Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read 1 Chronicles 1 and 2, Zechariah 1 and John 16. This devotional is about John 16. I have told you these things so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me. But I have told you these things, so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. Now, however, I am going to him who sent me. Yet, none of you asks me, where are you going? Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow, because I have told you these things. But I tell you the truth. It is for your benefit 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. And when he comes, he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. in regard to sin, because they do not believe in me, in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will no longer see me, and in regard to judgment, because the Prince of this world has been condemned. I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine, and disclosing it to you. Everything that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is mine and disclose it to you. In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." Then some of his disciples asked one another, Why is he telling us, In a little while you will not see me, and then after a little while you will see me? And, Because I am going to the Father, they kept asking, Why is he saying a little while? We do not understand what he is saying. Aware that they wanted to question him, Jesus said to them, Are you asking one another why I said, In a little while you will not see me, and then after a little while you will see me? Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman has pain in childbirth, because her time has come. But when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child 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 away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Truly, truly I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying 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 entered the world. In turn, I will leave the world and go to the Father. His disciples said, See, now you are speaking plainly and without figures of speech. Now we understand that you know all things and that you have no need for anyone to question you. Because of this, we believe that you came from God. Do you finally believe?" Jesus replied. Look, an hour is coming, and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave me all alone. Yet, I am not alone, because my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome the world. This is God's word. This section in John continues the teaching of Jesus on his final day of freedom. John recorded the teachings Christ gave us as he and his disciples walked from the upper room where they ate the Passover and Christ began the Lord's Supper back in John 14.31. But as they walked from there to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would be betrayed. We can see John 18.1 for that. According to our passage today, John 16, 1, these teachings were designed to fortify the disciples against rejecting Jesus. Hard times would come to them for their faith in Jesus, including excommunication from their local synagogues, as we saw in verse 2a. Christ gave the reason that people would persecute his disciples. In chapter 16, verse 2b, which says, anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. And that's verse 2b in the NIV. How foolish for anyone to think that the disciples were a threat to their lives or their political power. Jesus' students did not wish to overthrow the government, and they weren't trying to take over Judaism either. Yet, governments would imprison them, and religious people would persecute them, even taking their lives, in the name of God, of all things. Verse 3 says, Because they have not known the Father or Me. That's why they did these things. Unbelief exacts a high price. Not only does it damn one's soul for eternity, it skews one's moral compass in this life as well. That is why morality is constantly being redefined downward in our day. And it's why the ungodly are celebrated and followed while the loving, righteous people of God are shunned and even persecuted. It is true that God created each of us with the voice of conscience. Conscience points the right way toward morality. But that voice of conscience can be rationalized away. It can be miseducated. It can be dumbed down and even suppressed completely. The further we come toward the return of Christ, the further our world moves away from Him, away from what is right and away from what is good. Yet Christ told us about these things ahead of time for our good. Jesus said in verse 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. That's verse 33 from the NIV. The peace Jesus promised in this verse is not the outer peace of an undisturbed, unpersecuted life. It's the inner peace that reassures us when things get rough on the outside. And that inner peace reassures us that Christ is in control and he will ultimately end this turmoil forever when he returns. Lean on this promise as you encounter hostility and trouble in this life due to your faith in Jesus. He will give you that peace if you trust in him. and He will return and reward you for your faith. If you found this devotional helpful, go to my website dailypbj.com slash subscribe, enter your email address there, and you'll receive a free subscription to these devotionals in your email every day. That will help you be reading God's Word every day, and my devotionals can help you apply it to your life every day. Please consider supporting me financially if you're able to do so, so I can continue to make content like this for your growth as a Christian. And please share this with someone else who might grow as a Christian from experiencing it themselves. I hope you have a great day today. May God bless you. See you next time.