John 14

Could you look at John chapter 14, please? The Gospel of John chapter 14, beginning at verse 1. Of course, the Lord Jesus is the speaker. 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 don't know where you're going. 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. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him.

Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it's sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I 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 in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. I'm just going to stop there for now. Now, this is continuing on from yesterday in the upper room ministry of the Lord Jesus.

His last teaching to his own, to the disciples before he went to the cross. This is just hours before he would be arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, put on trial before the Jews and then for the Romans and then crucified. I've been impressed with the care, the tender heart of the Lord Jesus for his own in the face of what he was going to experience unparalleled suffering.

And yet his concern is for them. And so he says in verse one here, let not your heart be troubled. If anybody's heart should have been troubled, it was his, but he's concerned about them.

Why would their hearts be troubled? Well, the Lord had told him he's going away. And these are men that they'd left everything to follow him. And now he's going to go away and they don't know where.

But not only that, as we looked in chapter 13, he told them that one of them is going to betray him. And at the end of chapter 13, he says, Peter's going to deny him. So likely a lot going through their minds, but he knew there would be a critical time in their life very shortly.

As I've said, when he would be arrested, put on trial and crucified, their faith was going to be tested deeply. Anybody here whose heart is troubled? Likely there are things that trouble all of us. But what does the Lord say? He says, let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God. Believe also in me. You know, it's one thing to believe in God generally, but it's another thing to believe God manifest in the flesh.

For them to believe that this man standing before them was God. And it's hard for us today. I'm so glad we have the word.

I don't know about you, but there's sometimes doubts come to my mind. Is Jesus really who he says he is? And I've had to say, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.

I mean, the fact the God of this universe in a human body, that's not an easy thing to come to grips with. Interesting in the gospel of John, a hundred times you get this word, believe. And one of the main thrusts to me, I see in the gospel of John is over and over again, the Lord is telling his disciples and others who he is.

And of course he proved it by his miracles, but also he's stating it. We're going to see even in this chapter, but notice how the Lord Jesus is going to take them off, take them away from their immediate circumstances. Like this, maybe, you know, he's going away.

Uh, once somebody is going to deny you even go beyond what's going to happen at the crucifixion, but he's going to take them beyond this. And he says in verse two, in my father's house are many mansions. You know, it's good job for us sometimes to zoom out because we can make mountains out of molehills, worry about things that really are not that big a deal.

Brother, sister, we're going home. Forever. We're just here for a little while.

And yet I can be so myopic, I can forget all about it and just wallow in my troubles. In my house are many mansions, uh, mansions, perhaps not the best way to translate it, just simply means dwellings, dwelling places. And maybe the thrust here isn't so much the opulence and the grandeur of whatever this is going to be, but the privilege of being in the presence of God.

And then the Lord says, I go to prepare a place for you. I go, where's he going? Well, he's going to the father. What's it mean to prepare a place for you? Well, I know this, if he hadn't gone to the cross, there'd be no place for me in the father's house, a place.

You know, I never came into assembly fellowship until five years after I was saved. I sat back for a year. I wanted to make sure what I was, that I wasn't jumping into something I didn't know what I was jumping into.

The first opportunity I had to break bread in the seventh year of assembly fellowship, there were two things that were very much impressed upon me. One was the sense of the Lord's presence, would that were like that all the time. But then the second was, I'm home.

I'm home. I'm so thankful that God ever brought me into assembly fellowship. Are we perfect? No.

Are there godly people in other places? Absolutely. Does God use them? I was just saying to somebody this morning that if we would hope that God would use us with all our shortcomings and failures, can he not use other people that maybe know nothing about being gathered to the Lord's name like we do? I go to prepare a place. No matter who you are, how old you are, brother, sister, we're going home and the Lord has made a place for us, an eternal home.

You know, when you have a house here in this world, there's always something that needs fixing because you're responsible for it. But up there in the Father's house, it's his house and he has all the responsibility. And I'm looking forward, the older I get, the more I'm looking forward to being with the Lord.

I don't look forward to the process of dying, but I think I'm learning little by little I need to trust the Lord for this as well. You believe in God, believe in me. Can I trust the Lord for that? You know, it's easy to say we trust in the Lord, but often the Lord will bring things into our lives that will test us a little bit, stretch our faith a little bit.

But then in verse three, the Lord says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. So, you know, the Lord is so kind. He tells them why they don't need to be upset and troubled by the circumstances of their lives, because in the big picture, he's going to take care of it all.

And he's going to take care of them. And brother, sister, he's going to take care of you and me. The troubles here are just for a little while.

In verses seven to 11, some amazing statements here. The Lord says in verse 70, if you'd known me, you would have known my father. And from now on, you know him and have seen him and Philip.

Now they've been with the Lord for three years. He says, show us the father and that'll be good enough. And Jesus said to him, have I been so long with you? And you not have not known me, Philip.

But notice what he says in verse nine. He who has seen me has seen the father, the deity of the Lord Jesus, God manifest in the flesh. You wonder what God is like.

Look at the Lord Jesus. And then in verse 10, he says, don't you believe that I'm in the father and father in me? And then he says at the end of verse 10, the father who dwells in me. Now we're going to encounter, I guess I won't get to chapter 15 today or at this conference, but this word dwelling is characteristic of John found 40 sometimes.

This abiding, this dwelling, the father dwells. What I see in this chapter is the closeness, not only the father and the son, but the relationship that the Lord Jesus has brought us into with the father and the son and brother sister. If you know anything more tremendous that for a human being to have a, to have fellowship, to have a relationship with the God of this universe, would you please tell me what it is? The Lord Jesus has brought us into something tremendous that nothing in this world can eclipse or come even close.

And then in verse 11, he says, believe me that I'm in the father and the father in me. Do we believe that? He says, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves, the things that he did, but let's apply it to us. Those of us have been saved for a little while.

Can we look back and see times in our lives when there's no doubt in our mindset, it's the Lord that has done it. Maybe other people that didn't, maybe people looking on neighbors or friends, they just thought, well, that's the way things worked out. But you know, you were praying about it and it was a big issue to you.

And you were just trusting the Lord. You didn't know maybe how he was going to work things out, but he did. The Lord wants to reveal himself to us.

He wanted to reveal himself to his disciples. He did that continually and the things he said and the things he did. God wants us to understand brother sister, who he is and the privilege we have of knowing him.

And we're going to see, if we get to it here, of him being in us. Well, let's read on verse 12. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these will he do because I go to my father.

And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments.

Now, greater works. This is difficult for me. What does the Lord mean greater works? I mean, look at the things the Lord did when he was here.

How can be greater than that? Well, it could mean greater in extent. For example, on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter preached, 3,000 people saved. Now, when the Lord Jesus preached, we're not told of anything like that, people being saved.

I mean, I don't know. I'm just putting this out as a possibility, but it could be in an extent as far as, well, the Lord Jesus never traveled far outside of Israel. But I think of the apostle Paul now and others, they took the gospel far and wide.

So that's one possibility. But what about this? He says, whatever you ask in my name, I will do it. Well, I respect my wife's knowledge of the scriptures very much.

And not too long ago, I asked her, what do you think that means, asking in my name? And she's honest. She says, I don't know. I'm wondering if asking in his name is the thought of the relationship that we have with the son.

And this relationship involves, as verse 15 tells us, love. He says, if you love me, and submission to his authority, keeping his commandments, if you love me. There's no doubt about his love for us.

And as Sophomites said, we can say we love the Lord all we want, but our love for him is measured by our submission to his authority, his commandments. That's what he says. I mean, very clear.

If you love me, keep my commandments. So that brings to the point, do we know what his commandments are? If I say I love the Lord and not find out what he wants me to do, there's something wrong. If you love me, keep my commandments.

The Lord is so gracious, you know, serving him is based on love, upon this relationship that he's brought us into. He doesn't say, if you want to go to heaven, keep my commandments. Other religions, that's the way it is.

It's works based, not the Christianity of the Bible. But the problem is, how do we keep his commandments, right? I mean, maybe we're thinking, Lord, I do love you and I want to keep your commandments, but I'm just a failing human being. I understand.

And the Lord knows. So notice what he says next in verse 16. Well, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper or King James says comforter that he may abide with you forever.

The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you comfortless or orphans. That's where we get our word orphan from.

I will come to you. You know, the grace of the Lord. He says, if you love me, keep my commandments, but he just doesn't leave it there.

He says, and I'll pray the father and he'll give you another helper. It's the paraclete word. Somebody that's called alongside to help.

Isn't that what we need? Somebody to help us to keep his commandments so we can love the Lord the way we would like to. And not only that this Holy spirit himself, God is not only going to be with us, he says, but at the end of verse 17 and he'll be in you. And in verse 16, he says that he may abide with you forever.

The spirit of God, God himself, living in a believer forever. This is the truth. These truths that the Lord is teaching his own because he knows they're going to be tested.

And I believe he wants you and I to understand them too, because they're likely to be testings for each one of us. The short time that remains to us here on earth, but verse 19, a little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live. You will live also at that day.

You will know that I am in my father and you and me and I, and you, he who has my commandments and keeps them is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest or reveal myself to him. Judas, not Judas Iscariot said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

And my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word which you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me. In verse 20, there's some difficulty in knowing what at that day means, whether it's resurrection or like in Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost. But be that as it may, notice what the Lord says after that.

You will know that I am in my father and you and me and I and you. Now, what the Lord saying to the disciples is true of us and what he's saying. He's Christ is in the father.

And he says, you're in me. We're in Christ and Christ is in us. Now, remember, the Lord knows he's going to be leaving.

What words of comfort this is. And the Lord isn't here in person for us either. So notice the provision that he's given us.

He says he doesn't he's not going to leave us all alone, helpless. And just the closeness. Christ is in the father.

We're in Christ. Christ is in us. This is possible because God is spirit.

But the question is, are we enjoying this relationship? Living in the good of it? It's one thing to know it up here. I mean, that's good. But how about here and in shoe leather? Christianity is very practical.

It's real. And in verse 21, again, it's brought out about loving the Lord and submission to his word. He says, he who has my commandments and keeps them.

It's he who loves me. But notice next, and he who loves me will be loved by my father. Verse 21, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.

I don't know about you, but. I know of nothing. More valuable or stirring.

Comforting or tremendous than when the Lord reveals himself in some way to me when he makes himself real. We're speaking about the God. God himself, now the Lord Jesus Christ wanting to reveal himself to ordinary people like you and me.

Are we interested? Other things may captivate us for a time, but they're temporary and not really all that satisfying. There's nothing like the Lord Jesus. And it starts here, but it's going to go on forever.

This relationship with him. Verse 23, same principle again. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.

You know, the Lord isn't a slave driver and saying, you got to do this, you got to do that. But he says, if you love me, here's how you can show it. So to me, if we love him, we're going to, okay, Lord, what do you want me to do? We're going to look into his word to find out.

What he's looking for. And we're going to look to him for help, for God's power to, to do it because we can't do it in ourselves. We couldn't do anything to save ourselves.

And we can't do anything to live for the Lord ourselves. But in verse 23, the Lord says at the end, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Now, home, this is the noun form of the dwelling word, meno.

There's only two times in the New Testament, it's found here in verse 23, this make our home, our dwelling. But the other time is in verse two, and my father sells our many mansions or dwelling places. Very interesting.

In verse two, it's us dwelling with him. And in verse 23, it's the father and son dwelling with us. But let me just try to finish here.

Verse 25. I hope you're enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying this. These last words of the Lord Jesus, I can understand how his disciples would need him.

And I'm starting to understand how much I need him. And just the privilege, this closeness, this relationship, the Lord wants us to enjoy. Verse 25, these things I've spoken to you while being present with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You know, when people die, they often leave an inheritance to their heirs. The Lord knew he was going to die shortly here, but he's giving them peace, a peace that the world can't give, a peace that doesn't depend upon circumstances.

It's not only the peace with God, but the peace of God. It comes from God. God wants us to enjoy this peace.

The Lord Jesus wanted his disciples to have the peace, even though their world would be rocked by the events of the crucifixion and the persecution afterward. Time is gone, but let me just look at verse 31. But then the Lord says, but that the world may know that I love the father.

And as the father gave me commandment, so I do arise. Let us go from here. Now, the Lord's been saying, if you love me, keep my commandments.

What does he say here? That the world may know that I love the father. And as the father gave me commandment, he's practicing what he preached. May the Lord help us to do the same.

We have such a gracious savior, the tender heart of the Lord Jesus. And it's touching to realize that he doesn't love us any less than he did his disciples. They didn't mean more to him than you do to him.

May the Lord help us, brother, sister, out of love for him, the one who first loved us, to appreciate and believe who he is, what he came to do, and to enjoy this tremendous relationship we have with the father and the son.