If you would remain standing together with me and take your Bible and open it to the book of Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10 for our Old Testament reading. And before I read it, Isaiah 41, 10. I just want to ask all of you, if you find yourself in trouble, if you find yourself going through persecution, through the hostility and opposition of this world, where is your hope? To whom do you look to? Isaiah tells us what our hope is in Isaiah 41, 10. Fear not. For I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Amen. Now turn to the Gospel of John as we continue making our way through this wonderful book, the Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 1 to 15. John 16, verse 1 to 15. I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue. Indeed, the synagogue is indeed. The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father. nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and He will see me no longer. Concerning the judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truths. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I say that it is He. He will take what is mine and declare it to you." The word of the Lord for God's people. Let's pray together. Our Father and our God, We now ask you to open our eyes and our ears as hearers of your Word so that each and every one of us would see wonderful things in your Word. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Where does the most painful and severe persecution of Christians come from? I'm sure those of you who have been here last Sunday, after hearing the sermon from chapter 15, verse 18 to 27, you will say, the most painful and severe persecution of Christians come from people in this world. People who uses the system of this world to hate the church, to hate Christians and persecute us. But not until you consider what follows here. From the ongoing teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples about The hostility and the hatred that they should expect to face from the world in general. The ungodly in the world. The evil system of this world. Now remember our Lord Jesus Christ is about to be crucified. This is Thursday night. The betrayal of Judas is coming so fast. And what is Jesus doing, brothers and sisters in Christ? How is he using his final moments with his followers, with his disciples? Preparing them for heaven? Yes, in chapter 14, Jesus told them, do not let your hearts be troubled, Believe in me and believe in my Father. I'm going to my Father to prepare a place for you, and I will come back to you to take you to where I will be, and you will be with me forever." Yes, he's preparing them for heaven. But we all need to remember that by God's design, by God's decree, believers also live out our lives. between the time that we arrive to heaven and now. And now we live out our Christian life as a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. We live out our Christian life even to go through persecution so that through our endurance and through our testimony in the midst of persecution, the name of Jesus Christ would be glorified. That's why we are called to follow Jesus Christ. So our Lord Jesus Christ was preparing his disciples for persecution from the world. You remember what he told them in chapter 15, verse 18, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world will love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I choose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember what we discovered last Sunday. The people in the world hate God, they hate us because we don't belong to the world. Because they don't love the Word of God. And because the name of Jesus Christ has been placed upon us. For those reasons, the world hates the church and hates the children of God. This morning our Lord Jesus Christ is still addressing his disciples. He's about to die, but you see he's spending his time preparing his disciples for persecution. Do you see the love and the care of this good shepherd toward his sheep, toward his disciples? He was saying to them, listen, I'm going to die. I'm going to leave you behind. And you will be persecuted. And he will be persecuted by the world. And now you see, his focus is on a different source of persecution. Unexpected source of persecution. And this unexpected source of persecution comes from those men, from those people who claim to know God, who claim to be religious, who are in the church, within the church. But they don't have fellowship with God. They are religious by name. They hold religious titles. But they are in the church. And they persecute His people. Now you see the persecution that Jesus is referring to comes to God's children from those who claim to know God from within religious institutions, in the name of God, in the name of religion. So the lesson to all of us this morning is this, beloved. God's children, Christ's followers, will face severe persecution from those who think that they serve God. And they will face the persecution, having provision of hope and strength from the Lord. They will face that severe persecution from this unexpected source, having the Helper in them and with them. And I want us to consider that under two simple points this morning. You know, I was raised Lutheran, so sometimes the Lutheran two-point structure kicks in on me. So this morning I have only two points, but for a good reason, a good reason, and you'll see that. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as He prepares His disciples for persecution from within the church, from within religious institutions, We see two things. First, the unexpected source of persecution. You will see that from verse 1 to 4. And then God's provision in persecution. You will see that from verse 6 to 15. So first, the unexpected source of persecution. Listen to Jesus, what he tells his disciples in verse 1. I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. What is Jesus telling the disciples here? I'm telling you these things while I'm still here with you, so that you will not fall away. What does Jesus mean here? So that when persecution comes to you, you will not be surprised. So that when persecution comes to you, you will not be offended. When persecution comes to you, that you will not be caught off guard. I remember the first time a government declared the closure of churches back home. I remember two believers from other churches coming to me and the first question was, Why is this happening to us? This is not fair. Where is God? Does this mean God doesn't love us? Does this mean God doesn't have any good plan for the church in this land? You see, they were surprised, they were offended, and they were put off guard. That's exactly what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial, when it comes upon you, to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. This is the reason, you see, why Jesus is telling his disciples, I'm telling you this all things now, so that when they come upon you, instead you become surprised, instead you become offended, you would rejoice. Now someone might ask, is that possible? Is it possible for believers to rejoice in the minister of persecution? Yes, Acts 5 41. Then they left the presence of the council. after them being beaten, after them being insulted by the Pharisees, by the Sanhedrin in the Jewish community. Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing for they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ. It's possible. But it's possible by the help of the Holy Spirit. We will come to that. then He reveals to them the other source of persecution, the unexpected one in verse 2. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God. This is painful. This is sad. This is painful. You see, for people within the church, people within the religious community, to persecute the children of God, thinking that they are offering service to God. The persecution could be verbal. The persecution could be physical. It happened in the life of the apostolic church. It happened in the history of the church. It was verbal, and to some extent it was physical. They not only persecute Christ's followers in his absence, but also they will do the persecution as a service to God, in the name of God, in the name of zeal for God. Observe with me the nature of this persecution. They will put you out of the synagogues. Now I want you all to understand the severity of someone being put out of the synagogue. You and I might not understand this, but I want you all to understand this. In Judaism, in Jesus' time, for someone to be put off, you know, out of the synagogue means, you know, to put off the nation. To be removed from your citizenship. No one is going to interact with you. No one is going to do trade with you. No one is going to welcome you to his home. You will be an outcast. You will be treated like a leper. You will be treated like a beggar. No one wants to touch you. No one wants to do anything with you. You are an outcast. That's what it meant to be put out of the synagogue. You remember the man who was born blind and Jesus met him and he opened his eyes. Great miracle was performed in the life of that man who was born blind. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious leaders in Israel, they were shocked. They didn't want to recognize that. They didn't want anyone to confess the name of Christ. And they told the people, if you confess this name, we will put you out of the synagogue. And when his parents were called to the meeting of the Sanhedrin, and they asked them, is this your son? Was he born blind? The parents responded. His parents said, these things because they feared the Jews. They said, yes, this is our son. We know that he was born blind. But who healed him? How he was healed? Ask him. He's of age. He's an adult. Now, the scripture tells us why the parents say that. His parents say these things because they fear the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. See? These are religious people. These people will tell you they love God, but they hate people who confess the name of Christ. They put people who confess the name of Christ out of the synagogue, out of the temple. We don't want you to come here to worship God. You don't belong to the church. That's what they were doing. Not only the parents of the man who was born blind, but even the Pharisees who confessed the name of Christ were afraid of this. John 12, 42. Many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, so that they would not be put off the synagogue. That's how they were persecuting. Believers, not only putting you out of the synagogue, but also kill you. Jesus told his disciples, and those who will kill you will think that they are offering service to God. Why do they kill you? Because of your testimony. The word murder means witness. And the Romans, the Romans, for the Romans, you see, God was Caesar. Caesar was God. And if the Jewish people doesn't confess Caesar as God, Caesar is Lord, then they were persecuted. They were killed. Because they said, no, Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. Not the world. Not the leaders in our world. Not the culture. But Jesus is Lord. Under the Romans, for anyone to confess Jesus as Lord was a crime. And they were facing severe persecution. In Acts 26, in the book of Acts 26, Listen to what God's Word tells us, verse 9 to 11. I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This is Paul, before his conversion. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them, and I punished them often in all the synagogues, and tried to make them blasphemy. And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities." In the name of God. In the name of zeal for God. Are you not glad that Paul was converted? But he knew what he did. He knew what was going on. He knew the motive behind him persecuting the children of God. It was what? Religious zeal. He was thinking that he was doing it for God. What the Roman Catholic Church did to the Anabaptists. Simply because they believed in infant baptism, many were killed. History will tell you about 5,000 Anabaptists were killed. by those leaders in the church, Roman Catholic Church and some Protestant churches. It's real. It's real. It's an unexpected source of persecution. It would break your heart. It would make you sad. But that's the reality. Persecutors throughout the history of the church comes from outside of the church and within the church walls. Jesus was preparing his disciples and all of us, even today in this place, to be prepared for that kind of persecution. Under Islam, those who profess Christ are considered, what? Infidels. One who does not adhere to Islam will be executed, will be persecuted. in the name of Allah, in the name of the Islam's, the Muslims' God. You see, they will think that they are offering service to God. In Philippians chapter 3 verse 6, Paul said about himself, a Pharisee as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. In Galatians 1 verse 13 to 14, Paul would tell you that he was persecuting believers for the sake of God and godliness. I was thinking about this this week. Do you know Peter, James, Andrew were crucified? James son of Zebedee was beheaded. Mark was dragged through the street of Alexandria until he was dead. Philip was stoned to death, Paul had his head cut off. By who? By religious leaders. Those who claim to know God. You see, both have one thing in common. Those in the world who hate you, who persecute the church, and those within the church and persecute the church, they both have one thing in common. Listen to Jesus. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me." They have this in common. It doesn't mean they don't know anything about God. It doesn't mean they don't know anything about Christ. What Jesus is saying here, well, they know. They know things about God. They know things about me. I've been telling them. I've been telling them that I'm the Messiah. I'm the second person of Trinity. God in the flesh. I've been telling them. They know. but they don't have fellowship with God. They're not in communion with God. They're not worshippers of God. They are in the church, but they are not in Christ. They're not united with Jesus Christ by faith. Now think about this together with me. Jesus has been telling his disciples, Many, many things about the love of God for them. You remember, he told them he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them. He told them that they were the branches, he was the true vine. He told them that we are his friends. I no more call you my servants, but my friends. You are my friends. But now the question might come to your mind. This is ugly, this is painful. Persecution from outside? I can manage that together with my brothers and sisters in Christ, in the church. Persecution from within, that's painful. How do I stand against this painful, severe, and unexpected persecution? That's the reason, you see, why Jesus was teaching his disciples about these things. First, about the riches that they have in Christ. All those promises, love promises, protection promises that they have in Christ. So first, he told them, you are loved and you are loved eternally. And then he told them, but you will be persecuted. And the two, you see, blend in together. You will be persecuted having all these riches in Christ in you. Your persecution will be in the ministry of hope and provision of strength. That's the beauty of this journey. You will not be persecuted without the presence of God with you. You will not be persecuted without the presence of the Holy Spirit with you. So, listen to Jesus. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now I'm going to Him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? Have you understood what Jesus is saying here? I'm not telling you now, you know, all these things. You know, when I was with you, because I was with you. But now I'm leaving you, so I have to tell you these things. Because another one, the helper will be with you. I was with you, but the helper will be in you. It's for your advantage that I am going away. So that when the helper comes, he's not only going to be with you, but he will be in you. He will dwell in you. You will become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that amazing what Jesus is telling his disciples? You will be persecuted, but you will be persecuted having the helper in you. With you and in you. And then he tells them three wonderful aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. You see beloved, today there are many many confusions about the Holy Spirit. Many confusions about the Holy Spirit. Making a reference to the Holy Spirit as it, as fire. as power, like electrical power. That's not scripture. That's not what the scripture teaches about who the Holy Spirit and his role in the world and in the life. of God's children. Listen to Jesus. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, listen to this, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father. And you will see me no longer concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. And I will be very quick this morning. Jesus tells his disciples and all of us, this is why I sent the Holy Spirit to you. And this is why this is advantageous for you. Reason number one, when the Holy Spirit comes, he's going to deal with people in the world. He's going to convict people in the world of sin. When the Holy Spirit comes, He's going to work on behalf of the Father, on behalf of you, being in you, He's going to convict even the hearts of those who persecute you. Like first Saul and then Paul. Think about this. The Holy Spirit will come in the hearts of people in the world, and He will awaken them to their sin. Listen, nobody wants to be told that he's wrong. Nobody wants to be told that he is living in sin. You know, you and I, We love our sleep, yeah? Who would want to, you know, who would want to be awakened by anyone as he or she enjoys her sleep? But imagine your house, your home being on fire and someone comes and wake you up. That's good. That's exactly what the Holy Spirit does in the life of dead sinners. Your life is on fire, the fire of hell. The Holy Spirit comes and He awakens you to your sin, to your sinfulness. But no one in the world wants to be awakened by the Holy Spirit in that way. Have you observed the homosexuals? They even have a manse that they call pride manse. They celebrate the fact that they are homosexuals. They celebrate the fact that they are an abomination to the law of God. But they take pride out of that. And they have dedicated one month as a month of pride. So they don't want you to tell them that they are living in sin. They don't want you to tell them that they are wrong. You should tell them that they are wrong. You should tell them that they are living in sin. Do that in gentleness and with love, not pointing to your own righteousness, but to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But they don't want to be told, you see, that they're dead in their sins and transgressions. Now remember, It's not only unbelievers, it's not only homosexuals who doesn't want to be told that they are sinning. God forbid, even sometimes you and I, believers, we don't want anyone to tell us that we are living in sin. But it is not our friend, it is not our fellow believer who tells us that we are living in sin. The Holy Spirit uses this loving and caring brother or sister to come to us and say to us, this is sin. Stop. The convicting work of the Holy Spirit. And what is the sin that Jesus is referring to? Not believing in the name of Christ. You see, he gives the explanation. He says concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. That's the sin. Not believing in the Son of God. If all these homosexuals, all these unbelievers believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, they will be redeemed from their sin. They will hate their sin. And then comes what? Righteousness. Righteousness. Remember God coming to the garden? He came to the garden to tell Adam what his problem was. He came to the garden to talk about the problem of sin. He didn't come to the garden to seek, what, information, but admission. Adam, Adam, where are you? I'm afraid. I'm hiding from you. Why? Because I ate the fruit. I seen it. Good. So far, so good. Why did you do that? The woman you gave me, that was not admission. He was blaming outside factor. The woman you gave me. Basically, Adam was saying, that's your fault. You didn't create a suitable helper for me. She caused me to sin. Adam didn't say, I take responsibility. This is my sin. I have sinned against you. I've broken your commandment. So concerning sin, not believing in the name of Christ, but then concerning righteousness, what righteousness? Remember, righteousness is a gift from God. We're receiving it by faith. It is a gift from God. Paul tells us this in the book of Galatians, that righteousness is a gift from God. Paul said, no one is saved by keeping the law. But we are saved apart from keeping the law, by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. So righteousness is a gift from God. But being a gift from God, then we are saved, we are justified to love Jesus, to love His commandments, to do His will. Romans 5 17, for if by the trespass of one man does reign it through, that one man much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ. And Paul in Romans 117 said, the righteous shall live by faith and in judgment, brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus here is saying, if you don't have the righteousness of Christ in you, you will be condemned. Jesus in John chapter 3 said, if anyone doesn't believe in the Son of God, he will be condemned. He will be condemned. There will be judgment. Anyone who doesn't believe in the Son, he's already condemned. Already the wrath of God is upon that person. Now, is there hope? for our persecutors. In the world, outside of the church, within the church, is there hope for persecutors? Is there hope for unbelievers? Beloved, yes, there is hope. That's why the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. That's why the Holy Spirit uses my preaching, the preaching of other preachers, your testimony as individual believers. That's why the Holy Spirit uses this means, the means of preaching, the means of your testimony to convict people in the world of their sin. That's why last Sunday I told you we don't consider people in the world who persecute us, people within the church who persecute us, we don't view them as our enemies, but as our mission field. Why? Because we also have been there one time. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 starting from verse 9. Neither the sexual immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkard, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." Full stop. Unless they repent. Unless they run to Jesus, repenting of their sin, full of tears, genuine repentance, true repentance, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's why, beloved, we need to have this burden toward our family members who are homosexuals. Toward our family members who are outside of Christ. Every day, every moment of our life, we need to pray to God, asking Him, Lord, use me as a tool of the Holy Spirit to convict my brother, my sister, my family member of their sin. Use me. Why? Listen to Paul, and such were some of you. So don't be judgmental. Don't be angry in an unrighteous way toward them. Your anger should be holy. It should not be sinful. You should never insult them. You should never disrespect them. You should never become angry toward them in an unrighteous way. You should confront of their sin in love and with gentleness. Because that's exactly what the Holy Spirit did with you. You were like them. You were like them. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You are where you are by the grace of God. Not because of your own merit, your own goodness. When the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, my beloved, come into our heart to convict us of sin, sin before conversion, sin after conversion, it's a good work of God in our life. It's good to obey to the Holy Spirit when He convicts us of sin. It's good. It's good. the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and then the guiding work of the Holy Spirit to believers, and then the glorifying work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit glorifying the Son of God in our life and in our world. You see, He convicts, He guides, He glorifies, He sanctifies, He guides. He's in us. He's in you. So those of you who haven't yet repented of your sin, those of you who are still living in sin, what an opportunity for you to repent now. And those of us who are walking with the Lord, but we are not obeying the Holy Spirit when he tells us we're wrong, what an opportunity for us to listen to him now. especially before we take the Lord's Supper together. Isn't that what Paul said? Examine your heart. You don't examine the heart of other people, your own heart. With the Word of God being a mirror to you. The Holy Spirit is in us, beloved, to convict, to guide us and glorify our Savior in us and in our world. Praise be to God. Let's pray. Our gracious and heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your love and your care for us with the preaching of your word. We indeed need this reminder about persecution from outside, from within, And now we ask you to help us through the helper of the Holy Spirit. When we face persecution from outside and from within, we would stand firm and remember that our hope and our strength is in us, from you, through the Holy Spirit. We pray all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.