“Jesus is coming back, HE SAID SO”
Week 1 of 5
John 14:1-5
Today we start a new series called “Jesus is coming, BACK”:
Today is “Jesus is coming back, HE SAID SO”
Next week Jesus is coming back, SOON.
Then Jesus is coming back, UNEXPECTEDLY.
Week 4 is “Jesus is coming back, JUDGMENT DAY.”
Finishing with our response “Jesus is coming back, GET READY”
The entire Bible leads up to the birth of the Messiah Jesus:
From the first Messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15
To Messianic prophecy in Psalms/proverbs/Isaiah
To the birth of Jesus, born of a virgin, and to the cross and the empty tomb.
We spent about 6 weeks studying the cross, the death burial and resurrection
But there is more to the story:
Not only was Jesus coming to save the world
Not only did Jesus come and save the world
And Jesus is coming BACK again
Jesus told of His second coming:
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Matthew 24:30-31
The main text for today is John 14:1-4:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus told those closest to Him:
Don’t let your hearts be troubled
It was a message they needed to hear, and we need to hear
“Let not your hearts be troubled”
Jesus COMFORTED His Disciples, after speaking words that STUNNED them:
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you: Where I am going, you cannot come.” John 13:33
The disciples:
Had left all they had to follow Jesus
And now Jesus said He was going, and they couldn’t follow
Was Jesus abandoning them?
Were they fools to follow Jesus?
Their future was UNCERTAIN:
We’ve all been there
Our world falls apart,
And we find ourselves “ALL SHOOK UP”
It’s in those seasons we might say with the Disciples:
“What would can I do, where should I GO?
And we feel LOST
Back in 1950s & 60s, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra:
played for NY Yankees and became close friends. One day, Yogi Berra invited Mickey Mantle to his apartment, but Mantle… got lost. He stopped at a pay phone and called Yogi and said, “I'm trying to find your apartment, where is it?” Yogi said, “Where are you now?” Mantle replied, “I'm at the corner of 5th and Main.” Yogi said, “Well, you just keep coming in this direction” and then… he HUNG UP.
(PAUSE) Now, how helpful were those directions?
Well, not very! But why not ? Why weren’t they helpful?
Well - because Mickey Mantle still didn’t KNOW THE WAY.
And until he knew the way he was still going to be lost. (Jeff Strite)
Many people look at their lives and they feel:- lost,
they feel uncertainty,
and… they are TROUBLED.
It’s the uncertainty of life that drives us nuts
Man’s problem is that:
we look for certainty where in the exact place
Jesus said we WILL NOT FIND SECURITY:
Jesus promised us Trouble, not EASE and SECURITY;
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. #1 In this world you will have trouble. #2 But take heart! I have overcome the world.”John 16:33
Back to John 14:
Jesus offers these words of encouragement:
After telling His disciples that He would be leaving soon
They couldn’t comprehend the crucifixion
But they could understand that Jesus clearly saying He was going away
Jesus was going, and they couldn’t come
Though Jesus was going where they could not go, He was leaving them with another:
Parakletos is the Greek word we see as “Advocate, Helper, Comforter”
The root word Paraklete means “to come alongside”
We understand that to be the Holy Spirit
The Christians receives the Holy Spirit at the point of Baptism
Jesus wasn’t abandoning ANYONE John 14:16:
The NIV translates
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever—”
The NASB says
“He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;”
The KJV says
“he shall give you another Comforter,”
When receive the Holy Spirit when we respond to the command in Acts 2:38
“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
No Christian is left alone:
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Romans 8:9
Jesus has told the Disciples that:
He was going away, to be crucified
That He was going to prepare a place for them
And that He would return.
In the meantime the Holy Spirit would bring them:
An advocate, A helper, A Comforter
Fulfilling the Hebrews 13:5 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
There were a thousand things the Disciples did not understand:
Things seemed so uncertain
But Jesus told them 3 things that Bring comfort….
Let FAITH win over FEAR
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1
When we look at the troubles here, we need to look to God and believe in HIM:
God can unscramble eggs and put Humpty Dumpty back together again
With God nothing is impossible, your limitations are not God’s
When we double down on our FAITH or FEARS will FLEE
We turn Fear into Faith when we trust in the Lord
NEXT is better than NOW
“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
Revelation 21 tells what will be missing in heaven:
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain...the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light...On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there...nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21: 4, 23, 25, 27
Floating around on the internet is a picture of Jesus and a child:
Jesus is trying to get the child to let her small teddy bear
The little girl won’t have it, but she is missing a piece of the picture
She doesn’t know that Jesus is holding a huge teddy bear behind his back
But she must first let go of the small teddy bear so she can hold the big teddy bear
What comes NEXT is so much better than what’s NOW
Jesus is the way HOME
“3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
When I first arrived in Arlington:
I didn’t know where anything was
People would give me directions, based on places I didn’t know
I thought I would learn my way around when I started riding with some of the Elders
On hospital calls.
But they would each take a different route to the hospital
I’m convinced they were trying to keep me lost because they would
Go to Indy one way and come back another
It turns out there are at least a dozen ways to get into and out of Indianapolis:
The world around us thinks that it’s the same way with heaven
But there is only one way into heaven
It is through Jesus ALONE
People get made at Christians, not because:
We say Jesus is the way to heaven, but
That we say that Jesus is the ONLY way to Heaven.
And Jesus said:
if you’re looking for the WAY to go… that’s me.
If you’re looking for TRUTH you can trust… that’s me.
If you’re looking for assurance LIFE will turn out alright… that’s me.
Let’s review:
Let FAITH win over FEAR
NEXT is better than NOW
Jesus is the way HOME
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” Matthew 16:27
ILLUS: The story’s told of the days when doctors visited their patients at home. It was obvious the patient didn’t have long to live… and as the doctor was about to leave, the sick man called out to him: "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Can you tell me what lies on the other side?"
The doctor was very quiet for a moment and then said, "I don’t know."
"You do not know? You are a Christian man and you do not know what is on the other side?"
The doctor’s hand was on the handle of the door, and on the other side of there was this sound of scratching and whining. And as he opened the door a dog leaped into the room and jumped up on him… and eagerly licked his face. It was the doctor’s dog. He’d brought with him on this visit.
Suddenly the Doctor realized how to answer the man’s question.
"Did you see what my dog just did? He’s never been in this room before. He didn’t know what was inside. He knew nothing except that I was here, and when the door opened he sprang in without fear. I know very little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing: I know my Master is there, and that is enough. And when the door opens, I’ll pass through with no fear, but with gladness.”
The Bible makes it clear what we are to do:
We are to believe Jesus is Lord and Savior
We are to confess He is Lord
We are to Repent and turn towards Jesus
And we’re to be Baptized
What is waiting for you on the other side of this life?
Will you meet Jesus as a friend or enemy?
It’s up to you to decide, but you have to take a stand
Credit: I looked at a couple sermons by Jeff Strite, who is an outstanding expositor. I tried to credit him within the sermon.
