness of these things in the life of the individual sinner.

While this is true, it is not exactly the teaching in this portion.

The Holy Spirit condemns the world by the very fact that He is here.

He should not be here, because the Lord Jesus should be here, because Jesus should be here, reigning over the world.

But the world rejected Him and He went back to heaven.

The Holy Spirit is here in place of a rejected Christ, and this demonstrates the world’s guilt.

[9] The Spirit convicts the world of the sin of failing to believe on Christ.

He was worthy of belief.

There was nothing about Him that made it impossible for men to believe on Him.

But they refused.

And the Holy Spirit’s presence in the world is witness to their crime.

In the great awakening of 1860-61 in Great Britain, a high-ranking army officer described the conviction of sin in his Scottish town:

“Those of you who are ease heave little conception of how terrifying a sight it is when the Holy Spirit is pleased to open a man’s eyes to see the real state of heart.

Men who were thought to be, and who thought themselves to be good, religious people… have been led to search into the foundation upon which they were resting, and have found all rotten, that they were self-satisfied, resting on their own goodness, and not upon Christ.

Many turned from open sin to lives of holiness, some weeping for joy for sins forgiven.”

- J. Edwin Orr

[10] the Savior claimed to be righteous, but men said He had a demon.

God spoke the final word. he said, in effect, “My Son is righteous, and I will prove it by raising Him from the dead and taking Him back to heaven.”

The Holy Spirit witnesses to the fact that Christ was right and the world was wrong.

[11] The presence of the Holy Spirit also convicts the world of coming judgement.

The fact that He is here means that the devil has already been condemned at the cross and that all who refuse the Savior will share in his awful judgement in a day yet future.

The world, the prince of it, is “judged.”

To adhere to it rather than Christ is to cling to a doomed cause, a sinking ship.

vv 12-15) The Holy Spirit’s work in the disciples

[12] There were still many other things the Lord had to tell the disciples, but they could not take them in.