John 13:36-14:11 | The Chaos & The Confusion of the In-Between

Sunday Morning | October 1st, 2023 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In this sermon on John 13:36-14:11, Jesus imparts a profound message of comfort and guidance to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. He begins by foretelling Peter's denial and then assures his followers that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house. He emphasizes that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can reach the Father except through him. Jesus encourages his disciples to have faith and trust in God, promising that their prayers will be answered if they are aligned with God's will. This passage serves as a source of solace and a reminder of the unique and eternal relationship believers have with God through Christ.

You can join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM for worship. We are located at 8911 3rd Street Road, Louisville KY 40272.

Transcript

Well, good morning,

Valley View.

How's everyone today?

As a rich time of worship,

there is some truth there

that were powerful for me

this morning.

I hope that

just kind of help

set the pattern

for your own heart

as we dive into God's Word.

You know, that's

that's the source of truth

in this life.

Where else are you going

to find truth in this world?

There's a lot of things

that claim to be true.

There's a lot of things

that people tell you.

You've got to do it this way.

You've Got to believe

this thing.

And that changes every year.

By the way,

this is an eternal,

everlasting holy

standard of truth

that you can go to time

and again in the

midst of every confusion.

We're going to see some

confusion today

because we've all encountered

some confusing moments.

In fact, as I looked

at this passage,

we're going to study today.

I've mentioned this before,

but I might
bring it

to your attention again.

That whole expedition of Sir

Ernest Shackleton, one

where he wanted to be

the first expedition

to cross Antarctica.

This was 1914,

and we're not 100% sure

whether AD actually appeared

in the paper or not.

But I've shown you

this before.

He put this apparently

put this ad in the paper

Men wanted for hazardous

journeys, small wages,

bitter cold,

long months

of complete darkness,

constant danger,

safe return, doubtful

honor and recognition

in event of success.

And apparently he couldn't

keep them away from his door

wanting to be a part

of this journey,

of this excitement,

of this chance

to do something historic,

even with all the danger.

Now, of course,

here they are.

Here's a picture of them

as they're beginning

their journey.

Here's the boat,

here's the crowds waving.

Here's everyone excited.

It's probably still warm

where they are.

Everything's comfortable.

The food's probably

still good.

Now, here they are

three months later

and their boat is

trapped in ice,

completely surrounded.

In fact,

that's where they will stay

for the next eight months,

stuck in ice.

And every night

they're hearing the creaking

and groaning of the ship

as the

ice presses and further.

And you got to wonder,

they're in this

in-between moment

of wondering

what's going to happen?

How's this thing

going to turn out?

This isn't what

we signed up for.

What we signed up for

was to get at least

on the continent

of Antarctica.

They got within sight

to the ice, swept them away.

We didn't sign up for this.

What's going to happen?

How is this going to end up?

Do we stay here,

try to wait it out?

Is someone going to come

rescue us?

Do we leave the boat behind?

What do we do?

I'm guessing

you've been stuck

in some of those

in-between moments in life

where you're not quite sure

you signed up for something

and you're not quite sure

where it's going.

Now Things are shifting,

Things are changing.

And I think something

that's natural

in that moment.

In fact, you'll often

hear people

maybe you've had a

hard time in life

and you'll hear

phrases like, you know,

I know I'm

not supposed to question God,

but I'm wondering

what's going on here.

And I know what

people mean by that.

But also questions

in those moments are natural.

In fact,

we're going to see today

with the disciples,

they've got some questions

about what's going on here,

about where

this thing is headed.

And Jesus doesn't

humiliate them.

He doesn't say, how

dare you question me?

No, he engages

with them

in some interesting ways.

So we're going to be in

John chapter 13, looking at

how did the disciples respond

to these in-between moments,

these moments of confusion,

these moments of questioning?

We're covering

the end of John Chapter

13 and going into John

Chapter 14.

In fact,

if you would throw

that passage up on the screen

so they can see where

we'll be.

Page 847

If you have a church Bible,

those are out in the

connection corner.

If you don't have

a Bible, we'd love

for you to have a Bible.

Those are free for you.

Page numbers

on the screen, tie

in to that specific Bible.

Not every Bible in here

will be on

the same page

are so many different

versions and styles,

but that Bible

will tie in

to the page

numbers on the screen

to make it easy

for you to find any

passages we point toward.

But what we're

going to see in here

is we're going to see

three disciples

and four questions.

We're going to get three

different perspectives

from three

different disciples.

We see their

different personalities

coming out and four questions

and how Jesus responds.

So first,

let's look at Peter.

Peter shows up first

look with me, verse 36.

SIMON Peter

said to him, Lord,

where are you going?

Jesus answered him,

Where I am going,

You cannot following now,

but you will

follow me afterward.

Peter said to him, Lord,

why can I not follow you now?

I'll lay down my life

for you,

Jesus answered.

Will you lay down your life

for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you,

The rooster will not crow to

you have denied

me three times

what we're going to see

here with Peter's questions.

First, we're going to look

at the actual questions

separately.

Then we'll get into

Jesus's responses

to the questions.

And the first question

Peter asks

is, where are you going

now?

This question is in response

to what Jesus said

just a few verses earlier.

It's been a few weeks

since we looked at that.

I stepped aside

and looked at Jesus's final,

final words.

Andrew looked

at the whole

theme of Abide and Psalm

91 last week for us.

Thank you, Andrew.

That was fantastic.

But this phrase

where he asks,

Where are you going?

This goes back to verse 33

where Jesus said to them,

Look back

just a couple of verses,

little children,

which would have been

an affectionate term.

It wouldn't have

been belittling

like calling

grown man children

in this context.

It would have been

an affectionate term.

A little while I'm with you,

you will seek me,

just as I said to the Jews.

So now I also say to you

where I am going,

you cannot come

now.
We have to kind of put

put ourselves

in Peter's shoes here

and imagine how

this would have

landed on him,

because after that, he says,

and by the way,

there's a new commandment,

love one another.

People will know

you're my disciples by this,

but you have to step

back and go,

How is this going

to land on the disciples?

I mean, think about

Shackleton in his context

here they are

floating on the ice

that after eight months,

let's say one day

he gathers them up.

Guys, let's get together.

Everybody come on

out of the boat.

I have have some news for us.

I just want you to know

I'm going away.

I'm going somewhere.

You can't come.

But I want you all

to keep loving one another,

love one another.

Well, that's all. Take care.

Can you imagine

what they'd be thinking?

First of all,

where are you going?

What is going to walk off

on the ice?

But who do you have?

Some secret helicopters

which haven't been invented

or something

that's going to come rescue

you and leave us behind?

By the way.

Wait a second.

That's
not what we signed up for.

Do you remember that

whole advertisement

about danger and glory?

The you're a part of that.

And so Peter,

where are you going?

Okay,

When I signed up for this,

I signed up for either

Glorious revolution.

We're going to run out

the Romans,

we're going to take over.

This is going to be

just like the Maccabees

or we're reestablish

the Jewish nation.

You that or glorious death,

memorable death.

But what he

didn't sign up for

was the leader

sneaking off and giving up

in the middle of the night.

I'm where I'm going.

You can't come.

What do you mean,

I can't come?

What are you talking about?

Try to picture the confusion.

Not just the confusion, but

feeling like all of a sudden

everything is changing.

Everything is falling apart.

Where are you going?

Where could you possibly

be going in this moment?

So that's his first question.

Second question,

though, was verse 37.

Just look back there again.

Why can't I follow you now?

I'll lay down

my life for you.

This is on the milder

end of how he says it

in Matthew and Luke.

In fact, in Matthew,

he says,

you can put the passages

up on the screen

if you want to look

those up later,

but I'll just quote them in.

Matthew, he says, Though

they all fall away.

I'll never fall.

Everyone else

might slink

off in the night,

might give up on you, not me.

And then he also says,

I am ready to go

with you to prison

and to death.

I'll lay down my life

no matter what it takes.

I'm there,

I think, in

Peter's questions.

What?
We are just starting

to get a glimpse of with him.

And

I think what he's

doubling down on

in the midst of this

confusion is his confidence.

And we've seen that

Peter is a very confident guy

and he's doubling

down on that,

although think we could add

some phrases

when we look at it,

we might step back

and say it's

more of an impatient

overconfidence.

I it's this moment of no,

I know I'm right

and I'm getting hints

that I might not be right,

but I'm going to double

down on my rightness.

Have you ever been

there

ever found yourself

doing that?

I remember

kind of a silly example.

I was had this group of guys

I was working on

a project with

and we were running behind

just a tad,

so we knew

we needed

to kind of catch up,

spend some extra

time on this.

And I said,
All right, guys, it's near

the end of the month.

We need to meet.

Let's set this next meeting.

Let's go meet on the 30th.

And we got to get together.

We got to keep momentum

forward on this.

One of the guys looks at me

and goes,

Are you sure

you want to meet on the 30th?

Yeah.
Why are you questioning me?

I'm setting the meeting,

of course, the 30th.

And then he kind of

looked at me again, this time

with a little bit

of a smile on his face.

Are you sure you want to meet

on the 30th? Yes.

What's your problem?

Well, John, let me know what

alternate universe

we're going to meet,

because this is February.

I know that

everybody knows that

the 30th in February

is really the 3rd of March.

Right?

I knew that.

Don't bother me with details.

Doubling down

on my super confidence.

We've all been there.

That's a silly example.

You've been there

in other situations.

Don't question me.

I know I'm right.

Even though you're presenting

some interesting facts

that I won't let on that

I might be acknowledging

may be true.

Don't question me

and Peter,

we see just a little bit

in his questions,

some of this overconfidence.

But let's look now at how

Jesus responds to this,

because we all know how we

to respond

to people in that moment,

especially when you know

you're winning

and you see them

doubling down

on their confidence

or you just want to stick

that knife

in a little further,

let them feel that

pain a little longer.

But let's look at

how Jesus responds.

He doesn't, by the

way, ignore

Peter's overconfidence.

In fact,

the way he responds to start

with is with truth.

He doesn't ignore

the reality.

He starts with truth.

Look back at his responses.

Verse 36 Jesus answered him,

Where I am going,

you cannot follow me

now,

but you will

follow afterward.

Peter,
you don't quite

understand yet.

You will follow me.

Not in the way you think.

Not at the time. You think.

But you will follow me.

And in John,

we often

see these double meanings.

You're going to follow me.

Meaning?

Peter will be

one of his most

passionate followers

in the fullest sense.

What it means to follow

Christ in the fullest sense

of what it means to tell

the world about Him.

And he

will follow him in death.

Not in the way

that Peter thought,

not at the time

that Peter thought.

But there will come a moment,

and I think we can all say,

if you've been a Christian

any amount time

you've seen God

work in your life,

not in the way

you thought he would,

not at the time

you thought he would,

but it was the right time.

It was the right way.

And even though you look back

and didn't understand it,

so Jesus starts with truth

and it gives him

another truth.

By the way,

when Peter says,

I'll lay down my life

for you, Jesus says,

Will you lay

down your life for me?

And there's a hint here of,

Oh, Peter,

you really don't get it.

You think

you need to lay down

your life for me,

whereas you desperately need

me, Jesus,

to lay down my life for you.

You've got a completely

backwards.

And in fact, not

only will

you not lay down

your life for me,

you'll do the opposite.

What does he say to him?

The rooster will not crow

till you have denied me

three times.

You think

this is a little bit

like the American

Idol auditions

where the guy comes in?

All my friends say I'm

the best

singer he's ever met.

And then Simon Cowell goes,

You're literally

the worst singer

I've ever heard.

Like the drastic gap

between them. Here's Peter.

I'm your main dude.

Even if everybody else

falls away, I'm here.

And Jesus says,

Actually, no, you're going to

you're going to deny me.

And Peter's silence

here is a bit ominous.

Peter doesn't respond

in this moment.

You've got to be wondering

if he's
thinking back to Jesus.

Say one of you will betray me

and I think in this moment

it'd be hard to slice.

So finally,

between betray and deny,

I think
those are two very

similar words.

Speaking of ominous,

some ominous hum

in the background,

it would be hard

to really know.

Is he talking about me?

Does he think I'm the guy

that's going to betray him?

Is that what he's saying?

I don't know.

I'm just going to keep quiet.

Now, what Jesus does

here, though,

it's really interesting.

Yes, He responds with truth,

but he also responds

with comfort.

He gives him the truth,

but it gives him a comfort.

And what a beautiful pairing,

by the way.

I mean, how often

when someone

needs to correct you,

they need to

deal with the truth.

They can't ignore

the reality.

But if you do it with grace,

if you do it with a comfort,

if you do it with a kindness,

I'm going to listen to that.

I'll receive that.

That shows that you care.

You're coming with truth

because you care

not just to stick

the knife in

and watch me squirm,

but because you care.

You want to see me grow,

you want to see us grow.

And so let's look at how

Jesus responds

with a comfort.

Look at verse

one in chapter 14.

Let not your hearts

be troubled.

Believe in God,

Believe also in me.

So I love how

He responds here.

We've seen this word trouble

over and over again.

We saw that

Jesus was troubled

in his soul.

He was troubled

in his spirit.

Now he's speaking of there

being trouble in your heart.

And he just starts

by acknowledging the reality

that this is a

troubling moment.

Jesus, you say

you're leaving us.

We thought we were going

all the way to the end.

What's going on?

Were confused.

Look, don't be troubled,

but I love that opening word.

Let not

your heart be troubled.

And how many times

when we find ourselves

in a place

where our hearts

are deeply disturbed

and troubled

and anxious and distraught?

How many times,

in fact,

I would say every time

that's happened,

because we've allowed

our thoughts, we've

let our thoughts run amuck.

We've let them go crazy.

You can't blame anyone else

for your own thoughts.

I can blame a lot of people

for a lot of things,

but no one chooses

my thoughts for me.

Of course

there are
environmental things.

Of course

there are things around you

that may prompt thoughts,

but you always have a choice

whether you dwell on that

or not.

In fact, it takes,

it takes skill,

it takes intentionality,

it takes wisdom

to redirect

your thoughts the right way

instead of

just letting them go

where they may.

It's the same discipline

it takes in parenting.

We don't just let our kids go

whatever way they want.

We all know how that ends up.

Now we step in,

we direct with God,

we engage,

we're there,

we're intentional.

It's not easy. It's hard.

It's not fun.

But you know that

it's important.

You know that it's worth it.

I've been rereading a book

by Marcus Aurelius.

He was a Roman emperor

in the late 100 A.D.

He was also known

and sometimes called

the philosopher King

because many of

his journal entries

and writings were more

deep philosophical

reflections,

not the kind of things you

expect from the Emperor

and his book.

I mean, it still reads today

like something

that could have been written

very recently.

It's kind of like

his reflections

on how to live a good life.

What does it mean

to live a good life?

He's weighing out

all the different

philosophies of the time,

and I ran across this passage

this week as I was reading,

and I'm going to

throw the quote up on screen

because it relates

to this concept perfectly.

Your mind

will come to resemble

your frequently

repeated thoughts

because it takes on the hue

of its thoughts.

Dye your mind, then

dye your mind.

Therefore,

I thought,

What an interesting way

to say that

Dye your mind

saturate your mind,

stain your mind

and whatever

you stain it with,

whatever you saturated in,

that's what it will

come to resemble.

In fact,

I found that word choice

so interesting

that I thought,

I need to look up this word.

What's behind this word? Dye?

Because he

he actually

even though he was Roman,

he wrote in Greek.

And I looked at that word

dye, and it's the word

and you're going

to hear a familiar word

in this.

The root word behind

it is the word baptism.

What does

that sound like to you

baptize?

It's where we get our word

baptized.

It has the same idea.

And the beautiful

part of that idea,

no one gets baptized

on accident.

I mean, no one

accidentally stumbles

into the baptismal pit

up there.

You've got to find it.

First of all,

someone has to take you

there.
You've got to get here early.

It's great intentionality

to be
saturated, to be soaked,

to have your mind

stained through.

So

he gives this comfort,

baptize.

Let not your hearts

be troubled.

Instead, here's what he says.

Here's the counteract

to that.

In fact,

in your time

when you find yourself

stressed,

overwhelmed by thoughts,

overwhelmed with fears,

this is the verse

to come to you

because you want to know

the antidote to that?

Look in verse 14 Once again,

let not your hearts

be troubled.

One word belief.

Believe in God.

Believe also in me.

Believe

That's the word.

That is the theme

of this whole book.

John uses it

90 different times

in this book.

Believe, believe, believe,

keep coming back to Christ

in the midst

of your anxiety.

In the midst

of the confusion.

I had a friend

recently, a few years back

now, who was

he was overwhelmed,

distraught about.

He started going

to a new church,

started to encounter

some theological ideas

he hadn't considered before,

and it really left him

disturbed and struggling.

And I said to him,

I think what

you need to do in

this season

is to just spend some time

with Jesus

and just spend some time

reading the Gospels,

saturating your mind

with the Gospels.

Because here's the reality.

A lot of times

we let ideas overwhelm us

and we forget

about the person,

we forget

about the relationship.

And so get to know

Jesus in that season.

That's why this coming year,

every year,

we try to do a Bible

reading plan as a church.

The first year here

we did the whole Bible,

read through the whole Bible.

This year we're doing

New Testament,

Psalms and Proverbs,

which, by the way,

if you're not on

some kind of Bible

reading plan,

pick up a copy of that.

Start today.

It's October 1st.

Make it your goal.

I'm not going to miss a day

for the rest of the year

of reading the Bible

and forget

about the rest of it.

Don't try to catch up.

Just start on October 1st.

You're going to get

the gospels.

You're going to

you're going to get

at least one gospel

in the Book of Luke.

You're going to get

some of the epistles,

you're going to get

the Book of Revelation.

You're going to get

a really interesting

snapshot of Scripture,

what we're going to do

next year.

And we started broadly

with the whole Bible

came down New Testament,

Psalms, Proverbs.

Next year, we're going to go

even less

and focus

just on the gospel

songs and proverbs.

You talk about slowing down,

reading smaller chunks,

meditating,

especially on Christ Life

next year.

But in the midst

of the confusion,

we got to run toward him.

Now, he says, Believe in me.

What's really interesting,

though, is in these

next couple of verses,

he gives three ways

to do that.

Three specific thoughts

to Die your Mind with here

in the next couple of verses.

Look at verse two and

we'll see this first one.

Let not your

hearts be trouble.

Believe in God.

Believe also in me,

in my father's house,

our many rooms.

If it were not so,

would I have told you

that I go to prepare

a place for you?

The first idea to die

your mind with is

there is a place for you.

He does have a place for you.

I got to tell you,

there's so many times

when you're overwhelmed

with the stress

of the in-between

and you wonder, where is he?

You wonder,

Do I have a place with him?

Does he care about me?

Saturate your mind

with the truth

that he has gone

to prepare a place for you?

The place, in fact,

some translations

might say in

my father's house

are many mansions.

A lot of
translations say that

the root word behind that

just means room

means really abode

dwelling place.

That word mansions

comes from the Latin.

The Latin word for dwelling

is mansions,

which doesn't mean mansions,

it just looks like mansions.

Which is interesting

because this

this last verse we saying

nothing else.

Nothing else.

I just want you.

I'm caught up

in your presence

too many times.

The sentiment of that verse

was too many times.

I get focused on

what benefits

you might
bring me rather than you.

If you're picture of heaven,

the glory of it

is the mansion itself.

Even if there is a mansion,

I can tell you

whatever room is in

his house

is going to be more glorious

than any mansion here.

But the point isn't

about the room,

about the building,

about the stuff.

The point is his presence.

That's the glory

getting closer to him.

And so we have a place.

That's the first thing

to saturate your mind

with today,

your thoughts with.

But second,

look at verse three

and if I go and prepare

a place for you,

I will come again

and I will take you to myself

that where I am,

you may also be

I have a place.

And number two,

I will return.

I'm coming back.

Go back to Shackleton.

He did gather up

his guys and say, Guys,

he actually did say this.

I'm taking off.

Okay.

I don't know about

the loved one

another part or not,

but I'm taken off.

Here's how he

left, by the way.

I'm going to take

this dingy old boat.

In fact,

we kind of put

two boats together

and I got two other guys

who were going with me.

We got to find help.

And they took about

a thousand mile journey

across the Arctic Ocean

to go find help.

By the way, this great book

called Endurance,

that was the
name of the boat.

Every one of them made it out

to years

floating on the ice

in the Arctic Ocean.

Every

one of them was rescued,

he says, Guys, I'm going.

I am going to leave

and I'll be back.

I will return.

I have a place I will return.

And then number three,

look at number

three and verse four.

And these are all comforts

that he is bringing

in the midst

of bringing truth.

And, you know, the way

to where I am going.

I have a place

I will return.

And you know, the way

no matter how lost you feel,

no matter how confused,

no matter how alone

you might feel

in the midst

of the in-between moments,

it's so reassuring

to hear him

say here,

you know the way you do

and you may not know it

perfectly.

We may not

follow him perfectly.

But if you know him,

you know the way.

So that's Peter's questions.

And Peter

had the most questions.

So he gets the most time.

But now we see

two other disciples

still, Thomas had a question

as well.

So let's look at Thomas.

This question.

Thomas this question comes in

verse five.

Look at verse five.

Thomas This question.

Thomas said to him, Lord,

we do not know

where you are going.

How can we know the way

Thomas is often

painted as the doubter,

the skeptic?

And when we saw him

in Chapter 11,

we saw he's also loyal.

Thomas,

I'll go to die with you.

But here

he has
a really

interesting question.

And I think what

this points out here

is some of what's

going on naturally.

So, by the way, is confusion

okay with Peter,

it was confidence

or overconfidence

with Thomas,

we see some confusion.

What are you talking about?

The fourth,

How are we going to go?

You said, Lord,

we did not know

where you're going.

How can we know the way?

What do you mean

we know the way?

We don't even know where

we're going to end up.

How can you plot

a course on the map

if you don't know

where you want to go?

And again, Jesus

responds to this,

in truth, in comfort.

Same with Peter.

Truth and comfort.

Truth and comfort.

Look at how

he responds to them.

Look over seven, six,

Look at four, six.

Jesus said to him,

I am the way,

the truth and the life.

No one comes

the father except through me.

You know the way

you know the way

because you know me.

Jesus says to him

I am the way Jesus says I am.

The way the truth,

the life meaning

I'm not just good advice.

I'm not

just a great moral example.

I'm the way that you find

the way in life

I am the means of finding

truth.

It is through me

that you find life

to its fullest,

not just knowing about him,

but knowing him.

And I love

this verse because

there is a positive

no me, you know, life.

But then there's a negative

the second half of verse six.

No one comes to the father

except through me.

No one comes to the Father

except through Jesus.

And if there's a verse

that is the most

beloved verse

for many Christians

is probably John 316

that's a safe

one to put up on

a poster board

in a football stadium.

And if there's

a verse in our culture today,

that's

got to be the most hated,

it's

probably going

to be this one.

What do you mean?

How dare you say that?

Jesus is the only way?

How can you be so arrogant

and narrow

minded to say

that he is the only way

you really think

that every billions

of other people are wrong?

How dare you?

It's a challenging reality.

Jesus says that

if that's where you are,

when you hear that

and you have some

of those responses,

I want to share just a couple

two quick responses to that.

These aren't meant to

cover it all.

I spent months

and even years

pondering this

personally in college

when I was first

faced with this reality.

I mean,

when you think that

billions of people

aren't Christians

and by the way,

the main reason you follow

any faith

is because of your parents.

Statistically,

one of the worst ideas

to encounter in college

is that somehow

you've been tricked

into becoming your parents

without realizing it.

Right. Hold on.

Wait a second.

No, no, no, no.

This can't be right.

If it was their idea.

Right, you immediately.

And I'm stepping back

and going, Emma

and sincerely,

I'm asking,

So am I only a Christian

because my parents were.

Am I only a Christian

because I was born

and raised

in the south

end of Louisville,

Kentucky, and America, where

we're Christians? Is that is

that how

shallow my faith is?

I'm going to give two again,

brief responses to this.

It's not meant to

answer it all.

If it's not

satisfying to you,

keep digging in.

There are

other good responses

to this year's number one.

How do you know

there is not only one way?

How can you be sure?

There's not

only one way to God?

I mean, our modern sentiment

is there's

as many ways as you want.

How can you be sure?

I mean, if there is a God,

wouldn't
he have the right to decide

how many ways

there was to him?

And that may be just one way,

but if not,

then who decides

how many ways there are?

Whoever that is, is God

the person who says no?

Here are the right

number of ways to Him.

That person is

playing the role of God.

That's one response.

Second,

do all religions

really provide

equal paths to God?

So if there are

hundreds, dozens,

endless ways,

are they

all really equal

paths to God?

Can you say that?

Let's take

maybe the top

two other world

religions, Islam.

If you decide that Islam

is the right way to God,

is that really the same

as that on equal

footing with the guy

who said, drink the Kool-Aid

and wait for the comment

to come?

Very sincerely.

Are those equal?

And if not, why?

And who decides?

Do you decide that

this one's okay

and this one's not?

That puts you

in the role of God.

So either way,

you got challenging questions

to ask.

Okay,

if it's Hindu,

but Hitler

believed this stuff

really sincerely.

Why is he

why do we decide he's wrong?

But others aren't?

It's a difficult, challenging

topic to wrestle with.

The reality is.

But Jesus

makes the statement.

And I got to tell you,

the comfort for me

in the midst of

wrestling with this

was knowing that

at least there is a way.

The fact that

the God of this universe

would allow a path

back to him

when we have rebelled

against him

was of great comfort

to me.

And knowing

that that is in a person

in Jesus

who died on my behalf,

I don't have to earn my way

to him.

I just simply confess.

Yes, Lord, I was wrong.

Please forgive me of my sins.

Lord,

please come into my life.

I want to know you.

I want to know the way,

the truth.

I want to know

real life in you.

And so he responds

to Thomas with truth.

I'm the way,

the truth, the life.

And I'm the only way.

But then it gives him

a comfort.

Look at verse seven.

If you had known me,

you would have known

my father also.

And from now on,

you do know him

and have seen him.

Thomas

You're not seen at all.

But I promise you do

you do know him?

You do know the way.

Take assurance in that

you know,
in the month of October,

we memorize a verse

as a church every month.

Whether you realized it

or not. You do.

I promise,

John 14 six is our memory

verse four next month,

which I just read on the way

The truth in life

no one comes the Father

but through me.

But the song

that we memorized that with,

There's a Scripture

memory song every month

that makes it easy

to memorize.

Also tags on first John,

five, 11 and 12.

This is the testimony

that God gave us eternal life

and that life is in His son.

Whoever has the son has life.

Whoever does not have the

son does not have life.

Whoever has the son has life,

he gives him assurance

and dwelling, dying your mind

with the reality

that if I know him,

I have life

also brings comfort.

So that's Thomas confused

in this moment.

Peter

was doubling down

on his confidence,

and now we get Philip

our last disciple,

with a question.

Look at verse eight.

Philip said to him,

Lord, show us the Father.

And it is enough for us.

I think Philip,

in his question,

we see someone

who wants clarity.

Just give us a

glimpse of clarity.

If in fact you've

been in these moments,

would you just

spell it out for me?

Lord,

just make it all

clear, please, if you would.

Exactly.

Show me what's going to

happen, then I'll trust you.

In fact, I remember seeing a

a debate

with a Christian

and an atheist,

and they had gone

back and forth

over the course at the time.

And finally, you can tell

the atheist is just

getting fed up with it all.

And he says, Look,

look, look, listen.

If you want me to

believe in him,

I would believe in God.

If, as you

said, he's

going to do someday,

if he would come down

in all his glory

and he's being very sarcastic

and all his followers

are laughing in this moment

and and in his

big golden chariot

and all

demanding and glorious

and large.

If he came like that,

of course

I believe in him, of course.

But he doesn't.

And of course, everyone

kept laughing,

clapping, cheering him on

and the absurdity of it all.

And the Christian just waited

till it all down, down,

died down.

And he said

in a very somber tone,

he said, you know what?

This is hard to say,

but the reality is

you wouldn't

you wouldn't.

Evidence isn't the issue.

In fact, Romans one

from the beginning of time,

the creation of the world,

God's evidence

made known to them.

It's the heart

you've already decided

you'll have no other

God than yourself.

Sometimes we want clarity.

Even when

there's a glimpse of clarity

in front of us,

we just don't want to see it.

In fact, look at how Jesus

responds to Philip

because he responds to Philip

with truth as well.

Jesus, just show us.

The Father will will believe.

Here's how Jesus

responds to that.

Verse nine

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?

These words

that I say to you,

I do not speak on

my own authority,

but the father

who dwells in me

does his works.

He says to him,

How have I been with you

this long?

You're asking to

see the father

and you haven't realized

you've already seen him

through me.

And I think for all of us,

when we're in those moments

where there's the confusion

or in the in-between time,

we're not sure

which way things are going.

And we just want clarity.

Come back to Jesus, believe,

believe in him.

In fact, that's

how he ends this section.

It's the same.

He started the chapter,

it's the same way he ends.

Look at this

last verse, verse 11.

Believe me,

that I am in the father,

the father is in me,

or else

I believe on

account of the works

themselves, believe,

believe, believe.

And as I said

at the beginning

of the service today,

I don't know what burden

you're carrying today.

I don't know what fears

have overwhelmed you.

That's normal to happen.

And we've all done it

at times.

We've all

let our thoughts run off.

What if this happens?

What if that happens?

Believe

die your mind with the truth

that we've run across today.

Sustain your mind, baptize

your brain

with the truth of Scripture,

that He has a place

he will return.

And you know the way

let's pray

God, we thank you

for this morning.

We thank you for the gospel.

We thank you that in you

we have the way, the truth,

the life

that we can have,

assurance of eternal life.

Thank you for the testimony

we have in you

that the life is in the sun.

Lord, I pray today

you would get it.

Give each of us

the courage to lay down

whatever it is

that we're carrying.

Whatever fear,

whatever anxiety,

whatever

struggle.

Or may we lay it down

before you today.

Walk in, you

trust you fully believe you

and watch you work

in amazing ways this week.

Jesus, we love you.

We pray all this

in your name. Amen.