Find Comfort in Jesus
SORRY NO AUDIO THIS WEEK
INTRODUCTION:
Many of you who have been in this church for any length of time know that I cannot leave the Christmas season without talking about Jesus Christ coming again, not His second advent to the earth when He will set up His millennial kingdom, but about His return to the atmosphere where He will call His bride, the church to meet Him in the air and go to be with Him forever. Prophetically speaking, this event is the next one on the calendar, can we set a date for it? No. We must be prepared for it to happen at any time, because there is nothing that has to be completed or fulfilled according to God’s Word before Jesus returns for the church. This return will include a resurrection and a rapture. Only three passages in the New Testament speak of this. Jesus speaks of it once in John 14, Paul speaks of it twice and explains it in greater detail in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 which was our Scripture reading this morning.
As those who have put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, we are to anticipate His return and we do not know if it will occur before we enter the new year, or if it will be during 2019 or beyond. In just a few short days we will enter the new year if the Lord Jesus does not return before then and for many the new year is filled with uncertainties which can cause worry and anxiety which might cause us to say, “I know that Jesus is coming back, but in the meantime, can Jesus provide comfort for us in those dark hours of deepest tragedy and in the times of severest pain?” Is our faith only a faith in the future or is it a faith in the future which gives us comfort in the present?
Our Scripture passage for this morning answers those questions. John 14 has been called the comfort chapter because the whole chapter is the promise that Jesus Christ is the One who gives comfort. Not only the comfort in knowing that He is returning, but also comfort for the present. Our comfort comes in trusting Jesus. In John 14:1-6 Jesus tells us to trust in His presence, to trust in His promises, and to trust in His person. I want to share these truths with you this morning to give you hope for the new year by trusting in Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray and ask God to minister to our hearts and give us hope for the future.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to John 14:1-6, a very familiar passage of Scripture, but one that is filled with comfort and hope. Please stand if you are able for the reading of God’s Word.
John 14:1-6,
“’Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 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. And you know the way where I am going.’ Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” (John 14:1–6, NASB95)[1]
TRUST IN JESUS
Our passage this morning takes place in the upper room where the disciples and Jesus are eating the Passover meal the night before His death on the cross. Judas had already left to carry out his betrayal. Jesus has begun to prepare His disciples for His departure. In a very short time the world of those eleven men that are with Jesus was going to collapse. As we come to chapter 14 the pain of this has already begun. They are hurting, perplexed, bewildered and confused. They are worried, they are filled with anxiety about the future. Jesus has just informed them in chapter 13 that He is going away, that He is leaving them and going to a place where they cannot go yet but will later. He has just informed Peter that he will deny Jesus three times. As we come to chapter 14 Jesus anticipates their troubles, the pain and anxiety that is beginning to build at the thought of losing Him. Jesus sees that their hearts are already breaking, and He gives them comfort. This is the comfort passage.
As you come to chapter 14 you must understand the uniqueness of Jesus. Consider what He was about to face: a false arrest, a false trial, mocking, beating, finally being nailed to a cross, He was about to bear the sins of every person who ever lived, about to be cursed with a curse from God, to be forsaken by His own Father. If Jesus Christ was any other man in this situation He would have be preoccupied with His own problems. Jesus is different, He is unique in that His concern it totally wrapped up in the needs of the eleven, in assuring them and bringing them comfort. In John 14:1-6 we find comfort offered by Jesus. The basis of comfort comes by trusting, trusting in Jesus Christ. If you are discontent, worried, agitated, anxious, bewildered, confused, whatever has you stirred up, look at who you are trusting, because it is not Jesus Christ. If you are truly trusting Jesus what do you have to be worried about or troubled about. In these verses Jesus says, I want you to trust three things: Trust in My presence, trust in My promises, trust in My person. And in trusting Jesus Christ there is comfort.
TRUST IN MY PRESENCE (John 14:1)
Jesus sees the troubled hearts of His disciples and He says to them and to us, “Trust in my presence.” Listen again to verse one, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1, NASB95)[2] Jesus is saying, “Don’t worry, trust Me.” This phrase, “Do not let your heart be troubled” means “Stop letting your heart be troubled.” Jesus knew that they were already worried; their hearts were bound up with anxiety, they had that awful feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled any longer.” Everything seemed to be falling apart. They were truly convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, but for them the only concept that they had of the Messiah was that He would be a tremendous conqueror, a kind of super hero, a sovereign ruling king. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem their hopes rose to new heights and now, He was talking about leaving them. He was talking about dying and leaving them in the midst of enemies that hated Him and them. This all caused their hearts to be troubled and Jesus knew it. So, He begins by telling them to stop being troubled or worried. Jesus wants to comfort them, and He begins by saying, “…believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1b, NASB95)[3] Jesus is saying, “Trust in my presence.” The Greek could be translated, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” They already believed or trusted God, even though none of them had ever seen God the Father. Jesus says, “Now believe or trust in Me.” Jesus is saying that He is God and just like they trust God the Father, they can trust Him as well even when He is not with them physically. Just because the disciples will not be able to see Jesus does not mean that He is not here. Jesus is asking the disciples to enlarge their faith that even when they do not see Him, to believe that He is here, to believe that He is in control. Jesus was about to be removed from them and become invisible to the physical eye, but this should not be a problem for them, this should not make you fall apart, I will be here just as God the Father is here.
After the resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples, but Thomas was not present and when they told him that they had seen the resurrected Lord he said he would not believe unless he put his finger in the nail prints and his hand in his wounded side. In John 20 Jesus appeared to the disciples again and Thomas was present, and Jesus showed him the nail prints and the wound in His side and Thomas believed. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” (John 20:29, NASB95)[4] The visible presence of Jesus is not the issue, and that is what Jesus is trying to get across to them. Jesus promised that He would be with us forever, that He would never leave us or forsake us. He is the ever-present Christ. In John 16 Jesus tells His disciples that He is sending the Holy Spirit to them and in verses 13-14 He tells them what the Holy Spirit will do. Jesus says, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13–14, NASB95)[5] The Spirit’s ministry is to point to Jesus Christ, to keep reminding us He is here. He is our guarantee that Jesus exists and is here. His ministry is to testify of Christ. So, the first comforting awareness is to know that Jesus Christ is alive and present, though invisible. Peter finally understood this when he wrote in 1 Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” (1 Peter 1:8, ESV)[6] I have never seen Jesus Christ, but there is no one in existence in whom I believe more than I believe in Jesus Christ. He is alive, He is real, I know Him. I have talked to Him already today. I have sensed His presence with me. You will never convince me that He is not alive. The Spirit of God testifies with my spirit continually that Jesus lives. Although I cannot see Him, I trust Him. Just as God exists, so also Jesus Christ exists and is equal with the Father. I know that He is in control of all things and by His word He holds all things together. Whatever your trouble, whatever your fouled-up problems, whatever mess you are in, whatever you are anxious about, just remember the Lord Jesus is here, trust Him. Trust in His presence.
TRUST IN HIS PROMISES (John 14:2-3)
The Lord Jesus goes on to tell His disciples and us to trust His promises. Listen to His promise beginning in verse 2, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2, NASB95)[7] Jesus says that He is not telling us a lie, Jesus said if this were not true, I would not be saying it. He says that there are many dwelling places and He is going to prepare a place for you, for all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus was not just leaving the disciples, He had a purpose in His leaving to go and prepare a place for them. Where is this place going to be? I love this, in My Father’s house. That is amazing. Jesus, the Son of God, who had dwelt forever with the Father, came forth from the Father to declare and reveal the Father, and what the Father had been to Him through all eternity and now He had glorified the Father and He was going to be glorified and was going back to His full glory with the Father, says He is preparing a place for you in His Father’s house. Do you understand what the Father’s house is? It is heaven, another name for heaven. By calling it His Father’s house speaks of the comfort of it, a place to go where you are accepted, where you are known and loved. There are many dwelling places in the Father’s house. Unfortunately, the King James Bible translated this as mansions giving us a picture that heaven is filled with mansions and we each get out own. When Jesus referred to “dwelling places” He was referring to the context of the day. When a son would marry, during the year of betrothal, he would first build a wing extension to his father’s house. When I go to heaven I will not be in a mansion down the street, I will live in the wing of the Father’s house that is prepared for me by the Lord Jesus. Will there be room enough for everybody? Look at Jesus’ words, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places…” (John 14:2a, NASB95)[8] “Many” means that there will be room enough for everyone who will be there. There will be no overcrowding, there will be plenty of room in my Father’s house.
I do not know about you, but I feel bound to heaven. My Father’s house is there, my Savior is there, my home is there, my name is there, my affections are there, my inheritance is there, my citizenship is there. Paul truly said it when he wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21, NASB95)[9] And the first of the great promises that Jesus gave to His disciples and to us is that He went to heaven to get it ready for us.
But that is not the end of His promise, Jesus goes on and says, “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.” (John 14:3, NASB95)[10] This is such a wonderful promise that Jesus asks us to trust in. He not only promises to go and prepare a place for us, but He promises to come back and get us and take us to be with Him. This is so exciting, He is not sending someone to get us, He, Himself will come again in person to take us home. How precious we must be to Him for Him to do this for us. We can trust in the promises of Jesus, when He says that He is coming back for us, we can trust Him. It may get dark, and it may look like it is getting close to night, it may look like He forgot, but He hasn’t, He will come back. Jesus says, trust me, trust my promise, at just the right time when everything is ready, I will come back for you. I think Jesus may be as excited if not more excited than we are about having us with Him in His Father’s house. Listen to His words as He prayed in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24, NASB95)[11] Jesus wants us to be with Him and He will come for us in either death or at the rapture. Not all Christians will die, some will still be alive when Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first their resurrection, glorified bodies will rise from the dead and be reunited with their spirits which are with Jesus when He comes, then we who alive and remain will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, our earthly bodies will be exchanged for our glorified bodies and we will be caught up together with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Jesus says that He is preparing a place for us in His Father’s house and He is coming to get us. Trust His Promises.
TRUST IN HIS PERSON (John 14:4-6)
Jesus has told us to trust in His presence, to trust in His promises, and finally He says, “Trust in my person.” In verse 4 Jesus says, “And you know the way where I am going.” (John 14:4, NASB95)[12] Jesus told them that they knew the way, He had just told them where He was going, to His Father’s House, returning to the place He had come from. For three years He had been telling them the way. In John 10:9 Jesus said, ““I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9, NASB95)[13] He tells them that they know where He is going, and they know the way, He says, “you know how to get there.” Thomas, remember he was the one who said He would not believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead unless he put his fingers in the nail prints and thrust His hand into the wound in Jesus side, he pipes up and speaks and it was the question that they all wanted to ask, remember they were hurting, confused, troubled, and I believe at this point they are not sure of anything. Verse 5 says, “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’” (John 14:5, NASB95)[14] This could be anyone’s question, Jesus said He was going to the Father, but Thomas says we don’t know where heaven is, so how can we know the way. Thomas was voicing that their knowledge stopped at death. They did not understand what happened after death, so how could they know the way to the Father. There are no maps to take with you when you die. Thomas is saying, “We don’t understand.” We are the same as Thomas, death is a mystery, what happens after death is a mystery. Jesus said, “You know the way.” Thomas said, “We don’t know where you are going or the way.” Jesus responds to Thomas and He tells us something about His person, He says trust my person, who I am. Verse 6 says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life;’” (John 14:6a, NASB95)[15] Stop right here, this is so good. Jesus tells them He is the way, you need to know Me, My person, because as the way I am coming to get you. I do not need to worry or be anxious about how I am going to get to the Father’s house because I know the Way, the only Way. Jesus says, “Trust Me, I am the Way, Trust My person, this is who I am. I will take you to My Father’s house.”
Let me illustrate this for you. When Karla and I lived in Slovakia we vacationed one summer in Italy. We made reservations to stay in a Bed and Breakfast in Pisa for one night. We got to Pisa late in the afternoon and dusk was quickly approaching as we were trying to find this bed and breakfast and we were having no luck. Then we saw a group of college aged students on a corner and I said to Karla, “One of them must speak English.” So, I stopped to ask for directions. Now it would have been one thing for them to stand there and give me all kinds of directions and I still would not know where I was going. One of them said, “I’ll show you the way, follow me,” and he hopped in his car and showed us the way, led us right to the front door of the bed and breakfast. That is just like Jesus, He does not give you directions, He is going to take your hand and lead you there. All you have to do is die in Jesus, and Jesus is the way from there. That is death for the Christian, I trust you, Jesus, I don’t know where you are, but I trust you that when I die you will be the way to Your Father’s house. When you fall asleep in death or when you are changed at the rapture, He will take you, because He is the way. Don’t worry, take comfort because Jesus is coming back for you. Do you trust Him, if you were to die today, do you trust Him to take you to heaven? He said to the disciples, Trust Me, trust who I am, the Way and I will bring you to where I am going.
Jesus said, “Trust Me, you do not need a map, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way to the Father, to My Father’s house; I am the truth about all truth whether in the world or the world to come. I am the life that is eternal. It is all in Christ, in His person. He is everything that man needs. Everything that Adam lost at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is found in Jesus Christ at the cross. Trust Me, trust My presence, trust My promises, trust My person, I am the way, the truth and the life.
CONCLUSION:
Where do we find comfort in this new year of 2019? We find comfort in trusting in Jesus Christ. It is true that He is coming again and that coming could be at any moment when Jesus Christ will come from His Father’s house with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord for the rest of eternity. This is our great hope, this is what we wait for in anticipation, but in the very anticipation of His return there is comfort in the present because He is here now, though not visible, but He is here in the person of the Holy Spirit. We can trust His presence made known to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We can trust His promises because He is the truth and as the truth His promises are sure. Jesus Christ is preparing a place for us and He will return to take us there. We can trust His person because He is the way to the Father’s house, He is the truth in the present and in the world to come, and He is the life. He is the One that breathed into Adam’s nostrils and he became a living soul, He is the One that can breathe into us eternal life. When we truly trust in Jesus what do we have to be worried about or troubled about? He is here, His promises are sure, and His person is all we need for this life and the life to come, eternal. Now isn’t that a comfort?
This morning I purposely did not read the last part of verse 6 because I want to read it now. Jesus finished off His answer to Thomas by saying, “no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6b, NASB95)[16] Maybe you are here listening this morning and you heard me talk about heaven and the comfort that comes from trusting in Jesus Christ, but you know that you will never be in heaven, you do not have the comfort I’ve talked about because the only way to get it is through faith in Jesus Christ and you have never put your faith in Him. Maybe you have attended church your whole life, maybe you have attended this church for a long time, but you have never agreed with God that you are a sinner and that human effort will never take away your sins and make you righteous before God, you now understand it is only by faith in Jesus Christ, believing that His death on the cross paid the penalty for your sin and you believe that He was buried and on the third day rose from the dead, proving that the penalty for sin had been paid for and eternal life was available to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. When you believe this, you are justified before God, your sins are forgiven, and you can have the assurance that a dwelling place is being prepared for you in heaven and Jesus will come to take you there someday. It is only in that faith that we can trust Jesus Christ and find the comfort that we need now and every day as we anticipate His return for us. If you have never done this do not leave this morning without putting the faith in Jesus Christ death and resurrection for you. If you have questions, I would be happy to answer them. I cannot think of a better way to enter the new year than having a new life in Jesus Christ.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[10]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[11]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[12]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[13]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[14]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[15]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[16]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995