Find the Comfort You Need in Jesus Christ
The Gospel of John
John 14:1-6
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - July 26, 2017
(Revised January 13, 2020)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to John 14. In these final hours before the cross, Jesus spoke with His disciples about the most important things: How they should love one another, how the Holy Spirit would help them, how they should continue to serve the Lord and more.
*Naturally, the disciples were more troubled than ever before. But John 13:1 tells us that "when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." So, the Lord also took special care to give His disciples the comfort they needed.
*Christians: The same Lord who loved them to the end, loves us to the end, and He wants to give us the comfort we will surely need in life. Tonight's verses begin to show us how God comforts His people. Let's get started by reading John 14:1-6.
MESSAGE:
*Over the years, I have known many people who needed comfort. Husbands and wives who had to say goodbye to their mates, children of all ages who had to say goodbye to moms and dads, brothers, sisters and friends who had to say goodbye to the people closest to them.
*Then there are those bigger events that affect our whole town or state or nation. Everybody in this world goes through times when they need comfort. And the wonderful truth is that we can find the comfort we need in the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. FIRST: WE CAN FIND COMFORT IN THE LORD'S CARE FOR US.
*Jesus truly cares for us all, so in vs. 1 the Lord said, "Let not your heart be troubled. . ." Do you ever get troubled? -- Of course we do. And the disciples help us see why, because they were certainly troubled that night.
*They were troubled because things weren't working out like they expected. They had been with Jesus for almost 3 years, and they had seen the most amazing things anyone has ever seen. They saw raging storms calmed with a word. They saw 5,000 men, plus thousands more women and children, all fed with a little boy's lunch. The disciples also saw thousands of people instantly, miraculously, completely healed with a word or a touch from Jesus. They had even seen people even raised from dead!
*Then in Matthew 16:15-18, Jesus asked His disciples:
15. . . "Who do you say that I am?''
16. . . Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.''
17. Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
*The disciples might have thought, "Oh boy! We've got it made!" But then in Matthew 16:20-21 Jesus
20. . . commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
21. From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
*The disciples were troubled because things weren't working out the way they expected. Has that ever happened to you? It's happened to us all. When we were young, we didn't make the team, or we had to sit on the bench, or an injury put us on the bench forever. Somewhat older, we didn't get in our dream school, someone else got the promotion we expected, or the one we loved turned out to love someone else. We are going to face setbacks and troubles.
*The disciples were troubled because things weren't working out like they expected. They were also troubled because they had to face their own weaknesses.
*In the last 2 verses of John 13, the Lord pointed out how weak Peter was, and it hurt. In John 13:37-38:
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.
*Christians: Sometimes the Lord has to point out our failures. And yes, He loves us, and yes, He forgives us, but it's still a time of trouble. The disciples were troubled because they had to face their weaknesses.
*But most of all, they were troubled because the Lord Jesus Christ was going to die. Thank God, Christians: This is a trouble we will never know, because we are living on the resurrection side of the cross! We know that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! We know that the Holy Spirit of God was sent in a new way on the Day of Pentecost. And we know that by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is always living in our hearts.
*We also know that death is different for Christians. It's the difference between hopelessness and hope. It's the difference between Heaven and Hell, the difference between everlasting life and everlasting death, the difference between everlasting forgiveness and everlasting punishment for our sins.
*Donald Phillips saw a picture of the difference when his daughter was 4 years old. She had a cyst on her throat that had to be removed, and they were living in Louisville, Kentucky. Donald said, "I will never forget that morning in that large city hospital when they came to carry her away to surgery. She left crying and pleading for us not to let them take her."
*A couple of years later they had moved to the little town of Ft. Gaines, Georgia, and Donald's daughter had to have her tonsils removed. "What a difference," he said. "This time, instead of sending a stretcher, the doctor came himself. Then he picked her up in his arms and carried her calmly to surgery."
*Donald then made this comparison: "Death for the non-Christian is a frightening experience, going off with strangers to an unknown place. But for the Christian, Christ comes, lifts us and carries us to spend eternity with Him." (1)
*Church, that's why John Hamby could say, "Death is not death if you know the Lord. It is merely a change of place, a change of state, a transfer from one realm to another. Death is not death, if it kills no part of us, except that which kept us from the perfect life. Death is not death, if it raises us in a moment from darkness to light, from weakness to strength, from sinfulness to perfection. Death is not death, if it transforms our faith into sight, and lets us behold Him in whom we have believed.
*Death is not death, if it rids us of doubt and fear, sickness and disease, sorrow and sadness. Death is not death, for Christ has conquered death for all those who trust in Him." (2)
*Well, even though death is different for a believer, it's still very hard on the loved ones left behind, so our hearts get troubled. But Jesus Christ cares for us more than anybody else possibly could. And it helps to know that Jesus knows exactly what we have to go through.
*Jesus knows what it means to have a troubled heart. John's Gospel makes this truth clear 3 different times. After Lazarus died, John 11:33 tells us that Jesus saw Lazarus' family and friends weeping. And when the Lord saw their sorrow, "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled." That is the same original word Jesus used when He spoke to His troubled disciples here in vs. 1.
*Then about a week before the cross, in John 12:27-28, Jesus said, "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.'' And on this night before the cross, John 13:21 tells us that Jesus was "troubled in spirit." And the Lord said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."
*The Lord who said, "Let not your hearts be troubled" understands all of our troubles. David DeWitt explained, "When I think of the sufferings of Christ, I almost always think of the cross and the pain of enduring the crucifixion. However, it is helpful to remember that Christ suffered in many ways during His life, and was no stranger to sorrow and grief.
*Jesus lost His father, Joseph, sometime before His ministry began. Jesus lost His friend, cousin and partner in ministry, John the Baptist. Jesus also lost His close personal friend, Lazarus. It is from this passage that we find the shortest verse in the entire Bible: 'Jesus wept.'
*Today, I can tell you with confidence that God not only knows our pain. He understands our pain, because He has experienced it through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ." (3)
*And all of that trouble that Jesus went through, -- He didn't have to do that! But He did it for us, because He cares for us! We can find comfort in the Lord's care for us.
2. WE CAN ALSO FIND COMFORT IN HIS CHARACTER.
*God gives us a glimpse of the Lord's sterling character in vs, 1-2. There Jesus said, "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. . ."
*We can always count on the character of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He is absolutely dependable all the time. Looking back over the three years Jesus had been with His disciples, He could have said, "Haven't I been good to you? Haven't I taken care of you? Haven't I told you the truth? Haven't I gotten you through every storm?"
*Christians: We can look back like that too. It's been over 44 years for me, and I know that I have failed the Lord many times. But Jesus has never failed me! Praise the Lord!
*Pastor Brian Bill said, "Friends, how faithful is our heavenly Father! We are never cut off from God's faithfulness. He is true to His character. He is reliable, trustworthy, and He can always be counted on. Here's a simple definition: 'God's faithfulness means that everything He says and does is certain.' He is 100% reliable, 100% of the time. He does not fail, forget, falter, change, or disappoint. He says what He means and means what He says. Therefore, He does everything He says He will do."
*Please listen to these great verses on God's faithfulness: Deuteronomy 7:9 says: 'Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.'
*In Lamentations 3:21-25, the prophet Jeremiah said:
21. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
22. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
23. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
24. "The Lord is my portion,'' says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!''
25. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
*"God's faithfulness is not some minor or secondary part of His character. To say that God is faithful goes to the very core of who He really is. If He didn't keep His Word, then He wouldn't be God." Our God is faithful! And He will never fail us! (4)
*You may have never heard of Armenia, but it's a small, Christian nation on the northeast border of Turkey. Armenia is about one fourth the size of Louisiana with 3 million people. On December 7, 1988, two terrible earthquakes hit Armenia killing 60,000 people and destroying nearly half a million buildings.
*One father rushed to his son's school, and found the building flat as a pancake. Standing there in tears, he remembered a promise he had made to his son, "No matter what, I'll always be there for you!"
*It looked absolutely hopeless, but the dad got as close as he could to his son's classroom, and started digging in the pile of rubble. The other grieving parents tried to pull him off, saying, "It's too late! They're dead!" But he just kept digging for his son, stone by stone. He dug for 8 hours, then 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours without stopping!
*Finally, in the 38th hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son's voice. He screamed his son's name, "Armand!" And a voice answered him, "Dad?" -- It's me, Dad!" Then the boy added these priceless words, "I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved too."
*Armand remembered his Father's promise: "No matter what, I'll always be there for you!" Fourteen children were saved that day because one father was faithful to his promise. But how much more faithful is our Heavenly Father! Our God is faithful, and He will never fail us! (5)
*Now, all of us will face troubling mysteries in life:
-Why did that wreck happen?
-Why did our marriage fail?
-Why is my baby so sick?
-Why did my house get robbed?
-Why did my loved one die so young?
*All of us will face troubling mysteries. But over and over the Lord proves to us that yes, we can always trust in Him! That's why Jesus said, "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." And we can find comfort in the Lord's character.
3. WE CAN ALSO FIND COMFORT IN HIS POWER TO CREATE.
*The Lord spoke of His infinite power to create in vs. 2. There Jesus said, "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."
*Think about the wonders of God's creation in the universe today. Richard Wimer tells us that if you hold your thumb at arm's length toward the sky, your thumb nail is covering up more than 250,000 galaxies in space! And every one of those galaxies holds 100 to 500 billion stars! (6)
*But Isaiah 40:26 in the New Living Translation says, "Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away." Church: I forget people's names every other day, but God knows all of the stars by name! And He made them all!
*Think about the wonders of God's creation, and that includes us! In Psalm 139:14 David said this to the Lord, "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." We are "fearfully made." That word means we should stand in awe at the complexity of our creation. We are "wonderfully made." That word means we are a marvelous creation of God.
*For example, think about our hearts. The average heart beats 72 times a minute. That's over 100,000 times a day, almost 38 million times a year, and about 3 billion times over an average lifespan. In many ways our bodies are physical miracles that can only be explained by the creation power of God. (7)
*This universe is an amazing creation, and God's not finished yet! The best is yet to be! And if Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then right now He is preparing an everlasting place in Heaven for you! We can find comfort in the Lord's power to create.
4. BUT WE CAN ALSO FIND COMFORT IN THE LORD'S CROSS.
*Above all things, Jesus wants us to have the comfort of His cross. And in vs. 4-6, Jesus reminds us how crucial the cross is for everyone. There Jesus said:
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."
*On this night before He went to the cross, Jesus wanted us to see the importance of His cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is the only way for our sins to be forgiven. The cross of Jesus Christ is the only way for us to go to Heaven.
*Again, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by Me." All of us need help going to heaven. None of us is good enough to get there on our own. And Jesus Christ is the only person in the universe who can help us.
*When Jesus died on the cross, it was for our sins. And when He rose again from the dead, He proved that He could help us. If we believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Lord and Savior, He pardons our sins and gives us an everlasting home in Heaven.
*Think about the wonder of the cross of Jesus Christ. Timothy Peck helped us when he gave this testimony: "My wife committed her life to Jesus Christ while she was a junior in high school. Shortly after she became a follower of Jesus Christ, she had a conversation with a friend who was a Jehovah's Witness.
*They talked about whether or not a Christian should wear a cross. Her friend reasoned that since the cross was the way Jesus was executed, it was totally inappropriate for someone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus to wear one.
*She said, 'If your brother was killed in a drive-by shooting, you wouldn't wear a silver assault rifle. If one of your ancestors had been lynched, you wouldn't wear a gold noose.'"
*Timothy then said, "In some ways, my wife's friend had a point we often miss today. After 2,000 years we have a hard time understanding how scandalous the cross truly was to the people of the Lord's generation.
*So far as we know, death by crucifixion on a cross originated with the ancient Persians. But it was the ruthless Greek military general Alexander the Great who made it a popular form of execution. By the time the Roman Empire came to power, crucifixion on a cross was a form of capital punishment reserved for only the worst criminals. To the Jewish mind, being nailed to a cross was such a shameful way to die that they considered any who were crucified to be cursed in God's sight." So in Galatians 3:13, Paul said: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.)'" The Apostle was referring to the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy 21:23.
*There was no worse way to die than hanging on a cross. And that led Timothy Peck to say, "Had the early Christian church hired a big advertising firm to help them come up with a logo for Christianity. A cross wouldn't even be on their list, because it was such a revolting, shameful and offensive symbol."
*But Christians: We love the cross! We love the cross, because we know that Jesus died on that cross for our sins! Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for us, to take our punishment, to save us. That why in Galatians 6:14, Paul also said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (8)
*Thank God for the cross of Jesus Christ! And thank God that Jesus rose again from the dead! There wouldn't be any good news without the resurrection. But we know that we can live forever, because Jesus has conquered death forever!
CONCLUSION:
*Do you know that? Do you know Him? Jesus wants us to have the comfort we can only find in Him: The comfort of His care, His character, His creation, and His cross.
*We can surely find the comfort we need in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast your cares on Him, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Originally found in "Proclaim"
(2) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "Funeral" by John Hamby - John 14:1-6
(3) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "The God who Comforts" by David DeWitt - 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
(4) SermonCentral sermon "Our Faithful God" by Brian Bill - Lamentations 3:22-25
(5) Sources:
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Armenian_earthquake
"Earthquakes wreak havoc in Armenia" by History.com Editors - November 13, 2009
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquakes-wreak-havoc-in-armenia
-https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquakes-wreak-havoc-in-armenia
-Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL - Source: Sermonillustrations.com - Father's Day 2002
(6) KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 34700 - SOURCE: Wit And Wisdom at http://www.witandwisdom.org by Richard G. Wimer - TITLE: Billions And Billions - DATE: 5/31/2007 - Source: Popular Science TV Program
(7) https://www.newhealthadvisor.org/How-Many-Times-Does-Your-Heart-Beat-a-Day.html
(8) SermonCentral sermon "What Christians Think about the Cross" by Timothy Peck - 2 Corinthians 5:17
