When You're Down!

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER

RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

(Revised: 2018)

TEXT: John 14:1-6; John 12:13,19

A. Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes wrong? It doesn't make any difference how hard you try, it just seems that everything backfires on you? The harder you try, the worse it gets. I'm convinced that all of us have had days like that.

ILL. I heard a story that illustrates this point very well. It is about a lady at the airport who bought a Kit Kat candy bar to eat while she was waiting for her plane.

In the crowded waiting area she spied an empty seat at the end of a row. Rushing to get it, she quickly propped her hang?up bag against the end of the row, sat down, & placed her purse & several small items on the table between her & a rather large man seated there, & then turned back to straighten her hang?up bag.

With everything finally in order, she was ready to eat her Kit Kat candy bar. But to her surprise, as she started to reach for it, she saw the man in the next seat unwrapping her Kit Kat candy bar, & she watched in amazement as he broke off a section & ate it.

"Well," she thought, I've never seen such gall." She glared at him, & he looked at her, but no words were exchanged.

But she was so furious at what he had done that she decided, if he was going to be that brazen about it, she could be brazen, too. So she reached over to him, broke off a piece & ate it herself. Then he broke off another piece & ate it.

It became almost a duel between the two of them to see who would get the most. Quickly the candy bar was consumed, & she sat there just boiling that someone would be so rude as to take & eat half of her candy bar.

Well, after a few minutes of silence, the man got up & left, & then came back with another Kit Kat candy bar. He unwrapped it, broke off a piece & started eating it.

She thought, "Well, since he took & ate half of mine, I'm going to eat half of his." So she reached over & broke off another piece & ate it. Once again the same scenario was repeated.

Then, over the intercom came the announcement that her plane was ready for boarding. So she opened her purse to get her boarding pass &, to her utter embarrassment, she saw her Kit Kat candy bar.

APPL. There are times, I suppose, when things really start to go wrong. Your whole world seems to be crumbling around you.

B. That is probably about the way the apostles were feeling as we look at the 14th chapter of John. Their week had begun gloriously with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

The people had waved palm branches & shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!" (John 12:13) And many in that crowd had wanted to crown Him their King right then & there!

Even the Pharisees & the chief priests who had been plotting against Jesus had cried out in despair, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!" (John 12:19)

But Jesus had not come to establish an earthly kingdom, & He refused their crown. Disappointed & thwarted in their dreams of a Jewish kingdom with Jesus as their miracle?working king, the fickle crowd began to change.

And soon the priests were once again seeking someone who would betray Jesus into their hands.

C. So as the 14th chapter of John begins, we see Jesus & His apostles in the upper room where they have eaten the Passover meal together. Jesus knew exactly what the next few hours would bring.

He knew Judas would betray Him. He knew of the cross & the borrowed tomb. And He tried to prepare the apostles for all that. So He begins to comfort them.

APPL. I wonder, is there anyone here who needs to be comforted this morning? I know there must be. We lose loved ones. People lose jobs. We have physical problems. Some are lonely & depressed. We experience all kinds of troubles.

PROP. But Jesus says that part of the solution to a troubled heart is trust, & in the first 6 verses of the 14th chapter of John He tells His apostles to trust in 3 things: #1 - Trust in My presence. #2 - Trust in My promises. #3 - Simply trust in Me."

I. TRUST IN MY PRESENCE

In Vs. 1 Jesus begins by saying, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me."