3 6 2016 Trouble Ahead; Comfort Ahead John 13:36-14:6
Last week we ended with the new commandment by Jesus in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
We saw that historically this was true in the early Church: the unbelieving world, even emperors were stunned by the love that the early Church had for one another, and God still commands that we love one another in the sacrificial and humble way that Christ loved us, and by our actions, the world will be drawn to the Savior.
Predicted Denial
We look at verse 36 and read Peter’s response to Jesus’ statement iv verse 33: “Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." 37 Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake." 38 Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.”
Peter doesn’t seem interested in the “new commandment” but very interested in Jesus’ “going away”. Peter seems to be upset that Jesus is speaking about His death and asserts that Peter is willing to lay down his life for Jesus’ sake. There is a definite absurdity and irony in Peter’s suggestion because Jesus had come to give HIS LIFE as the Lamb of God for sinners and Peter certainly did not fit that requirement, in fact, before the night would be over, Peter would deny even knowing Jesus.
You ever find yourself being like Peter? That your self-assessment and intentions are inferior to your abilities? I think more often than not, our denial of “knowing Jesus” comes, not in denying to “know” Him, but denying to love Him and serve Him and others. In a real sense, disobeying Jesus is a denial of Him and a serving of self instead of the Savior. Jesus predicts that Peter would deny Jesus 3 times before sunrise, (which would have to be an excruciating blow to the personality of Peter) but then follows with some of the most comforting words in John 14 (NKJV).
Trouble ahead: Stop Shaking
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 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. 3 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. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus knew that there would be trouble ahead: The disciples would witness the most intense suffering ever known on this earth: they would see one of their own betray their Master, the outspoken Peter deny Him. They would witness the agony of Gethsemane, Jesus’ arrest, His torturous beatings, relentless mockery, and then His excruciating suffering under the weight of the cross, and finally Him being nailed and suspended ON the cross. But Jesus, “loving them to the end” (13:1) encourages them so that their faith would not fail.
True to His character, Jesus’ attention is not on His suffering but rather the effect that His suffering would have on His disciples as well as their own future persecution. The omniscient Savior knew that the disciples would be under immense emotional distress and pressure, perhaps close to failure, and so Jesus proclaims an imperative: LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.
The tense of the verb is the present imperative passive and denotes an ongoing, continual action in the negative. His exhortation is to STOP THAT WHICH IS ALREADY IN PROGRESS. “Do not allow your hearts to be troubled, shaken, disturbed or to shudder.” The “heart” (GR. “cardia”) can refer to the “soul” (mostly used by the word “psuche”) and also “spirit” (GR. “Pneuma”), but includes the whole of the inner states-thoughts, feelings, and will as well as emotions.
Continue Believing
So Jesus gives a command to, “Stop shaking and shuttering! Don’t let your “heart be troubled, but along with the exhortation Jesus gives us reasons to should stop shaking and shuttering: “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Jesus has often reasserted His deity as well as His role as Savior/Messiah, and this will not be the only time He does so again in this chapter. The disciples have faith in YHWH, the God of Israel already, and now they must also believe in Jesus. The idea in both cases is belief that is continual and ongoing: You continually believe in God; continually believe in Me, and stop shaking and shuttering.
The meaning of “believe” again fits John’s definition in this Gospel. To believe in or into God or to believe in or into Jesus is for the believer to entirely yield yourself upon your Lord in loving and self-abandoning faith. It means to accept Jesus for who HE said He is; that He is eternal God, the Great I Am of the Old Testament, and Savior God in the New Testament. Jesus is saying, “In the same way that you believe in YHWH, you continue to believe in Me.” That will be a very difficult test of faith for the disciples as they view the torture of their dear Master over the next day, and as they see Him breathe His last breath before His burial.
Heading Home
Jesus assures us in vs 2 that “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.” Jesus is heading back to His Heavenly Home. His Father’s “house” (oikia/ oikos-all the members of an extended family) is Heaven itself, the place where God lives and exists. Jesus is not going to His Father in order to continue the carpentry trade in order to build Heaven’s Hilton Hotel. The word “mansions” simply means dwellings or to make an abode, in other words, the place where you live. We could say: Where my Father lives in Heaven there is plenty of room and no shortage of accommodations. Heaven is a big place where its inhabitants are going to be like the stars of the Heavens and the sand on the seashore, but don’t worry. There is no shortage of space. All of God’s family of beliers will be there and there’ll be plenty of room.
Stop your shuddering and shaking because “I go to prepare a place for you. 3 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.” Here is more assurance and comfort for the disciples and for us. As certainly and surely as Jesus came to the earth, when He has accomplished His mission of mercy, and as surely as He will be gone from the earth, He will again return. All of His promises are certain for you and for me.
In Genesis 28:10-17, Jacob had a dream of the staircase or ladder that came down from Heaven to Earth and there were heavenly beings descending and ascending on the ladder. After he awoke, in verse 17 he exclaimed: “This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Jesus IS the “ladder or stairway to Heaven”. He came down to save. He ascended back to His Father’s home, and after paying the ransom for His redeemed, He will absolutely return for those who have trusted in Him for their salvation. He is the only stairway for sinners to enter Heaven.
I AM the Way
Jesus continued in verse 4: “And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The WAY is not a road, a path, a ladder, or a door: THE WAY IS A PERSON. Jesus is the way and He is the ONLY way to God.
Again Jesus exclaims His own exclusiveness in this emphatic “I AM” statement of Deity. His response as THE WAY takes a little emphasis over TRUTH and LIFE since it is mentioned first and also because it is the direct response to Thomas’ question. It is extremely important though, that Jesus is the way to God , first of all, because He is the TRUTH of God. Back in John 1:14, we heard that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Secondly, Jesus is the way to God because He is the LIFE of God. Listen to these John verses; 1:4: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” 3:14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Flashback to John 11:25: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
Only because Jesus is the truth and life can Jesus be the way for others to come to God and the only way for His disciples to attain a dwelling place in God’s Heaven. Amid all of the trouble and trials of our lifetimes, Jesus remains the constant. We take the greatest comfort in the One who IS the Way to God’s Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truth of God and He is Truth for Us. Because He is the way to Heaven, we have eternal life by trusting in Him. All praise and glory be to our Great God and Savior!
OUTLINE
I. Peter’s Predicted Denial (13:33-37)-Good intentions, inferior abilities.
II. Trouble Ahead: Stop shaking and shuttering because
A. You continually believe in God; continually believe in Me.(I AM)
B. Jesus is heading home to Heaven.
C. There’s plenty of room in God’s Heaven. (“mansions” are not physical”)
D. Jesus is the “ladder to Heaven”.
E. Jesus will definitely receive those who have received Him.
F. You know the One who IS the Way to God’s Heaven.
THE I AM’S
1. And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
2. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
3. “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
4. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
5. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).
6. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
7. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1).
8. “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)
CS Lewis: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with a man who said he was a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with some patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (Mere Christianity, 52).
