Trusting Jesus Series

a. I have been preaching on the subject of Trust for several weeks now. It is a theme that runs through the entire bible and includes Easter Sunday!

b. I would like to have you take a journey with me back to the days before Jesus’ crucifixion, to the time when Jesus is preparing his disciples for the tough times they will face when Jesus is arrested and killed.

3. Scripture passage:

a. John 13:36-37 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later." Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now?

i. Jesus had just finished telling his disciples, “where I am going you cannot come.” Of course, we know he is talking about dying, but Peter isn’t so sure.

1. Jesus had a habit of saying cryptic things like this, like “I am the bread of life” and “I am the door” and “If you destroy this temple I will rebuild it in 3 days”

2. So Peter, being the simple minded fellow that he was, had learned to ask Jesus what he meant whenever Jesus would say something he didn’t understand.

3. Peter isn’t just confused, he is also feeling “left behind.” Jesus has just told him that he can follow later; Peter is used to being right in the middle of things, and now he is being excluded.

4. So Peter gets a bit argumentative here when he asks, “Why can’t I follow you right now?”

ii. Jesus goes on to explain he is going to die, and Peter offers to die with Him but is told about his upcoming denial.

iii. So in the next chapter, chapter 14, Jesus tells them more.

b. John 14:1-6 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe (trust) in God, believe (trust) also in Me. 2 "In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "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. 4 "And you know the way where I am going." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. 7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.

i. Jesus now has two of his disciples confused. Peter first, now Thomas.

c. But it is in verse 1 that we get an idea of the trust that Jesus is asking His disciples to give to Him.

i. He warns them not to be troubled (because of the events that will come to pass in the days ahead)

1. V.1: Do not let your heart be troubled; believe (trust) in God, believe (trust) also in Me

2. Troubled: (to agitate, trouble a thing, by the agitation or movement of its parts to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind,)

a. Jesus’ attempts to keep his disciples from being troubled fell on deaf ears. They didn’t really hear him, I am not so sure they wanted to hear him tell them he was going to die.

i. When you have an aging relative, and they start talking about death, do you know what we do? We try to change the subject, we try to get them to stop talking about it. Why? It makes us uncomfortable.

ii. I am sure that Jesus’ talk about being arrested and killed was very uncomfortable for the disciples to hear.

iii. Their status quo was about to be disturbed and they would not be ready for it.

b. Our circumstances often cause us to be troubled.

i. They shake us up, we become agitated when life doesn’t go the way we want it to.

ii. Our difficulties lead us to worry or fear.

iii. I saw a great anagram for Fear:

1. False Expectations Appearing Real.

2. Oftentimes our expectations of what will happen is worse than what actually happens. We allow our imagination to run rampant.

iv. Yet Jesus gave them the prescription for trouble. “Trust (believe) in God, trust also in Me.”

3. The prescription for troubled times is Trust – placing yourself completely in the care of another –

a. Put your full weight on Him. Let Jesus support you. Put it all on Him.

i. Recliner, chair, sofa, bed…all are designed to support your weight. That is why we get rest from them.