The Troubled Disciples part 1

Well go ahead and take your Bible this morning turn to John chapter 14 John chapter 14 We are back in our verse by verse journey through John. We've been in this journey for quite some time If I can remember it correctly we're over 80 messages so far in the gospel of John now last week We did take a short break We had one message we deviated from what we looked at previously last week We looked at what I called our chief distinction and that is three Loves and that came on the heels of what we learn and what we looked at in John 13 verse 34 This great commandment the new commandment that Jesus gives to the disciples I encourage you if you've not listened to those messages you go back and listen to them if you need my Message notes sermon notes.

I'll be glad to share those with you And I believe that there's a lot more the Lord will teach us in those messages I will come back to those from time to time. I see lots of ministry coming out of What we learn in those messages now before we jump in our verses in chapter 14 this morning We need to step back and remember the context the context in which these verses Were given we know that Jesus has an audience and it's a small audience It's the 11 disciples the great crowds that followed Jesus were not there Jesus had withdrawn from those crowds and then we know that traitor Judas has already defected from the group and he is following his plans to betray Jesus So we only have Jesus in the 11 this small group now I want us to see what's happening big picture every now and then in my preaching and teaching I'll ask you to take a couple of steps back and look big picture We need to remember what is taking place and this will enable us to understand what Jesus is teaching the disciples And why he is teaching in this way?

Let me give you a little small list of big picture items First of all, we learned that the cross was right around the corner Chronologically, this is the night before the cross. This is right before Jesus will be arrested everything From chapter 13 to chapter 17 takes place in that one night before the cross Second we have learned that the public ministry of Jesus had ended in chapter 12 and Jesus was spending this 101 time with the 11 Bible scholars call chapters 12 to 17 the farewell Discourses I have said that they are sanctifying Discourses these are persevering discourses because that's what's just what Jesus is doing.

He is sanctifying them He is persevering in them. He is preparing them and Then third we've seen and we need to see that what Jesus has been teaching them And what is up? What has happened with Judas has caused the disciples great stress They are very stressed. They are very confused. They are even in the place of great heartache now think about it many things have transpired that have put them in this condition of confusion I Got a short list here.

I think this will help us We have seen that Jesus has ended this successful public ministry now think about this Jesus had great crowds following him and then there in verse 12 He purposely divorces himself from the crowds and this would have been a shock to the disciples They were much like the Jewish leaders much like the Jewish people they were expecting this physical earthly Messiah So when Jesus withdraws from the crowds it was a shock to them Also, Jesus had told them repeatedly that he was going to die That was a shock to them as well Some of the Bible commentators deal with that differently one Bible commentator that I read his name's AWP He's trying to get into the mind and the heart of the disciples and he explained it like this and this is his speculation Maybe every time those disciples heard Jesus say that he was going to die Maybe they thought he was teaching in parables remember what a parable is It's an earthly story that is supposed to communicate a spiritual truth How did they process the fact that he was saying he would die?

Jesus has told them that he was going to leave them that had to be a shocker They had left everything to follow Jesus and now emphatically boldly repeatedly. He's saying I'm going to leave you Then Jesus he predicted that one would betray him Trader Judas has just left the table. They trusted Judas. They loved Judas. He was the keeper of the money bag so he would have been one of the most trusted one of the group and Then Jesus had even predicted that Peter would deny him three times now think about it Peter was their leader and now Jesus is saying He would deny him three times.

So all of this caused the disciples Great distress now, this is not an exhaustive list. No doubt you could remember certain things that would add to our Understanding of their condition they were confused. They were distressed. No doubt. They were even in a place of heartache now What they could not understand is that everything that was going on Everything that was causing them confusion was ordained of God.

This was part of his plan Now I want to pause here for a moment Some of you need to get this Many times difficult circumstances trying times many times confusion and heartache and distress calm in our lives now speaking to Christians and We do not understand we have more questions and answers We need to trust in the sovereign Obidential hand of God to believe that a good God allows difficulties for a reason and all of this was for his purposes Now let's turn our attention to the disciples distress their confusion their heartache Now we know that this is the case look at verse one.

We're gonna read the verses here in a minute But look at verse one. What does it say? Let not your heart be troubled all the Congratulations use this word troubled now the amplified version. I read that from time to time. It's a paraphrase. I Like how it reads it adds to it the amplified reads Do not let your heart be troubled and then there in brackets. It reads afraid or cowardly.

I Think we could use a lot of adjectives to describe accurately what's going on here But I use this word trouble to lead us to the title of the message We're going to look at the troubled disciples and this is a part one the troubled disciples Part one and we're gonna cover verses one through six Our part two will go on down to verses 14 which we will cover next week So you see how we're going to divide these verses? Number one trust in him. That's just in verse one Trust in his provision that is in verses two through four and then trust in his way And that is verses five through six Trust that you are taking notes.

We encourage you to develop that habit take notes discipline yourself to study during the week and Continue to be taught from what the Lord is bringing us This morning. So let's look at our verses starting in verse one Jesus says let not your heart be troubled believe in me believe in God believe also in me Verse two in my father's house are many dwelling places If we're not if it were not so I would have told you For I go to prepare a place for you 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 also be Verse four and you know the way where I'm going Thomas said to him Lord we do not know where you are going How do we know the way and Jesus said to him?

I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but through me So let's jump right into our verses. Let's look at our first main truth truth number one trust in him Trust in him. What does he say? Let not your heart be troubled believe in God believe in me Now all throughout their journey with Jesus the disciples have been traveling for three years or so with Jesus He had been urging them since they were converted to trust in him Now this was the common theme this came in and out of his interaction with the disciples They had trusted him in salvation and they had left everything to follow him All of the traitors were gone all the false converts were gone.

It was the 11 who were true disciples But many times they did not understand What Jesus was doing most of the time they didn't understand what Jesus was teaching They had to trust him no matter how they felt or what they saw or the circumstances And that's just what we see here Now if we look in this verse, we will see that there are two commandments in this short verse Jesus is lovingly and tenderly Commanding the disciples. So let's examine these two commandments here First of all commandment number one stop being troubled.

We've already read that in the beginning of the verse Stop being troubled now all of the translations Use this phrase let not now Truthfully in light of the original language. This is a little weak The original language is strong. It is stronger than let not in the original It is in in what's called the present tense and it is an imperative that means Jesus was saying stop being troubled He is saying stop being troubled.

It was not that they may Become troubled they were troubled they were distressed They were confused they were hurting they had already been thrown upside down by all that was happening In this word trouble needs to be seen as well. It means to shake up or to stir up Jesus was saying he was commanding them to stop being troubled stop being so stirred up and stop being so shaken up by all of these events And then the second command is believing me that's in the second portion of the verse verse 1 Now here Jesus is not calling them to believe on him in salvation Diversion for the very first time he is calling them to continue to believe in him in their personal walk and Sanctification now the construction of this language is in the present tense and it is a verb which communicates Jesus intention But notice who he is calling them to believe in he is saying Continue to believe in God Continue to believe in me He is calling them to continue that present tense an ongoing belief to continue in the Totality of who God is and how God has revealed himself to you And this is very personal believe only believe in God.

So what do we see here? Jesus loves them fully and he knew what comfort they desperately needed. He understood their emotions He understood their great confusion and I love what John MacArthur says here Explaining how Jesus reacts and deals with the disciples and I quote Ever the compassionate Savior He sympathize with their sorrow and grief even though the disciples were oblivious to his pain He felt theirs in salt to comfort them Jesus is simply saying I know your troubles stop being so stirred up Trust and believe in me very simplistic, but yet very powerful Now in application, I want you to see that there are two kinds of people here this morning Now I want you to listen close Some of you need to see two things here.

First of all, you need to see your troubles your Circumstances the events that are in your life that are stirring you up now said there are two kind of people We have the born again the true convert and those who are not converted if you're not converted You cannot relate to Christ in this way But if you are truly converted you could be in a set of Circumstances that are causing you great grief great trouble great Serenation and you are all stirred up in your life and you need to see that God has brought Circumstances or allowed circumstances to come into your life and you're reacting just like the disciples But second you need to see the compassionate comforting Savior Again, if you're not converted you cannot relate to Jesus in this manner.

You're an alien you're a rebel You're an enemy against God and everything good But for those of us who are converted we need to see that Christ is a compassionate Confording Savior he does not save us to leave us He saves us and allows difficulties to come into our life to do an inner work in us And many times I Mean troubles come difficulties come and we just can't see the forest because the trees are all in the way And some of you maybe one of you you need to see that your troubles are stirring you up and you need to see Through the difficulties you're in this compassionate comforting Savior And you need to trust and believe in him Truth number two.

I want us to see to trust in his provision Trust in his provision. This is in verses two through four. I'm gonna go back and read these there's a transition here Notice what Jesus says in my father's house or many dwelling places the King James says mansions If it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you 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 also be verse four and you know the way where I am going now these verses can seem out of place and Verse 1 Jesus says just giving them some quick comforting words He's comforting and counseling the disciples and these were commandments and they were comforting But now he offers them more comfort But he's offering them comfort based on certain realities that are affecting and will affect their life I'll give you a list of these realities.

These are three First Jesus has told them repeatedly that he was leaving Now think about this they are following they have left everything But yet now he's saying I'm going to leave I'm going to leave and this was deeply troubling to them They had left everything to follow him and now he's leaving them The second reality is he knows that everything is soon going to change He knows that everything that is coming their way will really shake them up even more He's going to die on the cross and their whole world will change and Then third he knows that although they will be comfort when the Holy Spirit comes They will be empowered and comforted by the indwelling spirit.

They will still hunger for him They will hunger to be with him and they will hunger to be where he is now Earlier in verse 1 we saw that Jesus gives two commands now here He gives three promises and I want us to examine these promises first promise The promise of a place for them The promise of a place for them verse 2 now in my father's house or many dwelling places Mansions if it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you and right away We see that Jesus Jesus uses the term father's house now this speaks of none other than heaven Just after that we see the words dwelling places I've already referenced the King James uses the word mansions The meaning of this term is is not so clear, but it seems to point to a permanent residence Permanent residences in heaven with who with the father now notice how comforting Jesus is to the disciples here What does he say if there were any doubts in their minds?

He means to dispel them because what does he say if it were not so I would tell you Jesus is reassuring them of the truthfulness and the dependability of this promise It's a simple promise. I go to prepare a place for you in my father's house This is a promise of a place for them in a second I want us to see the promise to return for them look at verse 3 and if I go And prepare that place I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there You may also be here We have a reference to the return of Christ, but not to judge the earth But what we have here is a reference Jesus is speaking of the rapture of the church Now there are several passages that teach on the rapture the calling up of the church I will give these for you.

I would encourage you to go back and study them on your own But for the sake of time we will not read them this morning first Corinthians 15 starting in verse 51 gone down to verse 54 first Thessalonians 4 verse 13 to 18 and then Revelation 3 verse 10 all speak of this rapture this calling up of the born-again ones the church now question How can we be certain that this verse verse 3 in chapter 14 is not speaking of? the second coming of Christ to judge Well, there's no mention of judgment in these verses these verses in John Nor the setting up of his earthly kingdom This simply is the return of Christ for his church in verse 2 We saw Jesus comfort his disciples and telling them he has a place for them Now notice that he gives them even more comfort because he says I will come and I will bring you to this Promise place I will bring you to myself So you see the promise to return for them?

And then third the third promise the promise of their ability the promise of their ability verse 4 and You know the way where I am going here. We see that Jesus Confidently tells them that they know the way to where he is going now truthfully This might seem or should seem contradictory to us all along the disciples have expressed their inability To get most all of what Jesus was teaching them This has been the case all throughout his time with them this inability to understand much of what he is taught but question Then why would Jesus have so much confidence here?

The reason Jesus have confidence in them is that he has been teaching them in this way as long as he has been With them he has taught and lived these things out to them And he knows that all that he has poured into them will come back It will come back out of them as the Holy Spirit enables them So there's the promise of their ability So what are we seeing here?

These are wonderful promises of provision He promises a place in heaven and he promises to personally take them there But I want you to notice Jesus is the center of it all Jesus is the center of it all what does he say I will come again and receive you to myself Now an application you and I we need to see that Jesus is the centerpiece of heaven There are all types of errors out there There are all types of voices out there that will communicate a false Understanding of heaven heaven is at man's center heaven is Christ's Center I'll give you an example.

It's really comical, but it really does help us see it I've never been a very big fan of country music. I really don't like it, but years ago The very famous country music artists Hank Williams jr He sang a song that went like this of heaven ain't a lot like Dixie. I don't want to go Well, that's all man's center It's a man's center But what does Jesus say?

If I go I go and prepare a place for you and I will come back for you and I will bring you to myself Jesus is the centerpiece of heaven and they were hungering to be with Jesus but the problem is most people have made Christianity and the Bible in heaven and Christ all man-centered But you know it's sad it even goes a little further than that a little more personal than that there's some here You don't want Jesus or have Jesus personally So you would not want Jesus in heaven The reason the disciples wanted to be with Jesus in glory is that they had had Jesus on earth They knew Jesus they walk with Jesus and the very minute Jesus was gone.

There was this hunger to be with Jesus That's why I said that earlier that they were going to have a desire for Jesus even in their successful ministry by the power of the Spirit But there are people in this world. There are people that you know there are even people here today You don't want Jesus personally in your everyday life. So how would you want Jesus in heaven?

That's why people make heaven all about them They don't want Jesus in their life and they don't want Jesus in heaven They want a man-centered life and a man-centered heaven And I want to say this to you if you're here and you don't have a desire for Jesus Monday Tuesday and Wednesday If you don't have a desire for Jesus when you're 20 and 29 and 40 if you do not have a desire for Jesus when it's good And bad, you really might not have a desire for Jesus in glory That's a scary place And then there's some even some that we know even some here You can't find Jesus on earth So how are you gonna find Jesus in heaven? You might say pastor.

You've already said that Listen mankind is always searching and searching for fulfillment Christ Jesus the Lord God designed us to have a relationship with him and you can have fulfillment Anywhere in life, but listen if you can't find Jesus on earth, you're not gonna find him in heaven As a matter of fact, you won't get there So so what do we see there's this provision for them, but it's not man-centered It's God-centered. It's Christ-centered and they had to trust in that provision. Let's move on a Third main truth. I want us to see trust in his way a Trust in his way starting in verse 5. What does he say or what is the verse say Thomas?

It's one of the 11 said to him Lord. We do not know where you're going. How are we going to know the way? Jesus answered he said I am the way I'm the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father But by me now whereas in verse 4 we see Jesus great confidence in them Now we see great Consonation coming out of them. They are so disoriented. They are so confused. They are shaken up But instead of Peter being the spokesman Now we have Thomas he steps out and he speaks and represents the 11 now here in these verses We continue to see this compassionate patient Jesus the two observations.

I want to make here first Thomas is disoriented Thomas is spiritually disoriented. Isn't that what we see in verse 5? What does he say Lord? We do not know where you're going and we don't know how to get there Truthfully, this is really not an original response Really Thomas is plagiarizing here earlier in chapter 13 verse 36 Peter basically said the same thing But here Thomas honestly states the feelings of the disciples now question Does this seem fair?

I mean does this seem fair for the disciples think on what Jesus had just told him in chapter 13 verse 36 Jesus told him that they cannot come where he's going He is saying in verse 4 that they they do know the way and they do know where he is going No, what are we seeing here? Thomas is in the middle of this full work of God in him He is just not there yet But Thomas and the other disciples could not see that Christ was going to work fully in them and work through them and he knew after the work was done Jesus knew that they would know the way So Thomas is disoriented.

He is shaken up He is confused and then second we see Jesus and his declaration look at verse 6 It's a very famous verse He responds by saying I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but Through me now here. We see the fifth of the I am statements The long list of I am statements by Jesus Concerning himself here. It seems that Jesus is introducing a new topic, but that's not the case Jesus has told them that they do know the way to him Now he is emphasizing that the way to him the way to heaven is a singular way He alone is the way to God. He alone is the truth of God.

He alone possesses life Now notice the repetition here. This places an emphasis on what Jesus is teaching He does this boldly at the end of the verse go back. What does he say? I am the way I'm the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but through me that is Competition and Jesus is making a definitive confession that he is the singular way to heaven So what do we see here?

We see an unfinished product Thomas and the disciples the 11 they are unfinished There's a work of sanctification that needs to be brought about the work of God is incomplete in them They don't understand yet, but they will Christ will see to it that is that persevering work We see a glimpse of that work and how Jesus emphatically states the singular way to him to heaven and to the Father They know the way and it's Christ and he is the way Now an application there are two things that I want to say here This is to you who are Christian if you're not born again if you do not know God you cannot relate to Christ this way But for those of us who Christian we need to see First there are some who are disoriented.

There are some of you. Maybe you're confused There's sometimes in our lives. We are shaken up because of these circumstances And I want to say if you are like that now or we'd be like that tomorrow Hold on to Christ hold on to Christ because if we find ourselves in the middle of a set of circumstances where we're confused and Disoriented and even in great consternation.

We're in the middle of the work of what he is doing in us And we must allow God to complete that work Thomas couldn't stay right here in verse 5 He had to let God work all the way through So if we find ourselves in a situation circumstances we just hold on Then second We must see the singularity of our solution. Let me help you here I'm just gonna help you by reading the verse He is the way He is the truth He is the life This isn't just for death. This is for life And we need to see that when we're in a state of confusion When crisis comes when we can't see the forest for the trees.

We don't need counsel from friends We don't necessarily need a book. We don't need necessarily the next greatest sermon. What we need is Christ That's all they need. What did Jesus say even in the midst of your great confusion? I am the way I am God follow and trust in me and we need to see the Singularity to the solution of all of our problems if we know Christ it is to know Christ and know him fully and let him work in us So we trust in his way his way is to just follow him Now as we move away from the text move to the conclusion of the message I Want to help you see what the Lord wants to teach us?

I want to help flesh this out Now I want to flesh it out by by giving you a real-life example If you're like me many times I need somebody to show me Don't tell me show me I'm gonna try to do that for you Now as a pastor minister of the gospel many of my examples are Pastoral and relate to ministry and forgive me if I talk about ministry and other ministers too much We really all do this we speak from our professions We speak from where we are in our life, and that's good.

It's part of who we are But this week I had a chance to visit with a minister friend We don't visit as much as we need to we are close But our visit was rather lengthy, and it was very good in many ways But it was especially good to hear how Christ was now use these words purposely because I saw it in his life Compassionately patiently and Consistently working in his troubled heart and life My friend this minister He had gone through the proverbial church meat grinder Yes, the church meat grinder But the wonderful thing to hear was that Christ was working in him in a very compassionate Patient way no matter how difficult his circumstances may have been Christ was in the middle of those circumstances and he could articulate how God was working in him Not making his circumstances better not taking away the pain Not answering all the questions just Christ working in him Two ways, I'll show you this will help us see how Christ works in this way First of all this individual he explained That so many times when he is that was at the lowest of low when he wanted to quit When he just wanted to say God, I can't make it anymore when he wanted to say God.

I'll hurt too bad I don't have any answers when he really really wanted to throw in the towel. He could say how God providentially by his good hand because he is a Compassionate God and a patient God work in his life to sustain him Is it that what we see with the disciples We do not get it We can't go where you're talking about going We can endure what you're talking about enduring and what my friend said was when I was at the lowest of low And I did not have the ability or the strength to continue God persevered in me And it even gets better Because second he told me that just recently now, let me show you how long ago the meat grinder was for him almost seven years Some of you might say ah he should have grown and got it all by now.

Oh don't put a time limit on God's work He told me that just recently God had showed him that he needed the meat grinder Because pride had set into his life He said I didn't know it but pride had gripped me I didn't know it but I felt as if I had arrived I felt like I was somebody in ministry and he used these words He said I felt like I was on my way and I looked at him and I said God used those Circumstances as a stick to beat the pride out of you.

He said yes, he sure did And it took him seven years to get to that place And what was beautiful to see and hear from him was how he was gaining victory How for him the medicine that he needed the correction the teaching all the ways we can describe it. It was just a personal Relationship with Jesus. It wasn't a new Bible study. It wasn't another book It wasn't even a counsel from a friend.

It was just him and Jesus Him and Jesus the compassionate kind patient and loving Savior Some of you need to see that Christ is the comforter to your troubled heart I've said this many times There are two kinds of people Christians Those who have been through trial and those who will go through trial If you've not been through trial it's coming and when it comes Realize it's by the sovereign hand of God And when you find yourself troubled Great consternation. Let your heart not be troubled Trust in him Let's pray