Tag: John 14

October 15th 2023: Alun Johnson

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John 14:4-7

I wonder if any of you can remember your school days? I remember being in class and didn’t have a clue what the teacher was on about but was too afraid to ask, too afraid to raise my hand, hoping someone else would ask. We have a similar situation here, “And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:4-5). Jesus makes this great statement, but the disciples having mental gymnastics, they are confused, not knowing what Jesus is referring to. Only Thomas is brave enough to ask.

The disorientated nature of the disciples. This is part of a farewell discourse. Jesus had predicted his death as a sacrifice for sin, Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. It is a tough time for the disciples. For Jesus himself, it is a particularly dark time. He is soon to be sacrificed, yet He is ministering to the needs of His disciples. What a saviour we have! Here Jesus gives His disciples grounds for comfort, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3). Here we have the encouragement of the hope of heaven. In verses 4 to 11 we have a second encouragement – in Christ we have a certain way to heaven.

“And you know the way to where I am going.” (verse 4). Jesus is trying to provoke a reaction. Thomas doesn’t hold back. He turns Jesus’ statement on its head, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” He has a refreshing honesty.  God respects an honest, seeking heart, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

Thomas’ statement, “Lord, we do not know,” was the state of the disciples and of our world today.  “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” (John 1:10). Ignorance is a killer. There is so much ignorance of Christianity in our world today. People are being fed a never-ending atheistic diet. Part of the problem of ignorance is it comes in many forms: some have never been to church and never had a Christian explain the gospel to them. Others know of claims of Christianity and choose to go no further, sitting on the fence. All of us have an inkling we’ve been made for another world, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

There is another form of subtle ignorance. There is a part of Pilgrims Progress where Christian and Hopeful walk along and meet Ignorance, from a town called Conceit. Christian asks him how he will enter the celestial city. Christian warns Ignorance he has come the wrong way. Ignorance probably knows his Bible well, does many commendable things, but he’s lost his way and is ignorant that in Christ alone is salvation. He has turned a blind eye to eternal life. But Jesus says in John 10:1, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.” We can see ignorance on many levels around us, yet ignorance is very hard to see in our lives. It takes time to remove it. If you are like that, ask the Lord to show you your ignorance and remove it.

When Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”He gets an answer. And what an answer he gets! Thomas was imagining a physical way but in verse six he got far more than he bargained for, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus says He is the way, the truth, the life – not a way, a truth, a life. He is the real deal – the meaning of life.

This grant statement wasn’t watered-down after His resurrection, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36). “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among me] by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

In helping Thomas to find the destination, Jesus provides Thomas with the road and the way, Jesus says he is the way, he is the truth – the whole substance of true religion. Christ meets and satisfies every desire of the human mind. In the Old Testament the priests had to give daily sacrifices. They were not enough to atone for sins. Then, in Hebrews we read, “Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”  (Hebrews 7:26-27).

In our natural state we are under judgement. We desperately need our sins forgiven. Jesus is the one answer to sin. Believing and trusting in Jesus saves you forever. We need this truth because we believed a lie – we could save ourselves and there are many ways to heaven.

Jesus is also the life, showing we do not have life outside of Christ, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1). What is wonderful in Ephesians 2 is that it doesn’t stop at verse one! “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Whether you believe in Christ or not our souls will live beyond the grave. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:36). It is not just about living forever, it is knowing God. That is the essence of eternal life, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3).

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10).

The Christian life is the best life there is. We are resurrection people. Our cup overflows with blessing upon blessing. Are you truly alive? Jesus is the way. Jesus paid for our sin once and for all. The curtain is torn into two and sinful man can enter into Shekinah glory. Not only is Jesus the way to eternal life, but for all who travel on not road He is our constant companion, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b).

The great privilege of having the Holy Spirit is Jesus is with you throughout eternity. You have the Holy Spirit with you forever. If you are outside of Christ, you are 1,000,000 miles away from Christ.

Jesus also tells His disciple about the destination. He tells them the destination of which He is the way, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Jesus’ Father, God the Father, is the destination. Here is another blessing of the Christian life, “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.” (John 14:2). We are going somewhere for eternity. Our God is the end of the journey. We are going to someone! To God! There is no better person to spend eternity with. That is what makes heaven, heaven. God is there. Jesus is there. “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22). Mind-blowing! Wow!

Are you looking forward to going to God? Is that what you were living for? There is a seriousness – no one goes to the Father except through Jesus. Without Jesus you cannot be saved, you cannot get to heaven. Today, if you are not yet saved, you need to be saved, you need Him to be the truth. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among me by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

January 29th 2023: Ian Middlemist

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January 29th 2023: Ian Middlemist

To watch this service, click on the link to our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/mCFdWZidLwk

John 14:15-31

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27).

Introduction

            In 2011 there was a devastating hurricane which hit the Caribbean and the east coast of the USA. It was a category 3 storm with winds reaching 120 mph. There was widespread destruction with damage estimated at $15.6 billion, and 56 deaths. It was amongst the top five worst storms on record at the time in terms of financial loss. These tropical hurricanes are given names alphabetically, and this one being the ninth was named “Irene,” which is of Greek origin with the meaning “peace.” This name will not be used again! The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom.”

            I draw your attention to this particular storm because it is illustrative of the world within which we live. There have been some incredible storms of various kinds in recent years, including war, financial crisis, economic poverty and so on. However, someone has calculated that in the last 3,400 years of history, only 268 years have been years of peace. The rest have been years of conflict and war. Apparently (not quite sure how these figures were arrived at) there have been 14,351 wars both large and small in which 3.6 billion people have been killed. During all this time, indeed throughout all human history, there have been repeated calls for peace and there have been poems, essays, songs, lectures, appeals and so on all calling for peace, but all to no avail.

            True peace can only come through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. In our passage we find that Jesus was about to leave His friends at the end of His earthly ministry by going to the cross, being raised, and then in His ascension. He says to His disciples that even though He was about to depart this world, He would not leave them as orphans (John 14:18). He speaks of three especial blessings that He will leave them as He goes. There is the blessing of joy (John 15:11), the blessing of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), and then also the blessing of peace (John 14:27).

            We shall consider what peace is not (“not as the world gives”) before considering what this peace is that the Lord freely gives.

[1] What this peace is not.

            It is important to begin with a negative, as it is necessary to remove obstacles in the way. We are told expressly that the peace which the Lord gives is “not as the world gives,” so how then does the world offer peace? What are the counterfeits or false offerings called “peace” in our day? We may define peace as the rest, guidance and control of God opposed to self wisdom and control. People know very little of such peace! Let us consider three things which peace is not.

[a] Not avoiding conflict.

            This is a typical route taken by many. Something goes wrong and there are arguments or excess of noise and mayhem and so on, and what do people do? They scatter. People think that peace is merely the absence of conflict. They have a concept of peace that tries to eliminate the trouble or conflict. Either they attempt to smother the war or run away from it. Can we have peace in the midst of strife and storm? Well, the very night before Christ would face betrayal, rejection by His disciples, and the agony of the cross at Calvary, we find the Saviour not just speaking about peace but dispensing it too.

            We remind ourselves that although Jesus is the eternal Son of God, nevertheless He is also fully man. In His flesh He felt true pain and agony both of body and (on the cross) of His soul. Yet now in the midst of this coming event He takes time to minister to His disciples by saying:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  (John 14:27).

The wrath of God is that decided, settled anger against sin. It is not an ‘off the cuff,’ raging out-of-control anger we usually think of. Now this is the storm that Christ was to face. He did not run or avoid this storm. In fact, He set His face to go to the cross:

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51).

[b] Not indifferent to sin.

            The peace that Christ brings is not a cheap peace arrived up through cover-up, or by means of sedation or dulling of the mind. It is not just a cease-fire. A cease-fire in the current Ukraine-Russia war would be welcomed, of course, but such is not true peace. In a cease-fire the conflict is still in place, for it does not deal with any of the difficulties that brought about the conflict. True peace speaks of the conflict dealt with and settled. Peace cannot be arrived at by simply blocking out stuff, by a person saying “I have learnt not to care.” This type of attitude does not deal with the heart issue.

            Christ was most certainly not indifferent to sin but was concerned that justice would be done. Paul wrote these vital words:

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.[1]

The peace Christ was speaking of was the peace He achieved through His death on the cross. How costly was this peace! This peace meets trouble head on. Christ dealt with the storm He faced and came out bringing peace.

[c] Not just a mystical sense of well-being.

            Those who opt for a mystical idea of peace abandon logic and reality. Mysticism does not make any logical sense. The peace Christ gives is real, spiritually and physically real. It is also connected and logical and not abstract and ethereal. The Lord does not give to us a worldly peace, but a true peace that dealt with justice and sin and was perfect.

[2] Objective and subjective peace.

            The New Testament speaks of two kinds of peace. There is an objective peace which deals with our relationship to God, and there is a subjective peace which is our experience in everyday life.

[a] Objective peace.

            The ‘natural man’ (that is, a person left to their own devices and left without God and His blessings), lacks peace with God. People may be successful and happy in experience but have no peace with God. All man is described by Paul as being “in Adam” (Romans 5:10). We are all by natural birth enemies against God. We are at war against God. Not everyone is a blasphemer in actual experience, and maybe many are living without expressing an active hatred of God, but practically all ignore, forget, and operate against God and His ways. All operate in their own ways.

            In diplomacy the whole point is to bring two groups together for the purpose of peace, to ratify a treaty which brings peace. In Genesis 26 we have an example of this type of treaty formation. Those at war with Isaac saw that the Lord was with him and sought to strike a treaty to ensure that there would be no harm done them. There had been battles over wells and now there was an established peace. But this was limited.

            Jesus speaks of peace only here in John 14 and also in John 20 (where He speaks peace to the disciples after He had risen from the dead). The gospel is God’s treaty. John MacArthur suggested that ‘peace comes where truth is known and acknowledged, the issues are settled and dealt with, and the parties involved embrace each other.’ From this, we need to think about reconciliation between the two parties, which involves reaching a friendship rather than merely the removal of hostilities.

            The cross of Jesus Christ was the greatest act of conflict and violence possible. Much of Jesus’ ministry involved Him entering into conflict. He confronted evil doers, evil speakers and evil teachers. He was not afraid of conflict. The Lord Jesus became man stepping out of heaven’s glory into the world of conflict, war and animosity. He came to bring reconciliation and true lasting peace. In reconciliation there remains no longer any issue between the believer and the Lord. And so hostilities are all over and have been fully been fully, and finally dealt with. The Lord Jesus has written His treaty in His own blood – the covenant or bond of peace – an eternal treaty which meets all the requirements for a true and lasting eternal peace. In Ephesians 6:15 we hear of the “gospel of peace” so that in the gospel, true terms of peace are made. The effect of Christ’s coming (He who is our peace) is to make man who was at war with God, now to be at complete peace with Him. Our experience of peace follows as a result of this objective peace provided by the Lord. This peace is accomplished and a settled fact, for it is the objective peace that God brings in and through Christ. The world writes its treaty for peace but cannot deal with the problems and the reality. They offer meditation, drugs, cover-ups and avoidance measures or compromises, but none of these deal with any of the essential issues. Only Christ has dealt with the problems and conflicts and has come up with an eternal and true peace.

[b] Subjective peace.

            Here we are speaking of sanctification, a growing in peace. Our Lord continued saying: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14;27). He has gained objective peace by and through His death. This is settled and available for all who believe. But do we experience peace day-by-day and moment-by-moment? Let us consider three aspects of this subjective sanctification in the realm of peace.

[i] Lay hold.

            We ought to lay hold onto the peace purchased for us at Golgotha. Peace is ours because of what Christ has done, so we ought to take hold of it. Do you have a troubled heart? You can take hold of the peace the Lord has won. If we continue in such fear and trembling through our day we are not believing in the Lord. Are we anxious and in trouble of mind? Are we worried for things future or worried about things past? Both of these things (past worries and future ones) are all under God’s control. Now God is for us, for His treaty of peace has been made (Romans 8:31; Ephesians 2:14). The Lord has made provision for your past concerns and your future worries.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15).

We must let peace rule, for this is what we have been called to. From the peace which Christ has won we are enabled to traverse the conflicts of this world. And, what-is-more, we can offer the gospel to others as we go. Is the peace of God ruling in you, or are you walking in fear and trepidation? Where are your eyes? Where is your heart? Feed on Christ and rest on His wonderful provision! Do you face difficulties, problems, hard times, harsh decisions? Let the peace of God rule in your heart. Christ won this peace so it is yours to live in. We need to examine our hearts in the light of this. Christ has made peace and we can live in it.

[b] Sin robs us of peace.

            You cannot have peace and knowingly walk in rebellion against God and His word. The peace of God is available only in the gospel and this demands that we come to Christ naked and open before Him ready to forsake sin and cling to Him. If we go to the Lord with sin harbouring in our hearts we ought not to think we will walk in peace. So examine your hearts. We can confess our sins and be washed clean, but this requires a forsaking of the sins committed (1John 1:8-10).

[c] Do not avoid all conflict and trouble.

            It may well be necessary to avoid conflict on occasion, of course. But conflict and tribulation are the lot of the believer who walks with the Lord (John 16:33). We are in this world and we are not immune to the trials and difficulties of life. We are called to walk within the world displaying the great goodness of God. We are called counter to this world’s attitudes and ways. Therefore we will face greater conflict and troubles because the world objects to Christ and therefore to us (John 15:18,19; 17:14). Do not hide or run away, but face things in Christ with the peace of God won for you. We are not to be ashamed of Christ nor of His words (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26).

            In His high priestly prayer the Lord spoke of His disciples as being in the world, which we may characterise as a world of storm, and so He prays that they may be kept by the Father in the world to do His will (John 17:11). We must endure this world’s wars, its economic hardships, its ‘natural’ disasters, its diseases, and along with these, the world’s ridicule and scorn as well.

            In 1555 Nicholas Ridley was burned at the stake for his faith in Christ. The night before his execution his brother asked if he wanted him to stay with him through the night in his final hours on this earth. Nicholas declined this gracious offer saying that he wanted to sleep and rest in quiet before the big day. He was at peace! How so? Only because he trusted that the peace of Christ won for him at Calvary was his to dwell in. We too can have such peace, but only on the basis of the objective peace won for us by Christ’s death.

            Christ has gained peace for us with God. We can walk in this peace by faith. We must not avoid conflict and trouble. We must ensure that we have forsaken sin. We must rest fully on the hope of salvation. May the Lord enable each of us to see His peace and live in it!

[1]            Colossians 1:19-22.