“IT’S GOING TO GET BETTER”
By: Dr. Dennis Deese - www.dennisdeese.com
JOHN 16:16-33
"A Christian without affliction is only like a soldier on parade." ??Felix Neff
“Words of comfort, skillfully administered, are the oldest therapy known to man.” —Louis Nizer
A young mother was too busy to visit her elderly neighbor, who was ill. She said to her small son, "Tommy, run over and see how ’old Mrs. Smith’ is." In just a matter of minutes Tommy was back. "She says it’s none of your business how old she is."
A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out. A Christian Scientist came along and said: "You only think that you are in a pit". A Pharisee said: "Only bad people fall into a pit." A Fundamentalist said: "You deserve your pit." A Charismatic said: "Just confess that you’re not in a pit." A Methodist came by and said, "We brought you some food and clothing while you’re in the pit." A Presbyterian said, "This was no accident, you know." An Optimist said: "Things could be worse." A pessimist said: "Things will get worse!" Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
There are four things in this passage that substantiate you can be assured it’s going to get better.
1. THE DIVINE PERCEPTION OF GOD 16:16, 20
A young boy was driving a hayrack down the road when the wagon fell over in front of a farmer’s house. The farmer came out, saw the young boy crying and said, "Son, don’t worry about this, we can fix it. Right now dinner’s ready. Why don’t you come in and eat with us and then I’ll help you put the hay back on the rack." The boy said, "No, I can’t. My father is going to be very angry with me." The farmer said, "Now don’t worry, just come in and have some lunch and you’ll feel better." The boy said, "I’m just afraid my father is going to be very angry with me." The farmer and the young boy went inside and had dinner. Afterwards, as they walked outside to the hayrack, the farmer said, "Now, son, don’t you feel better after that great meal?" The boy said, "Yes but I just know that my father will be very angry with me." The farmer said, "Nonsense. Where is your father anyway?" The boy said, "He’s under that wagon."
While at times man’s perception of the moment is inaccurate, God’s perception of the moment is accurate!
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
1. Our need 16:16
2. Our questions 16:19
3. Our sorrow 16:20
4. Our Frailty 16:20b
5. Our victory 16:20c
2. THE LOVING PROVIDENCE OF GOD 16:20-32
It’s is not that God merely perceives our needs He acts accordingly. This entire chapter is based upon the action of the Lord for the need of the disciples.
“There are only two constants in the world: Christ and change.” —Lyle Schaller
It is seen in His:
1. Intervention 16:1
2. Preparation 16:16, 4, 7, 12
3. Action 16:7, 32
3. THE PROMISED PROVISIONS OF GOD 16:33a
1. Hope 16:21
2. Joy 16:20, 22
3. Answered prayer 16:23-24
3. God’s love 16:27
4. Insight 16:13
5. Peace 16:33
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Psalms 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
IV. THE SOVEREIGN POWER OF GOD 16:33b
Believers, of all men, notwithstanding their tribulations, have reason to be of good cheer, since their sins are forgiven, the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, their redemption draws nigh, and they have hopes of glory; and particularly, because as Christ here says, for their encouragement under all their tribulations in the world, "I have overcome the world": Satan, the god and prince of the world, with all his principalities and powers, which Christ has led captive, ransomed his people from, and delivers them from the power of; and all that is in the world, the lusts and sins of it, their damning power by the sacrifice of himself, and their governing power by his Spirit and grace; and the men of the world with all their rage and fury, whom he has trodden down in his anger, restrains by his power, and causes the remainder of their wrath to praise him; in all which conquests he makes his people share, and even makes them more than conquerors, through himself: so that they have nothing to fear from the world; nor any reason to be cast down by the tribulation they meet with in it.
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
In 1874, a large French steamer called the Ville de Havre was on a homeward voyage from America when a collision with a sailing vessel took place. The damage to streamer was considerable, and as a result it sank quickly with loss of nearly all who had been on board. One passenger, Mrs. Horatio G. Spafford, the wife of a lawyer in Chicago, had been en route to Europe with her four children and prayed that they might be saved or, if not, that they might be willing to die, if that was God’s will. When the ship went down, the children were all lost. Mrs. Spafford was rescued by a sailor who had been rowing over the spot where the ship had sunk and found her floating in the water. Ten days later, when she reached Cardiff, she sent her husband the message: “Saved alone.” This was a great a blow, a great sadness hardly comprehensible to anyone who has not lost a child. But though a great shock, it did not destroy the peace that either of the parents, who were both Christians, had from Jesus. Thus, instead of giving vent to bitterness or defeat, Spafford wrote as a testimony of the grace of God in his experience:
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my should.”
(Taken form the The Gospel of John, Commentary, pp.329, 330, James Boice).
