John 14:1-I am the Way, The Truth, and the Life

Jesus addresses a problem in John 14:1: Do not let your hearts be troubled.

The previous chapter helps us understand why they are troubled: departure, betrayal and denial.

First, Jesus reveals that one of the disciples is going to betray him (13:21).

Second, Jesus speaks of his imminent departure (13:33)

Third, Jesus tells Peter that his faith is going to be on the brink of catastrophic failure.

It’s no wonder the disciples are filled with confusion and uncertainty. Their hearts are troubled. Their hearts are in turmoil. Their faith in Jesus is what is going to enable them to calm their hearts as they face what lays ahead.

What’s the antidote? Jesus said, Believe in God, believe also in me.

The opposite of a troubled heart is a trusting heart. Jesus gives four reasons why you can trust him

(1)There is a place for you in the Father’s house

John 14:2 “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?”

Let’s those words fill your heart with comfort: the Father’s house is so big that it will never run out of space. There is a place you in the Father’s house.

Heaven is a real place for real people created by God.

Here’s what C.S. Lewis wrote about heaven in his book Mere Christianity:

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. (Lewis, Mere Christianity, 136–37)

John 1:12 “12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

(2)Jesus secures a place for you in the Father’s house

John 14:2 “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?”

Why is Jesus having to go prepare a place for us? What’s wrong with the Father’s house? Does need remodeling?

The answer is no. The problem is not with the Father’s house. The problem is with us. Let me tell you the story of what happened to humanity.

In Genesis 1 we read that God created human beings in his image.

The creation account in Genesis 2 closes by stating that Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed, that is, there is nothing to hide between God and between each other. There is no sin or guilt to conceal. Everything is sound (shalom) in creation. Unfortunately, that drastically changes in Genesis 3.

Satan appears in the Garden of Eden. That ancient serpent has one major strategy: to deceive (Gen 3:1; 2 Co 11:3; Rev 12:9; 20:2). He twists God’s Word with the aim of questioning God’s authority, goodness, and generosity (Gn 3:1; Matt 4:3), and he flat-out lies by telling them that the moment that they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would become like God (Ge 3:4-5). It is no wonder he is called the father of lies (Jn 8:44). The work of the tempter was effective. He questioned, distorted, and minimized the authority of God’s word. Adam and Eve were convinced that rebelling against God would be to their advantage.

The consequences were devastating. Through Adam and Eve’s rebellion, the image of God was marred—like a cracked mirror that distorts the image and no longer reflects His glory as it should. In addition, the fall of humanity also led to humans being under God’s wrath and condemnation (Ro 5:10, 16 Eph 2:3); under sin’s curse and power (Gen 6:5; Ro 5:12, 19), and under Satan’s dominion (2 Cor 4:4; 1 Jn 5:19).

By the mercy of God, he did not leave us to our own demise. In the midst of the fall and the curse, God provides hope (Ge 3:15).

This is what Jesus means by “I go to prepare a place for you.” He is talking about the cross.

The gospel, the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection, accomplished our reconciliation to God (Ro 6:17-18; Col 1:21-22), freedom from our slavery to sin (Is 61:1; Ro 6:6-7, 17-18); and victory over Satan (Ro 16:20; Col 1:13, 2:15; Heb 2:14-15).

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Because Jesus, this night, goes to purchase our forgiveness and become the way to the Father. He makes our room not only available, but suitable and certain for his redeemed sheep. So let not your hearts be troubled. Trust me.

(3)Jesus himself will be at the Father’s house

John 14:3 “ 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.”

There is joy and peace in the presence of Jesus. Heaven is heaven because Jesus himself will be there.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 “16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

What makes heaven, heaven is not just the absence of death and sin. What makes heaven heaven is the presence of Jesus!

Jesus himself is the way to the Father’s house.

John 14:4–6 “4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

There is only one way to the Father.

Jesus didn’t say, “I am a way.” Jesus said, “I am the way.”

Christianity is exclusive not because of who it lets in. (see John 3:16)

Christianity is exclusive because there is only one way to get in. It’s only through Jesus.

How do you do that?

Jesus said, “you must be born again.”

Have you been born again?