Good morning. Please open your Bibles to John chapter 14, beginning in verse one, and read along with me. Let not your hearts be troubled. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 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. And you know the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. In greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. This ends the reading of God's holy and inerrant word. Please pray with me. Lord God, we thank you for this time you've given us to worship you. and explore the riches of your holy word. Please bless us through it, clear our minds, free us from distractions, and orient our hearts toward you. Teach us and grow us in our understanding of your perfect plan, and grant that we will be forever changed by it. Lord, grant that these words which I speak are consistent with what is taught in your holy scriptures, and grant that they would find soft soil in which to grow in our hearts. Draw us closer to you, O Lord, through the study of your word. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Well, today we come to a very well-known passage of scripture. In it, we will see Jesus sharing of his impending departure, his comforting of his disciples, his promise to prepare a place in heaven for them, and his care in continuing to provide for their needs. While we've been studying John for many months, it may be helpful to remember the timing of these chapters of John. So to put it in context, John made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem just five days ago, relative to what's going on in chapter 14. He did that on Palm Sunday and his followers were expecting him to be a conquering king. On Monday, Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers and he referred to the temple as my temple. On Tuesday, after escaping the religious leaders, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives and gives the Olivet Discourse. On Wednesday, it's thought that Jesus and the disciples rested. On Thursday, Jesus and his disciples gather in the upper room for what would be their last supper. He spends time teaching them and preparing them for his departure. Tomorrow is Friday, it's Passover, and it's the day when Jesus will be crucified. This context is helpful because it helps us to see that this was a very eventful and concerning week for the disciples. They were expecting Jesus to be a conquering king at the beginning of the week. They had also been contemplating previously who among their number might be considered great and receive prominent positions with him. Now the disciples are learning that Jesus will be leaving them, that he will be dying, and they fearfully consider what will come to pass for them without having Jesus present with them. So in John 14, we find ourselves in the middle of John's record of what happened in the upper room. Let's begin working our way through Jesus' teaching. In verse one, he records, Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. So let's look at what had happened immediately before this in the upper room. Jesus had already publicly announced his impending death. He had told the disciples, that he had come from God and that he was going back to God. Jesus had revealed to the disciples mere minutes before this that one of the 12 would betray him. He identified who it was by giving him a morsel of bread that he had just dipped. After Judas had taken the morsel, John records that Satan entered Jesus and he fled. Also, Peter had strongly proclaimed that he would lay down his life for Jesus And Jesus' response was to tell Peter that the rooster would not crow until he has denied Jesus three times. So we often think of roosters as crowing at first light, but they were also known to crow at various times during the night. So Jesus was saying to Peter that it wouldn't be long before he would deny Christ three times. It would be happening yet this evening. So these revelations were shocking to the disciples in their hearts, were troubled by them, rightfully so. Jesus, of course, knew what they were thinking because he is God. In the Old Testament, God regularly exhorted his servants not to fear their circumstances and instead to trust the Lord. In Joshua 1.9, we read God, as God commissions Joshua, tells him to be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. In Exodus 14.31, it states that the people feared the Lord and they put their trust in him. 1 Samuel 12.18 says, so all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel. Now the disciples are being taught here that trusting in the Lord requires trusting in his agent, Christ Jesus. He's not just exhorting them to be steadfast. He's also informs them where they must go to obtain this courage. It is gained through placing their faith in God. Thank you. When Jesus is acknowledged to be When Jesus is acknowledged to be the Son of God, it should be recognized that he has in himself a sufficiency of strength for maintaining the safety of all of his followers. Jesus wasn't telling them not to start being troubled, as they were already troubled. He was telling them to stop being troubled. He did this because he is their compassionate Savior. He sympathized with their sorrow and their grief. And even though the disciples were oblivious to his pain, he felt their pain and desired to comfort them. This encouragement is consistent throughout the scriptures. It is also a good charge for us to heed. How many times do our hearts go troubled about our life circumstances, our family, our livelihood, our health, our relationships, even our church? Christ is telling us to stop our worries and to place our trust in the Heavenly Father. This doesn't mean that we'll never suffer. Rather, we should expect it, and we should not be surprised when it happens. We should not fear it, though, because our faith is secure. Moving on to chapter two, or to verse two, in my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? Christ goes on to tell them that he is going away in order to prepare a place for them in his Father's house. The Father's house is another name for heaven. It is the place of God's presence. Heaven has also metaphorically been described earlier in scripture as a country, a vast city with many inhabitants, a kingdom, paradise, and a place of rest. Christ going to prepare his Father's house can give us images of Christ as a carpenter building rooms onto the father's house in what turns out to be a never-ending building project. In his commentary, MacArthur states that these dwelling places should not be pictured as separate buildings, as if heaven was a giant housing tract. The picture of adding on rooms is influenced by the custom of Jewish fathers at the time adding rooms onto their houses to give their sons and their families a place to live with them. The real emphasis here is on heaven's intimacy, where according to Revelation 21.3, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. God also formerly dwelled or tabernacled with his people in the tabernacle of the Old Testament. So Christ is really teaching here that he's not going away to be separate from them and separated from them, That is why he told them that he was going to prepare a place for them, not just for himself. Calvin wrote that Christ did not ascend to heaven in a private capacity to dwell there alone, but rather that it might be the common inheritance of all the godly, and that in this way the head might be united with its members. There will be room in the Father's house for every one of his disciples to join him there. Moving on to verse three, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. So here Jesus is telling his disciples that he's preparing a place for them in the Father's house, in the presence of God, and that they will come to the Father as well. You might ask whether this place will be prepared at some future date, but the words presuppose that the place, which is heaven, already exist before Jesus gets there. When Christ arrives in heaven, he doesn't begin to prepare the place for them. Instead, it is the going itself via the cross and the resurrection that prepares the place for Jesus' disciples. The place was prepared on the day of Christ's resurrection. The sin of mankind needed to be atoned in order for them to enter heaven and be in the presence of God Almighty. To do this, Christ needed to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and then he needed to be resurrected from the dead. Once this happened, sinful men could be reconciled with a holy God through faith. The dwelling place would be ready because Christ had prepared the way. It's no coincidence that the Last Supper is taking place on the day before Passover. The next day, when Passover would be observed, lambs would be sacrificed and their blood would be put on the doorposts. which commemorated the first Passover where God protected the Israelites from his final judgment. God did not spare the Israelites because they deserved it or because they were sinless. Instead, he spared them because they followed his instructions and placed their faith in him for deliverance from the coming judgment. The events that are to come that Christ was foretelling would be the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God, whose blood would take away the sins of all the world. He has paid the penalty for all of our sins once for all time. This is not because we deserved it and not because we're without sin, but it's because of his perfect work on the cross. The work was the perfect plan of an almighty God who created a way for the penalty of our sin to be paid. And moving on to verse four. and you know the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. This is not the first time we've seen Jesus clearly and directly state that he is God. In the book of John, we see seven of Jesus's I am statements. In John 6, 35, after feeding the 5,000, Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. In John 8, 12, after talking to the woman who'd been caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In John 8.58, Jesus responded to a complaint from the Pharisees by saying, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. John 10.7, Jesus again said to them, truly, I truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. In chapter 10, verse 11, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 11.25, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Now we come to John 14.6, where Jesus says to Thomas and to all the disciples, I am the way and the truth and the life. There's one more I am statement to come later in John's gospel where Jesus declares, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. These aren't metaphorical statements. Rather, they're declarations of God's name applied to Jesus. Jesus here is declaring each time that he is God. So you might ask, what's important about these I am statements? Well, Jesus used the same Greek words, I am, each time. I looked them up in a New Testament Greek dictionary, and I learned the following. The seven instances of the word I am were all in the first person, singular form. They are also in the present tense, which indicates that the action is now, and its voice is active, which indicates that the subject performs the action instead of receives it. The mood is indicative, which describes a situation that actually is, as opposed to a situation that might be in the future. Now, Jesus made these I Am statements in front of large groups of people, and later, in front of his disciples. But he did not choose these words casually. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, beginning in chapter three, verse 13, we read, then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I tell them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. God said, this will be my name forever and thus I am to be remembered this way throughout all generations. The words here for I am are also in the first person singular form and the imperfective form. Imperfective form is used for ongoing habitual or repeated roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, the present or the future. So the words that God used to describe himself to Moses mean I am and I will be. So Jesus did not choose to refer to himself as I am by happenstance. Instead he was clearly stating that he is God, he is I am. The God of the Old Testament, the God of creation, the God who created Adam and Eve in the garden, the God who pronounced his judgment on mankind for their sin, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the covenants, the God who sent Moses to lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt, this is who Jesus is claiming to be. Naturally, whenever he did this, he triggered the ire of the Jewish leaders who considered it blasphemy for him to call himself God. The Jews took blasphemy very seriously, so they wanted to stone Jesus whenever he said it. With each I Am statement, Jesus has not been describing some future act that is to come. Instead, he's saying that he has been, is now, and will always be God. So this sets the stage for the second half of John 14.6, where Jesus goes on to say, no one comes to the Father except through me. This brief statement, spoken with authority by God himself communicates that there is only one way to the Father, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pause here. We live in a pluralistic society, which tells us there's many paths to heaven. We're taught that as long as you end up believing in God, it doesn't matter what path you take to get there. Research shows that there is a widespread departure, even among Christians, from the historical biblical teaching that Jesus is the only way to God. A missionary with 46 years of service in India recently stated, the increasing departure of Christians from traditional beliefs is directly related and linked to a departure from the authority of scripture. We have moved the authority from scripture to consensus and that is where we are going wrong. It is now considered offensive to make statements based on a singular truth. It's quite common today for people to have their own personal version of truth, even though theirs may be inconsistent with another's version of truth. Society has traded objective truth for subjective truth. A common way of approaching this today is the idea that you be you, and I'll be me, and we're both right. Perhaps it's also just uncomfortable for many of us to consider the simplicity of the cross Instead, we feel that we need to play a role in making ourselves acceptable to God. There are a number of large world religions which teach a belief in different gods who offer different ways to get to God. These paths often have different names for God, and you might attribute that to cultural differences, understandably. However, the problem is that these different religions and the different named gods all ask different things of their adherents. They offer various paths to God, all of which contradict the teaching of Jesus recorded here in John 14. Some teach asceticism, living simply. Others teach good works. Some have a singular God, while others have many, many gods. The teachings range from believing in the power of self, to belief in a false god, to belief in multiple gods. These faiths, asked many things of their followers, all in an attempt to draw them closer to God. You might ask, what do I mean by a false god? After all, aren't there many gods? Don't they all work together? Scripture teaches about whole societies that worship false gods. And the operative word here is false. These gods are counterfeit gods. The God of the universe who created all things did not create false gods. These gods are man-made. They're powerless objects. They're idols. Simply put, pluralism goes against the teaching of God as seen and recorded in the Bible. How can this pluralistic approach be true if it contradicts the very teachings of Jesus and the disciples about the way to God? In Acts 14.12, Peter, who had previously denied Christ three times in the garden, but now was filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly states to the assembled rulers, elders, and high priests, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. In 1 Corinthians 3.11, Paul writes, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is in Christ Jesus. In 1 Timothy 2.5, Paul, who preached to the Gentiles, writes that, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. F. F. Bruce summarized scripture's teaching well. He, Jesus, is in fact the only way by which men and women may come to the Father. There is no other way. If this seems offensive and exclusive, Let it be borne in mind that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate word of God, the revealer of the Father. If God has no avenue of communication with mankind apart from his word, mankind has no avenue of approach to God apart from that same word who became flesh and dwelt among us in order to supply such an avenue of approach. Moving on to verse seven through nine. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? So in these verses, Jesus is not just responding to Thomas' unbelief, he's addressing all of the apostles in the lack of understanding of what he's been teaching them. Let's pause here and consider Philip's request to see the Father in light of the past three years that they have spent time with him. So Jesus came up to each of the 12 and commanded them to follow him, and they did. They stopped what they were doing and they began to follow Jesus. They went on to spend a significant amount of time with Jesus as they lived and traveled together for over three years. Imagine how close they'd become. Imagine what it was like to be taught by Jesus every day. It would have been life changing. They had also seen countless miracles. Jesus changed the water into wine in Canaan. Jesus healed the royal officer's son in Capernaum. Jesus healed the paralytic man in Bethesda. Jesus had fed the 5,000. He'd walked on water and caused Peter to walk on water as well. Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus healed the man who was blind from birth. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead where he had been dead for several days. The gospels recorded that Jesus performed approximately 37 separate miracles during those three years. And then John later closes his gospel in chapter one, verse 25, by writing, now there are many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be rewritten, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. So the disciples had witnessed Jesus' teaching and all of these miracles firsthand. They had seen God's power at work through Jesus. He had spoken with authority and referred to his oneness with God. He taught them and he sought to grow their faith. And yet, Philip says, it'll just be enough for him if Jesus shows him the Father. Philip had God present with him in Christ and yet he did not behold him. This is most surprising. And I believe that what we're seeing here is the evidence of a life lived without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was with them, and they benefited greatly from his teaching, and they witnessed his miraculous works. And they had a measure of faith in him, but the Holy Spirit was not yet dwelling in them. Calvin said in his commentary that it appears to be very absurd that the apostles should offer so many objections to the Lord, for why did he speak but to inform them on that point about which Philip puts the question. Yet there is not one of their faults that is here described that may not be charged on us as well as on them. We profess to be earnest in seeking God, and when he presents himself before his eyes, we are blind. Moving on to verse 10 and 11. Do 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 on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on the account of the works themselves. So Jesus thought to boost his disciples' faith by reminding them of his words, which he did not speak on his own initiative, but through the power of God. In Matthew 7, verse 28 to 29, after the Sermon on the Mount, it is recorded that Jesus' words were so powerful that the crowds were astonished at his teaching. for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. He then encouraged them to consider the powerful works that he had performed, which were unprecedented in their power and their effect on the people. Moving on to verse 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. So after Christ's departure, the apostles, who for only his instruments would go on to do great works. These works would not be considered great because they were more powerful than the works that were done by Christ. Instead, they would be greater because of the extent of their reach. Christ's ministry was limited to a smaller geographical area than that of the apostles who would take the gospel to the ends of the Roman Empire. They would also impact a larger number of people. Jesus had only a limited outreach to Gentiles, but the disciples, especially Paul and Peter, would reach the Gentile world with the gospel. The number of believers would grow far beyond the hundreds that were numbered during Christ's lifetime. So the power to do greater things would be made possible by Jesus going to the Father. Once there, he would send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers The disciples were clearly not great men, they were just men. However, the Holy Spirit would soon use them to do great things. Then verse 13 and 14, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. As if his pledge to send the Holy Spirit were not enough, Jesus also states that Even after he has gone away, he'll continue to supply the disciples' needs from heaven. He said it twice for emphasis. The disciples had left their vocations behind in order to follow Jesus. They relied on him to provide for their physical and their spiritual needs. It's understandable that they would be concerned about their future without him. Prayer would bridge the gap between their need and his abundant resources. In preparing his disciples for his departure, Jesus assured them that he would continue to care for them. He would concern himself with their comfort, even in the face of his own impending suffering. These promises extend beyond the disciples to all believers, to us. Quoting MacArthur, Christ's message of hope is as applicable today as it was in the upper room two millennia ago. The world is full of false hopes, but apart from the spirit given assurance, of Christ's continuing presence, the confidence that he has prepared a place in heaven, the conviction that he is the only way to God, and the realization that he is God incarnate, the recognition of his sustaining power, and the certain expectation that he will perfectly fulfill his promises with heavenly supply and regularity. All other sources of comfort and hope are nothing more than broken cisterns that can hold no water. They will ultimately disappoint whereas Jesus never fails. Dear friends, as you consider this teaching from scripture and the truth herein, remember that it has been given to us by our heavenly father in fulfillment of his promise in John 14 to meet all of our needs. These are not mere words on a page, they are historical record of how God lived and moved among his people. We do not gain the benefits of these promises through our own goodness, through our own works, through our intellect, or through our own efforts. We don't even gain them through the works of others like priests or pastors or teachers. We can only gain them through faith in Jesus Christ. Each of us was born with a sinful nature which is the result of the first sins of Adam and Eve. That sin nature has kept us separated from a holy and righteous God. Our Heavenly Father, while we were still sinners, provided a way for the penalty of our sin to be paid. He sent His Son, Jesus, to be the perfect sacrificial lamb, which would be an atonement for our sin. This is the only provision that has been made for us to become acceptable to Almighty God. This teaching may be uncomfortable for some, but indeed it is the truth of Scripture. Our Heavenly Father loves us. He cares for us, and He has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him. If you're feeling distant, will you ask God to send his Holy Spirit to show you the way back to the Father? Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for freeing us from the penalty of certain death through the saving work of Jesus Christ. Thank you for providing a way for us to be reconciled to you. Keep us ever mindful of your presence in us through the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, help us to be faithful messengers of your salvation message to those we encounter. In the name of Christ our Lord, amen.