The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 21: The Way

Episode Date: August 29, 2021

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - Jesus (John 14:6) Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. Everybody's thawing off a little bit by me in that video. How does Gretchen look the same? And apparently I was 14 years old in 2012. I said it once before, she has aged like wine. I have aged like milk. That's how it goes. She gets better.

I'm just chunky and white. That's what's going on. So, say la. Hey, grab your Bibles. We're supposed to pick it up in John Chapter 14. We're going to continue from where we left off last week. But just for context sake, I need to back up a little bit so you'll understand. what John 141 is all about.

So we covered this last week, but if you pick it up in 1336, Simon Peter says to Jesus, this is like at the end of the Last Supper. He says, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered him, where I'm going. You can't follow me now, but you will follow me afterwards. Now, you've got to remember this is the last supper. Everybody's leaning in. Everybody's paying attention to this conversation.

So Jesus is saying that he's going somewhere and that the disciples can't follow. And then Peter makes this bold claim. And Peter said, Lord, why can't I not? follow you now, I would lay down my life for you, and Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. So that's the context to a very famous verse, John 14, 1. So then Jesus is going to look at his disciples who have just heard, I'm leaving, where I'm going, you can't come, and then their leader, Peter, has just been told you're going to deny Jesus three times. And I imagine everybody's troubled.

And the reason I imagine that is because Jesus says the next thing in 14-1, let not your hearts be troubled, because he looks at the disciples and they're troubled. And a part of what he's talking about, not only is he talking about this moment right here at the last supper after he's washed their feet and told them that he was going to go and die, but he's basically also saying, hey, listen, the next few hours are going to be really troubling. the next few hours are going to seem like God has completely lost control. The next few hours, as you look around at your circumstances, you are going to think what in the world is going on. And as I was getting ready for this, I know that many of you right now are troubled.

At our elder-led prayer meeting this Tuesday, we prayed for folks in our church. that were having trouble with their heart, like in relationships, and trouble at the soul level, and trouble in their minds and physical trouble. It's a troubling time, is it not? It's troubling to get the news that 12 of our Marines died early this morning. That's troubling, man.

It's troubling when every single one of us know somebody that's sick. It's troubling. We've had four or five staff members this week lose a parent or a grandparent. This week, this week, we've done more funerals than I think we've ever done in a one week period of time. These are troubling times,

and yet in these troubling times, Jesus looks at his disciples around that table, and I believe he looks at you and I right now, and he says, let not your hearts be trouble. To which you say, all right, how? How? And he gives you the how. He says, believe.

Believe in God. Believe also in me. That word is Pistuo. Trust. Trust in God. Trust also in me. Now, by the way, Jesus is going to make abundantly clear you cannot divorce those two things. Over and over and over in the Gospels, he's going to say the most offensive thing that he says to 21st century Western people, that you cannot know God without knowing Jesus.

You cannot accept God, love God, and somehow we're going. reject his son. It's impossible. And what he's saying here is every single one of us have been given the ability to put our trust in something. And the only way that your heart is not going to be troubled is for us to not take our trust and place it in our circumstances. And it's an easy thing to do. Every morning when we wake up, I'm just telling you, your trust is in your circumstances, and what you have to do every single day is go and grab that trust out of your circumstances and replace it in the sovereign king of the universe day after day after day. Maybe this is why Jesus says every single day, you better take up your cross and follow me.

Because if you don't, you will be troubled because we live in a troubling world. So what Jesus is saying, as to the disciples are troubled, and by the way, it's only going to get worse over the next few days. He says, let not your hearts be troubled, but trust in God, trust, bestuo, also in me. and what he's inviting his disciples to do is to take the burden from the circumstances of this world that they feel and shift the weight of the burden over to Jesus. You want to know how you know that you've really prayed and not just complain to God? You know there's a difference, right? Because I'll talk to people and they're like, I'm freaking out. Like, have you prayed?

Uh-huh. Do you still feel the burden? I do? Okay. Then you're not done. because prayer is not just informing God on why you're freaking out. I don't know what that's called. That's just freaking out to God.

And you're welcome to do that. The Psalms are full of it. But in every one of the Psalms where David or Solomon or whoever writes that particular Psalm starts out with, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? If you get to the end of it, they end up in a place where they say, now I need you to hold this because I can't bear the weight of it anymore. That's what prayer is. That's why the end of our soul.

service when we invite you to pray, it's a really, really big deal. This is why Peter will say cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you. But a lot of times we cast our cares upon him like a rod and reel. They didn't have rodent reels back then. They'd have been better fishermen if they did. They had nets. And you would throw the net. Then you'd have to go get it. And a lot of times we cast our care like a rodent reel. We cast it and then reel that thing back in and take it home to your apartment with you. And then you wonder why you have all these cares on you. He means throw it as hard as you can onto him put all of your trust in him let not your hearts be trouble trust in god trust also in me and then he's going to try to get us this is true of the

disciples then it's true of you and me right now to get our eyes up all over the horizon of what's just coming around the corner i'm not saying what you're walking through is not a big deal it is a really really, really big deal. Death and sickness and trouble and heartache. It's a really, really big deal. But what he is saying is this world does not get the last word. He gets the last word. So he's just trying to get our eyes up off of what's coming in the next 24 hours

and just try to lift our eyes up to what we'll be doing for the next 24 centuries. He says, in my father's house are many rooms. In my father's house are many rooms. I think in the Old Testament, God is called Father about a dozen times. In the New Testament, Jesus refers to God as our Heavenly Father, 189 times, 100 times in the Book of John, and I think 10 times in this chapter. And if I'll be by a number, I'm sure some of it will count and send me an email. God bless your ministry.

Thanks for that. He wants us to know God primarily as Father. Like, the disciples are freaking out, troubles on its way, and he wants them to know, our father is in control. The God is not primarily just looking for servants to believe in him and obey him. He's primarily looking for children to be a part of his family. That's why we call this thing a family. It's a big dysfunctional family.

And you're like, why do you call it dysfunctional? Because you're here. Me too. And he says, in my father's house, he's talking about eternity or many rooms. if we're not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? Underline that. Jesus is going to prepare a place for us. One time I was in seminary and my liberal professor said, do you believe heaven's a place?

I was like, I do. It's just like, how do you believe that? I was like, because Jesus said I go to prepare a, not a feeling. A place. Yes, it's a place. But look at this. And if I go and prepare a place for you, says it again, I will come again. and I will take you to myself that where I am you may also be.

So think about this. What is Jesus preparing? If God has prepared a place for you in eternity, is God's house messy? And Jesus is like, hold on, hold on, you can come over, but give me a second. I got to straighten up for you to get there. Is that what's going on in eternity? No, no, no, no. So what's the place that he is preparing?

The place that he is preparing is himself, because he says, I go to take, where is? I'm going to prepare you a place. I'm going to get you, and I'm going to bring you to myself. How is he preparing himself? He's going to go to the Garden of Gassimony. He's going to be arrested. He's going to be tried. He's going to go to the cross.

He's going to be nailed to the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He is going to say, it is finished. He's going to be buried in on the third day. He's going to get out of the grave, and then he's going to ascend to the right hand of God, the Father, and then he will be prepared to call us unto himself. You see the thing, yeah, amen. If you're going to clap, you should just do it, okay? You see, here's the thing.

All right. Heaven is a place. Eternity is a place. But what makes heaven heaven is not the place. What makes heaven heaven heaven is the person, Jesus Christ. That's what makes heaven heaven heaven. That's what he's saying. I'm going to get you, and I'm going to bring you to myself.

And where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. And so the way that he is going to settle troubled hearts is he is going to say, you will be with me forever. And then Thomas has a question. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? Now, I love that he speaks up.

And it's actually, eventually, it's going to serve him well. Eventually, in just the case you're new to Bible study, this is the guy known as doubting Thomas. After the resurrection, he's like, I don't know. and then Jesus does not chastise him for his questions. Jesus proves himself because he was truly seeking. So if you got a question for Jesus, ask it. Just be humble enough to open your eyes and ears to hear when he answers because I promise he will.

And then Jesus said, very famous verse, controversial verse, Jesus said, two Thomas. Again, Thomas says, how can we know the way? And Jesus says to him, I am. Now, by the way, Jesus says this seven times in the book of John. Seven is the number of completion. That phrase, I am, is the covenant name of God. Yahweh is the Old Testament name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus

3. It's his covenant name. It means I am that I am or I be that I be. And what Jesus is saying over and over and over in John, John records Jesus saying seven times, Jesus saying, you want to see God? Look right here. I am. And he says, to Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. He says it. I didn't make it up. Typically, in our culture, the most offensive thing about the claims of the gospel and the claims of Jesus and the claims of Christianity is this, the uniqueness of Christ, the exclusivity of Christ. You mean to tell me, of all the people around the world and all the belief systems and all the religions and, you know, all those things, how can you believe that the only way

to God is this one way? Don't you think that's a little narrow? Honestly, it's embarrassingly narrow. But just a couple of things, okay? I'm like the mailman. I don't write it. I just delivered. Jesus said this himself.

Okay? Also, I don't know if you've checked like your ID lately, but you're not the sovereign king of the universe that determines who's in and who's out. We don't get to make that up. God Almighty sent his son and his son Jesus says himself that he is the way, the truth, and the life,

and just so you can't do a bunch of harmonetical gymnastics around that to try to make it mean something and doesn't mean, Jesus gives a little commentary, and no one comes to the Father except through me. And in Greek, the no one means no one. That's what it means.

Now, here's the thing. But Jesus' claim here is exclusively inclusive. It's exclusively inclusive. It's exclusive, meaning that Jesus is the only way, and it's inclusive, meaning everybody's invited by Jesus to come to the Father through Him. That all are invited. This is why we are a movement for all people.

There are no caste systems. You don't have to run laps and laps and laps and laps until you go off on to Nirvana. That's not how it works. It doesn't matter how good you've been or how bad you've been. Because every other world religion is based on how good you are, and then one day you stand before a judge,

and you hope you were good enough. And I'm just going to be honest, that is not good news, especially for some of you. You don't have enough time left in your life to make up for what you used to do. I know you. Everybody's invited. Here's another thing.

Everybody gets in the same way. It's not like if you're from this country, this is for you, and if you're for that country, that's for you, and if you're that country too bad, you don't have a shot. That's not how it works. Everybody's invited. Everybody gets in the same way, and Jesus has already paid.

the full price for you to come into the party. The reason Jesus says he's the way the truth in the life and no one comes to the Father except through me is because we serve a holy and just God and somebody has to do something about the sin problem that we have because our sin separates us from God. And every other religion basically says that is up to you. That that's up to you. Do you think you're good enough to stand before a holy and just God? the crazy thing is, if you claim, yes I am, by definition you have just said that you are self-righteous.

And we would all vote you to hell. That's how that goes. But Christ comes and does for us what we could never do for ourselves. He makes a way where there's no way. And he says, I am the way. He's the only way. And not only that, he is the truth. That Jesus is the truth.

We live in a world now that has defanged truth by putting a personal pronoun in front of it. Listen, you do have your opinion and everybody's got them. No problem. God bless you, okay? They're like armpits. Everybody's got a couple. They stink. That's just how it goes.

But regardless, you realize what you believe changes nothing about truth. Nothing. C.S. Lewis says it this way. He says, a man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word darkness on the walls of his cell. man I can't wait to meet this cat and everybody's talking about well you got your truth and I got my truth we're just a bunch of idiots right in darkness on the inside of a cell while the sun rises every morning and sets

that God is who he says he is and your feelings do not change the truth because the truth is not a feeling and the truth is not even an experience the truth is a person named Jesus Christ he is the way he is the truth and he is the life do you want life then you need Jesus and all that this world can offer is temporary happy

that is it that's all this world has to offer I'm not in I'm not anti-temporary happy I'd rather be happy than sad okay I'd rather eat ice cream than sand no problem but I am telling you it will wear you out to spend all of your days after happy, thinking in happy, you're going to find life. Because it's so fleeting, it's so fleeting.

Look, we live at the beach, man. How many times in your mind, on the way to the beach, do you think you're going to find happy at the beach? Have you ever seen a happy family at the beach? Let's just don't. Just one. Have you ever seen one happy family ever? There might be a member of it for a little while.

The dude's not doing one thing. Mama's in charge of everybody. but guess what? Mama ain't happy. Nobody's happy. There goes happy. Or I've told you before. A bunch of people have moved in from all over the parts of the country. Okay, welcome. We're so glad you're here. So glad you're here. So glad you're here. If you try to turn here there, then I'm going to have to cast out a demon. But anyway, that's different. Now listen. But listen, let me tell you one thing we don't do here, because it ruins happy. Everybody gets to the beach, everybody's fine, and then you people from up north start feeding the seagulls,

and there goes happy. Every time you see that, I just want you to remember, this. Because that's what the pursuit of happiness in our planet is like, man. The temporary things of this world just cannot satisfy an insatiable soul. And the reason your soul is insatiable is because it's eternal and it was meant to be in a right relationship with the almighty eternal God. And he's the only one that can give you life. And so Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. No one. It's an incredible great spilt invitation for anyone who would believe. Verse 7, he goes on to say, and if you'd known me, you would have known my father also.

From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Again, 10 times in this chapter, 100 times in this book, 189 times in the New Testament. Jesus primarily wants us to know God as heavenly father. Because I believe if you would know him as father, it would change everything about you. it would change everything about you listen we're all about jesus okay it's all about jesus no doubt but you know what jesus was all about taking us to the father that's it and if we know him as father a w tozer very famously says the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about god and sometimes when you hear this word father sometimes we get a little jacked up right

we get jacked up because maybe you had a bad experience with your earthly father and you think well if if god is father i know what father is and i don't want any of that but what you need to know is that god is not a reflection of your earthly father god is the perfection of what it means to be father the reason you're so jacked up about your father if he was if he was jacked up is because you were meant you were created to be in a right relationship with your perfect heavenly father And listen, I'm going to tell you, man, even though, even though we didn't grow up in church and my dad has never prayed with me one time, he'd say the blessing at dinner, but that's different. Not one time has he ever opened the Bible with me and say, sit down, son, and let's study the gospel of John, okay?

Not once ever, ever, ever. And yet, because of the kind of dad, my dad has been and is to me, in church, when I hear that God is a heavenly father, It made a lot of sense to me. Now, my dad provided and my dad protected, for sure. And a bunch of your dads, that's where you stop. But let me just tell you this. Possums do that for their children. You might want to turn your game up just a little bit.

You understand what I'm saying? But my dad, my dad was present, and my dad spoke life into me and my brother. And he just showed up to everything, man. Every ball game, he showed up to everything. And here's what would happen. Think about this in the context of don't let your hearts be troubled. And then Jesus, 10 times, gets to the father, the father, the father, the father. Do you know what will cure a troubled heart trusting in your heavenly father?

Because when you're with your good, good father, then you know that he's got things under control even when you don't understand them. When you have a tendency to be afraid because of your circumstances and you know your dad's with you, everything will be okay. And what he's saying is to know Jesus is saying, to know me is to know of a father. To love me is to love the father, and the father loves you.

Again, man, one of the best lessons I ever got about who God is as a little kid, not going to church, although I think, I mean, we raise our kids here, you should raise your kids here, it's better. But my daddy didn't take us to church, he took us fishing in a little John boat on the Little Petey River in Florence, South Carolina.

That's what we did every weekend. And my grandma would be like, fish don't bite on Sundays. And I'm like, don't tell her, okay, because they do. And we get this little chombo that him, Joseph Perry Martin Jr. And his dad, Joseph Perry Martin, Sr., I'm the third, I got a fourth. We're into me at my house, okay, whatever. And I would sit up front, my brother Russ would sit on a cooler in the middle, and my daddy was sitting in the back.

And we'd go fishing every time. And do you know what I worried about when daddy would wake me up? I'd say, all right, buddy, get in the truck. I worry about anything, man. I didn't worry about do we have enough gas? Nope. I didn't worry about, do we have enough bait? Nope.

I didn't worry about, do I have a license? I don't know if he worried about that part either, but whatever, you know what I mean? No, man. We was just getting the truck. It was like a 71 Chevy, three on the column, no AC, pleather seats, you know what I'm talking about? So when it was cold, he'd stab you. So he'd lay a towel down.

We'd have seat covers. We had a towel, man. He'd lay that thing down. He didn't worry about seat belts. Think about that, mammas. We didn't have seat belts. One time I dropped an hour later, everybody's sitting there by like, Daddy, what's that? He was like, he was like, he's like, took that thing in there.

It's going to fly around hurt somebody, all right? We had Johnny Cash on the 8-track, Google that, all right? And he'd smoked like a freight train. And we cracked that one little window so we didn't die, you know? Listen, the Folsom Prison Blues, the whole way there, man. Then we would get there and we'd fish, and we'd wear them out. We didn't catch them fancy fish like you people catch, trout and reds. No, man.

We coach Brim on a cane pole. and we didn't catch and release we were a communist you eat every single one that's what we did and then every time for lunch every time those you've been around what do we eat for lunch remember this vina sauces not vienna vina that's how we said it daddy cracked them things over we look at that and he'd scooped that little jelly stuff off and he'd be like I'm a little chum right here and every time oh daddy that's gross can I have one every time Boy, you know what these are made up? We knew what he was going to say?

We're like, well, Daddy, lips and buttholes. That's what he'd say about it. I probably shouldn't say that in church. I'm just quoting my father. We eat them. They're awful, by the way. They ain't good. But those are my memories, man.

And, Dad, let me talk to you for just a second. Did you know that your children's view of God will be primarily shaped by the way you treat them? That's heavy. Think about it all the time, man. I think how in the world are my children going to believe that God's not mad at them if I always am? If I, like the way you call your kids' name

will help shape their understanding of what God thinks about them. Think about them. Yeah. God is our loving, perfect, heavenly father. Dads, whatever you do, fight for your kids, man. Show up for your kids. Go after your kids.

This is the first time in our nation's history where we have more children growing up in homes without fathers than with fathers. If you wonder why this place is jacked up? 11.22, you want to change the world? How about every man stand up and act like men in here and fight for the hearts of your children to change everything?

Now, I haven't thought this through very well. I thought about it while I was getting ready to walk out here, so give me just a second. What Jesus is going to talk about in just a second, and I can't spend too much time on it because in two weeks I'm going to talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. So I can't step all over my sermon for two weeks.

So come back for that. But what he's going to say, Jesus is going to say, he's going to send the Spirit of God to live in us. And he's going to give all this Trinitarian language that the Son and the Father are one and that the Spirit and the Son are one and that the Spirit and the Father are one.

And it made me think about, in Galatians, there's a list of what's known as the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Okay? And oftentimes when we talk about it, every time I've ever talked about the fruit of the Spirit, I talk about what happens when you get rooted

in your relationship with Jesus, and that these things are not like, they're not like aspirations for you to achieve, like, I need to be more loving. I need to be more patient. Do you ever try to be more patient? Do you realize how psycho that is? It's not working in. I'll try harder tomorrow. That's not how it works, okay? And I was, I was praying through this text today, if the Spirit of God, if the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Father is one with the Spirit and then the Spirit of God is in every believer,

then do you realize what if the fruit of the Spirit is not just what is produced through us, but what if it is the filter by which we could understand how God views us? Love. God loves you. The Father loves you. Joy. God has joy.

joy towards you. And it's not because you deserve it, but it's because you're his child. Praise God, my daughter, Reagan-Cafree, has seen the light, and she doesn't do gymnastics anymore. Thank God. They tricked us, man. They tricked us. At first, we thought it was just frolicking around in your bathing soup, you know, and they paid them $100, and it wasn't like they weren't into it. And then she started making a team and a team and a team and a team, and they charge you per flip. That's what it gets to. It's crazy. It gives me a heart attack. I hated it so much. So she quit that, thank God, and her and a bunch of her buddies tried out for volleyball, which I'd much rather watch that.

So I'll get to watch volleyball. That's way better. Okay, so she had her first little game, all right? She's only been doing this for like three months, two months or something. She does her first little game, all right? And they hit the ball over, and she hit it back over. And I was like, I thought she was carts cry. I was like, uh-oh, Olympics, here we come, baby.

I was so pumped. So the rest of it, everybody, like it was dodge ball. Like, I don't let it hit you. It was, you know, I'm not saying she was great. I'm saying the joy that came up out of me by her just doing this one time and it went where it was supposed to go. And I think that's how the Father, he has joy towards you. Like, here's what I'm going to tell you. God's really digging my sermon right now.

Not because it's that good. Not because he is looking at me and be like, look, look at him. You think it'd be better. He's been doing this a long time. But look at him. Oh, my goodness. We've got a thing to straighten that when he gets up here. But in the meantime, that's my boy.

God, he has joy for you, love and joy and peace. Like, God's not anxious about you. You know how disappointed you are in you? Anybody, if you're in your 20s, raise your hand. Raise your hand. High, high, high, high. Good gracious, all right? Sweet.

Let me tell you, let me tell you, okay, 10 years from now, let me tell you about you. Ready? You're still going to suck. That's, that's it. That's it. That's it. You're going to look at your life. I mean, like again, man, I'm a pastor in my 40s. I probably shouldn't even say suck in church.

But it's just true, man. I'm just telling you, you get to a place in your life and you look back and you think, I thought I'd be farther along. And you feel this angst about you your whole life, even as a believer. God never feels that way about you. Towards you, he has peace. Love and joy and peace and patience. God's patience towards us.

Every time I think of the word patience, I know it's a sense. story I told 10,000 times. I coached T-ball for a while, and there was a kid on our team, and he played third base, and I looked over there one day, and he's laying in the infield, flat down on the ground, and he's scooping up a sandhill with the bill of his hat. And I'm not a patient person, okay, at all, man. I wanted to yell at him, and I thought that might be, that's probably the safest position for him, at least like if you take one in the face, all right? So maybe. And I'm just telling you, when the Lord looks at you and all your glory. You know what you are? You're a little T-ball kid just scooping up Sam. Look at me, huh?

And he has that kind of patience with us. He has love and joy and peace and patience and kindness. His kindness towards us never ends. And his goodness. We sing that song. I love this new worship. It's not new. I don't know. It's new to us. We sing that song. It sounds like Alan Jackson wrote it. And all my life you have been faithful. That's how we should sing it, by the way. Michael. And all my life you have been so, so good. All my life he's been good? Yeah. He is good to you.

He has love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and self-control. Do you know what that means? Before you were redeemed, you were a sinner. And you and I deserved to be immediately judged in that moment. And God had self-control with his wrath towards us. And because of his mercy, he delayed the payment until we could understand and surrender that Jesus made the payment in our place. What if we began to see the Father, his countenance toward us that way? This is what Jesus is talking about.

Let's be honest, no matter how troubled you felt walking in, you feel a little less troubled right now, don't you? because instead of having our eyes fixed on our circumstances, the scriptures have allowed us to lift up our eyes and see our Heavenly Father in his face towards us is love. So Philip said to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us, which, by the way, it's not. It's not. God led the nation of Israel around as a column of fire

and a column of smoke every single day, and it wasn't enough for them. And I think Jesus is like, Philip, verse 9, Jesus said to him, have you, have you been, 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? The words that I have, that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me or else believe on account of the works themselves. He's saying, I, if you see me, you see the Father. That's what he's saying.

And he goes on and says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. In other words, if we are not changing to become more and more like Jesus, it's because we don't believe in Jesus. That's what he's saying. Our works don't save us, but we are saved to good works. And then he says, not only are we going to do the works that he does, and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the father. Now, it can't mean greater in magnitude. It's got to mean greater in volume.

Anybody raise somebody from the dead today? No. Anybody walk on water? Anybody feed 5,000 with just a little bit of food? No, no, no. I don't think what he's talking about. If you look up at verse 10, Jesus says, the words that I say to you, he equates his words, with the Father's works. And because Jesus has gone to the Father, he's going to tell us in a second, the way he's going to accomplish greater works is he's going to send us a helper.

He's going to send us the Holy Spirit. And so when Jesus was here walking around on the earth, he could preach one sermon at a time. I think, this is a little bit of like Google rough estimation, but give me a little bit of grace here. I think this weekend, around the world, in all the churches, Christian churches, there will be somewhere around 34 million sermons preached this weekend.

And a part of what Jesus is saying is as long as I'm here, it's one sermon a weekend. But if I can go and send the Holy Spirit, then there'll be 34 million declarations of the gospel around the world. Maybe that's what he's talking about. We'll talk about this much more in two weeks. My friend J.D. Greer wrote a book called Jesus Continued, while the spirit in you is better than Jesus is beside you. This is what he's talking about here.

He says, you will do greater works than these. And the great work that he's called us to is not just signs and wonders. The great work that he has called us to is the great commission to take the good news of the gospel to the very ends of the earth. Verse 13, he says, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the sun. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. He gives two conditions to answer your prayer. in his name, that means in the character and nature of God and to the glory of the Father.

So what you can't do is ask for something in your name and then add in Jesus' name on the end and feel like you got him painted into a corner. He'd be like, ah, I said in Jesus' name, I shouldn't have said that, they got me. That's not how it works. Because when we're praying, we're not trying to change the mind of God. When we're praying, we're ultimately trying to align ourselves

with the mind of God. That's very different things. And the thing that glorifies him, remember, Jesus was glorified at the cross. So be careful what you pray for. And he went through the cross so that the sons and daughters of God could be drawn unto God for His glory.

That's the kind of prayer that God answers. I tell you what, you want God to answer your prayer tonight? Pray for an opportunity to share the gospel with somebody and keep your eyes open. And then he says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper. This is the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word is paraclete. Some translations translate this comforter, some translations advocate, some counselor. Do you know why? Because we need a comforter and we need an advocate and we need a counselor. And I don't know about you, but I need a helper. To be with you forever that we are going to need help. And Jesus says help is on the way and he is the Holy Spirit. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him.

nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. By the way, the Holy Spirit is not an it. The Holy Spirit is he, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not a potion that you come to church and get topped off with a little every week because he runs out.

That's not it. The Holy Spirit is a deposit of God. It's God's Spirit in the believer. And he's going to give us a little bit on what he does. He says, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. yet a little while, and the world will see me no more. He's talking about his crucifixion and death,

but you will see me, he's talking about his resurrection, because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. Your heads should explode when you hear Jesus talk about this. That Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, God, the Son, co- Eternal with the Father, creator of everything, and all things were spoken into existence by him, for him to him and through him,

all things have been created and for him. And he says this is this crazy reality that we can't even get our minds around. In the way that there's one God in three persons of the same essence and yet three distinct persons, we are joined with God the Father, God, the Son, and deposited with the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. that we are adopted illegally and forever into the family of God.

This is what he is talking about now. Now remember, the context that he's talking about is don't let your hearts be troubled. He's like, I know, man, I know. It's a broken world. Some sad things. I get it. And I'm not saying they're not sad.

And I'm not saying they're not troubling. But what I am saying is, forever and ever and ever, amen. You are going to coexist in a perfect right relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and you are going to be joined in a way that can never be undone. He says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, and he who loves me

will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. In other words, if he is your Lord, you do what he says. And because we will sin and miss the mark, we also need him as our Savior. And in order for us to follow in his footsteps, he gives us the helper, which is the Holy Spirit in us. Verse 22. And then Judas, not Ascariot. I think this is funny. I kind of feel like Judas is sitting there and John says, Judas. It goes, tell him I'm not Ascariat. I'm not that one. Okay? So Judas, I just made that up. I don't know if it's true, but I'm going with it. And Judas not as scary. It said Him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and to the world and then Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will

love him and we will come and make our home with him. First person plural language. For anybody that puts their faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus looks at us and says, and we, the Godhead, God the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, we will make our home with Him. God with us is the story of the God. God with us is the story of the whole Bible. If you want to understand the meta-narrative of God's redemptive plan for all creation, it's those words, God with us. In the beginning, God, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Out of an overflow of God's love for God's selves, he speaks everything into existence and goes, that's good. And then he creates image bearers. And he breathes the ruach of life into the very first man. He opens his eyes. He's in a face-to-face relationship with God.

and God is with his people. They're in the garden. He's got one don't. Stay away from that. It'll kill you. Everything else is just good and glorious. Naked, unafraid, unashamed. Eat whatever you want.

Subdu, cultivate. Multiply. And then sin fractures that relationship. So then God sets up the temple system, the tabernacle. And what the tabernacle is is through a series of sacrifices, which were foreshadowing of Jesus. that's coming to take away sin. He creates this tabernacle system.

It's very complex. It's Leviticus. You can read that today. But ultimately, the point of it was for God to be with His people, God with us. And it was all pointing to his son would show up and be the lamb that come to take away the sin of the entire world. And he shows up, and we call him at Christmas, we call him Emmanuel, God with us. He lives a perfect life.

He dies on the cross. And as he's going to go to the right hand of God, the Father, He's like, I'm not going to leave you as an orphan. I'm going to send the Spirit of God to live inside of you, God, with us. But don't worry. I'm going to prepare a place for you. That where I am, you're going to be also. And I wouldn't tell you if I weren't coming back to get you.

And then one day, one day he will return. And all of his children, he will gather into his home. And forever and ever and ever, what makes heaven, heaven is God with us. He says, Jesus says, we may. make our home with you. You know, one of the the lies, one of the primary lies of the enemy is this word called condemnation. One of my favorite verses in all the Bible,

I have to quote it to myself all the time, is Romans 8-1, therefore now there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And the reason Paul writes that in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, is because of Romans chapter 7. And in Romans chapter 7, Paul basically says, what is wrong with me? You ever been there?

he says there's some good things I want to do can't pull them off does a bunch of bad things I promised I would never do I mean I promised I promised I stopped and I started again and I tried to stop and I did it again what a wretched man I am who could save a wretch like me and then he says thank you that Jesus came to save me and therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus that word condemn is a building term it means unfit for you use. And I know this firsthand because when I was in seminary, I came home from class one day and there was this thing from the city of Richmond and it said, condemned, unfit for use. And we couldn't live in my fraternity house anymore. I wish that was just an illustration. That was a

fact. And so what the enemy tries to do is tries to look at you and say, based on your condition, you are unfit for use. And what Jesus said is, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're talking about this one. No, no, no, no. This one believes in me. This one has received the right to be called a child of God. This one has been lavished with the love of God. This one is not unfit for use. That vessel that you were condemning?

No, no, no, no. That's going to be my permanent address here on this planet. I'm going to move the Spirit of God, and I'm going to not just move in like an apartment for a little while. No, no, no. I'm going to make a home in you. The God is not just with us. That through the Spirit of God, God is in us.

And I don't know if you've ever moved into a place. you don't just move in and sit down. No, no, no, no, you make it your home. That's what sanctification is. And some of it's no problem. We're like to change a little paint color, and we're going to put some stuff up there. And then sanctification sometimes it's like,

we're going to take this whole wing off, and we're going to redo that whole area. And that is God making his home in us. He says, whoever does not love me does not keep my word. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me. These things, I have spoken to you while I am still with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. The real preacher at 1122 is not me. The real preacher of 1122 is the Holy Spirit. The style of preaching that I fall into is called expository preaching. Comes from the word expose, okay?

This is why we go verse by verse. I'm not smart enough to come up like, hey, seven ideas that I've made up this week. I just don't think that would be very helpful. I think the power is in the gospel. The power is in the word. And so we just go verse by verse. Okay, so I can expose you to the Bible. But only the Holy Spirit of God can expose the Bible to you.

And if you've ever learned anything, it's not because of my incredible oratory skills. No, no, no. It's because the Holy Spirit taught you something. and you should pay attention to that. Like, I'm telling you, this whole, like, fruit of the spirit thing as a lens by which to understand how God sees you, I don't know where that came from. I didn't read it.

I just thought about it a hour ago as I was praying for you. And when those kind of things happen, when something that I've read over and over and over, and God goes, and I see it fresh, you ever do that? If that doesn't happen to you, you are missing out on one of God's greatest graces on this planet. dive into the Word and trust the Spirit to teach you stuff. Because I'm going to tell you, every single week, every single week,

is I try to write a sermon? He does not owe me a sermon. He doesn't. He doesn't owe me a sermon. And yet, every single week, he is faithful to open up his word. And it's because he's the senior pastor, the chief shepherd, and you are his sheep. And all I am is a mouthpiece from him to you because he loves you.

And so I will tell you this. What do you say to the people that make it possible for you to? to do the thing that you believe God put you on the planet to do. I say to you, thank you. Thank you that you let me preach God's word to you week after week after week after week. So, now, and here's how he's going to close, and I got to go fast because you got into that Fruit of the Spirit thing too much.

Okay, so he kind of wraps back around to where he started because I know a lot, there's a bunch of people in the room and you need to hear this because you're anxious and you're fearful. And based on your service, circumstances, rightfully so. And he's looking at his disciples and they're a little taken back. And he says this to them, he says this to you, peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives. Again, the world can only offer temporary happy. And Jesus offers eternal joy. Because happy is found in happenings. So as go the happenings, so goes to happy. Joy is found in the person and work of Jesus, and he's the same

yesterday, today, and forever. And so he says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives who I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Some of you are afraid. Paul tells young Timothy in 1st Timothy 1-7, God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. that fear is not a feeling. Fear is a spirit, and that spirit does not come from God. Perfect love drives out fear.

And if you know Jesus, you know perfect love. That Paul is going to say, you don't talk about the peace of Jesus. Paul is going to say these outlandish things like I have learned the secret of being content in any situation. That's a peace the world can't give you. Paul's going to say,

be anxious for nothing. It's quite a command, isn't it? Hey, are you anxious? Uh-huh. All right, stop. Thanks, Paul. How do you do that? Be anxious for nothing.

But in prayer and supplication, that means cast all that burden that you feel waiting you down. You just throw it on him. But in prayer and supplication, make all your requests known to him. And the peace of God that transcends understanding. What that means is when your world's falling apart and somehow you got back up this morning

and you put one foot in front of the other and you're still alive and then people look at you and go, how are you making it? And you go, I don't know. That's Jacksonville for, I have a peace that transcends understanding. And then he promises that God will guard your heart

and mind in Christ Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself says this, come to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burden. Let me tell you what a heavy burden is. chasing happy. It'll wear you out, man. Let me tell you what a heavy burden is, trying to solve all of your own problems

instead of casting it onto him. Let me tell you what a heavy burden is, carrying around guilt and sin and condemnation, especially when he took it to the cross on your behalf. He says, come to me, all you who are worn out, and I will give you rest for your soul. That's what he offers. He says, you heard me say to you,

I'm going away and I will come to you. If you love me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place that you may believe, I will no longer talk much with you. For the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me.

Jesus' life was not taken. He's going to lay it down for us to demonstrate his love. It says, but I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the Father, rise, let us go from here. You see, I don't know how you came in here, but I can tell you who wants to meet you right here. His name is Jesus, and he is the way and the truth and the life. And right now, in this moment, he wants you to believe. He wants you to trust. He wants you, he wants your heart to not be troubled. He wants you to trust in God by trusting in him because he is the way, the truth,

and the life, and he has already made a way for you to be reconciled unto God. You're looking for to find your way? His name is Jesus. You're looking to find the truth? His name is Jesus. You're looking to find life? It's found in Jesus. You're looking for help? It's found in Jesus. He sends you the Holy Spirit. You're looking for peace that transcends understanding. it's found in Jesus. You're looking for a relationship with God. It's found in Jesus. You're looking for a father?

You come to the father through the person and work of Jesus. John's going to say later, I have written these things that you may believe. Do you believe in Jesus? In this moment right now, he is inviting you. He's inviting you. He's saying, come to me. All who are weary and heavy burden.

Because you, for the very first time, have come to the place where you realize, uh-oh, I'm not just a mistakeer that needs to try harder. I'm a sinner and I need a savior. That I have, I am not perfect and God is. And what am I going to do to reconcile this relationship with him? And Jesus says, I have done that for you. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burden, and he will offer a rest for your soul. And the way he offers that is by surrendering our life to him.

It's by saying, all right, I admit it. a sinner in need of a Savior, I believe, I trust that when you died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And in this moment right now, I want to confess you as Lord. If you've never done that, I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. Would you bow your head? Would you close your eyes? And if you would say, that's me, that's me. I'm looking for life. I'm looking for truth. I'm looking for peace. I'm looking to be reconciled to God. And in this very moment, you are ready to cast all your sin and all that condemnation on to Christ. and for God to save you, to forgive you, to adopt you, to deposit the spirit of God in you.

If that's you in this moment right now, would you raise your hand and say, Father, I am, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, I thank you that you love us, that you are joyful over us, that you delight in your children. God, I thank you, and I praise you for every man, for every woman, for every student, no matter where they're watching or even when they're watching, Lord, who have surrendered their life to the lordship of Jesus Christ right now. God, I thank you and I praise you that you are a good father and you love your kids. And Lord, I pray, I pray, I pray that we would not look to the

temporary things of this world to try to satisfy us, but we would be satisfied in you and you alone that we could rightly say that Jesus is enough. Lord, for anybody. for everybody that walked in tonight and their hearts are troubled. Lord, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would cut into places of the heart that mere mortal words can't make. And their hearts would not be troubled, but they would trust in God because they trust in Jesus. And I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Church, would you please stand? We're going to bring our ties and offerings. We do it every week as an act. worship. We're going to sing. We're going to sing like the saved because worship is warfare. I'm telling you, there's just something about when the family of God declares truths of God, the enemy just can't hang around in that kind of environment. And he has no place in here. And we're going to pray. And I want to invite you to come and pray, to cast your cares upon him, to cast your burdens

upon him. If you have a troubled heart, I want you to bring it to him and lay it at the feet of Jesus. And then like he said, rise and let us go so that when you walk out of here, you walk out of here differently lighter than the way you walked in. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.