John 16:1-4 - Homiletics

A warning of future persecutions.

Having spoken of the guilt of the persecutors, our Lord refers now to the sufferings of the disciples.

I. THE DESIGN OF THE WARNING . "These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended."

1. The obstinate unbelief of the Jews would be not only a great surprise to the apostles , but a profound disappointment . They always lived in the expectation of a national conversion of Israel.

2. It was therefore necessary to prepare them by timely warnings for a fact so unexpected and so tragical in its results .

II. RELIGIOUS ZEAL THE PRETENCE Or FUTURE PERSECUTIONS . "They shall put you out of their synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think he offereth worship to God."

1. The persecutions would either take the form of

2. Fanatical religious zeal would prompt the most extreme action , as it did in the case of Saul the persecutor, who thought he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Christ.

3. The cause or ground of this persecuting zeal . "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me."

III. OUR LORD 'S PREDICTION OF COMING PERSECUTIONS OUGHT TO BE A GROUND OF FAITH . "But these things I have foretold you, that when their hour shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them."

1. Our Lord will not allow his disciples to go forward into suffering without being prepared and trained to meet it.

2. He had hitherto spared them this disclosure of coming evil . "These things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you."