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John – From the Upper Room... (3 of 12)
Jesus Claims – In my Father’s house are many rooms.
John 14:1-14
John 14:1-14 (ESV) –
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 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? 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. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
“Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 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’? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Considering the certain future of all believers provides rock-solid comfort and hope. As Jesus’ disciples stared into the troubling realities of betrayal and denial – Jesus lifted their eyes to the certain future, to heaven and to His glorious return. Jesus says – In my Father's house are many rooms. And – I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
1. Against a backdrop of uncertainty and alarm, Jesus provides rock-solid comfort to His first disciples and to us who are His followers today.
Jesus’ disciples were facing troubling, difficult and confusing news.
John 11:49-50 (ESV) –
“You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
John 12:9-11 (ESV) –
“When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.”
Mark 8:31 (ESV) –
“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
Mark 10:45 (ESV) –
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
John 12:7-8 (ESV) –
“Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
The disciples would have been wondering – What’s this about burial? What are you taking about?
John 13:21 (ESV) –
“Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
John 13:38 (ESV) –
“Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”
John 13:33 (ESV) –
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.”
The background here can be summed up by the words – betrayal and denial. The disciples had good reason to feel – troubled, confused and scared.
Jesus comforts His disciples with the greatest comfort the world has ever known and will ever know. He takes their eyes off the present circumstances and focuses on His promised second coming and on heaven!
John 14:1 (ESV) –
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
John 14:2 (ESV) –
“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?”
Jesus turns their eyes to the certain hope of heaven. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and He promises to come back and take us to be with Him.
How do we trust God in the midst of disorientating circumstances? We take our eyes off the pressing difficulties and lift them to the big picture.
John 14:2-3 (ESV) –
“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? 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.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV) –
“...we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Jesus promises that He will come back and take His disciples (all believers) to be with Him. He has gone to prepare a place for us and He is coming back to get us.
Seeing heaven on the horizon provides strength that enables us to press on in difficulties and uncertainty and pain. The greatest comfort for followers of Jesus is our certain hope of heaven.
2. The way to the place Jesus is preparing is certain.
Jesus is the one and only way to the Father. There are not many ways, there is only one!
John 14:5 (ESV) –
“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
John 14:6-7 (ESV) –
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
John 11:25-26 (ESV) –
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Jesus is the only way to have a right relationship with God, to have our sins forgiven.
Acts 4:12 (ESV) –
“...there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
1 John 5:12 (ESV) –
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Stated positively, Jesus says – I am the way… And stated negatively, Jesus says – No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (ESV) –
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
It’s possible to be sincere and wrong! Attempting to get to heaven by any other route than through believing in Him is impossible!
Why is it essential that we tell people about Jesus? Why do we expend many resources to send missionaries to hard places? Because there is one and only one way to have our sins forgiven!
Ask – Have I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? Am I saved?
John 14:8 (ESV) –
“Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
John 14:9 (ESV) –
“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’?”
Jesus is the way to the Father and knowledge of Jesus is the entry point to knowledge of the Father.
John 1:14 (ESV) –
“...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:18 (ESV) –
“No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”
John 14:12-14 (ESV) –
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Compare the scope of Jesus’ ministry before the cross with the worldwide advance of the Gospel beginning after His resurrection and ascension in the power of the Holy Spirit through His disciples.
John 14:14 (ESV) –
“If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Verse 14 encourages us to boldly ask in prayer! Ask – Does this motivate me to pray?
Jesus is the only way. There is only one solution to our sin. On the cross Jesus laid down His life and shed His blood as our substitute.
Romans 10:9-10 (ESV) –
“...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:13 (ESV) –
“...everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We need to obey Jesus’ words – Let not your hearts be troubled. And we do this by turning our gaze to eternity and preaching the Gospel to ourselves, hearing Jesus’ words – In my Father's house are many rooms.