John 14 (Part 1) :1-14 • “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”

We're in John chapter 14. So open your Bible there, please, John 14. I have a bunch of verses I want to go through here this morning, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get through all of them, because there's just a lot here. So we're getting into some pretty incredible stuff as John is recording for us much of what Jesus had to say during the last supper and so forth. So we're in John 14, beginning at verse 1. We're going to read down through verse 14, so follow along with me as I read.

I'll have you stop there. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, truly, this is just an incredible amount of wisdom and truth and insight and revelation that are contained in just these short verses. Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit to help us to lay hold of it today, to open our hearts to all that you have for us, to speak words of truth and wisdom and grace and peace. We thank you, Father, that it is through the Spirit that we are able to ascertain from your word what we need. Nourish us today, fill us, equip us. We thank you, Father, in Jesus' precious name, amen. Amen. You've probably noticed as I read through those verses, how much is there in terms of the sheer amount of statements that Jesus made. In fact it's kind of rare to find this many verses where Jesus says so many things that have so much power and give us so much insight and revelation. There are, in these verses, there's not one, there’s 6 statements that I basically pulled out that are so powerful. Let me put them up on the screen for you so we can see him together. ● “Let not your hearts be troubled” ● “I go to prepare a place for you” ● “I will come again” ● “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life” ● “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” ● “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” You're thinking, Pastor Paul, you're going to get through all those this morning? I don't know. We'll see, it just depends on how quickly you guys listen. But we're going to at least look at as many as we can. And of those 6 statements there, we have 1 exhortation, 2 declarations, and 3 promises. So these are great verses to look at here. Let's start with the first one, which is the exhortation, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” The Good News Bible says, “Do not be worried and upset.” As much as I appreciate sometimes these translations that try to simplify things a little bit, like the Good News, and again I don't have a problem with some of those translations, but they contend to put things in a way that I think people might read this verse and think, well, I get upset sometimes, so maybe I'm not very spiritual, or maybe I don't have much faith or my heart is troubled from time to time. Here Jesus said, “Don't let your heart be troubled." Well my heart gets troubled sometimes, and we begin to kind of look at ourselves like maybe we're second class citizens in the kingdom or something like that. Can I just explain to you that Jesus is not giving a statement here saying, listen, your heart should never ever be troubled, or you should never be upset about anything. Do you guys realize, I mean you, we've gone through John three times already the Bible told us that Jesus became troubled, three times already. He was troubled at the tomb of Lazarus. He was troubled when He began to ponder and think about the gravity of what He was going to do in carrying the sin of the world. And you'll remember He was troubled right here at the Last Supper when He started talking about the one who would betray Him. His spirit was troubled. So again, Jesus isn't giving this once for all, if you're a real Christian, you should never ever be worried or troubled or burdened by anything. What He is saying specifically here is in direct response to a statement He made in the previous chapter. And this is one of the dangers, frankly, of putting chapter divisions in the Bible. We tend to get to the end of a chapter and think, end of scene, whatever, 1, 2, 5, 12, whatever it is, and then we go on to the next scene. No, this is all part of the same conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples. And He made a statement to them that was very troubling to them. Let me put it on the screen just to remind you of what it was. John 13:33 (ESV) "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” This was troubling. And that is why Jesus responded specifically to tell them that His leaving would be temporary, and I want you to know I will never abandon you. So don't be troubled about that statement. Don't get all whacked out about that because that's not that's not something for you to be troubled about, I am going away, but I'll be back. And as we see in the rest of the passage, He says, I will ultimately come back for you as well. But getting back to this issue of being troubled. I don't believe the issue is whether or not you ever get troubled in your life as I've already said. But there is an issue here as to why you are troubled, okay? We live in a fallen and dark world, full of evil. And guys, living in that world is troubling. When you watch the news, you should be troubled. In fact, you might even want to stop watching the news. Just because it can really discourage you. Well, or at least balance it with lots and lots of the Word of God. Seeing what happens to your friends, your neighbors, your family members, it's troubling. Life is troubling. It causes distress. And I want you to know something about that, God understands. Jesus was troubled by the impact of sin. But let me explain that there is a huge difference between being troubled because you're living in a fallen world and being troubled because you are lacking faith in God. And that's a very important distinction to make. It's important to know the difference between those two things. So when your heart becomes troubled, and it will, and it has, I know it has, I encourage you to go to the Lord and just ask Him a simple question, ‘Lord, am I troubled because the world around me is full of darkness? Or am I troubled because I'm not trusting you as I should?’ That's a very important question. And let the Lord speak to your heart about why you are troubled. And if it's a matter of faith, then that is something that you can bring back to Him in prayer. Lord, strengthen me, strengthen my heart that I might not be troubled because of a lack of faith, because I'm not truly trusting in you like I should. I believe that there are times that we are truly troubled about the world we live in, but I think there are far more times that we're troubled because we're just not walking in the kind of faith we ought to. Trusting in God as we ought to. And so I want to just encourage you to do that. So when it comes to trusting God for the challenges that we face in life. This is where God says to you and me,

Amen. The second statement we're looking at this morning comes in the form of a promise, and this is where Jesus says, "I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU" Look at verse 2 with me again. He says, “In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go prepare a place for you?” So Jesus is explaining the reason for his upcoming departure with the words, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

And frankly, this harkens to, in the minds of these Jewish men who are there with him that day, to the tradition of the Jewish wedding. But for many of us, we don't, we've never been involved in a traditional Jewish wedding, at least an ancient traditional Jewish wedding. And because of that, we kind of miss out on the meaning that is behind this whole idea of I'm leaving but I'm coming back. But here's why I'm leaving, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Once in the ancient Jewish wedding, once a marriage covenant was sealed, and that's when they would become betrothed, we think of it as being engaged, but it was much more than that in the Jewish tradition. But once a marriage covenant was sealed, the bridegroom would leave his bride and he would go to his father's house to prepare a place for his bride, the wedding chamber and potentially the house that they would live in. And it was possible for a bridegroom to be gone for quite some time, depending on what he was building and how long it was going to take, during which his father would oversee the building process. And his father would give the final approval for his son to go back and get his bride to marry her and to bring her home, that was the father's decision, that was the father's prerogative. And so the bridegroom would leave, but there was a purpose to the departure. He went to prepare a place, but only the father knew when the son would go. And that is why Jesus said, “No one knows. Not even the son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36) And He was referring again to the ancient Jewish traditional wedding procedure in that whole process. And Jesus is using that traditional understanding to help you and me understand this whole idea that his departure has been to prepare a place. And that's what Jesus went to go do, prepare a place for us. And it's really cool to have things prepared for you, isn't it? Have you ever been to a fancy hotel? I've had this happen a couple of times. Not that I go to fancy hotels very often, but you get up to your room and you can just tell they prepared. I had one where the TV was actually on when I got in the room, and it said, Welcome Paul, and that was kind of weird, but it was also kind of cool because, like, they prepared. And then you look on the pillow and there are maybe some chocolates or something like that, and we really hope you enjoy. Have you ever been to a fancy dinner, and you get to the dinner, and you're an invited guest, and you go to the place where you're sitting, and there's your name on a place card, at the dinner table, and you feel like, oh, they prepared for me. They knew I was coming. They wanted me to come. This is where I sit. This is my plate and stuff, and it's very cool. My wife is very attentive to those things. She tries very hard to make people feel special by preparing a place for them. She wants them to know that she expected them, and she'll do that with dinner or meetings, or you ladies who've gone to women's retreats. Sue likes to prepare gifts for you ladies so that when you get there, you feel like they were expecting you. Isn't that fun? Isn't that fun to be expected? You are expected in heaven, and He has gone to prepare a special place with your name on it. Now think about that for a while. That is extremely cool. Some people like to or object to translations like the ESV that talk about where Jesus says, 'I've gone to prepare a room.' They'll say, well my Bible says He went to prepare a mansion. You can have a room if you want, but I'll take my mansion. I got to be honest with you, I have no idea how the King James or the new King James came up with the word mansion, because that's not what the Greek said. Actually, that's not a translation, that's an interpretation. The reason they said mansion is because that was an assumption. They assumed that everything in heaven was going to be glorious, and that's probably true, but the word said means dwelling place. That's it. So Jesus said, “I go to prepare a dwelling place." You can be sure it's going to be pretty special, but there you go. Moving on to the 3rd statement up on the screen, it is… “I WILL COME AGAIN” Look at verse 3, Jesus said, “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.” This 3rd statement is the 2nd promise, and it's all about Jesus coming for us, “If I go, I will come again.” And that means I'll come to get you. And you have to work really hard to believe that Jesus isn't coming again. Because the Bible is just full of promises about His second coming. He worked that into so many of his parables, the parable about the landowner who set these workers in to do the work in his fields, and then went away on a long trip and then came back to settle accounts. (Mark 12:1-11) And this thing got worked on…

And of course, many of the New Testament authors wrote about this. One of my favorite passages is in Acts chapter 1, check this out on the screen.

And it says, “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went (this is obviously talking about when Jesus ascended into heaven), behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” It's one of the reasons the book of Revelation begins in the 1st chapter in verse 7 with the words, ‘Behold, He is coming.’ And then the book of Revelation ends with the same declaration. Check this on the screen.

“He who testifies to these things (John says) says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus!” Jesus is coming. The theological significance of our Lord's coming is huge. I mean, His coming again is payday. It sounds like a crude way to put it, but it's kind of true in the sense that when the Lord comes, this is when we receive our rewards. This is when He brings our salvation. Do you understand that? He purchased us on the cross. He purchased our salvation on the cross, but He comes to bring us our salvation when He returns. You know that, right? I hope you know that what you have right now isn't all there is. If you got everything that there was to give, then the Bible says it's just a down payment. You've received a down payment, an earnest agreement.

But when the Lord returns, he's going to give you the reward, the final, sort of a thing. But His coming also refers, we refer to it as the restoration of creation, the consummation of all things. When Jesus returns, Satan and sin are dealt a final blow and so much more. But guys, the second coming of Jesus is far more than just a theological point that we lay hold of and we go, yeah, I know that, that's really cool. The second coming of Jesus, this statement, this promise, I will come again. This is our hope. This is where hope is grounded and where hope takes its place. Let me show you what Paul wrote to Titus. I love these words.

It's our hope. The coming of Jesus is our hope. This promise that Jesus gives here in John 14, this is our blessed hope. He's coming again. This is the refrain that the early church just sounded every opportunity they got. He's coming again. He's coming again. Guys, Jesus is coming again. He's going to return. Yeah, it's just, let me tell you something, it's everything. The 4th statement, and this is maybe one of the most powerful. “I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE” Look again with me in your Bible, beginning at verse 4, it says, “And you know the way to where I am going.” And I love Thomas. Thomas is a guy who doesn't mind asking questions. “5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don't know where you're going. (So) how (in the world) can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We've talked so many times about how Christianity is not a theological confession. It's not a series of theological truths. Christianity is not a bunch of theological points on a piece of paper that we point to and we say, yeah, I believe that. That's not Christianity.

Christianity is a person. It's a person. It is the person, Jesus Christ. He says, “I am the way.” They're looking for, they're looking for a way, give us directions, Lord, so we can get there. We need to know the way. Jesus says, “I am the way.” Now, this declaration that Jesus makes here in these verses is truly powerful. But the power of this thing, I don't know if you're aware of it, is all bound up in one single word that we use every day, multiple times a day. You know what it is? It's that little word, THE. Yeah, it sounds like, you say, well, Pastor Paul, that's crazy. It's the simplest, most common word you can think of. Yeah, I know, but the word, THE, is critical. Do you guys remember your grammar? Some of you do, some of you don't. I don't worry about it. I slept through high school. I didn't wake up and start learning until after high school. I was just one of those kids. But if you do remember any of your grammar, you know that the word, THE, is what we call the definite article. The other side of that is the word, A, which is the indefinite article. If I said to you, there is a car, I would be telling you that I'm talking about a car, but I haven't been specific about what car. I'm just saying there is a car. That's the indefinite article, right? Now if I said to you, there is THE car, now I've been very specific about what car I'm talking about, and that is the definite article. The definite article zeroes in on the one and only, that is THE car. That is THE one that I want, right? Now I want you to notice how Jesus made this declaration about Himself using the definite article. “I am THE way.” THE one and only. Again, the definite article zeroes in on, THE one and only. It makes it specific. I am THE truth. I am THE life, right? In other words, there is no other. I am THE. It's the definite article. You see how specific? Imagine if Jesus had used the indefinite article, I am a way. I am a truth. I am a life. That's what, that's how the world wants to talk about Jesus, don't they? That's how unbelievers want to talk. Okay, you're Jesus. Yeah, okay, all right. I'll tell you. He's a cool guy. He might be one of the many ways that you can reach God. Sure, I'll grant you he is a way to reach God. Oh. Jesus took that away. He said, I am THE way. I am THE only one and only zeroing in, eliminating the rest, I am THE way, not just a way. And that's why

Jesus punctuated this statement with what he said afterwards when he said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Now that's not a comment, by the way, that's going to win you friends, okay, when you speak that out in the world. It didn't make Jesus a lot of friends, either. But the fact of the matter is, Jesus declared it. It is true, and it is the only way that a person can be saved, and that is coming through Jesus, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Well, Pastor Paul, I just think that's narrow. You're absolutely right. Jesus said the way to life is narrow and hard, and few find it. So yeah, it's narrow, yeah. It doesn't mean you're narrow minded for believing it. You believe it because of the one who said it, and you trust Him to speak the truth, and He did. So yeah. Jesus is THE way. He is THE truth. He is THE life, right? Fifth statement up on the screen. “WHOEVER HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER” Look at verse 7 and the following in your Bible. He says, “If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.” You got to wonder if Jesus kind of looked at Philip for a minute before he started talking. Just kind of stared him down with, I mean, a gentle sort of a stare but just a… maybe even a little sigh there. And He's like, ‘9(Oh), have I been with you so long, and you still don't know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.’ So Jesus gives them several ways of looking at him and seeing the Father. Jesus is making a wonderful, glorious statement here. It is echoed by the author of Hebrews in the 1st chapter of his letter when he says, Hebrews 1:3 (ESV) [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature… ---

The exact imprint. What does that mean? He's the exact imprint of his nature. It just simply means when you see Jesus, you see God. When you see Jesus, you see God the Father. There's no disparity. There's no contradiction. There's no problem. You see the Father. You want to know what the Father is like? Look at Jesus, watch Him, listen to Him, get to know Him. You will also know the Father. He is how we know the Father. Finally, the 6th statement, which is another promise is, “IF YOU ASK ME ANYTHING IN MY NAME, I WILL DO IT” Look at verse 12 and the following, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the things (works) that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” This is one of those passages that has caused problems. Can I just tell you that right off the bat? This is one of those passages that the hyper faith or the word faith movement grabs onto, they latch onto. And they say, see, it says right here, whatever I ask, whatever I ask he'll do. All I got to do is put the right word twist on it, just have to do it in his name, just ask in his name. What does that mean? What does it mean to ask in his name? Just say, in Jesus name. See, that's all you have to do. What are they doing there? Well, they're missing a great deal of the revelation of God's Word, but more than that, they're treating the name of Jesus like a magic formula, almost like abracadabra. Here it is, whatever I want, He'll do. If I don't get it, then you didn't have enough faith, see? So there's a lot here for us to kind of think through and to really truly understand about what Jesus is saying. And I'm not, please understand, I'm not trying to explain away the glory and the power of this promise because it's a wonderful promise. And I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to throw cold water on what Jesus is saying here as it relates to giving you and me a very wonderful promise about answered prayer. And again, I don't want you to misunderstand that. But there are several things about these promises that are important for us to understand. First of all, is the statement about greater works. Notice that Jesus said, he said, “They will, whoever believes in me will do the works that I'm doing, but it'll also do greater works.” And this statement about greater works has really messed with people's heads because they were thinking like, wow, Jesus raised the dead. How much greater can you get? I mean, that sounds pretty great to me. Well, Jesus didn't mean greater in the sense of more amazing. He meant greater in the sense of quantity. There's going to be a greater expression of the works of God because you see, Jesus knew that He was commissioning in these men there in the Last Supper, and the men that they would share the gospel with a band of faithful followers that would emerge that would begin to multiply by the thousands, and they would spread out, and they would take the gospel and the power of the spirit into more places, and they would talk to more people than frankly Jesus ever did face to face. And in that sense, what they did, in fact, what we are doing today is greater, is greater than what Jesus did from that perspective. Again, not greater in amazement, greater in scope of the dynamic and how it is so widespread. And that's what He's saying there but there's again, that other issue of the promise that says, if you ask, I will do it. And again, as I've mentioned, some believers just kind of take that and say, boom, there it is. That's it. Kind of sounds like a blank check to me, you just say it or ask it and I will do it. But there are two things that Jesus said in this promise that are important for you to see, and then you can run with it all you want. But those two things, I'll call them the two components of this promise. I'll even put them up on the screen for you are these, well that's the promise. There's the two components: Two Components to the promise John 14:13 (ESV) 1. "Whatever you ask in my name…" 2. "…that the Father may be glorified…" So what are we talking about here when we say, when we ask for something in his name? Well, as I said earlier, it's not a magic phrase. It's not something we just say, abracadabra. The name of Jesus is powerful, and that's why we've been given that name, but asking, in the name of Jesus, carries with it an unspoken premise that whatever you're asking for is consistent with his character and authority, okay? So when you say, in the name of Jesus, you're saying according to the heart and character and the mind of Jesus. It's not a magic phrase. It is an alignment of purpose and will. You are saying, I am aligned with Him, in His will, according to His will, and so forth. It assumes that your will and His will are one and the same. And frankly, that is something that too many Christians assume is happening. But it is not. But they assume it. They say, well of course God wants what I want, why wouldn't He? But you know we're told elsewhere, 1 John chapter 5, it says this:

Well, now that puts a little bit more of a slant on that whole idea of the promise, doesn't it? It gives us more depth and understanding of what this promise entails. To say, in the name of Jesus, is to pray according to His character, according to His will. And secondly, that other second component of this thing, of this promise, is that Jesus said, “Whatever we ask for will be for the glory of God.” And I got to be honest with you. I think that the glory of God is rarely on our top of list of reasons for why we're praying about something. It's usually not one of my considerations, to be completely honest with you. When I am praying for things, it's usually for my comfort, for my convenience, for my help or for the help of someone else. But I'm usually not pondering too deeply whether or not the answer to this prayer is going to bring glory to God. But Jesus tells us here that whatever we ask will be for the glory of God. And as I've noted, as a general rule, I think we Christians often fail to properly question our motives when we're praying to God for something. We forget to even think about our motives. How important are our motives when we're praying? Well, let James answer that question for you.

So are our motives important when praying? Oh, yeah, kind of important. So you see these promises, and they are wonderful promises, but this isn't the blank check that the word faith movement would try to convince you it is. Because it assumes that your will is aligned with His will, His character, and His heart, and that your desire is ultimately to bring glory to God. And those are important things to remember.

But all that being said, I don't want to take anything away from the wonder and the beauty of this promise. We have been given wonderful promises in the Word of God. It's important that we stand on them, but it's also important that we understand them so that we're not disappointed. Do you know how many people have been taught these promises without the depth and understanding of the whole counsel of God's Word, and then they pray and they don't get an answer and they feel condemned? And then they're on the out because they feel like, well God doesn't care. God doesn't love me. Hey, maybe I'm not even saved. And it creates all kinds of questions. But the problem is they haven't been properly taught from the Word as it relates to these things. Some wonderful statements by our Lord in this passage, these glorious declarations, promises, and exhortations. Once again, “1Let not your heart be troubled… 2I go to prepare a place for you…3I will come again…6I am the way, the truth, and the life…9 Whoever has seen me has seen the Father… and 14 if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Amen. Let's stand together. As always, we'd be happy to pray with you. If you have a need, come on up. We'll have some folks up here to agree with you in prayer for whatever is going on in life or whatever you feel you need to lift before the Lord. So pray with me. Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity to dig into the scriptures and to learn more about you, to lay hold of these wonderful promises that we see in the Word of God, to glory in them, the blessing of them, Lord, to be nourished by the power of the Word of God. We thank you so much. Lord, help us, we pray, to not just hear, but now to take this Word and to walk it out in our daily lives, to be doers of the Word, not hearers only. Strengthen us as we take every step as we go from this place. Continue to teach us. Help us to stay in the Word, to stay in prayer and to stay in fellowship. We thank you and praise you through Jesus Christ, our savior and all God's people said together, amen. God bless you. Have a good rest of your day.