The Way, The Truth, The Life

Laurel Bible Church iconLaurel Bible Church

1 view

John 14:1-7 Guest Speaker Doug Swift August 13, 2023

0 comments

00:00
It is such a privilege to be with you this morning and to preach from the Word of God.
00:06
I don't take this privilege lightly. It is a high calling to preach God's Word and I pray even before I start this morning that I would be able to preach true to the text.
00:20
This is preaching that is neither above the line nor below the line of the text.
00:28
It is a challenge always to stay true to God's Word and with the help of the
00:34
Holy Spirit, that's what I will try to do this morning. So I ask you gracious God and Father to be with all of us this morning and particularly that my words might be your words and that your word might go out among us as powerfully illuminating, as enlightening, as strengthening, as iron sharpens iron.
01:02
So Lord, we do not add to your word. We don't subtract from it, but we we bring forth your word this morning in spirit and in truth.
01:14
Amen. So most of you will recall that late last year
01:20
I was able to be with you and preach from the Gospel of John and I started in John chapter 9 and then covered chapter 10 11 and 12 and then
01:32
I finished up with the Gospel of John chapter 13 on New Year's Day and I want to start this morning by just taking a brief look at those four chapters in order to kind of give some context to the sermon today, which will be from John chapter 14.
01:52
And so we're making we're making good headway here and to help us remember the big picture it's always important to remember the big picture from from anything from any of God's Word, but I'm gonna try to bring that big picture from the
02:07
Gospel of John. So we started in John 9 and by looking at the miraculous healing of the man who was blind from birth and Jesus declared at that time.
02:20
I am the light of the world. That was one of the seven great I am's He spat on the ground and made a little bit of clay and and he applied it to the eyes of the blind man
02:31
And he said to the blind man go wash in the pool of Siloam So he went away he washed and he came back seeing and declaring to the
02:42
Pharisees who claimed that Jesus was a sinner and What what did the blind man say?
02:49
He said we know that God does not hear sinners But if anyone
02:56
But if anyone is God fearing and does his will He hears him
03:01
Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind if this man were not from God, he could do nothing a man in darkness from birth was now
03:16
Miraculously able to see the one who was the light of the world
03:22
Now when we got to John chapter 10 Jesus declared this he said truly truly
03:28
I say to you I am the door of the sheep and he also declared that I am the
03:34
Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. I know my own and they know me
03:42
But the religious leaders of the day continued in their confusion and in their disbelief as to who
03:48
Jesus really was Finally Jesus just tells him straight out in John or in John chapter 10.
03:56
I and the father are one They picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy
04:03
But he alluded their grasp Then we get to John chapter 11 in John chapter 11 a certain man named
04:13
Lazarus was sick When we start reading the that particular text the text tells us the story of Mary and Martha his sisters and the raising of Lazarus from the dead
04:29
Jesus finally arrives after Lazarus has been dead for four days He orders those present to remove the stone now in my thinking what he was saying was remove any obstacle or encumbrance that prevents you from believing that I am the
04:49
Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah The one who will raise each and every one of us and every believer from the dead and give them eternal life and So at his command
05:02
Lazarus who had died comes forth from the tomb and many of the Jews who were there believed in him
05:10
But from that day the chief priests and the Pharisees planned to kill him
05:16
They planned death for the one who gives life Before the
05:23
Passover Jesus returned to Bethany for a supper prepared by Mary and Martha as John writes it in chapter 12
05:32
Mary anoints the feet of Jesus with a very expensive perfume of pure nard
05:37
The entire house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume But Judas Iscariot objects claiming the nard should have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor
05:50
Jesus rebukes Judas Declaring the poor will always be with you, but you will not always have me in your presence
06:00
Mary's gesture was one of love and devotion to the Christ The one who would give up his own life that we sinners might live
06:09
The text then goes on to describe the scene in Jerusalem of the triumphal entry of Jesus on a donkey
06:18
That would be what we call now Palm Sunday But it becomes clear that most of those attending the feast
06:25
Did not believe in him Jesus declares from the book of Isaiah he says
06:33
He that is Satan has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be
06:44
Converted so that I could heal them He added I have come as light into the world
06:52
So everyone who believes in me will not remain in the darkness
06:59
Now if you haven't noticed already there's a constant tension in the gospel of John In fact, it's the the tension becomes will you in fact
07:15
Come to believe in me or will you my blindness pride and hardness of heart
07:23
Refuse to believe that I am the Messiah who sent who is sent by the
07:28
Father to save the world There is a clear progression in John's writing also which points to greater and greater miraculous signs and declarations from Jesus himself
07:43
That he is the one the one that all of Israel Has been waiting for the one that all the world has been waiting for in chapter 13
07:57
Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and Reminds them by this humble act that they must serve one another
08:07
To humble himself to humble oneself as a servant of the Most High God is to be
08:14
Greatly blessed and Jesus shows them that by actually washing the feet of each of the disciples
08:22
When we study the gospel of John we begin to see that there's there's two kingdoms and in the heavenly kingdom
08:30
The last shall be first and the first shall be last So now as we proceed
08:39
Jesus has reached the Last Supper and he's betrayed by Judas Iscariot He's getting very close to his arrest his suffering his crucifixion and yet he tells the disciples
08:54
Now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him
09:02
By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another
09:11
So with all of this being said, I've just covered What four chapters of the gospel of John?
09:18
But what is the big picture of the gospel of John? Well, John wants us to see and he wants us to know the person of Jesus intimately
09:33
His gospel points us from one miraculous sign to another each seemingly greater than the one before to demonstrate that God that Jesus was both
09:46
God and man the greatest miracle, of course would be the resurrection of Christ from the dead and That would point the disciples and us
09:59
To the wonderful redeeming work of Christ our Savior on the cross
10:05
So that we might trust in him Believe on him for eternal life
10:12
Now after that kind of lengthy introduction We're finally going to get to John chapter 14
10:20
So if you're not there already Go ahead and open your your copy of God's Word to John chapter 14
10:28
And we're gonna we're gonna look at some some great Some great scripture here
10:35
So I'm gonna be I'm gonna start by just reading verses 1 through 7 and then we'll take a look at John chapter 14
10:45
He starts out here. Do not let your heart be troubled Believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many dwelling places
10:56
If it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you
11:03
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself
11:09
That you that where I am There you may be also and you know the way where I am going
11:19
Thomas said to him Lord, we do not know where you are going.
11:25
How do we know the way? Jesus said to him I am
11:30
The way the truth and the life no one comes to the father, but through me
11:37
If you had known me you would have known my father also from now on No From now on you know him and have seen him
11:51
The disciples had good reason to be troubled They had given their lives to follow
11:59
Jesus they had given up their occupation their their family I mean they they were strictly dedicated to following Jesus and Now he tells them that he must leave them and they cannot follow him now
12:14
They had set all earthly hopes on him. How could they get along without him?
12:21
They knew the limitations of their own power But knowing their troubled hearts
12:28
Here Jesus reassures them. And the first thing he says to them is do not let your heart be troubled
12:35
The Greek word for troubled is may to rest terrestrial
12:43
Although it means although You are troubled do not put yourself into a hurry or confusion and Like the troubled sea which cannot find its rest
12:58
He instructs them Also believe in God now believe also in me
13:07
This was in some sense an imperative. It was a command in other words
13:12
Stop allowing your hearts to be troubled for those who believe in me
13:18
May have a troubled life But should have an untroubled heart
13:26
For the disciples more than any should know of His character they should know of the goodness of his they should know of his perfection his providence to bring about the best for for them and Oh how we need those same words
13:46
Do not let your hearts be troubled in these troubled times because we have a
13:56
Savior we have Jesus Christ himself who tells us believe in me
14:04
So verse 2 in my father's house are many dwelling places
14:09
If it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you
14:17
Now here Jesus gives the disciples and us a good reason to give up that troubled heart
14:24
He tells the disciples of a dwelling place Some translations will say a mansion in his father's house
14:33
Jesus points to a reunion with God the Father and Reminds the disciples to trust in the truth the veracity of what he tells them
14:44
He says if it were not I would have told you so for I go before you to prepare a place
14:53
Jesus welcomes us He lovingly prepares many dwelling places for many believers of every tribe and every tongue
15:02
He tells us he will be there Heaven for the Christian would not be much of a place
15:09
Without our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ being there first the quintessential essence of heaven is being with Christ himself
15:24
Verse 3 if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am
15:35
There you might be also Now how could the disciples think that Jesus would cease to be?
15:43
When now he tells them that under his own planning under his own initiative
15:48
He will go forth and prepare a place for them He isn't taken.
15:55
We we have of course the disciples didn't know yet about the cross This is at the
16:00
Last Supper, but he isn't We remember he isn't taken to the cross
16:06
Christ goes there under his own choosing and At his own choosing.
16:13
He will then return to receive us unto himself We will be reunited reunited with him in glory
16:22
That is the essence of heaven really not the streets of gold the pearly gates boy
16:28
Don't those sound great or the angelic hosts that will be there But rather the essence of heaven will be to be united with Christ Jesus How difficult however, this must have been for the for for the disciples to believe we have the advantage of the
16:48
Holy Scripture which assures us of Christ's second coming and Yet there are many even in our age that don't believe
16:57
Yet what a glorious thought where I am There you may be also
17:04
Not only does he prepare a place for us, but he also prepares us for that place
17:13
Verses four and five and you know the way where I am going
17:19
Thomas said to him Lord. We do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?
17:26
Well Jesus here points which direction to the way points to himself as the way
17:33
He will declare this vividly when soon he tells them that he is the way and the truth and the life
17:40
But for now Thomas and the others are confused How would they know the way the answer is of course by looking at at Jesus himself?
17:51
God is not limited by space or time But like a dedicated father
17:57
He speaks to his young son who cannot possibly understand what he's saying
18:04
Jesus reassures them that they already know the way
18:10
Verse 6 Jesus said to him I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father, but through me and This leads us to one of the amazing most remarkable verses in all of scripture
18:29
John 14 6 that's a good one to you know When you they say you should a wanna if we had our wanna kids here
18:37
You've got to memorize scripture and sometimes what you need to do is also memorize the address
18:43
And the address of this one is John 14 6 So just stick that in the back of your memory in case you forget it sometime.
18:52
Oh, I can always go to John 14 6 That's an amazing verse. So anyway, that's a great one to memorize
19:00
Memorize the address because when you come back here, you will come back here often in your
19:06
Christian walk He didn't say that he would show us a way he declared that he is the way
19:15
He didn't promise to teach us a truth. He said that he is the truth
19:21
He didn't offer a secret of life. He said that I am the life
19:28
This is one of the seven great I am's in the Gospel of John and it provides a perfect answer to Thomas's question
19:37
About how do we know the way? from a Christian perspective this Declaration could not be more powerful.
19:46
I don't know where I'm going In that true, I don't know where I'm going but Jesus does he is the way
19:55
I'm Confused. I don't know what to think But he is the truth
20:02
I'm Feeling dead inside. I can't go on He is the life
20:09
For without the way there is no going Without the truth.
20:15
There is no knowing and Without the life. There is no living the way we must
20:24
The the way we must follow The truth we must believe and the life we must hope
20:34
So there is here however a certain paradox For Jesus was soon to choose the way of the cross which seemed incongruent with the truth and And pointed to the death not not the life
20:52
But through his miraculous work on the cross and his resurrection Now we know the way we know the truth.
21:01
We have the life Interesting that this verse is controversial because it's controversial for many people of the world
21:11
Why does Jesus declare that he's the only way to salvation? There aren't many other than Christianity nobody else points that way and yet It it this is this is what the
21:28
Bible teaches The singularity of God is a common theme throughout the entire
21:34
Bible God Declares there is one
21:39
God there is one Lord. There is one spirit He demanded even from the
21:44
Garden of Eden that we worship him and worship him alone He commanded both the
21:51
Old Testament and the New Testament believer that we place no false gods
21:57
Before him and he makes a further statement that no one can come to the father, but through me
22:06
Jesus himself declares He is the only way to the father
22:12
He we we cannot earn our way. We cannot pray our way in there is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ himself
22:23
So Verse 7 if you had known me You would have known my father also
22:31
From now on you know him and you have seen him So what what is he saying here?
22:38
What is he saying? He's telling the disciples that He himself is the perfect representation of God Through his sinless character and through his miraculous signs
22:51
He demonstrated that he was God and then he also declared this.
22:57
He said that he and the father were one This is why he can say if you had known me you would have known the father also
23:07
He then reassures the disciples you have seen him meaning you have seen me
23:14
It's it's an interesting circular argument, it's really wonderful when you start thinking about how the disciples
23:22
You know How what they must have been thinking it was it wasn't like they didn't know who
23:29
Christ was they had walked with him for three Years leading up to this they knew him intimately and personally and yet, you know when he started to tell him this
23:39
They were obviously confused In other words because you have seen me you have seen the father
23:47
But Philip registers his confusion and he said Lord show us the father and it will be enough for us
23:55
The disciples had not yet seen the full revelation of God at the cross and the resurrection
24:04
So one can understand really their ongoing confusion and their ongoing doubt
24:13
Well verse 8 we covered Philip said to him Lord show us the father and it is enough for us verse 9
24:23
Jesus said to him Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know me
24:31
Philip He who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say show us the father?
24:40
now Here Jesus gives Philip a gentle rebuke, but I'm sure all the other disciples were thinking the same thing
24:48
Philip and the other disciples have learned many spiritual truths while walking with Jesus yet They did not completely understand him like many today.
24:59
They wanted something more tangible and To see the father seemed like that was it they could just get that far
25:09
But they did not understand No image or likeness can adequately depict
25:16
God God chose his son to represent himself to men on earth
25:22
But remember what he said to Moses he declared you cannot see my face
25:28
For no man can see me and live But here again, Jesus plainly says he who has seen me has seen the father
25:39
Verse 10 Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me?
25:47
The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own initiative But the father abiding in me does his works
26:02
This is a Now kind of comes the moment of truth, you know, what do we believe?
26:10
This is kind of a personal question that each one of us has had to answer Here Philip must answer the question for himself
26:18
Each of the disciples must answer that that question and so do we?
26:25
When Jesus asked Peter Who do you say that I am? Peter answered you are the
26:32
Christ the son of the Living God That was not revealed to Peter by flesh and blood but by the father who was in heaven and So it is with you and I God has revealed himself through this person of Jesus Christ by the
26:46
Holy Spirit We take no credit. It wasn't through our own cleverness our own intellect
26:54
That we discovered this So Do you believe the words of Jesus when he said
27:07
I am in the father and the father is in me Otherwise believe because of the works themselves
27:16
Jesus offered that the disciples. Oh Just a second here.
27:26
I Got to go back Do you okay? Do you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me?
27:34
Some have said that Jesus never said that he was God of Course, this isn't true
27:41
But here Jesus plainly declares complete equality with the father
27:47
He couldn't make a clearer Declaration that he is God and this immediately turns our thoughts to the
27:55
Trinity God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit as one
28:01
Even to the point that the words he says and the works he does are
28:07
Initiated by the father and then manifested through himself the
28:12
Son So we're Verse 11 believe in me that I am in the father and the father is in me otherwise believe because of the works themselves
28:27
So, what do we believe to come back to that question that this is a question that Philip had to answer
28:35
And that we have to answer. Who do you say that I am as he asked
28:40
Peter? Peter declared you are the Christ the Son of the Living God And so it is with you and I that God has revealed himself through Christ by the
28:51
Holy Spirit and As I said, we take no credit in this He goes on to say otherwise believe of the works themselves
29:02
Jesus offers the disciple to two ways to affirm the truth
29:08
First his words and then second his works He is mighty in both work and in deed
29:15
And although we were not there to personally witness his miraculous works
29:22
We can be blessed by believing that they were a true manifestation of Jesus as God Thomas said unless I see his hands and the imprint of the nails and Put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side.
29:41
I will not believe and Yet when Jesus appeared to the disciples later he asked
29:49
Thomas to do just that put his finger into the wounds of his hands and his side and then
29:56
Thomas declared and Then Jesus declared he said Thomas Because you have seen me you have believed
30:05
Blessed are they who did not see and still believed? Now that that is each of us who are true believers in Christ himself
30:16
Therefore if you haven't already as the author of Hebrews declares
30:23
Consider Jesus because he is far greater than the angels. He's greater than Moses.
30:29
He's greater than Elijah He's greater than all the prophets He's greater than the angelic hosts for he was truly the unblemished
30:39
Lamb of God Jesus tells his disciples that he must leave them But they will soon witness his scourge and his death on the cross but Hebrews 10 tells us that He that is
30:53
Jesus having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time Sat down at the right hand of the
31:01
Father So in the next in the next three verses Jesus offers three assurances for his troubled disciples
31:11
But we're going to look at those next week But for today remember where we started
31:18
Do not let your hearts be troubled Let's pray
31:33
Heavenly Father You have set your loving -kindness upon your church
31:39
Your grace abounds to us as your people as we consider your words from John 14
31:46
How blessed are we to know your son Jesus Christ and to believe and trust in him?
31:54
Continue O Lord to assure us of your great plan for us as your church
32:01
Allow us Lord to follow you as the way To know you as the truth and to live as you have given us life now and for all eternity
32:13
Allow us Lord to serve you to be salt and light to the world
32:19
To witness the gospel to those who do not yet know you Bless those who could not be in attendance today
32:27
Extend your hand of safety over those who travel at this time of the year Give hope to those who are in despair and strengthen those who are ill or infirmed
32:38
Give us courage to believe your word and to help us in our unbelief
32:45
Send your spirit Lord to those who do not yet know you To those who do not yet trust and believe in you
32:54
Convict them of their sin and their need for repentance Show them your great love and your mercy and draw them to yourself through Jesus Christ your son
33:05
Lord make the words of your of your word from John 14 come alive for us
33:11
For he said I am the the way the truth and the life No one comes to the father, but through me and Lord Strengthen us in our belief that we might believe that he is in the father and the father in him and that he goes to prepare a dwelling place for us a place
33:35
That a place for you that he might come again and that we might be
33:41
Reunited and see Jesus Christ face to face when he says well done good and faithful servant
33:50
All gracious God. We thank you for these amazing reassuring words in John 14
33:57
Be with us this week as we go forth as your servants and bless each one in the name of your son