john 14

John 14

Tonight we're going to be back in the book of John, looking at John chapter 14. If you remember back last week, we looked at several things. We looked at Jesus having a meal with his disciples. We looked at him washing his disciples feet and then we ended with Jesus predicting his betrayal. Now if your Bible has headlines or subheadings there chapter 14 in the 1st 6 verses Jesus comforts his disciples. You see, he's telling them exactly what's gonna happen. He's telling them that he's going to have to die. So he's comforting his disciples here. Let's look at those first 6 verses. It says, “Do not let your heart be troubled. believe in God, believe also in me and my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you. Myself, that where I am, there you may be also, and you know the way where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.”

Now a lot of times we use these verses and we may hear them at funerals. I know I have preached several funerals where I quoted these verses and it's a comforting thing not only for his disciples who Jesus was talking about, but to us as well. We know that Jesus is the only way to heaven. We know that heaven is a real place as well just from these verses. Not only these but tons of other verses in the scripture that talk about heaven. But he said in my father's house are many dwelling places. I think the King James uses the word mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. Go prepare a place.

So in other words, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, a place called heaven. We need to be ready to go. We need to prepare ourselves for heaven. We need to prepare ourselves for eternity. Because we don't have any idea when we won't have any more time. We don't have any idea when our time on earth will be over. So we need to be ready, we need to prepare. Because that is something that is coming. You know, I don't want to scare you. I don't want to frighten you. But we're all adults. We all understand the time is coming. We don't know when it'll be.

But as Christians, if we're saved, we don't have to fear death. We don't have to fear death anymore at all. That's something that nobody else has. Everybody else fears death because it's an unknown. And even to us as Christians, there's a lot of unknowns there. But we do know where we will be. We do know that Jesus has prepared this place for us. Because if he didn't, he wouldn't have said it. And he even says there if it were not true, I would have told you.

But in verse six he tells us I am the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except for me. That tells us all that we need to know. Jesus is the only way for heaven. Let's see it that's Jesus is the only way we can get to heaven, through his sacrifice, through his grace, through his mercy. That's it. You see, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. At the same time, he's preparing us for our departure. We have to be ready, we have to prepare because he even tells us he's coming back. Now verse three said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. He's coming back. We know that's a promise. We know that God has never gave us a promise that he will not keep. He's not going to start now.

My question is, are we solely relying on God? Because there's a lot of things in this world that people put their faith in. The people rely on. They rely on science, they rely on all these other things. There's all these theories on how to get out of this world alive or how to live forever. There's all kinds of theories, all kinds of science experiments. They don't have to look any further than Christ. That's the only way. That is the only way that we can rely on. I don't know about you. I'm not going to put my faith inside. I'm going to put my faith in the one who defeated death. That's where we need to concentrate. That's where our faith needs to be.

Let's move on down. Let's look at verses 7 through 15. Ohh. Subheading here is oneness with the Father. Let's look at these verses. It says, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, I've been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip. You have seen me, has seen the Father. How can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you? I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works. Believe me that I am the Father and the Father. Is in me otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, He will do also. The greater works that than these He will do because I go to the Father, whatever you ask in my name. What will I do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son? If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

So just a few things that I want to talk about here for just a minute. Oneness with the Father. What are we talking about here? We're talking about the Trinity, Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. God in three essences and three forms. The Son and the Father are one. Now Jesus is. Comforting his disciples here as well. Because they're realizing or beginning to realize that his time is almost over. If they haven't realized it yet, they haven't been paying attention to what he was saying. He's trying to comfort them, he's trying to tell them everything is going to be OK. Just because I am leaving, I'm going to the father. Everything is going to be OK. And what we'll see in the next verse is we look at here in just a minute, you'll send a messenger, he'll send a helper to be with us.

Now, being able to understand the Trinity has never been an easy thing to understand. Even Philip kind of gets a little confused here, he said. Lord, show us the Father, and that's enough for us. Jesus tells him, if you have seen me, you've seen the Father. You see throughout history, there's nothing else that is like the Trinity that we can see, that we can touch, that we can feel, that we can understand. And therefore, a lot of times it's very difficult for us to grasp that. It's very difficult for us to understand something that we can't physically see. But we have to have some faith. We have to have faith that all of this is true. We have to have faith that Christ is who he said that he was, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

And then Jesus talks about his works again. Now if you remember some chapters back, we talked about this as well. Jesus didn't expect every person to believe who he was just because he said it. Because anybody can go anywhere in the world and say the things that Jesus said. But he is the only person that can do the things that he did. And he talks about the works, verse 12. He said truly, truly. I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. Verse 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Otherwise believe because of the works themselves. In other words, he's saying if you didn't believe just because I said it, believe because of what I've been able to do.

Because nobody else could do the things that he did. Nobody else could heal the blind man. Nobody else could bring Lazarus back from the dead. Nobody else could have done these things. That had to be Christ. Messiah. That's it. He's the only one that could have done it.

Jesus also talks about prayer here verse 14. It says if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Pray. You know, we can't talk too much about prayer. We talked about prayer on Sunday as well. Pray, often pray, no matter what. Do you ever pray about something and it is answered the way you wanted it to and you said, boy, I wish I'd have done that a long time ago. Prayer does work, and we need to remember to pray.

Another thing that Jesus talks about here in verse 15 it says if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now if you notice, he didn't say if you love me, you'll keep some of my commandments. No, he said. You will keep my commandments. That's all inclusive. He's talking about all of them here. I've heard people ask me before. That God has done so much for them, how could we ever repay Him? Keep His commandments. Live the life that He wants us to live. Follow Him. Serve God. These are all things that we should be doing anyway. But it really shows where our heart is. It shows where our love is. If we love God enough, we will follow His commands. We will live the way that He wants us to. Because He tells us right here, I'll hold up my end of the deal. If you pray, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. But if you love me, you will keep my commands. So both parties here have a deal to make. Both parties have an end to uphold. We know that God will always keep His. Promises. Remember that. We need to keep ours to him.

Let's finish up this chapter, verses 16 through 31. It says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper, that He may be with you forever. That is the spirit of the truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be with you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. After a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live. You will live also. In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you and me and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them as one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my father and will love him, and will disclose myself to him. Judas, not a scariot, said to him, Lord, what then has happened that you are going to disclose yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus said to 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 abode with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Fathers who sent me these things I've spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things. He will bring your remembrance. All that I said to you, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard what I said to you. I go away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you will have rejoice because I go to the Father. The Father is greater than I now. I've told you before it happened, so that when it happened, you may believe I will not speak much more with you. The ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me. But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me. Get up. Let us go from here.”

So one of the big things about these verses is that Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit. He's telling them that he will no longer be with them physically, but he's sending them a helper. He's sending them someone to take his. Place, if you will, someone to be there for us. Someone to help us, someone to be there. Even though Jesus is leaving this earth physically. He's warning his disciples, and He's warning us to know, thousands of years later as well, that we are never alone.

Well, that should be comforting. It should be comforting to us as well. Because it tells us as well that we are never alone, no matter what's happening. You know, this whole chapter, John, Chapter 14, it was kind of a short chapter. But it was a chapter where Jesus was comforting his disciples. He knew that they were getting ready to go through a struggle. They didn't even know exactly what was going to happen. I'm sure they probably didn't know the trials that they were getting ready to face, not only with his death, but after his death as well, when people would come after them. People would come after them simply for following him.

So that's something that we can use because when we are struggling, when we are going through a trying season. Go to the scriptures where Jesus is talking about that. Go to the scriptures where Jesus is comforting his disciples. When we're seeking comfort. Go to the scriptures where Jesus is comforting and we're seeking strength. Go to the scriptures where Jesus is giving strength. That's why we can use the scripture for a ton of different things. We can get comfort, we can get strength, we can get peace. We can get anything that we need from the Bible. But we have to open it, we have to read it, we have to use it, we have to apply it to our lives. And it's up to us to do those things.