4 Promises Christ Leaves His disciples

They were no longer going to physically be with Jesus, They were going to become a New community of believers known for their Christ like love for one another, and they were going to be given the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead them .

These 11 men responded to Jesus the exact same way that you and I would have responded.

What is your usually response to someone who tells you your entire life is about to Change?

About 2 months ago I climbed into bed and my chest started to hur, now I just assumed it was heart from my acid reflux that I have had for years, but as I layed there the pain grew worse and worse, and so I got up from bed and decided to go outside and walk around the block, and the pain just kept getting worse. i eventually made it back home as Amy was coming down to look for me and she said do you think you need to go to the Hospital- and I said yes. We went to The ER and the quickly admitted me into a room and began to do test after test as I laid there in pain.

Finally the verdict was in- I was in the middle of passing a gall stone. I have never been in more pain in my life. 7 hours later and lots of really good pain medication the pain finally started to go away and they were getting me ready to go home.

and the doctor said We can see a few more gall stones so you are going to need to have your gallbladder removed.

I was just told that my life was about to change, they wanted to cut me open and remove an organ that God gave me for my body to function properly .

So guess what I did at that moment? I did exactly what the disciples did when Jesus gave them news that their lives were about to fundamentally change .

I began to Ask a lot of questions, because I wanted to know more about what was going to change in my life because of the news i was just given.

Today I want us to look at the four questions the disciples asked Jesus and the promises He gave them as a response.

Question 1

last week We looked at the first that Peter had for Jesus, but let’s look at it again today in context with the next chapter in John

John13::36-14:4 “Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.””

Peter gives us question number #1:

“Where are you going, and why can’t I Come with You?”

When I was dating Amy she lived with her brother and sister in law and there 2 kids under 4 years old. and on accation Adam and JHamie would want to go ourt for the night and they would ask Amy and me to watch the boys while they were God.

Our nephew Cole was about 1 years old and He loved being with his mamma, in fact he never wanted to be apart from his mom. Every where she went he wanted to be there with her.

It didnt matter how long she was gone, as soon as she would leave the house he would start to cry and wouldnt stop until she walked back in the door.

He wanted to be with his momma and couldnt understand why she didnt want to be with him all the time too.

Dad’s and Mom’s you have all been there right?

When Linden was a little guy when I was leaving the house he would run up to the door and say “ Dad where are you going?

Me “to work!”

kid: “ Can I come with? “

Mom: “no you have to stay here with mom ”

kid: but I dont want to stay here I want to come with you”

Me:"I know you want to come with me, but after work I will come back home and then we will go play outside together.”

This is the conversation Peter is having with Jesus

He is like a child with His father, He wants to be with His father and do the things that his father is doing.

But Jesus just like a father going to work, looks at Peter and says “you cant come with me right now Im going to work, But I am coming Back and when I do I will spend an eternity with you.

Jesus Answers Peter’s Question with a Promise

look at the text again:

John 14:3-4 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.””

Jesus Promised to Return from Heaven

the first promise that Jesus gives his followers is that even though He has to go to Heaven to prepare a place for them to dwell, He will come back and then they will get to be with Him forever.

Like a dad Jesus is saying Im going to work but when my work is done I am coming and and You and me are going to play in the backyard forever.

Transition: As Jesus gives Peter the promise of his return, another of the disciples jumps into the conversation with another question . Thomas gets stuck on what Jesus just Said

“YOU know the way to where I am going”

and so He asks Jesus a second question

Look at thomas’s question with me

John 14: 5-7 “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.””

Jesus answered Thomas’s doubt with a promise

He said thomas you know the way to where I am going, because You know me! and Here is a Promise of why knowing me matters

I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE, No one can go to where I am going except through ME!”

The 2nd Promise of Jesus is ...

Jesus Promised a Path to Heaven

A few years ago I went to the boundary waters in Northern MN with a group of men from Nevada Baptist church.

one of the men who went with us was completely blind. The only way he could know where to go was only if someone else showed him the way.

On the first day we canoed for about 6 hours to get as far north as we could go before dark. We finally made it to our camp site and began to set up camp.

Now if you don’t know anything about the boundary waters let me explain what a camp site looks like.

Its a cleared out area on the share of a lake. there is no electricity, no picnic table , and no running water. It is a very primitive site.

However the one semi modern thing is that there is an outhouse toilet about 40 feet into the woods at each site. But let me clarify this just a little . It is an outhouse without the house. It is just a toilet sitting on top of a 4 ft hole in the ground.

We got camp all set up and many of the guys were sitting around the fire waiting for supper to be finished cooking. Dave- the blind guy got up and decided he wanted to go to his tent and get something. and so the guys said let us help you get to your tent and dave quickly reasoned I know the way I don’t need anyone to help me.

So as Dave got up and left the fire ring for his tent the guys didn’t pay any attention to him as he walked away -

But remember Dave is completely Blind He is incapable of seeing anything around, But in his mind he knew how to get to his tent.

But there was a small problem He got mixed up on what trail he was on and instead of going to his tent He was walking down the trail that led to that outhouse without a house.

But you see there was another problem- I was in the outhouse without a house, sitting there peacefully doing my business when Dave walks right in front of me. and then cries out for Help!

And everyone in camp Heard Dave’s cry for help and ran to his rescue to find me with my pants around my ankles sitting on the primitive toilet in the woods.

We are the blind man in the story. and Just like Dave , Many people think they know the way to heaven, ,amy people think that they dont need anyones help to get there by themselves. . but Jesus says there is only one way for you to get to where I am going. -

Jesus answerds Thomas’s question of How can we know the way to where you are going With a promise”

He said

I AM THE WAY

I AM THE TRUTH

I AM THE LIFE

understand that jesus isn’t saying I know the way for you to get to heaven, He is saying I AM the way to heaven.

No church no religious practice, no good work can bring you to God, The only way to God is through Jesus because He is the only way.

Either you have Christ or you don’t have him, It’s that simple- there is no other way to gain eternal life but through Jesus Because he is the only way.

Jesus Also says I AM THE TRUTH, Jesus isnt saying I am stelling yourt the truth, He is saying I AM truth.

Do you understand this statement of Jesus?

There is no truth without Jesus. He is the standard by which all truth must be measured.

Anything that goes against the character and words of Jesus cannot be truth Because He IS truth.

It doesn’t matter what Society says is right- if it goes against the truth of jesus it is a false teaching and is a lie of the devil.

, Either you believe and follow the truth of Jesus that leads to eternal life with God or you believe and follow the lies of the Devil that leads to eternal damnation in the lake of Fire.

Jesus Said I AM THE WAY I AM THE TRUTH, and then HE SAYS I AM ˇHE LIFE.

Jesus isn’t saying I am the way to life He is saying there is no life without me..

jesus is the source of life because He is life.

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Why did every thing created need to go through Jesus because Life cannot exist without Jesus!

When Thomas asked Jesus How will we know the way to where you are going? Jesus simply says to him “you already know the way to the father Because you already know me and if you know me you have seen the father because I and the Father are the same.”

The simple promise of jesus is this;

In order to know the Father you must know jesus, There is only one way to eternal life in with God the Father and that is through Jesus, because he alone is The way, He alone is the truth, and He alone is LIFE.

WHILE Jesus speaks these truths to the 11 Philip jumps into the conversation with a third question for Jesus.

QUETION #3 - Philip

John 14:8-15 “Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Philip - a disciple whose recorded words in the four gospels are very few, speaks probably the most fundamental question mankind could ever ask.

He asks Jesus to “Show US the Father” HE simply says to Jesus “ We want you to Point us to God”

Transition: And Jesus Answered Philip’s Question with a 3rd promise: Jesus Promised his followers the Power of Heaven

Jesus Promised the Power of Heaven

Illustration

John 14:12-15“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Jesus looks at these men and says “you know that I am one with the father because My Words are His words and my works are His works. And Because of this you can believe that I and the father are one.

And then He goes on with the promise for these 11 disciples, He says because I am God -When I leave I will give you the power of Heaven by which I did all of these miraculous things before your eyes.

These men have seen Jesus do the impossible, He healed the sick, He cast out demons, He turned water into wine, He made the Lame walk, the blind to see, and the dead to rise and live.

And now Jesus says when I leave ,I will give you this same power of Heaven for you to use for my glory, but not only will you do these things but you will do even works than I did here on earth.

and that is exactly what happened- the book of Acts is the story of the church being built after Christ ascended back up to heaven to be with the father.

These 11 men performed many miracles in the name of Jesus. they healed the sick and raised the dead just like Jesus did when He was walking on this earth.

So what was the greater work that Jesus promised that these men would do?

When Jesus was on earth he performed the miracle of healing and raising the physical bodies of man. He restored there Physical bodies to prove His deity to mankind.

But we have the privilege of preaching Jesus Christ to that man’s soul could live eternal with God.

Jesu healed many peoples physical needs and yet his followers where few. These men did something so much greater healing the physical needs of people, they shared the gift of Salvation through Jesus with the world and because of them- thousands upon thousands up thousands of people now have eternal life through the message of Jesus that they faithful shared.

The greatest accomplishment anyone could ever have is to bring men and women into a right relationship with God.

Jesus continues with his final discourse to his followers i n verse 14 after answering Philips question

Listen as we continue;

John 14:15-21 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.

Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.””

And as jesus is speaking agian he is interupted by a 4th dsicples with a question>

this time it was Judas ( but not Judas Iscariot) Can you image being known as the other Judas )

Listen to Juda’s Question for Jesu in verse 16

John 14:22 “Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?””

Judas is the first apostle to have the mind of a missionary.

He is saying “ Lord this is wonderful what you are telling us, but have you forgotten about the world. Have you forgotten that they need life too.”?

once again, Jesus Answers Judas question with a promise.

Look with me at Jesus’s answer to Judas

John 14:23-31 “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,

he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Jesus Promised the Gift From Heaven (HS)

When Amy and I were Dating She loved Elephants-And so before she left to go home for the summer I bought Her the cutest stuffed Elephant I could find and of course I sprayed it with my Hugo Boss Cologne , and then gave it to her so she could remember me when we were apart. She loved that elephant because it made her feel close to me while I was away.

Jesus Gives His disciples a gift so that they can stay close to him while He is away. He gives them The H.S. to indwell them and point them to Jesus to lead them in Jesus, and to secure them for an eternity with Jesus, But Jesus says this is not all that the Helper will do, and what he is saying to Judas is that I have not forgotten the world but the gift of the Helper is meant to be shared with the world . so that they too can know the love of Christ in their lives.

The point Jesus is making is that the only way the Truth and Life can be given to the world is through these 11 men, and the only way that they would be equipped for this mission is with this gift of the Holy Spirit that jesus will leave them when He is gone.

Look at what these men did through the power of the H.S

John was one of these men, and He has written this Gospel letter for us today through the power of the H.S leading in his life

Peter & James were some of these men and they established the church in Jerusalem that would send missionaries around the world.

Jesus continues on in his discourse and for the rest of Chapter 14 He is speaking words of encouragement to these 11 men.

John 14:27-31 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Jesus says men You can find peace in the midst of these fundamental changes in your life because you now know that I am going away for your good.

And the reason I just shared all of this with you is not to make you worry but so that as it unfolds before your eyes you can have peace knowing that I was sovereignly in control and that everything that is about to happen is by Gods perfect design. .

Let’s bring it home today.

How many times do we question what God is doing in our lives? How many times do we look up to heaven ask God : is this really what you think is best for me?

Asking God a question is not wrong. But ignoring his Promising is.

The disciples were hurting, they were confused, and they didn't know how to process all the things Jesus just told them. But when they listened to Jesus He gave them promises that they could cling to when the storms of life came crashing down upon them.

In just a couple hours Jesus would be arrested and taken from these men, and then by the end of tomorrow these men would left standing looking at their dead masters body limply hanging on a cross. and it is in this moment that these 11 men will have to choose to hold fast to these promises of Jesus or turn and walk away.

History tells us that in the end these men believed in words of Jesus and they took these promises and shared them with the world.

- They believed in the promise that Jesus will one day return from Heaven to bring all of those who have believed in him back to the father.

They believed in the promise that Jesus is the way the truth and the Life and No one can go to the Father but through Him.

and this truth became their entire foundation that they built the church upon.

The believed in the promise that Jesus would be give them the power from heaven, and it was this power that enabled them to perform many miracles leading thousands of people to Christ.

and

They believed in the promise of the Holy Spirit who would lead people to Christ, and indwell them in Christ and would secure all those who believed for an eternity with Christ.

The question I have for each of you as I close this morning is this.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE PROMISES OF JESUS?

Do you believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life

Do you believe that He is truth and anything that goes against him is a lie form the devil?

Do you believe that He is the source of eternal life. and there is no life without him?

IF we TRULY BELIEVE IN THE PROMISES OF JESUS than our response should be the same as these 11 men- We will proclaim it to the world and point people to the ONLY way the truth and the Life