TRUE HAPPINESS
John 14:1-21
Psychologists say that people need three things to make them happy.
1. THEY NEED SOMETHING TO DO..
2 THEY NEED SOMEONE TO LOVE
3. THEY NEED SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.
However, to be truly happy and satisfied we must make sure that we are doing the right thing, loving the right thing, and looking forward to the right thing.
A. SOMETHING TO DO
1. There are a lot of things that we can do to make us happy
2. I am happy when I go hunting or fishing
3. go see a friend or loved one
4. have fun with my kids
5. Camping-partying-fishing-
B. NONE OF THESE THINGS CAN SATISFY THE SOUL
1. Jesus Christ gives us what we need to do to find true satisfaction which will lead not
only to happiness but joy unspeakable and full of glory! –
SOME PEOPLE ARE HAPPY WHILE THEY ARE COMPLAINING
ILL.- Preacher Marvin Phillips tells about riding on a plane one time with an elderly couple seated next to him. They were talking louder than they realized and the wife was complaining, “I don’t like riding on these airplanes. Folks get on them with guns and knives and they take you places you don’t want to go.”
The woman’s frail little husband said, “Now, honey, it’s gonna be all right.” Marvin said “I smiled. We taxied to the end of the runway and took off. It was beautiful day for flying. And I didn’t think about the little lady anymore until our wheels hit down on the runway at the next airport.
“At that precise moment her husband said optimistically, “YOU SEE, HONEY, WE MADE IT ALL RIGHT.” And she shot back, “WE AIN’T THERE YET!”
Are you like that woman? Can’t see anything but the negative in most situations in life? If so, you’re a thief! You’re stealing the joy out of people’s lives!
A. BELIEVE ALSO IN ME(v. 1)
1“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
1. Apart from a trust and faith in Christ no one will ever find true joy or satisfaction! We must
have confidence in Him as our Lord and Savior.
2. The woman at the well in John 4 had done a lot.
a. Married 5 times and living in adultery-- wasn’t satisfied—
b. When she trusted in Christ He gave her living water where her soul would never thirst again
3. Prodigal son in Luke 15 had done a lot.
a. He spent his time and money living rioteously.
b. He had partyed, he had the women, he had plenty of money.
B. But when the money ran out he found himself lying in pigpen unhappy and dissatisfied.
C.. But praise God he came home to the Father’s house and that is a picture of us leaving
behind the things that cannot satisfy and placing our faith in Christ!
D. Peter had plenty to do.
1. He was a fisherman. But he left all and followed Christ, and in Christ he found true
satisfaction!
E. .Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Him
F. Without Him there is void in a person’s soul that only He can fill!
II . Work for Me (v. 12)
12“The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even
greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
A. Jesus let’s us know that after we believe in Him there is still something to do—WORK
B. You and I have the privilege to be servants and ambassadors of the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords!
C. Telling others about Jesus involves work
1.. Raising and nurturing our children takes work
2.. Working for the Lord is not a burden, but it is a blessing!
3. We have the opportunity to make an eternal and spiritual difference in mankind!
D. ASK FROM ME (vv. 13-14)
13And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. 14If you £ask anything in My name, I will do it.
1. We also have the wonderful privilege to ask from Christ
2. When we ask things in His name and in His will He will fulfill those requests!
3. Asking in Christ’s name means that we would ask what He would ask, and what would bring
glory to Him.
4. You can’t properly ask in His name without knowing His nature.
5. He will provide for us everything that we need that pertains to life and godliness!
6. He will give us the tools necessary to accomplish His purposes!
D. OBEY ME (v. 15)
15If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.
1. Christ has given us many commands to obey
2. He has told us to live holy lives
3. He has told us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but do it even more so
as we see the day approaching.
4. He has told us to preach the Gospel to every creature
5. He has told us to provoke one another to love and good works
6. He has told us to build one another up
7. He has told us to glorify Him
Application: To be happy we must have something to do. We will do what we think will make us happy. The reason some do more physical things than spiritual is because they think the physical will bring more happiness. However the physical things we do are only temporary and will fade away; our happiness will fade right along with it. We need to do the spiritual: pray, witness attend church, etc.
II. SOMEONE TO LOVE!
vv. 15-2--15If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.
1. Everyone needs something to love!
a. Some are in love with money to try to find happiness, but the love of money is the root of all
evil and many have pierced themselves through with many sorrows going after it.
2. Some people are addicted to pornography or immoral sex to try to find happiness. But they
are corrupting their minds and destroying their bodies.
3. Some are addicted to cigerattes--But they find that things will never satisfy.
4. Jesus said that the 2 greatest commandments involved love!
We are to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul and with all of our mind! We are to love our neighbor as our self!
-An individual that is not in love with God and not in love with his neighbor is an individual who does know about true happiness!
A. Our Love for God Produces Obedience! (vv. 15, 21, 23-24)
15If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.
21The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.”
23Jesus replied, “All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them. 24Anyone who doesn’t love me will not do what I say. And remember, my words are not my own. This message is from the Father who sent me.
A. don’t sing Oh, how I love Jesus and live in disobedience to Him!
B. We show Christ how much we love Him, by how much we obey Him.
ILL.- Erma Bombeck is quoted as saying years ago, “An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, "I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" Bombeck said, “The kid is right.”
A. If we love HIM, we will love each other.
B. God’s Love for us Produces Comfort & Communion (vv. 16-20)
16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,£ who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. 20When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
He let His disciples know that He would send them and us the Comforter. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts to: comfort us, convict us, and to encourage us.
-What wonderful words Jesus shares with His disciples and words of great comfort for us as well. We are in Him and He is in us!
-Jesus also tells us that His Father will love us, He will love us and He will manifest Himself to us! Christ loves us and shows Himself to us in His Word and through His Spirit.
Application: What wonderful news that we can have something to love; someone to love that loves us more than anything or anyone else could! Money doesn’t love us, things do not love us, immorality doesn’t love us! God does!
III. SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO
-not only does everyone need something to do, someone to love, but everyone also needs something to look forward to!
-Some POW’s hopes were never dashed because they looked forward to being free
-People that work look forward to getting a paycheck
-People that race look forward to finishing and hopefully winning
ILL.- John D. Rockefeller is an example of the benefits of giving. He achieved what our culture calls success. Rockefeller had amassed more wealth than he could ever spend. By the time Rockefeller was fifty-three years old his life was a wreck. Throughout his business career he said, “I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.”
He was the richest man in the world and yet he was miserable in every sense of the word. He was sick physically, mentally, and emotionally. There was no humor or joy in his life.
Then a transformation occurred. He determined to become a giver rather than an accumulator. He began to give his millions away. He founded the Rockefeller Foundation, dedicated to fighting disease and ignorance around the world. He lived to be ninety-eight years old and was a happy man in those years because of his new and revitalized definition of success.
Giving worked for John D. Rockefeller, but does it work for us?
-Praise God we have something greater to look forward to!
A.. The Father’s House (v. 2)
2In my Father’s house are many mansions
1. Are many mansions
2. Is a place prepared specifically for us
3. A place prepared by the hand of God Himself
4. A place of no sickness, no pain, no sin, no tears!
B. The Son’s Return (v. 3)
2There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly.
1. He has gone away to prepare a place
2. He, Himself will come again to receive us
3. Where He is, one day we can be!
ILL.- Dennis Wholey, author of "Are You Happy?" reports that according to expert opinion, only 20 percent of Americans are happy.
Happiness is something that we think someone else has. We think or say, "He must be happy. Look at his job. Look at the car he drives, the house he lives in, the money he has, etc."
a. I think happiness boils down to a proper focus.
b. We must focus on eternity, not earth.
c. People, not possessions.
d. Service, not self.
e. God’s grace, not our goodness.
f. The Spirit, not the flesh.
g. Positives, not negatives.
h. Praising, not griping.
i. And giving, not getting.
Application: Do you want to be truly Happy
FIND SOMETHING TO DO--Trust in Jesus as your Savior and get busy for Him
FIND SOMEONE TO LOVE--Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself
FIND SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO--Look forward to Christ’s return, and spending eternity with Him!
