Sermon: Don’t Be Troubled, It’s All Under Control—Jesus (Part 1) John 14:1-11
Don’t Be Troubled, It’s All Under Control—Jesus (Part 1)
John 14:1-11
Truth Taught- Jesus tells us not to be troubled because He and the Father are One
Introduction
In this world we have trouble. Just as we go from one idol to the next fighting the sin of idolatry and seeking Christ as our treasure we still fight against the temptation to worship other things. Just as that is true, we also go from one trouble to the next, many of which are not our own doing, some are our own doing, and all are a result of sin whether ours, someone else’s, or simply because we live in a sinful fallen world.
I want us to make sure we understand what’s going on here. Jesus is within hours of the cross. No one better understands the horrors and suffering required to be the Savior of God’s people. Jesus knows full well what is about to transpire. He is deeply distressed. Our Lord’s humanity is trying to get the upper hand. He is struggling with the prospect of dying. When Jesus on multiple occasions uses the word troubled it has with it a sense of distress and even a hint of fear. What does Jesus do? He immediately turns in trust to His Father.
Let’s remember Jesus Christ is absolutely sinless. So, there is a type of distress that is not sinful. He began to be distressed and turns to God for help and so flees away from the sin of anxiety and worry.
John 12:27 (ESV)
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
John 13:21 (ESV)
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
David in the Psalms understood this and he also knew the place to run to…
Psalm 56:3–4 (ESV)
3 When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
Human Need
We will always have struggles and turmoil in this life. Some may bring fear and worry. We must do what Jesus tells us quickly so that we can avoid the sin of being oppressed by worry. We either trust in ourselves and worry or we trust God and believe. Jesus shows us that it is a normal human reaction to fear and worry but what we do with it is key.
John 14:1–11 (ESV)
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and 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. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
- Don’t Be Troubled…I Am Preparing Your Room
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
We must look again at John’s purpose for writing his Gospel…
John 20:30–31 (ESV)
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Do you see how John takes us from despair to belief in one sentence of Jesus? The remedy for the disciple’s despair is belief. The remedy for their being troubled as they watch the events unfold the next day which, takes Jesus to the cross will be belief. So, what does Jesus give them to believe?
- First, He tells them that they must believe in Him as much as they believe in God the Father. He doesn’t mean believe in like believe in His existence but believe in His person, His character, and His power, trust Him.
Disciples, things are going to look like they are out of control tonight as I’m betrayed, arrested, tried, beaten, and crucified. Things are going to look like they are completely out of control. Understand, just as you believe in God the Father and trust Him, also believe in God the Son and trust Him…Me.
Jesus is telling them first and foremost who He is and that they should trust Him and His power even as they see Him hanging on the cross.
Do you see how watching your leader die on the cross could hinder your trust in Him?
Jesus tells all His disciples to trust Him. Are you a disciple of Christ? Does He desire your trust? The purpose for John’s book is belief. So, Jesus is causing His disciples…all disciples everywhere to trust Him because of who He is, the Son of God.
B. Secondly, Jesus tells His disciple to trust Him because He is preparing a place for them. Even though this night looks like someone else is at work, don’t forget I’m preparing a place for you. So this night and the next day and the three days after are Jesus getting the place ready for them.
Here’s where we need to do a little tear out. This is demo day for this verse. First, Jesus is not preparing a mansion for us. There are many songs that say…I have a mansion just over the hilltop…He is not preparing a mansion for His followers in heaven but a room in God’s mansion. The new translations are correct when they say room not mansion. Second thing we probably need to tear out is the idea that Jesus went to heaven to renovate or build something and when it’s done then He’ll return. The word prepare has to do with making God’s house accessible to us. Something needs to be prepared or accomplished before we can access our room in God’s house.
How can a sinner enter into God’s house when God’s white-hot glory would incinerate the sinner? Jesus is not in heaven right now preparing a place for us as if something more needs to be done. There is nothing that needs repaired or built in God’s house.
Here’s the way we should understand this verse. Jesus says I am going to prepare a place, on the night before the crucifixion. The cross prepared the way for all God’s people to enter into their room in God’s house. That’s exactly why Jesus moves forward with this concept when He says He is the way to the Father…
2. Don’t Be Troubled…I Am the Way, the Truth, the Life
4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus goes to the cross and dies for us that’s how He prepares a place. Notice how things transition from a place to a person. Jesus is the way to the Father. He is the way in which a sinner can enter into God’s presence.
Jesus speaks of preparing a place and then transitions to the fact that He is the Way.
Jesus is preparing His followers to carry on after He is gone. Do you see the dilemma? He’s preparing His followers to go on when He is not physically with them for them to follow. He reminds them that He is the Way.
Thomas and the others and most of us as well think in terms of the destination. Perhaps we think its heaven or specifically here, the Father’s house. Jesus wants us to see that the destination really doesn’t matter nearly as much as the Person. What I mean is our Lord desires us to seek Him and Him alone.
Read the verses closely…
4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Here is a truth that should really cause us to think more biblically. We do not need to know the destination. In any other example we must know the destination. We must know where we are going first and then we select the best way to get there. Here, because Jesus is the way to the Father and the only way it isn’t the destination that’s important but the way or we could say the route.
We could think in terms of Jesus being the road that leads to the Father. There are not many roads, just one. He is the way that sinners can be made right with God so that we can reach the destination. Following Christ is what is important.
He is the way to the Father. Jesus is also the truth of God. Jesus is also the life of God. He is truth because He alone embodies God’s revelation. When Jesus speaks He speaks God’s Word and it is all truth. It’s truth for all ages and for all people. His truth must be believed and followed. He is also the life of God. He is the way to eternal life. No one comes to the Father unless they have been made ready to be presented to the Father by Jesus the Son.
In order to be made ready, the sinner must come to Christ and believe that He is everything He has said, believe that He is eternal life and that through His cross our sins are forgiven and we also receive His righteousness, then and only then will we be able to come to the Father.
So Jesus tells us Don’t be troubled, I’m about to go and take your wrath and punishment for sin so that you can follow Me to the Father.
Jesus is the Way that must be followed, the Truth that must be believed, and the Life that must be lived.
- Don’t Be Troubled…The Trinity is for You
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Six times in verses 7-11 Jesus makes comparisons to Himself and His Father. His point being that the Trinity is One. We’ll see this further as we work through Chapter 16. For now, Jesus is explaining the closeness He and His Father share. One of John’s emphases is on Jesus making the Father known to us. Here our Lord is busy showing His disciples just exactly what the Father looks like.
If we know Jesus correctly, we will know the Father. Because the Holy Trinity is one God in three distinct Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Jesus can say things like if you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father. The very essence of the Father is found in Jesus. Jesus is the visible representation of the Father. He is what the Father looks like if the Father took on flesh.
Now Philip’s request is a natural one but not a logical one. Moses requested to see God. So too Philip and the others wish to see God. Philips request is basically this: Jesus if you would show us the Father then we would believe…it would be enough. I love Jesus’ response. He says, Philip if you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father. Because we are One, seeing one of us is as good as seeing all of us.
Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me…The way in which Jesus shows us the Father is by speaking the Father’s words and doing the Father’s acts. Jesus did the works His Father sent Him to do. He taught what the Father wanted Him to teach. He loves with the Father’s love. So to see Jesus is to see the Father.
For us, we learn Jesus rightly from the Scriptures then we not only know Him but we also know the Father as well. If you want to know what God would say or do look to the pages of the Bible to see what Jesus said or did and you’ll have your answer.
Do not be troubled because the Trinity is for you. God is for you in Christ.
Here is the question for Philip and anyone who desires to see the Father…Is seeing Jesus enough? Philip here I am, you see Me…is that enough?
Philip’s question and then his statement that will be enough has in mind that will be enough to base my belief on. Jesus desires us to believe even without seeing Him.
A few days later Jesus showed Himself to the disciples and to Thomas…
John 20:29 (ESV)
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Don’t be troubled when things seem out of control, case in point, the cross event that’s about to take place…
Don’t be troubled…I have prepared your room, I am the Way to God, The Trinity is for you…
Application
Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Proof 1: God will graciously give us all things (Rom. 8:32).
Paul is arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God gave us the greatest gift (i.e., he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all), then God will certainly give us everything else we need (i.e., he will also with Jesus graciously give us all things).
That is evidence that since God is for us, nothing can be against us.
Proof 2: No one will bring a charge against us (Rom. 8:33).
No one can take us to court before God and win a case against us, because God himself is the one who has declared us righteous.
That is further evidence that since God is for us, nothing can be against us.
Proof 3: No one will condemn us (Rom. 8:34).
No one can condemn us to hell on judgment day because Jesus himself died for us, was raised for us, and is now at the right hand of God interceding for us. We are eternally secure in Christ.
That is even more evidence that since God is for us nothing can be against us.
Proof 4: Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35–39).
Christ loves us, and no enemy or weapon or calamity can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What more evidence do we need that since God is for us, nothing can be against us?[1]
Since the Trinity is working for God’s glory and our good nothing in the entire universe will ultimately be against us. We are more than conquerors we are loved by the Father and the Son and HS. We have been purchased by the blood of Christ to be children of God, no longer slaves to sin but children of the Father with our own room prepared waiting for us in the Father’s house.
Beloved, don’t ever be troubled Jesus has prepared the way to the Father.
