The Way to God: John 14:1-7

We arrive at the second Sunday of the season of Advent. This season is set apart to worship God with the incarnation (enfleshment) of God the Son, our Lord and Savior, Messiah Jesus.

We need to remember why Jesus came in the first place. And for this, we go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, who were created with righteousness and purity, chose to follow the temptation of the serpent and disobey God (see Gen. 3:1-19).

The final words of God to Adam bear mentioning, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” God’s warning that should Adam eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would surely die has been pronounced.

More than simply a physical death sentence, this includes spiritual death. Paul describes individuals who are not saved are “you were dead in the trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). The results of Adam’s sin has devastating affects on everything (creation, Gen. 3:17-19, cf. Rom. 8:21, 22).

More than a detriment to the created world/order, this spiritual death has doomed every human being to eternal torments in hell for their sinfulness against an infinitely holy God.

There are two problems, then. One problem is the separation from God. Depicted physically in the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden (Gen. 3:23-24). We, as a result of sin, have been separated from the Triune God.

A second problem that we face is spiritual and physical death. There is nothing any human being can do to overcome either spiritual or physical death. Summarizing the teachings of Scripture, the Canons of Dort state,

“Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin; without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves to such reform.”—Canons of Dort, III, Art. 3.

We have two enormous problems which are closely tied to one another: separation from God and death. These two problems are increased by another problem: there is nothing we can do about it. Not unlike the patient who receives the horrific news that there is nothing doctors can do for their illness, we have before us the truths of Scripture that we are hopelessly lost.

You may say, “Hey, we began the service with Scripture for Isaiah which says, ‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ and this is not comforting!” However, we need to keep this in mind because we cannot have comfort if we do not know from what we are being comforted.

This is where the amazing and glorious time of Advent comes in to our discussion. The triune God knew exactly what would happen in His creation. With His omniscience (knowledge of everything), God the Father covenanted with God the Son to save His people. This covenant involved the incarnation of God the Son.

He would become like us, and through His perfect life and death, doing what Adam did not do, and enduring the punishment we deserve (Rom. 3:21-26).

Now we come back to our passage in John chapter 14. In chapter 13, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, observed the Lord’s Supper and revealed the betrayal of Judas, and then prophesied Peter’s denial. Right after that is where Jesus begins in 14:1.

I. The Way to God Brings Comfort- 14:1

Right after revealing the denial of Peter, Jesus comforts His disciples. He says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Do not allow them to be tormented. We will get to why Jesus can say this in a moment, but we need to realize that the Way to God brings comfort.

Though we have sinned against God, and though we deserve hell, we can, through Jesus, have peace and comfort. This is what Paul says after elaborating on the person and work of Jesus Christ, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When we see the separation from God and the impending death, we can become discouraged and depressed. In fact, I think this is one of the greatest ways to demonstrate the need people have for God. We have been separated from the author and giver of Life, our very purpose for existence, and we have attempted to fill that void with everything under the heavens. Yet, nothing will satisfy the soul like God. Thus we see many people depressed and discouraged.

The answer is Jesus. He brings us to God. He did what Adam could not and endured the punishment that we deserved. Therefore, let not your hearts be troubled. The way to God brings comfort as well believe God and His Messiah.

But the actual words of Jesus give us much to consider. He says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” This implies that there are things we can allow to trouble our hearts. We can allow things to trouble our hearts, such as bad news, personal failures, and other struggles that afflict us as a result of our own actions and those of others.

Jesus commands us to not allow our hearts to be troubled. Our question is, “How?” How can we not let our hearts be troubled? Rather than listening to ourselves we need to speak to ourselves. Let me illustrate.

When confronted with an unknown situation, we can allow doubts and anxieties to speak to us. We can hear those “what ifs” and the unknowns to weigh us down with cares and concerns. This is listening to ourselves.

Or we can obey Jesus and not allow our hearts to be troubled. We can, as Jesus says, “Believe in God,” and “believe also in [Him.]” That is, we can trust God and His Word and use it to speak truth to ourselves. The psalmist illustrates this for us perfectly in Psalm 42:5 and 6,

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” Why is my heart troubled?

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you...”

We prevent our souls from being troubled, distressed, broken, by trusting God and His Word and speaking truth to ourselves. Jesus does this in the rest of our section, as we will see this morning.

But I must ask, are you allowing your heart to be troubled? Does this virus have you in the grips of fear? Does the presidential election have you worried? Does that sin that seems to tighten its grip around you have your troubled?

Then believe God and flee to His Word and there you will find comfort.

II. The Way to God has a Destination- 14:2

Again, remember the previous section where Jesus revealed His upcoming betrayal at the hands of Judas and His disciples’ (focused on Peter) denial. They must have been discouraged and disillusioned. Yet, Jesus comforts this with the reminder that the Way to God has a destination.

He reveals this when He says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” Now, some translations have “mansions” which does not convey the same ideas that we have of mansions today. We will not have mansions (i.e., 400,000 square feet), but rooms in the Father’s house. Like brothers and sisters dwelling in the home of a loving Father, Jesus reminds His disciples that He is building a home for His followers.

Our destination is eternity with God. Jesus has completely reversed the curse given by God to Adam as our representative. Is this not comforting? Now, remember this is tied directly into belief in God and His Messiah, but what a comforting thought we have before us!

III. The Way to God has a Promise- 14:3

Jesus, comforting the disciples with the reiteration of faith in God and His Son Jesus, after that He talks about the rooms He is going to prepare, and then offers a promise. He says, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Jesus, through His perfect life and death, undoing what Adam had done, promises to bring us with Him. That is, just as Jesus came over 2,000 years ago, Jesus will return. It is a promise.

Again, we cannot separate this thought from the context of chapter 13. Dealing with betrayal and denial, Jesus wanted to comfort His people. Just as John the baptist cried in the wilderness, so too, we hear these words of Jesus to His people that He will return and bring them with Him to live and dwell together in our Father’s house.

As Jesus ends His last statement in the book of Revelation with the same promise, “Surely I am coming soon!”

We have a promise, just as Christ came long ago, that Christ will return in power and in might. He is coming again to bring us to His and our Father’s house, to be with Him.

Comfort, Isaiah tells us on behalf of God, and this is comfort, true and soul-enriching comfort.

IV. The Way to God is Jesus- 14:5-7

This is where we come to a point in our sermon that we must believe something specific. The command to not allow our hearts to be troubled is followed by the statement and requirement, “You believe in God, believe also in me.”

Thomas, one is frequently asks questions and displays his doubts, asks Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Thomas was confused and did not understand what Jesus was telling the disciples. Jesus removes all doubt in His response,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The destination (or the way) is to the Father. It is the eternal dwelling and fellowship of which we spoke earlier. But the way, the means by which it is to be achieved, is only through Jesus.

With the Advent of Jesus comes the exclusivity of Jesus. Though man has attempted to gain his way into heaven by Towers, by works of righteousness, by a denial of heaven, and many other means, they all fail, utterly and completely fail.

The only way that we can escape our two-fold problem of separation from God and a destination in hell is through Jesus. He is the only way, and without Him we have no hope.

Paul reminds us this in Ephesians 2:12, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Jesus is the only one who can reunite us with God because He has given us His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus is the only one who can endure the pain and punishment you and I deserved so that we did not have to (Isaiah 53:5). He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through Jesus.

This is the message of the early church in the book of Acts. This is the message of the church throughout the centuries. This is the message for us today. There are two points that I want to consider briefly.

First, if you are not a follower of Jesus, then you cannot come to the Father. The message of comfort does not apply to you, unless, as John the baptist preached in Matthew 3:1-3, you repent and trust in Jesus.

You will have a heart full of trouble, thought you may not always recognize it. This life will be the best it will ever be for you. Unless you repent, Jesus says you will perish. You will endure an eternity of separation from God and unimaginable torment. Would you like for your heart not to be troubled? Then follow Jesus, He is the way, the truth, and the life. Believe God and believe also in Jesus.

Second, if you are a follower of Jesus, the statement does not change. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, both for the unsaved and the saved.

It is unfortunate that believers, after their salvation, think they must work to please God or become holy. We think that our contributions to the church, our reading and memorizing of Scripture, or other acts of goodness, make God love us more. God loves us because Jesus saved us, not because of how much you give, how much you serve, or how much you do.

Your growth in Christlikeness is just as much the work of Christ as your salvation is. Paul reminds us of this, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6)

Conclusion

The way to God brings comfort because it brings us back to God. The way to God has a destination, an eternity with God and Jesus. The way to God has a promise, Jesus will come again to receive us for ever. But the way to God is only through Jesus.

This Advent, as every Advent, is a reminder that Jesus is the only way to God. You may need to repent and believe for the first time. Or, you may need to repent of your self-dependency. Jesus is the only way to the Father.