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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

John 16:16-24 From Lost to Joy 約翰福音 16:16-24 從迷茫到喜樂

Friday, 23rd February 2024

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon

V16-18 Find the Wrong Person Stay in Lostness 找錯對象留在迷茫裡

“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.”

「等不多時，你們就不得見我；再等不多時，你們還要見我。有幾個門徒就彼此說：他對我們說『等不多時，你們就不得見我；再等不多時，你們還要見我』，又說『因我往父那裡去』，這是什麼意思呢？門徒彼此說：他說『等不多時』，到底是什麼意思呢？我們不明白他所說的話。」

When Jesus went to the disciples, He gave them a clear direction, to wait. They didn’t know how long they had to wait, but Jesus reassured them that as long as they wait, they would see Him. But the disciples were confused, they had questions, and they didn’t want to wait. Jesus didn’t give the disciples a timeframe, He didn’t give them the end of their waiting, He only told them to wait. People don’t like to wait without knowing how long they had to wait.

When the disciples had questions, they started to talk among each other, and they started to become confused. When we are confused, when we have questions, it’s easy for us to seek people, to ask others for their opinions, but it’s not easy for us to come to God. What is our relationship with God? Do we know that we can come to God directly? We thought we are close with God, but our hearts are so far away. The disciples were with Jesus everyday, but their hearts were far away, when they did not like what Jesus said, when they did not like where Jesus led them, they started to talk among each other. Being lost makes us lose our faith and love in God, being lost brings bitterness. When we seek the wrong people to ask for advice, we will be lost.

V19-22 Let God Speak Let Joy Fill 讓神說話喜樂充滿

“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; and 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.”

「耶穌看出他們要問他，就說：我說『等不多時，你們就不得見我；再等不多時，你們還要見我』，你們為這話彼此相問嗎？我實實在在地告訴你們：你們將要痛哭、哀號，世人倒要喜樂。你們將要憂愁，然而你們的憂愁要變為喜樂。 婦人生產的時候就憂愁，因為她的時候到了；既生了孩子，就不再記念那苦楚，因為歡喜世上生了一個人。 你們現在也是憂愁，但我要再見你們，你們的心就喜樂了，這喜樂也沒有人能奪去。」

Jesus knew they were lost and confused. The disciples didn’t go to Jesus, but Jesus went to them first. This is our Heavenly Father, He comes to us, and He sees us, even when we don’t go to Him first. We hear things and we want the answers, but we don’t go to God, instead we go to people and we want people to be on the same side as us, we want to receive assurance from people. But without the Word of God, without receiving the Word, we cannot receive joy and fulfilment.

Why we cannot hear from God? Because we already have a lot of voices within us, we heard too much and we cannot hear God’s Word. But when we let God speaks into our lives, then He will talk to us surely and truthfully. We will face many emotions, we will face the darkness within us, but God will bring light into our lives. We must stop worrying about how others think about us, we must stop staying in our negative emotions. Our emotions cannot help us out of confusion and darkness.

Are we still in worrying and sadness? When we see Jesus, all our sorrows will go away, everything that tries to put us down, the environment, the people, the things… every sorry will turn to joy, What does our life look like? Do we live in anger, in self-pity, in sorry, in worry? Today we must again see the resurrected Jesus, give up and leave is not the way out, the Lord will prepare a feast in front of our enemy, so we can overcome all the problems in our lives.

V23-24 Receive by Praying in the Name of Jesus奉主名求必得著

“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.”

「到那日，你們什麼也就不問我了。我實實在在地告訴你們：你們若向父求什麼，他必因我的名賜給你們。 向來你們沒有奉我的名求什麼，如今你們求，就必得著，叫你們的喜樂可以滿足。」

God let us live on this world to learn to seek Him. God never says that once we believe in Him, we will not need anything. As long as we live on this earth one day, we will have needs, and we will have desires. Jesus has opened a way for us, to pray to God in the Name of Jesus, and we will receive. Do we know what Jesus want us to pray? When we are close to Jesus, when we know the heart of God, then we will know what is it that we really need and what is it that really benefit us, thus we can pray in the Name of Jesus, and then we will receive.