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The Third Sunday in Lent
February 24, 2008
Recognizing Christ
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
Today we are going to consider the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John—and we
should ask ourselves the question—“If we had less than 24 hours to live, and we
had an hour or so to spend with our closest friends, what would we say to them?”
Jesus was in this situation—and today we will look at what He chose to do with
His time
Jesus chose to comfort His friends—His disciples—the Apostles—during His last
hours with them—Jesus knew they were going to scatter at His arrest—He knew
Peter was going to deny Him 3 times—He knew He would be executed in public
view—He knew He would rise from the dead on Easter Sunday
John recorded what Jesus told the disciples during these final hours—but it took
5 chapters—chapter 14 took place in the upper room after the Lord’s Supper—and
chapter 15 and 16 He speaks after they left the table—but before they left the
house
John chapter 17 records the prayers of Jesus—first for Himself—then for His
disciples—and then for all believers—in chapter 18 Jesus crosses the river into
the garden for final prayer—and His eventual arrest
We will consider the words of Jesus at the table after the supper—chapter 14
TEXT: NKJ John 14:1 "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. 7 " If you had known Me, you would
have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." 8
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 9
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the
Father'? 10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father
who dwells in Me does the works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the
Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 " Most
assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do
also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13
"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
JESUS COMFORTS HIS DISCIPLES
As we seen when Peter quickly drew his sword—and willingly jumped into a fight
with the angry mob coming to take Jesus—the disciples feared nothing—as long as
they had Jesus—no harm could come to them—but that was about to change
Jesus begins His sermon to prepare the disciples for the danger and suffering
they were about to face—both in the next few days—when they would be separated
from Him—and in the coming times when most of them would die for knowing and
following Him
TEXT: 1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also
in Me.
He begins simply—by telling them to trust in Him—because the power He had when
He stood among them—remains in His physical absence—through God the Father and
in a few days His own return in victory over death and the devil
TEXT: 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."
The prince of this world is the devil—and the devil will not let us Christians
dwell in peace or be comfortable in this world—Jesus is telling the
disciples—and us—that this is not our home—heaven is our home
NKJ Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief cornerstone,
NKJ Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also
eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus wants the disciples—and us—to understand that we are all destined for
glory with Him and the Holy Trinity in heaven forever—and He is leaving the
disciples for a little while to complete the task of defeating the devil and
death to prepare our place
When Jesus says He will go and come again—He is referring to leaving by His
ascension into heaven—and coming again to judge the world and take His own to
heaven
Some teach that His return is spiritual in the sacraments—in the spiritual
sense—Jesus never left His disciples—He instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper this very evening—so in that sense He is ever-present
What Jesus meant by His return becomes clear when He ascends into heaven after
His resurrection
NKJ Acts 1:10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of
Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken
up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into
heaven."
Jesus will return—and He will judge the world at that time
In verse 4 Jesus tells His disciples that they know the way—He has been teaching
them the way for the last 3 years—by now—if they think about it—they know where
He is going—and they know how to follow Him—and just to make sure—He will send
them the Holy Spirit to remind them of all things that He taught them
NKJ John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things
that I said to you.
TEXT: 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. 7 " If you had known Me, you
would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen
Him."
Thomas contradicts Jesus—and seems to speak for all the disciples when he says
“we don’t know where you’re going”—we owe a debt of thanks to Thomas—because
Jesus makes it clear
Jesus sums up all of His teaching into one sentence—I am the way, the truth, and
the life—He’s not showing them the way—He IS THE WAY—He’s not showing them
anything new—He is just reminding them of what they already know
We will go to heaven because Jesus paid the price for our sins—He is the way—we
go to heaven by the truth of the Word—Jesus is the Word—we go to heaven because
Jesus defeated death—and He is therefore life
To comfort the disciples even more—Jesus now reminds them that He is the Son of
God—and that because they’ve known Him—they will also know God the Father—and
the next verse will tell Thomas and the rest of the 11 when it is that they
shall know the Father
TEXT: 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is
sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet
you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how
can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Now Philip questions Jesus—why don’t you just show us the Father—that will make
us comfortable—this pains Jesus—after 3 years with Philip—he doesn’t seem to
grasp the basics
Philip wants to see the Father with physical eyes—when for 3 years Jesus has
been opening Philip’s spiritual eyes to see the Father—to see God with physical
eyes gains you nothing—to see Him through the eyes of faith—gains you eternity
in heaven—that’s why Jesus is so pained
TEXT: 10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in
Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the
Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father
and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
If the disciples are going to be comforted—they will have to make the connection
between the Father and Jesus—the Son—who performed miracles—who spoke the truth
of the Word—as the Word was given to Him by the Father—there is no room for
doubt—because doubt will give the devil a crack to crawl through and torment
them
To review—Jesus is going to the Father—where there are many rooms—and He is
going to prepare a place for them—that is, He will be victorious over death—so
they—and we—can also have life for all eternity
Jesus told them He is the truth—the life—and the way—the only way—and now the
most comforting promise—Jesus promises to do whatever they ask in prayer
TEXT: 12 " Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works
that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go
to My Father. 13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will
do it.
Jesus assures the 11 that the works they would do—will be greater than the works
He did—how could that be?
Jesus’ ministry was centered around the Sea of Galilee—the disciples will take
the Gospel to every corner of their known world
Jesus preached for 3 years to thousands of listeners—yet when He sent the Holy
Spirit after His ascension there were only 120 believers
NKJ Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples
(altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said,…
When Peter and the Apostles preached on Pentecost Day—3,000 were added to the
number of the Church—even though many of the people didn’t speak the language
these Galilean men spoke
NKJ Acts 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that
day about three thousand souls were added to them.
The Apostles would heal as Jesus healed—they would raise from the dead as Jesus
raised from the dead—they would chase out demons as Jesus chased out demons
Jesus knew all these things—and He wants to comfort the men He loved with His
words
These men will walk the earth with the power of the Holy Spirit within them—just
as Jesus walked with the power of God the Father within Him
Jesus promises that the prayers of His disciples will be answered—Jesus Himself
will provide them with the answers to their prayer
The last promise of Jesus is that He would send them the gift of the Holy
Spirit—we will discuss that at another time
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!