The sermon emphasizes the importance of truly knowing Jesus, not just knowing about Him, as it leads to understanding salvation, God the Father, and living an empowered life.
It’s one thing to know about another person, and it’s a whole different thing to actually know a person through a mutually beneficial and encouraging relationship.
In a similar vein, it’s one thing to know about Jesus; The facts and figures of His life, the names of his siblings, etc… It’s a whole different thing to have a relationship with Jesus. A mutually beneficial and encouraging relationship takes time to develop and years to cultivate. That’s the truth in our human relationships and it’s true with Jesus.
What’s also true is that the more you get to know Jesus, the more you understand about the Father, the Spirit, and ultimately the Kingdom of Heaven. As we’re about to see in our passage from John 14, if you really know Jesus then you know some pretty incredible truths about salvation, God the Father, and living an empowered life.
I’d even venture to say that really knowing Jesus is really knowing life.
Really knowing Jesus is really knowing life.
To open our passage, Jesus tells the disciples, “do not let your hearts be troubled,” which begs the question, “what were they troubled by and why is Jesus addressing it?” The disciples were likely troubled because Jesus had just told them that he was going away and that they could not follow him at that time (John 13:33). This news would have been confusing and distressing to the disciples, who had left everything to follow Jesus and had come to believe that he was the Messiah.
So Jesus addresses the disciples' troubled hearts by reassuring them that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house and that he will come back to take them with him so that they may be where he is (John 14:2-3). He also emphasizes the importance of faith in him, telling the disciples that they must believe in him just as they believe in God (John 14:1).
Overall, Jesus' words in this section are meant to comfort and reassure his disciples in the face of his impending departure. He wants them to know that he has a plan for them and that they can trust him to take care of them even when he is not physically present with them. This entire exchange leads Thomas to rightly ask, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
And this is where we get our first powerful point; If you know Jesus you know the Way.
Jesus is the Way (John 14:6)
Jesus tells his disciples that he is “the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can come to the Father except through him ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium
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