Sermon Tone Analysis

Find the Comfort You Need in Jesus Christ

The Gospel of John

John 14:1-6

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - July 26, 2017

(Revised January 13, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 14.

In these final hours before the cross, Jesus spoke with His disciples about the most important things: How they should love one another, how the Holy Spirit would help them, how they should continue to serve the Lord and more.

*Naturally, the disciples were more troubled than ever before.

But John 13:1 tells us that "when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."

So, the Lord also took special care to give His disciples the comfort they needed.

*Christians: The same Lord who loved them to the end, loves us to the end, and He wants to give us the comfort we will surely need in life.

Tonight's verses begin to show us how God comforts His people.

Let's get started by reading John 14:1-6.

MESSAGE:

*Over the years, I have known many people who needed comfort.

Husbands and wives who had to say goodbye to their mates, children of all ages who had to say goodbye to moms and dads, brothers, sisters and friends who had to say goodbye to the people closest to them.

*Then there are those bigger events that affect our whole town or state or nation.

Everybody in this world goes through times when they need comfort.

And the wonderful truth is that we can find the comfort we need in the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. FIRST: WE CAN FIND COMFORT IN THE LORD'S CARE FOR US.

*Jesus truly cares for us all, so in vs. 1 the Lord said, "Let not your heart be troubled. .

."

Do you ever get troubled?

-- Of course we do.

And the disciples help us see why, because they were certainly troubled that night.

*They were troubled because things weren't working out like they expected.

They had been with Jesus for almost 3 years, and they had seen the most amazing things anyone has ever seen.

They saw raging storms calmed with a word.

They saw 5,000 men, plus thousands more women and children, all fed with a little boy's lunch.

The disciples also saw thousands of people instantly, miraculously, completely healed with a word or a touch from Jesus.

They had even seen people even raised from dead!

*Then in Matthew 16:15-18, Jesus asked His disciples:

15. . .

"Who do you say that I am?''

16. . .

Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.''

17. Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

18.

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

*The disciples might have thought, "Oh boy! We've got it made!"

But then in Matthew 16:20-21 Jesus

20. . .

commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

21.

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

*The disciples were troubled because things weren't working out the way they expected.

Has that ever happened to you?

It's happened to us all.

When we were young, we didn't make the team, or we had to sit on the bench, or an injury put us on the bench forever.

Somewhat older, we didn't get in our dream school, someone else got the promotion we expected, or the one we loved turned out to love someone else.

We are going to face setbacks and troubles.

*The disciples were troubled because things weren't working out like they expected.

They were also troubled because they had to face their own weaknesses.

*In the last 2 verses of John 13, the Lord pointed out how weak Peter was, and it hurt.

In John 13:37-38:

37. Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?

I will lay down my life for Your sake.''

38.

Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?

Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

*Christians: Sometimes the Lord has to point out our failures.

And yes, He loves us, and yes, He forgives us, but it's still a time of trouble.

The disciples were troubled because they had to face their weaknesses.

*But most of all, they were troubled because the Lord Jesus Christ was going to die.

Thank God, Christians: This is a trouble we will never know, because we are living on the resurrection side of the cross!

We know that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!

We know that the Holy Spirit of God was sent in a new way on the Day of Pentecost.

And we know that by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is always living in our hearts.

*We also know that death is different for Christians.

It's the difference between hopelessness and hope.

It's the difference between Heaven and Hell, the difference between everlasting life and everlasting death, the difference between everlasting forgiveness and everlasting punishment for our sins.

*Donald Phillips saw a picture of the difference when his daughter was 4 years old.

She had a cyst on her throat that had to be removed, and they were living in Louisville, Kentucky.

Donald said, "I will never forget that morning in that large city hospital when they came to carry her away to surgery.

She left crying and pleading for us not to let them take her."

*A couple of years later they had moved to the little town of Ft.

Gaines, Georgia, and Donald's daughter had to have her tonsils removed.

"What a difference," he said.

"This time, instead of sending a stretcher, the doctor came himself.

Then he picked her up in his arms and carried her calmly to surgery."

*Donald then made this comparison: "Death for the non-Christian is a frightening experience, going off with strangers to an unknown place.

But for the Christian, Christ comes, lifts us and carries us to spend eternity with Him." (1)

*Church, that's why John Hamby could say, "Death is not death if you know the Lord.

It is merely a change of place, a change of state, a transfer from one realm to another.

Death is not death, if it kills no part of us, except that which kept us from the perfect life.

Death is not death, if it raises us in a moment from darkness to light, from weakness to strength, from sinfulness to perfection.

Death is not death, if it transforms our faith into sight, and lets us behold Him in whom we have believed.

*Death is not death, if it rids us of doubt and fear, sickness and disease, sorrow and sadness.

Death is not death, for Christ has conquered death for all those who trust in Him." (2)

*Well, even though death is different for a believer, it's still very hard on the loved ones left behind, so our hearts get troubled.

But Jesus Christ cares for us more than anybody else possibly could.

And it helps to know that Jesus knows exactly what we have to go through.

*Jesus knows what it means to have a troubled heart.

John's Gospel makes this truth clear 3 different times.

After Lazarus died, John 11:33 tells us that Jesus saw Lazarus' family and friends weeping.

And when the Lord saw their sorrow, "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled."

That is the same original word Jesus used when He spoke to His troubled disciples here in vs. 1.

*Then about a week before the cross, in John 12:27-28, Jesus said, "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?

'Father, save Me from this hour'?

But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Father, glorify Your name.''

And on this night before the cross, John 13:21 tells us that Jesus was "troubled in spirit."

And the Lord said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."

*The Lord who said, "Let not your hearts be troubled" understands all of our troubles.

David DeWitt explained, "When I think of the sufferings of Christ, I almost always think of the cross and the pain of enduring the crucifixion.