John 16-17 Takeaways (Digging Deeper)

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. (Jn. 16:7)

It would be so easy to be worried and overcome with sadness if Jesus said to us the same things He said to the disciples when He told them that He would be leaving them behind. That it was, in fact, better for us if He left us. Because when you look at the amount of time and energy that Jesus has poured out on His disciples at this point, and the extent of what He’s done during His ministry in front of them, how would anyone think they are actually better off without His presence? Jesus makes everything better …. and so does the Helper, which is more commonly known as the Holy Spirit—the third person of our Trinitarian God. For the truth is, the Holy Spirit is one of Jesus’s gifts that keeps on giving.

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, 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 said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you. (Jn. 16:13-15)

What Jesus did during His earthly ministry, and we see all throughout the Bible, He continues to do today through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes what is Jesus’ and He makes it ours by opening our hearts and minds to what God truly wants for us. He points us toward all that Jesus meant for us to partake in, including our union with himself and with His Church.

The glory that you have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent Me and loved them even as you loved Me. (Jn. 17:22-23)

Here are some other takeaways from John 16-17:

Jesus always lifts His eyes up to God when He prays to His Father. (Jn. 17:1)
This entire “Upper Room Discourse,” or “Farewell Discourse,” takes place just a few hours before He is arrested.
The Helper, or the Holy Spirit, is not some impersonal force. He is a divine person in the trinity along with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus).
Jesus is the only true way to find peace and security amid the troubled and challenging world we live in. (Jn. 16:32-33)
John 17 is “the very Holy of Holies of Scripture,” an intimate look into the prayer life and connection between Jesus and His father—Jesus’ longest prayer in the Bible.
“The world” is used as a word over 12 times in John 17, alone and well over 200+ times in the New Testament.
Jesus saves us out of the world, He cleans us up, makes us whole by redeeming us, and then sends us back into the world to glorify Him and reach the lost.
Unity of believers in Jesus points people to God. (Jn. 17:20-22)

Now it is your turn. What are some of your biggest takeaways from Pastor Josh’s sermon, along with your own study of John 16-17, that you can share with someone you know today?

I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (Jn. 17:26)

(All Scriptures used above are from the ESV translation).