The Key is "TRUST"

I go to prepare a place for you. And as I go, I become the way that you get there. I am the truth that you hold onto to get there. And I am the life — the eternal life that you will enjoy when you get there. When I say, “I go to prepare a place for you,” I mean, I open the way. And I am the way. I confirm the truth. And I am the truth. I purchase the life. because I am that life.

Transcript

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Now there is an anxious failure to trust God fully for the problems we are facing today. At first, it may look like Jesus is addressing an anxiety that isn't the one that you're dealing with. But hang on, because Jesus takes a surprising turn in this story. So what we encounter in this gospel is the living God, the creator of the world, present among us humans, in our world, in his Son, the infinitely loved, eternal image and radiance of his essence, and through faith, completely believing and receiving Him for all that He is. We are connected to this supernatural life even now. Well, hello everyone, and welcome to episode two hundred and twenty-eight of Fill the Lamp. I'm Neil Parks. We are in chapter fourteen this time of the gospel according to John. Last time out we were talking about in chapter 13 of John, where Jesus was washing the feet of his disciples. And then he explained to them that he had to go and leave them. So we're in chapter 14, and what Jesus does today in our text, John 14, verses 1 through 11, shows us how he and the Father team up to overcome our unholy turmoil of soul and give strength and peace to carry on in the sacrifices of love that we saw last week. And he does this by calling us to, this is big, trust him, trust Jesus and the Father, and giving us about five reasons why we should. I don't know if we'll make it through all five today, but we're going to give it a shot. And between reasons three and four, Jesus takes the surprising turn in a direction that you may find more helpful than you thought. But first off, let's notice that verse one and verse eleven and how this is taught. The first last verses in this text, the first and the last make the main point here. So verse one says, Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And then verse eleven says, Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. So you can see what he is after here belief, faith, and this is the opposite of yours and my heart's being troubled. Verse one, don't be troubled. He says Trust me, trust God. And twice in verse eleven he says believe me believe. Trusting Jesus, you see, for what he really is, trusting God are included in each other. Read it in John twelve forty four. Whoever believes in me, Jesus says, believes not in me but in him who sent me. Well, we'll see why that is before what that is before we're done. Now the point is don't be troubled. Trust me, and in trusting me Jesus says you are trusting God. So Jesus had just told them at the last supper that we talked about last week that he Jesus was going away. That was in John thirteen thirty six. Now he had told them that they could not go with him, and he had told Peter that he Peter was going to deny Jesus before the night is over. In John thirteen thirty eight. Now in other words, he says I am leaving you, and you're not even able to make it through the night without me. You see, this is ample, this is a ample reason for all of them at that table of trouble. So here we have some reasons to not be troubled, but to trust Jesus, you could say. And why should they, these reasons, and why should we not be troubled? Well, number one we'll look at here is Jesus told them, My father has many rooms in his house, and each of you will have one of those rooms. In verse two he says, In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and that's John fourteen verses two and three. Now let's pause here for a moment and let this first reason for faith to sink in. God's house house is large, to say the least. It has many rooms. He's not going to run out of space, I could tell you. And see the end of this verse too. There is a place for you and me. Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. The argument for trust is based on three things here. First, this is God's house, not his hotel. His children live with him in his house. And second, it is very spacious, so that he never runs out of room. And then third, there is a room designed get this for each of the eleven men and even Peter that day when he was talking to them, and that means even guess what? You and me too if we trust him. So bottom line, trust Jesus, trust God. You will have a place in his house. Hello? Indeed, in his household as his child, you could say. In John one twelve it says two as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the children of God. Okay, we'll get into this second reason, and I'm going to make ready the place of dwelling with God is the is what it's really about. John fourteen verses two and three. In my father's house, Jesus speaking, are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? Question mark. And if I go and prepare a place for you, so two times Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. That's what he's telling these disciples, that he's getting out of here because they're going to be with him for eternity. So two times Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. Now what does that mean? Does it mean that the things in heaven are in disrepair or dysfunctional? Is he trying to say, hey, I need to clean the house up there for you? No, no, no, no. No. Jesus said in Matthew 25, verse 34, he says, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from, oh I love this, from the foundation of the world. Think about that. From before he even created the world, he was thinking about you living in his place that he's preparing. And this dwelling near the heart of God has been in one sense designed and suitable for redeemed, big word, redeemed sinners from before the creation of the world. God knew all about us and who we were before we came to him. But there are two senses in which things are not yet ready we have to cover here as Jesus speaks. Now that now what Jesus is telling them, this group of disciples is what is not yet ready and not yet prepared. Think about it, is the way to get your room in God's presence. There's something he's saying has to be done here. Sin has not yet been atoned for. And Jesus is about to become, guess, you guessed it, a curse of God. And is it still unsatisfied? And Jesus is about to become that curse for us and bear our condemnation and endure the bruising of the Father. Death is yet to be defeated, as he's speaking right here to these apostles, and Jesus is about to give his life the next day and take it back again from the jaws of death. Oh my, my listeners, we have to absorb this. This was the beginning of grace. This was the beginning story that he was sharing before the blood at Calvary was shed. But Thomas there that day said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. Oh how can we know the way? And I'm sure Jesus was looking at him right in the eye, and he said to him I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, Thomas. In other words, Jesus is telling them I go to prepare a place for you, and as I go I become the way that you get there. I am the truth that you hold unto unto to get there, and I am the life, the eternal life that you will enjoy when you get there. So when I say I go to prepare a place for you, I mean I open the way, and I am the way. I confirm the truth and I am the truth. I purchase the life because I am that life. Now Jesus was giving them these disciples all of this information before his crucifixion. He was prepping them so that after Jesus is resurrected the door has been opened for them and guess what? For you and me as well, my listeners. He opened that door that next day by the shedding of his blood to take up residence in heaven. You see, our sin does not mean that our place in God's household will be unavailable or unsuitable, because Jesus on this night he's talking goes to purchase our forgiveness and become the way to the Father. He makes our room not only available but suitable and certain for his redeemed sheep. So let not your hearts be troubled. The key is to trust him. And guess what? He meant this for us in twenty twenty six as well. I say let's pray. Lord God Almighty Jesus, we come humbly before you. We come humbly knowing that it's all because of you that we have life. But it's up to us to understand the truth and trust you for what you did for us two thousand years ago. Lord, I lift up every listener listening to this podcast right now around the world. I pray that they would hear that they've been bought with a price. And so I lift them up that if they're not dedicated and saved and following you, Lord, that they will be. Because you are. You are the resurrection, the truth, and the life. And I pray this in your precious name, Jesus. Amen and amen. Well, folks, it's been great to be with you again, and I can't wait for the next time out. And tell them I'm Neil Parks. Maranatha.