- Scripture: John 16:7
- Broadcast Date: 01/04/2016
EXTRA HELP FOR THE NEW YEAR
John 16:7
Well, believe it or not, we are in the New Year! You weren’t ready for it? Neither was I, but it is here as big as you please. So, what do we do now? Good question because we don’t even know what we are going to face, let alone deal with it. And that is where God comes in. He knows our quandary, and guess what, He does something about it.
Listen to what He promises to do for us as we enter the new year. He is speaking to His disciples. Jesus has told them He is going back to heaven; He has told them that the world will persecute them. in other words, the new year for these disciples held troubles and trials. So Jesus tells them, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” (John 16:7). The Comforter is the Holy Spirit of God and He is so called because He is going to be with us and help us in every last thing we face, good or bad. The Holy Spirit is going to encourage the child of God. Jesus is talking about the crucifixion which He faces. It will all look like defeat when He dies on the cross, and the disciples must not lose faith because regardless of how black the situation may look, glory is going to come out of it. How so? Jesus’ death on the cross, and the glorious resurrection will be the means, the only means, for us to get to heaven!
Jesus tells us, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
(John 14:6).
In other words, Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven, and it is so because Jesus alone, as the Son of God and the Son of Man, died for our sins, paid for our sins, forever washed them away through the blood of the Lamb of God on the old rugged cross. St. John spells it perfectly, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” (I John 1:7).
But wait, that is not the whole story. Jesus is going to ascend back into heaven, and in His place the Holy Spirit of God will come and indwell all who come to Jesus for cleansing and washing away of their sins. That means that in the New Year we have an ever-present Guide to direct our steps and lead us through the wilderness of this life. Not only will the Holy Spirit guide us, but He will bring us peace of heart and soul. Jesus tells His disciples, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.” (John 16:33).
St. Paul says, ‘the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7).
We live in a troubled world, thanks to Satan and his miserable cohorts, called “demons” in the Bible.
They are going to attack us until they, along with their leader, Satan, are cast into the Lake of Fire!
(Rev. 20:10). Jesus knew the devil would pick on His children, so He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us, give us guidance, peace, contentment, encouragement, and the presence of God Almighty in our daily walk in the new year. That’s why you ought to be sure you have confessed your sins to Jesus, promised to follow Him, and asked for salvation. You can have it for the asking. Remember what God tells us in John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not have life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”. (John 3:39).
Take Jesus into your life and I guarantee you will have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!