John 17:1-5

Click here for the John 17:1-5 PODCAST 

1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. ~ John 17:1-5

The Lord Jesus had left the Upper Room with His disciples and had passed through the vineyards that surrounded Jerusalem. While in the vineyard, under the brightness of the Passover moon, He applied the teaching that He had given to the disciples when, "he looked toward heaven and prayed."  

Preceding the darkness of agony on His cross, the Lord Jesus displays His dependency upon the Father by praying. In this chapter-long prayer, the Lord Jesus prays He may be glorified (v.1-5), His disciples may be protected and sanctified (v.6-19), and the church may be unified (v.20-26). 

In today's text, John 17:1-5, the Lord Jesus prays twice to be glorified, in two different ways, and for two different reasons. First, He asks to be glorified in and by the means of the cross. This is what He means by the words. "The hour has come." 

The word "glorified" means the pronounced value of God's presence and all that He is. He is praying by means of the cross something that is hidden to the world will be manifested. Given that the Father had given Him "authority over all people," He has the right to rule over all the nations of the earth. The application of this will come by means of the cross where love was displayed at its best. And, according to Luke 12:37, He will rule by serving. 

In addition, the Lord Jesus prays "that he might give eternal life to all those the Father has given him."  In v.3, eternal life is defined as "knowing God." Eternal life is experienced in a personal relationship with God who is the most exciting Being ever. There is no one greater than He. When we walk with Him, every day becomes an adventure. He is innovative, imaginative, and creative. That is the eternal life that we all long for deep in our souls. And, the Lord Jesus gives this life to all who come to and interact with Him.

Some people think eternal life is a set of beliefs, as if believing the right thing is the life the Lord Jesus offers. Some think eternal life is a set of actions: a routine of attending church or Bible study or prayer or service or whatever. They put a lot of weight in doing the right things. They are disciplined and pure and proud of it. But this is not eternal life. It is morality. Eternal life and morality are not one in the same. Eternal life is the life that is experienced when we interact with God. It is in context and way that He imparts Himself to those who seek Him.

Then the Lord Jesus prays, in v.5, "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." Before He came to earth He was not the Redeemer, He was the Creator, the One behind the mysteries of nature, the One who invented all the marvels of the universe. Having provided salvation for mankind, now, the Lord Jesus prays to go home to the Father. 

The word glory depicts God's presence. The Lord Jesus is praying that He will be back in the unimpeded presence of the Father. The oneness that He implored the disciples to seek with Him is the oneness with the Father that He so desires. He is praying for that which defined Him for eternity, He is asking for oneness with the Father.

If God is leading you, click here to help BYM

John 16:29-33

Click here for the JOHN 16:29-33 PODCAST

29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:29-33

The Lord Jesus is in the middle of preparing His disciples for life without Him present physically. He is developing in His disciples a faith that is realistic. A faith that recognizes the value of its boundaries and weaknesses. A faith that makes room for their own mistakes and failures. A faith that is growing in authenticity as it grows in dependence upon the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus wants for His followers a heart that believes. He wants us to know the development of our faith, our heart's ability to see Him, despite the fact that He is physically absent in our lives. He knows we will not get to this place over night. Like Peter, forging ahead with a naive sense of conquering the world will not help in this process. The Lord Jesus wants us to believe, to be humble, and to learn His economy in a world that constantly screams to the contrary. 

In v.29-30 the disciples make an interesting observation ... “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

Like us, the disciples think they have finally put all the pieces together. The disciples, like us, actually will never totally get it right this side of heaven. This is the first time that they even claim to “get it.” The problem is they think uncertainty is bad and certainty is good. This is what makes our faith shallow. It is not the coddling of our faith that makes it grow, but the stretching of our faith faith that garners a deeper walk in the kingdom of God. 

The disciples had concluded that the Lord Jesus had come from God. This has been one of the key ideas that has come up throughout the entire gospel of John. Over and over again, the Lord Jesus is saying He is “from God.” 

In v.31, the Lord Jesus is saying, "You think you know the truth. You have it in your head, but you have not yet got it in your heart. Within an hour, Peter, you are going to be slashing away with your sword in contradistinction to everything I have taught you, and all the rest of you are going to run for home and hide behind locked doors while I am facing my trial all alone. That is how dependable you are." 

The final word of the Lord Jesus is found in v.33, which reads, "But take heart! I have overcome the world." Out of weakness is strength put on display. Out of mistakes and failure, He has a way of correcting our mistakes, directing our brokenness, and bringing His will to pass in and through our lives. 

The Lord Jesus has to shatter faulty theology in order for our understanding of Him to develop. This process is hard and humbling. When He seems to leave our world to return to the Father, just as He said he would, we are not be so secure in our knowledge and belief.

Our text contains the last interaction between Jesus and his disciples before He faces the cross. This is His goodbye to the disciples. In the next chapter, we will see Jesus praying for His disciples and we will get a fascinating look at His value system for His followers.

It was hard for the disciples to say goodbye to the Lord Jesus, this person for whom they had left everything. And, they found it very difficult to believe in Him when they did not have Him physically present with them. But, His absence was a must for them to be trained to look for Him with their hearts.

This process hurts, but it does not hurt forever. Hope is birthed knowing that there will be great moments of joy to remind us of this truth. The Lord Jesus is most focused on His followers spiritual experience of faith, which is an understanding of who He is based on the clear revelation of the Scripture. His invitation for His follower to learn to trust Him no matter what happens is extended every moment of every day.

John 16:23-28

Click here for the JOHN 16:23-28 PODCAST

23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” ~ John 16:23-28


In context, the Lord Jesus is preparing the disciples to continue in the faith despite His impending absence. The process which leads to joy is through prayer. And, despite our hardships and pain, prayer is evidence that we have received the DNA of God, the Holy Spirit. 

The key in today's text is in the phrase, "in my name" which means, asking in accordance with the Lord Jesus' will, in His merit and in His authority. To ask in anyone's name means to ask as though we were that person. This means we are to ask for what Jesus would want, what He is after, and not for our own desires. It was Mother Teresa who said, "Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts."

Prayer is not a means by which we get God to do what we want. Prayer is a means by which God does through us what He wants, and it is a very necessary part of the process that we pray. Most believe prayer is the means of getting God to do what we want, but prayer is a way of aligning our wills with the will of God. Soren Kierkegaard once said, "Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays." It would be quite arrogant of us to raise our will above God's.

Prayer enables believers to converse with God and thus make sense of our pain. In our text, the Lord Jesus describes our relationship with God through prayer. He uses two different Greek words translated “ask.” The first one has to do with asking questions. The second has to do with making requests.

In v.23, the Lord Jesus says, "In that day you will no longer ask me anything." Then He says, "Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." The Lord Jesus is describing two kinds of asking. 

In v.23, He says, "In that day (in the day when the Spirit comes) you will no longer ask me anything. Due to the work accomplished on the cross of the Lord Jesus, we can go straight to the Father. Our curiosity and our lack of understanding is settled by coming to the Father, because we now have access to Him and can converse with Him.

He goes on to say in v.24, "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." The disciples had not asked the Father in the Lord Jesus' name, that is in His merit and in His authority. The Lord Jesus earned this privilege for the believer by paying the penalty of our sin on the cross. As a result, our joy would be made full. There's that theme again ... fullness. But this time it is His joy made full in those once empty. The thing that once gave the disciples sorrow will be turned into joy.

The world's way of dealing with its pain is to change the circumstance, but to no avail. But God has a process by which when we bring our struggles to Him, He uses our struggles to deliver His joy in our lives. 

In v.25-27, we read, "25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

To this point, the disciples were not aware of the unique relationship the Lord Jesus had with the Father. He had a dependence upon the Father, a trust of the Father, and a fellowship and communion with the Father which they knew nothing about. They had relied upon Jesus to obtain for them privilege and favor with the Father. But now, they can access the Father themselves, directly, because He bridged the gap that separated them from the Father through His cross.

The believer in the Lord Jesus has been granted the perfect position before the Father and has access to Him not because we behaved well enough, but because we believe that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross purchased that perfect standing before Him. 

Many believe that if they live a good enough life, God will give them a wink and overlook that which separates them from Him. They forget Romans 6:23 which reads, "the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Then, when life doesn't turn out the way they think it should, they say, "Why should this happen to me? "It's not fair, Lord! Here I've been doing good for you, and this is the way you treat me! It's not fair!" 

This is the worst kind of theology. Quid pro quo with God. But nowhere in the Scriptures do we read that His acceptance of us is based on our goodness. No, we can not be good enough to pay for our own sinfulness. God does not love us on the basis of how we behave, He loves us because we believe that His Son earned our standing before Him. As a result, as the Lord Jesus reminds us in v.26-27, we have a direct relationship with the Father, because He sees us through the perfect lens of His perfect Son.

Click here to help BYM

John 16:16-22

Click for the JOHN 16:16-22 PODCAST
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” 17 At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” 19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.  ~ John 16:16-22

In the previous section, John 16:5-15, the Lord Jesus told His disciples the Holy Spirit would lead them into all the truth about Him. In the same way, the Holy Spirit leads all believers to see the Lord Jesus. In today's text, we find out what we'll see when we get there.

It is no wonder that we find the disciples struggling with the fact the Lord Jesus is about to leave them and to go back to the Father in heaven. They're afraid to question Him concerning all of the ramifications of this because they're afraid of the answers. 

The biggest questions we have in life revolve around our relationship with the Lord Jesus,  questions such as, "Is He real?" "Is He really in my life?", "Can I trust Him?", "Will He leave me?" Like the disciples, we have buried such questions deeply, because we're afraid of the answers.

The Lord Jesus is preparing His disciples to experience Him when He is no longer with them physically. His response not only helped them follow Him, but it also helps us in our pursuit of Him. 

Note the seven time repeated phrase, “a little while." Whatever sorrow we encounter in this world is temporary, and the joy that replaces it will be forever. This is the bottom line to our existence in this world. Permanent joy will follow temporary pain. 

In v.16, we read, "I am going away and you will see me no more, a little while and you will see me no more?" The crucifixion and the resurrection both give the best context to all of life's experiences. The joy of the resurrection mixed with the marks of crucifixion introduces us to a different dimension of living. Our problem is that we do not understand these things. Our perspective and understanding is so myopic and narrow. However, God sees all. This is why we struggle with the revelation of the Scriptures which find it culmination in Him. He is the whole point of the Scriptures and this life for us. And, the Scriptures are not wrong. Our own limited understanding is the problem. 

In v.20-22, the words "weep", "mourn", "grieve", "grief", "pain" and "anguish"" appear. Each time one of these words are used, it is contrasted with joy. The point? Not seeing the Lord Jesus causes sorrow; seeing the Lord Jesus causes joy.

In the economy of God, our faith informed grief expects a substantive outcome. Biblical theology prepares us to deal with the darkness while anticipating the coming of the light. The Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples to be apart from Him without knowing all the details of His absence. We know He’s coming back, the Scriptures promise such. But, like the disciples, we don’t have all of the details about His absence. And, instead of giving us more information about the temporary, God spends most of His time teaching the nature of biblical faith.

Temporarily, pain and sorrow temporarily wins. But, in the end, life wins by providing meaning through our pain. We don’t grieve without purpose and hope. Our sorrow is a temporary state. In v.20 we read, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”

This is the last conversation the Lord Jesus will have with His disciples before His crucifixion and resurrection. He begins by describing their emotional experience of being without Him. Then, He tells them how their relationship with Him will change when He leaves.

In v.20, we read, "You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." Our sorrow actually becomes the very thing that causes us joy. Our greatest pain, sorrow, or tragedy is where God wants to demonstrate Himself to us. He wants to transform those difficulties into sources of joy.

In v.21, the Lord Jesus uses an apt illustration. After the pain of childbirth comes the joy. When the baby is born we see that which caused the pain becomes that which cause the joy. This is the process we believers are engaged in. And, "in a little while" His disciples would no longer see Him with their eyes, however the Holy Spirit would enable them to see Him with their hearts. The same is true for us. Seeing with our hearts is the essence of this faith that He has imparted to our willing hearts.

John 16:12-15

Click here for the JOHN 16:12-15 PODCAST

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” ~ John 16:12-15

The Lord Jesus continues to teach His disciples so close to being crucified. In v.12, He said to them, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear." After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus sent His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and He, the Holy Spirit, would then take over the responsibility to teach every believer until the Lord Jesus returns at the Rapture.

Of course, this teaching would result in the canonization of the New Testament. This is why the Lord Jesus says in v.13, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." The Holy Spirit played a crucial role in God giving us the 66 books of the Bible, and He teaches us as we study it.

The Lord Jesus wanted to tell His disciples more than what He had told them to this point, but He knew the disciples were not ready for more. They were distracted by their distraught condition. As a result, the Spirit will teach them what He wants to tell them, when they're able to hear it. This is one of the many roles of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, to lead us in the truth, to teach us the meaning of His word. 

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, not the believer. Billy Graham once said, “It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge and my job to love.” The Holy Spirit does not convict the believer of sin, because the sin of the believer has been absorbed by the Lord Jesus. In fact, in Psalm 103:12, we are informed that "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." 

Nowhere does the New Testament link conviction of the sin of the believer with the Holy Spirit. The conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit is for the world, not believers. The Spirit leads believers to see the truth, but it has nothing to do with conviction/judgement and guilt. God sees the believer through the lens of His perfect Son who has shared His standing before God with the believer.

According to v.13, the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own initiative. Instead, He speaks what He "hears" and then He speaks. The Lord Jesus ends v.13 with "he will tell you what is yet to come." From the standpoint of eternity, everything in time happens in the instantaneous now. Therefore God knows the outcome already, and He has not made anyone make one decision. Since He knows all that is yet to come, He can say, "he will tell you what is yet to come."

As explained in v.14, the truth that the Holy Spirit hears and teaches has as its purpose the glorification of Christ. The Spirit leads us into "all" the truth by showing us all of who Jesus is to the believer. As a rule of thumb, I always measure a local church by how much the Lord Jesus is lifted up. If the Holy Spirit is more prominent, then beware for the Holy Spirit lives to point all to the Son.

In v.15 the Lord Jesus says, "All that belongs to the Father is mine," speaking of how He  is uniquely related to the Father. When the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus, He shows the Lord Jesus to be uniquely related to the Father. He shows Him to be the Father's beloved Son, and the only way to the Father.  

What follows, once again, are the words the Holy Spirit hears and reveals to the believer. In v.14, the Spirit's purpose is to glorify the Lord Jesus. In v.15, the Spirit's purpose is to demonstrate the Lord Jesus' unique relationship with the Father. The Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus by showing Him to be uniquely related to the Father, to be the only way to the Father.

Thus the Spirit leads the believer. When we think of the Spirit's leading us, or when we ask for his leading, it often concerns circumstantial leading. We speak of the Spirit's leading us to particular people, places or conclusions. And certainly this kind of leading is within the sphere of the Spirit's ministry. He reveals to us the Lord Jesus. He leads us into a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. We ask for guidance, and the Spirit shows us the Lord Jesus. This is the most important guidance we can receive. The Holy Spirit leads us right into the depths of deeper fellowship with the Lord Jesus.

Even in the context of His circumstantial leading, when the Holy Spirit leads us to people, places or conclusions, He leads us to the Lord Jesus. When we face difficult decisions and pray for guidance, he leads us to deeper fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And, when we see how the Spirit has led us circumstantially, we rejoice not so much over the circumstance but for the chance to see, once again, that God is faithful through His Son.


Having the Holy Spirit within is a tremendous advantage for the believer. As we testify to the world about the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit convicts them of their guilt and offers the gift of redemption, taking the pressure off us to be persuasive, eloquent and convincing. In fact, I have never led anyone to faith in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit does that.

To contribute to BYM, click here

John 16:5-11

Click for the JOHN 16:5-11 PODCAST

5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ~ John 16:5-11

According to v.5-6, the disciples were very distraught over the Lord Jesus’ leaving them. They were distraught and in great danger of being distracted by the lesser things in this life. Like us, even our most painful moments are redeemable by God.

According to v.7, the Lord Jesus addresses the disciples' sorrow. It is the Lord Jesus, Himself, not the circumstances of this life, that must navigate us to the fulfilling life He offers. The Lord Jesus is confronting His followers potential disbelief. And, in order to see this, He is convincing them that His departure is to their advantage.

Like those first followers of the Lord, we are never going to be able to truly hear the voice of God or even trust the promises God if we are locked into a myopic focus on our pain. It is not until we see our lives through His eyes that we begin to get it. And, the Holy Sprit's primary responsibility in our lives is to turn our vision to what God wants to do through our circumstances.

Interestingly enough, the Lord Jesus speaks if the Holy Spirit as coming to believers in v.7.  During the course of restoration work on Leonardo da Vinci's painting, The Last Supper, the leader of the project discovered that the face of the Lord Jesus in the painting had been distorted by five hundred years of grime, glue, and plaster. Her work with high-powered microscopes, surgical scalpels, and special solvents has revealed the face of Jesus as Leonardo portrayed it.


This is what the Holy Spirit does for us. Our understanding of the Lord Jesus gets distorted, but the Holy Spirit hones for us our perspective of the Lord Jesus and what He wants to accomplish for us, in us and through us.

Now, in v.8, the Lord Jesus turns our attention to the Spirit’s relationship to the world. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of three things: sin, righteousness and judgment. He convicts the world of what it has (sin), what it doesn't have (righteousness) and the effect of what it does have and doesn't have (judgment).

The word “convict” is a legal term that means to expose guilt. This word is used here specifically in relationship to the world, not to believers. In fact, there is no example in Scripture of the use of this word “convict” with reference to believers. Therefore, the word “convict” doesn’t apply to us, because Christ took our guilt on His cross. 

Believers in the Lord Jesus do not have to prosecute the world. Our responsibility is to tell people what we know about Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes care of the rest. First, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of their sin, because they don't believe in Jesus. They have rejected God. The way to God is faith in Jesus Christ. If they believed in Christ, no conviction regarding sin would be called for, because they would not be guilty of sin. Christ was condemned in place of all believers; he absorbed our guilt. But unbelievers are guilty of sin. The Holy Spirit convicts them of this guilt so that they will receive the forgiveness God offers in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Notice that the word “sin” is singular, not plural. He is putting forth the idea that mankind is innately sinful. The world is guilty before God and separated from Him because sin has separated them from Him. 

The reason he says the world needs to be convicted of sin is that “they do not believe in Me.” Part of what unbelief does is deny sinfulness. The Holy Spirit exposes the sin of the world mainly through our proclamation of the gospel. In our teaching of the truth, and through our relationship with the Lord Jesus.

The Holy Spirit, also, convicts the world of righteousness. If convicting the world of sin is convincing it of something it does have, convicting the world of righteousness is convincing it of something it doesn’t have. Righteousness means right standing before God. 

In addition, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of judgment, “because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” The Lord Jesus speaks of this judgment as having already been done, but it is actually going to happen the next day, when He goes to the cross to defeat Satan once and for all and judge him. His saying it has already happened simply means that it is such a sure thing that He can speak of it as done even beforehand. It’s a very common device in the literature of the day.

Some of the most effective witnesses are those who have gone through painful, trying circumstances. Those who rise above their circumstances understand that God uses every experience for good, that any situation we face is under the authority of a kind, and loving Father. Through life's circumstances, God reveals to us opportunities for impacting people with the gospel. These are often chances we wouldn’t have had apart from those trying circumstances.

I close with a slight take on something Winston Churchill once said: We will fail at being witnesses if we stop and throw stones at all the dogs that bark.

John 16:1-4

Click here for the JOHN 16:1-4 PODCAST

1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you." ~ John 16:1-4

The emphasis in these four verses is on anticipating persecution from the world. Note the usage of the word "will" in these four verses. They say, "Ninety percent of life is how we respond to the ten percent that happens to us." It is not a matter of will these things happen but when. I find it quite interesting that the word for witness is the same as the word for martyr. Perhaps our best witness is being rendered when we are being persecuted or dying to ourselves.

In v.1, the Lord Jesus tells His disciples, "All this I have told you so that you will not fall away." Literally He is saying, "so that you will not be caused to stumble." When the world expresses a measure of hatred toward us, it will cause us to stumble, preventing us from keeping our eyes on what is most important. We are caused to stumble by the world's hatred when we are overwhelmed by it.

The Lord's goal is that we will love those who persecute us. We do this by resisting the flesh and feeding the Holy Spirit who lives in our spirit. He tells us through the Apostle Paul, "All things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purposes." Recently, I asked the Lord, "Why do you put it that way, it sounds as if we are earning the outcome that Romans 8:28 is giving?" The goal of the enemy is to get us to feed the flesh or the evil desires within us. When he gets us to do this, guaranteed corruption will come. The Lord responded to my question about Romans 8:28 by saying, "This is not a conditional promise, all things do work for your good, but if you are not loving me by giving your heart to me, you will not be positioned to see that all things work together for your good."

Recently, I spent the night with some dear friends in Savannah, Georgia. As I laid my head on the pillow that night, I had this tremendous sense of peace, not only outwardly but inwardly. I asked the Lord, "why is this home so peaceful?" The Lord said, "they do not feed the flesh." 

In Galatians 6, we are told when we feed the flesh or the evil desires which remain in us, we invite corruption into our lives. The enemy wants to rob us of the Lord's pronounced presence in our lives by getting us to feed the flesh, and even though He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit til the day of our redemption, His presence and the benefits thereof can be limited to us. This is the cause of stumbling the Lord Jesus is speaking of here.

The Lord Jesus then tells his disciples, "They will put you out of the synagogue." The synagogue had become a special place for these eleven men, for the Lord Jesus had taught them how to approach the Father in that context. Due to the fact that the disciples had so fervently followed the Lord Jesus, they were looked upon as radicals by the common religious folks. Being cast out of a place of worship would be perplexing for anyone.

According to the latter part of v.2, these disciples experienced death at the hands of people who thought they were serving God. They will do this, according to v.3, "because they have not known the Father or me." They do not know God or His way of thinking and behaving. They do not know God's culture. If they did, they wouldn't do these things. If they knew the Father and Jesus, they would understand them to be their friends. They have no idea that fellowship with God is even possible. This should cause us to be compassionate toward them, and not hateful.

In v.4, the Lord Jesus speaks of the time "when their time comes." The Lord Jesus wants us to remember that He warned us about them, what they would do and why they would do it. Life consists largely of remembering what Jesus said. How easily we forget. The hatred of the world, expressing itself in various forms of persecution, is part of the normal life of faith in Him.

I turn your attention to the latter part of v.4. The Lord Jesus tells His disciples that He did not tell them about the world's hatred earlier because He was with them to shelter them from the world's hatred. Now that He will no longer be with them physically, they will feel like direct targets, and they need to know all about hatred.

Finally, He will protect us, as well, through the various stages of our journey of faith in Him, illuminating His word through the Holy Spirit in the right way at the right time so that we can withstand the hatred that comes our way. As a result, we will be armed to love them as He loved us before we came to saving faith in Him.

John 15:26-27

Click here for the JOHN 15:26-27 PODCAST

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. ~ John 15:26-27

In the previous passage, the Lord Jesus teaches us love each other. We will value His teaching, especially when we are being hated by the world. Whatever hatred we face from the world, it is not because of who we are, it is mainly due to their emptiness. It is their emptiness which makes them respond to the Lord Jesus with hatred.

The Lord Jesus warns us about hatred so that we are enabled to identify the deeper issues and have compassion on those who treat us poorly. We do well to recognize the deeper issues behind the poor treatment people levy on us. I do not believe there are excuses for this, but there are often many explanations.

In the first three books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark and Luke, we find the Holy Spirit working in a very similar way to what we see in the Old Testament. It is also clear that just as the Lord Jesus came to fulfill the promises of God, the Holy Spirit is doing much the same. It is not until this fourth Gospel of John that we discover in detail the new way in which the Spirit of God will be training us to receive the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. This life that we are being given is not a place or a thing to be experienced in the future, it is a person to be experienced now.

Now, in v.26, the Lord Jesus informs us the Holy Spirit "will testify about me."  The Holy Spirit is the witness that the Lord Jesus is alive and sovereignly involved in the believer's life. It is the Holy Spirit who lifts the veil from our understanding, enabling us to really know the Lord Jesus. We mustn't be detoured from His ability to show us the Christ and His ways.

In v.27, the Lord Jesus goes on to say, "And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." Clearly, He is referring to the apostles here, but it also applies to us. And, we testify or witness by telling others about what He has done and is doing in our lives. This is the most effective way to witness, by telling others about how He is working in our lives. The end result is to know Him and to make Him known.

As a result, the Christianity that we present to others is fresh and alive. I like what Jim Cymbala has said, "I have since learned that the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ. The greatest Christian is not the one who has achieved the most but rather the one who has received the most." It is at this point that we discover, we do not need to be taught to be His witnesses. No, we do not need a class to be taught the proper procedures to witness. What we need is to be taught by this One who has overcome sin and death and pretentiousness.

Finally, when the Lord Jesus comes into our lives, He shows us how His kingdom is upside-down and inside out. He shows us the value in the undervalued, the overlooked and the underdog. He can handle our honesty. He embraces our cracks and brokenness. And He will love us with an undying love. This is the attractive life. This is the life we all desire. This is eternal life. A personal relationship with "the way, the truth, the life."

John 15:18-25

Click here for the JOHN 15:18-25 PODCAST

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’" 
John 15:18-25

Persecution happens, especially to the Christian. It depends upon what part of the globe we find ourselves, but persecution happens in varying forms everywhere we go. In our text, the Lord Jesus helps us understand the bristling nature of the world's hatred toward the believer. 

The word world, kosmos in the Greek, basically means “the evil fallen.” Literally, “fallen and falling,” because the human race is not through falling. It fell in Genesis 3, but it’s been falling ever since. Evil men are growing worse. The world, the system of humanity, governed by evil, is still falling. The world is the evil, fallen, and the falling system of unregenerate people is controlled by Satan who is referred to by God as "the god of this world" in 1 Corinthians 4:4.

In John 15:18-25, the Lord Jesus accentuates certain things about persecution. The first is: He was first persecuted. Note that in v.18, He says, "It hated me first." He experienced it, and He was perfect. Much, if not all, of our adversity comes from the unseen forces which wage war against us on a daily basis. It is a reminder that we are engaged in the age old battle between God and Satan. Same Satan, same demons, same kingdom of darkness, same hatred of God, of righteousness, goodness, truth exists.

In addition, the Lord Jesus states that persecution will come because we are simply different than we were before we came into a personal relationship with Him. Notice v.19, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." With the introduction of the Holy Spirit into our lives, our appetites have changed. 

When we became followers of the Lord Jesus, our eyes were opened. We began to see life differently. We now see life from the eternal point of view and we see the difference between that which is good as opposed to that which is evil. We now see that it is evil because it is harmful to us and our testimony. It is dumb to ignore the Lord on any subject.

In v.20-21, the Lord Jesus reminds us that persecution cannot be avoided: "20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me."' Due to the fact that I hate rejection, I have been know to compromise. When this has happened, I knew immediately that I was being defined by the lesser. The ignorance displayed is always unnerving. 

At the end of v.21, the Lord Jesus identifies the basic cause of godlessness. He says, "they do not know the one who sent me." The people He was referring to were the religious leaders of the day. These were supposed men of God, who prided themselves on their knowledge of God. But the Lord Jesus said they did not know the real God. They thought they were worshipping the real God but they were not. 


These heard the words of the giver of life and they saw His miracles. And, they threw out a welcome mat in front of their hearts to the father of lies. They did not understand that the Devil was made "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4). When we are exposed to the truth and we reject it, our condemnation is double. We manifest our hatred of His Father by rejecting truth. This was a fulfillment of prophecy found in Psalms 35:19, 69:4.


The rejection of Christ’s words and works had nothing to do with any imperfection with Christ. It is due to the fact that men do not want the Lord Jesus to be God over them. Coupled with the fact that they have no clue of His heart for them, they give in to their own wickedness and hardness of heart. The heart of the matter is really the matter of the heart.

Finally, on the campus of Columbia International University, down one of the long hallways, there are framed pictures of former students who have been killed somewhere in the world for the cause of Christ. This is unique ... you ask why? Because most universities have pictures hanging on the walls of those who know nothing about persecution. Of course, it is likely, they know nothing of God's great heart for them either.

To contribute to BYM, click here

John 15:14-17

Click here for the John 15:14-17 Podcast
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. ~ John 15:14-17

In John 15:14-17, the Lord Jesus underlines the fact that His disciples are His friends. In v.14, the Lord Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command."  These words seem conditional, as if Jesus were telling them they are His friends only if they obey His commands. But, a careful reading of v.16 makes it plain that "if" is descriptive of their condition, for the Lord Jesus said in v.16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit." The Lord Jesus initiated their friendship long before the disciples obeyed. Their obedience was always in response to the friendship the Lord Jesus forged with them. 

Now, the disciples are His friends, and He is laying down His life for them. Before we can love, we must be defined by the fact that Christ has deemed us His friends. When the Lord Jesus laid down His life for the disciples, they lacked understanding. After His resurrection, His plan came more and more into view. This act of their friend changed everything. His death now began to define them and they began to understand the nature of ministry, which is to in turn lay down our lives for our friends. This new way is so transformational. It works because people do not care what we know until they know that we care.

Further in v.15, we read, "for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." The disciples were fearful because He had told them He was leaving. The Lord Jesus is saying, "since you are worried about what’s going to happen when I’m gone, just keep doing the things that we did when we were together." The Lord Jesus had given His disciples a whole new way to live. He tells them that when they live that way, when they do the things that He taught them to do, then they will stay in fellowship with Him, despite the fact that He is going back to heaven. 

When we obey the Lord Jesus, we are demonstrating our fellowship with Him. Remember, our relationship with Him is based solely on His work on the cross, but our fellowship with Him is largely based on us abiding in and walking with Him. When we understand His love for us, we make tangible that which the Lord Jesus has taught us. Obeying the Lord Jesus makes our love for Him tangible. 


Now, love is something that grows. It develops. And, our obedience to the Lord Jesus will grow and develop and deepen over time. He is about to leave His disciples, they will be without His physical presence. So, He wants to set them on a path where they can express their love for Him. This activity gives them something to do and something to grow in so that their fellowship with the Lord Jesus doesn’t stop when He is gone.

Also, in v.15, we learn up to this point the disciples were servants in relationship to the Lord Jesus. This graduation to friendship commenced when the Lord Jesus identified Himself as their servant by washing their feet. Following this He brought them into the inner circle, sharing with them the intimate inter-relationships of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, into which they would soon be initiated.

According to v.16, the Lord Jesus says, "chose and appointed us to bear fruit." The Lord Jesus is saying, “I’m disclosing to you all of what the Father has taught me. I’m expanding your understanding of who God is, who I am, and what God is doing in the world. You will access this knowledge and experience by obeying me.”

That’s what fruit has been doing since the beginning of time. Dying to bring life. The Lord Jesus says that when we are His friends, we will yield "fruit that will last."  We will love others like He loves because it is His fruit that we bare. Friendship with the Lord Jesus results in the expression of His love to us, and then to others.