John 14

Order of Service

• Hymn — Sing a New Song to Jehovah
• Call to Worship — Psalm 98:1-3
• Hymn — Sing a New Song to Jehovah
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin — based on Daniel 9:4-7
• Assurance of Pardon — Colossians 2:13-14
• Scripture Reading — Joshua 4:1-24
• Hymn — Come Thou Fountain of Every Blessing
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim
• Sermon
• Prayer
• Hymn — We Come, O Christ, to You
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Gloria Patri

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Sermon Title: The Way, the Truth, and the Life

Scripture: John 14:1-12

I. The Promised Place of the Way, the Truth, and the Life

A. Jesus commands his troubled disciples: "Let not your hearts be troubled" (John 14:1)

1. The word "troubled" is the same strong verb used in John 13:21 — to be agitated, horrified within oneself
2. Jesus is on the eve of his death, betrayed by Judas, about to be denied by Peter — yet he pauses to comfort his disciples
3. If Christ in his darkest hour cared for his people, how much more does the glorified Christ care for us now?

B. Jesus speaks of preparing a place in his Father's house (John 14:2-3)

1. The Gospel of John emphasizes that Jesus has come down out of heaven; now he returns to prepare a place for his people
2. Thomas's question ("We do not know where you are going") draws out the answer: Jesus is not merely a guide to the way — he is the way

C. Jesus as the way must be understood in the context of the Passover

1. Just as the old covenant Passover lamb was the means of Israel's departure from Egypt toward the presence of God, so Christ as the Passover Lamb departs the earthly realm and opens the way to the Father
2. He does not go as a solitary man but to prepare a place for all those covered by his blood, making guilty sinners innocent before the righteous Father
3. Gethsemane illustrates this: "Father, is there any other way?" — the Father's silence says the debt must be paid in full before sinners can take up residence in his house

D. Heaven is true home — the presence of the Father through the Lamb

1. Every earthly home is consistently tainted by sin; the need for "vacation from home life" reveals this is not our true home
2. True home is the presence of the Father through Christ, who makes us fully free from sin and its effects — a home from which we will never need a vacation

II. The Personal Presence of the Way, the Truth, and the Life

A. Philip's request — "Show us the Father and it is enough" — draws out one of the most remarkable statements in Scripture: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-9)

B. Jesus teaches the mutual indwelling of the persons of the Trinity (John 14:10-11)

1. The Father is in the Son; when the Son acts, the Father who dwells in him acts
2. Three persons in one Godhead — when one person acts, all three who inhere in that person act

C. Philip's request echoes Moses's request in Exodus 33

1. Moses asked to see God's glory; the response was "No one can see my face and live" — Moses saw only the backside of God's glory (Exodus 33:18-23)
2. John's prologue answers this: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (John 1:17-18)
3. Jesus is the exact imprint of the Father's nature and the radiance of his glory (Hebrews 1:3) — to see the Son is to see the Father

D. Jesus brings heaven down to earth

1. "In him the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell bodily" (Colossians 2:9)
2. Christ's humanity veiled the glories of heaven during his earthly ministry; at the cross the curtain was torn and in his resurrection the glory of heaven shines through
3. Heaven without Christ is hell — heaven is defined not by angels or cherubim but by the holy habitation of the Father, which is found in the Son

E. Personal application: nostalgia for home terminates not on the artifacts (furniture, rooms) but on the people

1. To think on heaven and not run to Christ is not to have thought on heaven at all
2. Reunion with loved ones is precious, but only properly understood through Christ and with heavenly eyes

III. The Powerful People of the Way, the Truth, and the Life

A. The promise: "Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12)

B. These "greater works" are not to be understood quantitatively or in terms of more spectacular miracles

1. The key interpretive phrase is "because I am going to the Father"
2. The works are greater in a redemptive-historical sense, not in a raw miraculous sense

C. During Christ's earthly ministry, his works and person remained largely veiled

1. Throughout John, people believe and then fall away or misunderstand; even Sanhedrin members believe but will not confess publicly (John 12:42)
2. Judas betrays him; Peter denies him — the true identity of Christ is still largely hidden in this stage of redemptive history

D. After the ascension, the Father and Son pour out the Holy Spirit, inaugurating a more advanced stage of God's economy of salvation

1. The book of Acts illustrates the "greater works": over 3,000 added at Pentecost (Acts 2); 5,000 men added (Acts 4); the gospel spreading from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth
2. Disciples publicly and boldly proclaim Christ even before hostile authorities; Stephen becomes the first martyr; Paul stands before rulers
3. The greatest display of Christ's power is not blind men seeing or dead men rising — it is souls being converted and publicly confessing Christ as Lord and Savior

E. This powerful work continues today as the Spirit-wrought body, the church, adds souls from throughout the world to the kingdom of God

Conclusion: The three great existential questions of humanity — What direction should I take? What is the meaning of life? What happens when I die? — are answered in one person and one sentence: I am the way, the truth, and the life.