Trust in Me
Notes
Transcript
We are going through some tough times
As a nation
As a people
As an Army
We have literally just survived one
Weirdest years on record
Over the last year Witnessed
Entire continent set on fire
Riots and chaos in the powerful country on earth
The of individual freedoms
China
Other socialist nations
A global pandemic
Dare I say, we have began a new way of life with masks and social distancing
Talking to S6
Are we ever gonna go back to in person meetings?
Are we ever gonna go back having formations?
While all this is going on,
I have so many people
Looking for God
Looking for peace
Desperate for an answer
Looking and searching for a way out of this chaos
As a chaplain
People come and talk to me every day
Scared
Hopeless
Frustrated
Angry
Looking for someway out
I have the Answer
I live with the answer
I love the answer
Because my answer died for me
My Answer said in
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
As a pastor
When you’re asked to speak
there is a certain turmoil within
Especially when a passage hasn’t been assigned to you
But I woke up one morning
I know God gave this one to me
Because it fits with exactly what I feel we need to hear this week
So please open up your Bibles with me to John 14
I entitled this sermon
Trust in Jesus
So I hope i can bring you some assurance
He is n charge
He is watching over us
He has not been taken by surprise
While we may not understand everything
Put your trust in Him
Know He’s got this
Turn with me to
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Prayer
John 14
known as the farewell discourse
Its actually a section of Scripture
Last 4 chapters from 14-17
as you can see famous sayings
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
These are some of the most powerful moments in Scripture
Verses that give us life
hope
security
knowledge
help us understand the heart of God
But
Context is key
Details or important
Alot has happened
Triumphal entry
Jesus has been sold out by Judas
The plot to take His life has been initiated
Lord Supper has been initiated
Completed
Judas recognized as the betrayer
And Jesus is telling the future
He’s only going to be with a little while longer
He’s telling them he is going to be betrayed
And you have to realize
The entire group is down.
Their Messiah is telling them he is going away
He is going to die
He is going to be betrayed and yet here in John 14
Jesus says “Let not your heart be troubled”
Realize what they are going through
All the miracles
All the teachings
All the promises and yet
Jesus is saying something completely contrary to what they are thinking
This is where the Bible creates more questions than answers
Its where deep intent study is required
Meat vs. Milk
I have been asked so many times
Why didn’t they get it
Why didn’t the apostles see what was going on
Why are they so confused?
It’s interesting that if you
study the Bible from an
eastern perspective or a
Jewish perspective you begin to see the
focal point of who the disciples thought Jesus was
One Jewish Scholar said
“The Jewish people had their own version of the prosperity Gospel”
They were focused on a “kingdom now type theology”
This is were it gets a bit thick so stick with me.
Because we ought to understand that while there is one Messiah,
There are two appearance,
or two types
or two symbols.
And I am going to quote this man because I don’t want to mess this up.
“Judaism understands that the Messiah will come in the character of Joseph and be typified by him. Yet there is another picture of the Messiah—the Son of David. This Messiah would come in the character of Israel’s great king and in some way His life and ministry would replay the experience and life of King David.
Now lets draw the connection to Christianity and how we interpret this
I quote “Christianity understands that it is rather one Messiah and two comings. At His first coming, Jesus is the Son of Joseph, a Suffering Servant, fulfilling Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 but in His Second Coming He is the Son of David. In His first coming, He fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, but at His return He fulfills the prophecies of Zechariah 12-14 when He comes as the Davidic conqueror. Even John the Baptist was unable to understand how Jesus could be both when he dispatched his disciples to ask Jesus if He was indeed the Messiah or if he should look for another.”
Reality they were looking for Jesus the son of David but they should’ve been looking for Jesus the son of Joseph
As a point of comparison, There are at least 35 parallels between Joseph and Jesus
So I want you to imagine
Jesus is sitting here telling them that he is about to die
imagine how confusing when they thought he had come to conquer.
They were wanting immediate blessing
They were seeking the material over the eternal
They were too distracted with the ways of the world
Too look at the purpose of their entire religion
The purpose of the entire sacrificial system
The purpose of the Messiah in the forgiveness of sin
This is the whole point
Jesus is telling them to trust Him
Take comfort in Jesus
To know without a doubt that He is in charge
That He isn’t surprised by any of this
That in fact if you study the Scriptures
You may even see He wrote about this
What about you
How does that play out in your life.
Do you have some preconceived notion of how Christ is supposed to behave
How he is supposed to bless you?
Are you frustrated because He’s not acting on your time
Are you more concerned with the world than you are with your own sin?
Ask yourself
Why aren’t you able to see the whole picture
The disciples couldn’t
They had the Messiah
On a daily basis
Right in front of them
Performing all kinds of miracles
And they still couldn’t see
Ask yourself today
What are you missing?
What are you worried about? What have you not given up to God?
Look at this
Jesus tells them not to worry.
Why?
I mean they had every right to worry
He is saying he’s going to die
He is saying he’s not what they thought He should be
He is saying basically that they don’t understand the Scriptures correctly
He is saying He is going away and they can’t follow
But then Jesus does something amazing.
He promises to return
Look with me at verses 1-3
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Now besides the obvious promise of heaven
the wonderful experience it will be
the promise of being eternally with God
There is an obvious elephant in the room
There a deeper point of theology
I want to address this
because it brings so much hope
So much promise
Yet
I know many of us don’t want to talk about it either
Its like we shy away from the discussion of theology
For some of you I know your thinking he is going to go into the rapture
You would be correct
What I do want us to understand is that if you’re Christian,
You believe in the rapture
or some form of the rapture
Your belief may differ in the timing of the rapture
But the reality is
the rapture is an actual doctrine taught in the Bible
Even in the Old Testament
Two examples
Enoch Gen 5
Elijah 2 Kings 2
So regardless you have to understand that the rapture is an actual event that will happen
Now there are two predominant views on this
Over the next two hours we are going to be… joking
No real briefly
So there is the post tribulation view
Pre Tribulation view
Post Trib view teaches that at the end if the Tribulation Christians will raptured and immediately returned
So go up and come back down
Depending on who you talk to, depends on how long this will all take
Most feel it will be pretty quick
Then there is the pre tribulation view
Tells us that Christians or the church will be removed prior to the tribulation
So the rapture happens
The seven year tribulation begins
At the end when Jesus comes back (Rev 19) we come back with Him
We walk into the Millennium
Personally I hold to the pre tribulational view
I want to show you just a few points as to why
Conservative Theological Journal, Volume 5 The Rapture, John 14, and Myths
“This passage, taken literally, indicates that the believer is going to go to heaven at the time of Christ’s coming for Him.”12 This will not occur at the Second Advent because that will be a time in which Christ comes with His saints, who are already in heaven, not for His saints as John 14:1–3 requires.
Conservative Theological Journal, Volume 5 The Rapture, John 14, and Myths
But here in John 14 the Lord gives a new and unique revelation; He speaks of something which no prophet had promised, or even could promise. Where is it written that this Messiah would come and instead of gathering His saints into an earthly Jerusalem, would take them to the Father’s house, to the very place where He is? It is something new. And let it be noticed in promising to come again, He addresses the eleven disciples and tells them, “I will receive you unto Myself, that where I am ye may be also.” He speaks then of a coming which is not for the deliverance of the Jewish remnant, not of a coming to establish His kingdom over the earth, not a coming to judge the nations, but coming which concerns only His own.13
And Dr. Andy Woods of Schaefer Seminary says,
Why would he go and prepare a place for you if you were never going to stay there?
I know even this simple saying can be confusing
Explain heaven and eternity real quick
After tribulation
After the Millennium,
A new Heaven a New Earth
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
So then what is jesus talking about?
Why even mention it
Look if you’re paying attention
You’re seeing Bible prophecy happen right before our eyes
Countries are being lined up as predicted (Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38-39, Revelation 17)
Pandemics, famines, earthquakes, etc. its all happening
Not sure if you guys follow the Temple institute out of Israel
Explain the temple
If you notice, anyone that holds any type of academic weight in theology
they are all raising red flags.
Not talking about the crazy guys either
We have plenty of those
I mean the guys that really know there stuff
All raising their red flags.
So then what am I saying?
That our hope and our promise of His return is near
I truly believe that
I am tired of tip toeing around the issue also
Now am I saying
Go sell all your stuff
rebell
go crazy
NOOOOO
But what I am saying is that there is something truly important and significant going on
Read the parable of the ten virgins
Are you lamps full?
Are you ready?
Because the more I study the more I get excited
My Jesus is coming
And I fully believe he has a place for me
I can’t wait to be with Him
Leads me to my final point
The exclusivity of Jesus
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Regardless of what you believe
Regardless of how you feel
Jesus is packing a punch in this statement
He is so counter culture
Counter modern inclusiveness
Counter moral relativism
Counter even modern day post modern theology
Jesus is saying He is the way
There is no other way
No other god
No other belief system
No negotiation
You either believe in Him or you enter eternity apart from His protection from the wrath of God
Ladies and Gentlemen
This statement made by our Lord and Savior is so clear
So precise
There is no confusion
no argument
to get around it.
Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, died on that cross for our sin
The only way to be made right with God our Father is to gain forgiveness of sin, through faith in the work of the cross.
There is no other way.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Jesus told them in the beginning,
You believe in God
Believe also in me
How’s your faith,
How’s your daily walk
Are you struggling today
Are you frustrated
Are you wondering where God is and when He is going to show up?
I firmly believe we are in the last days,
You may or may not believe as I do
But I can tell you this,
Jesus commands that we put our trust in Him
He promised He would come again
He promised He would take us to be with Him
He promised He has prepared a place for us with Him
And He promised and made it very clear
The only way to the Father is through Him
To those of us that are 100% sure of where we stand with Christ,
This passage is reassuring beyond meassure
For those of us that aren’t so sure of our eternal destination,
This may be very concerning
I want to encourage you to reach out today if youre concerned
I am here as are other chaplains
We can answer questions
But before I leave you today I want to read one final passage of Scripture
A passage that brings hope
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.
Lets close in prayer
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’
God Bless