Well, greetings in Christ's name this morning. If you would, your copy of the Scripture. If you would turn to the Gospel according to John, in chapter 16. And we would continue our exposition out of John 16. So this morning we have a bit more of a lengthy text. This passage breaks in, in the middle of John chapter 16. If you remember last time we were looking at the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And verses 5 through verse 15. and how this is right in the context of course of the Lord teaching and encouraging His disciples of His coming departure and the promise of the Holy Spirit's arrival. And so we are still in that same context obviously, it's Thursday evening of Passion Week, of the week of His crucifixion. And our text this morning is from verse 16 to the end of John 16, and it represents the closing words and teachings of our Lord Jesus to His disciples. And these are words of comfort, It's a lengthy portion, has quite, has a few different thoughts in it, but it does tie together. And so let's read verses 16 and following. John 16, 16. A little while, and you will not see me. And again, a little while, and you will see me, because I go to the Father. Then some of His disciples said among themselves, 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 go to the Father. They said, therefore, What is this that He says, a little while? We do not know what He is saying. Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said a little while, and you will not see me again a little while, and you will see me? Most assuredly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice, and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly I say to you whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I 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 shall pray the Father for you. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world. Again I leave the world, and go to the Father.' His disciples said to Him, See now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech. Now we are sure that you know all things, and have no need that anyone should question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Praise the Lord for this passage. There is a bit of difficulty here at the beginning in verse 16 and following. But these are the words Christ ended His teaching to His disciples here. He ended with these words before His crucifixion. Obviously we still have what we call the Lord's Prayer in John 17, the intercessory prayer. But that was a prayer, of course, directed to His Father. But here we are still in this teaching portion and they were words of comfort and peace. Notice how verse 33 ends here, or how 33 closes, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. They are, in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And so these, he is telling them here that I have spoken these, my intention with this teaching is to give you peace." Truly, isn't that the mission that He came to fulfill? That we might have peace with His Father. And so He gave them these words, and remember also in verse 1, these things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. And if you remember, he continues with the thought that they will put you out, they will ostracize you, they will put you out, and then they will even kill you, thinking they will do God a service. But he says, these things I have said to you that you should not be made to stumble. See, there were also words of warning and preparation, not just words of comfort and peace, but of warning and preparation. And so as we look at this passage and we contemplate some of this little while, there's this section here that this little phrase, a little while is used seven times. And I think we have to deal with this a little while. So this passage reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13. If you would turn to 1 Corinthians 13 and verse eight, 1 Corinthians 13, beginning in verse eight through the end of the chapter. And if we remember, 1 Corinthians 13 is this great outlay on love. And he says in verse 8, love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love. These three, but the greatest of these is love." What we see in this passage reminded me of what we're seeing in John 16, is that there's a progression. There's this experience that is ongoing in the lives of those who follow Christ, who believe in Him. Notice here in the Corinthians passage, we see that first it's in part, or partially, and then later or then it's completely or as I think it says here when that which is perfect has come or when that which is complete has come then that which is in part will be done away so there is first a partial understanding or a partial, maybe we would say revelation, and then it's a complete knowing or a future reality, and then there's first a child, then a man. There's a first dimly, as we've seen here, and then clearly, or face to face, or we could say brightly. There's this dim realization, and then there's this full comprehension. So we have a now here in the Corinthian passage, and a then in the Corinthian passage, where there is this current reality, the now, but there's a future reality that is to be realized. So there's a now and a then here. First, we have it by faith, here in the Corinthians. Then we have it by sight, don't we? So now we have it in hope, but then we have it in experience. There's a now and a then. Hoping, or an expectation as the scripture uses the word hope. It's not like we hope it doesn't rain on our picnic. No, it's an expectation. So this hope, but it's not a current realization though. We have to come to grips with that. There's not a current realization, but there's a hope for something that we hope to and expect to realize in the future. There's a hope and then an experience. So the believer's experience is one of progression from first, and now, to then, and a completion. And so we see that Corinthian passage here, chapter 13, it closes, and now abide faith, hope, and love. These three, but the greatest of these is love. Have you ever considered why that is? Why is the greatest of these love? Well, one of the things that we could say from the context here is that it is because it will abide forever. As it says, love never fails. Though there's faith, but that will vanish away, right? Faith will become sight or realization. And then of course hope. Why would we still hope for that which we've already received as it says in Romans? So hope vanishes away as well because we now have the reality. So faith and hope will at some point in our experience will no longer be the case. Isn't that amazing? Glorious truth. But it will, love will always be the reality of what we're experiencing with Christ. And so, I wanted to, when I was thinking about trying to come to grips with John 16, I really had to think about this passage in Corinthians 13, and the idea of the then, or the now, and then the then. And so I think that will help us a little bit in John 16, if we would go back there, to John 16. And so we see that the believer's experience is one of progression. It is one of moving to other things, other experiences. But notice he says, a little while and you will not see me. Seven times, as I said, this little phrase is here, a little while. And there are two different time frames here. A little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while or another time frame and you will see me because I go to the Father. So I think that was helpful for me to just to simply see these as time frames or as realities in two different incidences. or two different experiences, we might say. Two different timeframes, each with its own experiences. Now, there are some different views here on these little whiles, and I wanna just mention them to you. some different views and understandings of what these little whiles are, but I want to remind you that here he says the definition or defining these two different time frames is the fact that they will see him at one and not at the other. I will see, you will not see me, and then on the other side or the other time frame, you will see me. So the first thought is that in, In this first, you will not see me refers to his death and then you will see me to his resurrection. That's the first view. The second view is that the you will not see me refers to his ascension, where he, as we remember, the two men stood gazing toward heaven and they could not see him any longer because he was taken up in the clouds. And so the little while and you will not see me, some believe refers to his ascension. But then in a little while, you will see me refers to the descension of the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost, which was not long removed after His ascension. And then the third view is that the little while when you will not see me refers to His ascension again and The little while and you will see me refers to His second coming, refers to His future when we will see Him again. And the middle view of the ascension versus the coming of the Holy Spirit, we would see Christ in the Holy Spirit. is the thought there where He will take of mine and will show it to you and that they are one and so I don't really have necessarily a problem with that except I do lean toward the first view where we have a little while and I am going to be out of your sight I will no longer be available for your questions you know, I will no longer be with you in this time frame, which would be His death. And then a little while, and you will see me, refers to His resurrection. That is where I lean toward the understanding of this little while. And I will not be dogmatic necessarily, but I want to show you why I think I lean toward that understanding. even though in the context of this whole teaching is the understanding that I am leaving but the Holy Spirit is coming which does support the second view that in a little while I'm ascending and in a little while you will see me when the Holy Spirit comes. So I understand that. But I want to point out that the disciples were confused. And if we're confused, then we are in good company. The disciples were confused. They said, what do you mean? But they didn't say that to him. They were saying, what does he mean? And they were speaking one to another. And they said, therefore, what is this that he's saying a little while? How are we supposed to know what he is saying? We do not know what he is saying. And they were afraid to inquire from the one who really knew. And Jesus knew that they desired to ask him and said to them, are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said a little while? And you will not see me again a little while and you will see me most assuredly. Then he uses this emphatic statement, most assuredly. Jesus understood that his disciples were confused." And at this point I would like to say that there may be multiple applications of this a little while, but I'm not sure about that. But these time frames are defined by them seeing or not seeing Jesus. So what we have here In Jesus responding to the disciples lack of understanding, He defines the first time frame, this little while, as a time frame of sorrow. We have to deal with that. Notice, most assuredly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. That there's a timeframe coming that in this little while when I am not with you, you will weep and lament. You will have sorrow. But that same thing that is going to make you unhappy and to make you weep and lament is going to be rejoicing for the world. Do you see that? That is not, in my opinion, the ascension of the Lord Jesus. That is the death of Jesus Christ. That it was that weeping and lamenting, that it was His death that brought that weeping and lamenting. And we can just look at Peter, for instance. He wept bitterly at his betrayal of the Lord. And we also see here that when we go to verse 30, and this is one of the reasons I went with this lengthy section, is because he says in Verse 32, excuse me. Indeed the hour is coming, yes, and has now come that you will be scattered. And so there's a time coming when they would run away and they would forsake Him and He says, and leave Me alone, each to his own and will leave Me alone. And this is a referral obviously to His arrest and His When when they when they came and took him and they fled the disciples fled And so it is this hour of travail. It's this hour of sorrow at the death of Christ But I believe and we know the great joy that was theirs at the realization of his resurrection That was let me just flip back to Luke and read you actually it was John 20. It simply says that when they encountered them, He came into their midst and said, Peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And you also have the great joy in Luke 24, 50 through 53. Luke 24, 50 through 53, and he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. You see, we have great joy. Here, this was at His ascension, but it was not yet the descension or the arrival of the Holy Spirit. So there was great joy at the resurrection and even the ascension of Christ. It says, and they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. So it's a beautiful picture of of they realized that yes there was more to come the Holy Spirit would come and there would be a comprehension like none other but the time of sorrow was this this first season here a little while and you will not see me." That was their time of sorrow. It was defined as his death. That's where I'm going with that. And then, a little while and you will see me would refer to his, what was it, like 40 days or so that he spent time with them. He revealed himself uniquely to the believers, not to any unbelievers, but uniquely to his own followers. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 15? I think it says that with many infallible proofs. And he revealed himself to them and there was great joy and rejoicing and worship from that. And so he says, most assuredly, that you will have this season of weeping and lamenting. There's going to be lamentation, there's going to be sorrow, but you will come through that. And he uses this illustration in verse 21. You will have this period of weeping and lamenting. You will have this period of travail. You will have this period of labor even, even of anguish. As it says in verse 21, a woman, when she is in labor, and here are some of these terms, when she is in labor, has sorrow. Because her hour has come, but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish. And so that is what he's defining this first, they were distraught. There was, I think it was one of the darkest times for the disciples. First of all, they understood that they had forsaken him. They understood that they had run off and left him and that he stood alone and suffered alone. And that it was a time of great sorrow. and great anguish and even labor as they work their way through. This is the period of the giving birth as it were. It's almost like a giving birth to the church, isn't it? Because the idea here is that it doesn't say, in the Old King James it says that a man is born into the world. It doesn't say that a child is born. Maybe there's some significance there. That this was the birth, so to speak, of the church. And so Jesus said, a little while you will not see me and a little while you will. And that second time period is when he arose and their joy, their sorrow turned into joy. Your sorrow, in verse 20, will be turned into joy. And he makes this emphatic statement, excuse me, most assuredly, truly, truly. this is going to be the case. It's reaffirmed, it is reinforced by these words most assuredly. And so, not long after, it seems to me here, he says, as she no longer remembers the anguish, the disciples indeed had great joy at the end of resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Therefore now, in verse 22, he says, therefore you now have sorrow. And so the sorrow, the timeframe here of the little while, they are in the section of the little while, that first little while when they would not see him. He speaks of this as if it was already occurring. In verse 32, indeed the hour is coming. Yes, and now has come. As he says in verse 32, it is coming. Yes. And, and has now come that you will be scattered. So we are there in that timeframe of the first, the first little time, the first little while, but notice You now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. Brothers and sisters, the issue is in, even in our own spiritual lives, in our own experiences, we remember, I mentioned that each little while has its own set of experiences. Where are we at in our spiritual lives? Where are we at? Are we in this place of our sorrow being turned to joy? And because we see Him. This is the difference in these two time periods, is whether or not you see Christ. Whether or not you are experiencing the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we know Him? Do we experience Him? And this is spoken to me, first of all, because there are things that come into our lives, aren't they, that distract us from the blessings that we have in Christ. But when we see Him, that is where we have great joy. When we experience Him, that is where we have great joy. But when we do not see Him, when we do not experience Him, it's a picture. In some ways what the disciples were going through and what they were going to experience is a picture of our spiritual lives. It's almost like an illustration of our spiritual lives. When they were walking with the Lord, and had the glories of His presence. There was lots of satisfaction, but when He was gone, there was great sorrow. And this is a picture, not of us being in and out of salvation, I'm not referring to that, but it is being in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ, enjoying His blessings. And so, you will see me again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. Now in that day, you will ask me nothing. And there's a, there was thought here too that in that day, which is, there's another reference to that in verse 26. In that day, Twice there's this term, in that day. And it is possible that there is a reference here of the Holy Spirit's arrival. You know, in that day you will ask Me nothing. In verse 23 it says, Most assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name, asking you will receive that your joy may be full. He is saying that we have the avenue of prayer to come to the Father and to ask in Christ's name or for His cause, for His namesake, for the glory of His Kingdom, for the glory of His cause, we should ask the Father in the name of Christ. Where before they were just coming maybe and asking, and asking the Lord. We know that there were questions given to Him, even this reference of not knowing what this little while is, but in that day you will ask me nothing, which may well indicate that that's the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of the indwelling anointing that 1 John refers to, where no man needs to teach you because you have the anointing from the Father that is within you. And in that day you will ask me nothing because you have a indwelling comforter to bring you the truths that you need, to bring you what you would need. These things in verse 25, these things I have spoken to you in figurative language or in Proverbs. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly about the Father." I do believe that is referring to Pentecost. I believe that's what that is referring to. That there is a time coming. Remember, there was in a sense the then and the now, when there was a So hear Christ saying what I've been teaching you is in Proverbs and parables and it's difficult for you to comprehend but there's a time coming when I will teach you plainly and I believe that is an indication of the better. It's your advantage that I go away because the Holy Spirit will not come unless I go and sent him to you." And so this is, I believe, what he's referring to, that in that day when the Holy Spirit will come, there's going to be a comprehension like you've never had before. And you'll see Peter stand up and preach the gospel with power. And we've seen that, didn't we? And that is the blessing and the privilege that we have today yet, is that we have this indwelling Spirit of God who is our personal instructor. So these things I have spoken to you in figurative language, but the time is coming. See, it was still future at this point. That I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. And in that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you." What do you think of that passage? Well, we know that the Holy Spirit does ask the Father for us. He's an intercessor. He is the propitiation asking the Father to apply His satisfaction to us. Isn't that amazing? He's sitting right beside the Father saying, look, put it on my account. He intercedes for us. But the point the Lord is making here is that you will have God within you. And you will not need me to intercede for you as if the Father would be unwilling to hear. He himself loves you. You see that here? It says, for the Father himself loves you. You don't need me to persuade the Father for you. You have the Father's ear, you have the Father's heart inclined towards you. Do you see why? Do you see why? Because you have loved the Son. Because you have loved me, he says, and have believed that I came forth from God. And so there is the, when we respond to the Son, when we respond to the revelation of the Lord Jesus in this way, when we believe in Him, the Father is inclined toward us. His ear is open to us. And the Lord does not need, so to speak, to incline the Father's ear for us. That is the teaching here, I believe, in this section, is that we have, through Christ, through the avenue of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the inclination of the Father to hear us, to bless us, to love on us. And so He says, do though ask in My name. In that day you will ask in My name. And so we do come to the Father in the merit of the Lord Jesus for His cause and for His glory, that He would be glorified. And we invoke the name of Jesus. We call on the Father through Christ. But the Lord is making this statement that He Himself does not have to incline the Father's ear for us. Praises Lord, what a beautiful, what a beautiful teaching. What a beautiful and comforting word this is that in our sorrow, in the time of sorrow, when we come out of that, there will be rejoicing. But we notice as we move through this passage that Jesus does not say that you will not have tribulation. And so he says that you have your father's ear inclined to you because you love me and have believed that I came forth from God. And verse 28 is almost like he's, as one commentary said, it's almost like the Lord is musing to himself. I came forth from the father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the father. Or, you know, this is not new doctrine, but it is, I mean the disciples had heard this before but he repeats it here, I came forth from the father and have come into the world again I leave the world and go to the father his disciples said to him see now you're speaking plainly now you are not using any figure of speech and Jesus They continued and said, Now we are sure that you know all things, and have no need that anyone should question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God. And Jesus answered, Do you now believe? It is almost like Jesus saying, You still don't fully comprehend. Because notice what He says. that very soon, what you think you own now, what you think you've grasped, what you think you've comprehended, that you are now in this place of clear comprehension, that is coming. That is coming from the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, that you will understand these things. But he says, very soon, in this next hour or so, you will scatter. And you will run away, and you will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." And so what they thought they had comprehended here, by this we believe. And Jesus' answer said, do you now believe? That they thought they were getting a handle on it, but the clarity was still not there. The comprehension was still not there. to the extent that it would be. And so we see this progression again. We see this obscurity. And then we see the power of the indwelling spirit brings this clarity, this comprehension. And so there's this movement all through this passage. You have this idea of a little while, here's a time frame that you're gonna be struggling in sorrow, and then you're going to have another time frame where you have this experience. joy and of clarity and of maybe even we could say access to the Father from this place where he says you will have this clear access you will you will have this power in prayer and so he continues here in in verse Yes, the last verse here. He says, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. And so, again, you have this, while we're here, we have tribulation, but we have this dual experience. We have, in the world, we have trouble. We have difficulty. We have trials and tribulations. But in Christ, this is the place that in me, in this union with Christ, in this fellowship with Christ, in this experience with Christ, you will have peace. And you will be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I have overcome the world and He speaks this as if He was already passed the cross because it was in the cross that He overcame the world. It was at the cross that He accomplished this incredible victory and out of that victory now we are We have this new reality where we are now in a time of joy, where we comprehend that the victory is ours. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. When I contemplate that, if you're more than conquerors, that means that somebody conquered it and gave it to you. You don't have to even conquer it. It's already conquered. And that is the victory that we have here that Christ speaks about. I have overcome the world. And we have a reference to this in John also. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is He who overcomes the world? But He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. And so in this we comprehend, in this we comprehend that we have the victory through Christ over the world and therefore if the world hates us as we see in verse 2, if they would kill us, you see, He says, in Me you have peace. So as we move through this passage, as we come to the end of this passage, let's ask ourselves, where are we? Where are we in this little while? Are we in sorrow because we do not see Him? Or are we Are we rejoicing because we see Him? We experience Him. We have Him for us. We have Him as ours. We have the victory over the world through Christ. Well, that's all I have for you. Let's close with a word of prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, I pray that you would just open this passage to our hearts and the comfort and the victory that is won by Christ, that it would indeed be our experience. Father, forgive us where we look the other way and we look at all the travail and the sorrow as if it were still occurring. But Father, As the baby is brought forth, there's rejoicing. And so, Father, help us to see that, that in Christ, through His work, we have this great victory, this great rejoicing. Help us always, Father, to turn our eyes, our spiritual eyes, to the Lord in this way. And Father, we just ask that You would go with us and bless us by Your Spirit and be our God and that we might be Your children. Through Christ we pray. Amen.