Palm Sunday 2010

I don't know about you, but when we were praying and those eggs were in the thing and they were blinking at me, I couldn't concentrate. Anyway, we're going to talk about John 14, 1 through 6 today. And maybe to set this up, in the Gospel of John, the first 11 chapters, Jesus has a ministry to the entire nation of Israel.

Starting in chapter 12, he calls the ministry down just to his disciples. So as you read from 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, he's speaking only to his disciples. He's educating them and teaching them about things that were to come, primarily. Now, there's some problems there because as he teaches his disciples, they're not getting a lot of what he's saying. because he's making reference to the kingdom to come. He's not exactly talking about the church, but he's making reference to that that will come in the future.

And they're having a tough time understanding him. And as we go through these verses, pay attention to the fact that they're not really getting what he's saying. So why didn't they understand? Well, primarily because they're Jews. And they've been instructed in the revelations of God that have to do with the nation of Israel. They were Old Testament Jews and were keenly aware of the blessings that were theirs. But the interesting thing about the blessings of the Old Testament is that they're all earthly. The kingdom, the land, all of the blessings have to do with being on the earth. So when we read these verses here, we find that they're having a little bit of difficulty understanding what the Lord Jesus is saying.

So in verse one, he says, don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. Don't let your heart be troubled. Troubled is an imperative, which is a command, and it's passive, which means don't let outside things trouble you. But he changes the focus for them. He says, you also believe in God. believe also in me.

So was he trying to put himself as an object of their faith? Yes he was. He must be the object of their faith just as God or Jehovah had been the object of their faith to them and the whole Jewish nation. To demand such a faith in himself probably was a little bit of a shock to them. So Jesus suggests that the proper approach to the question of human destiny is faith in a personal God in himself. And then he says, in my father's house are many dwelling places.

If it weren't so, I would have told you. But I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you to myself. And where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I'm going. Now I want you to look at the frame of reference as a Jewish person sitting there listening to this. Your frame of reference comes from like Genesis 17 where God appeared to Abraham and said to him he was going to make him a father of many nations.

He was going to make him exceedingly fruitful. He was going to set it up so that kings came from his line. That he was going to make a covenant between him and God and your descendants after you through the generations for an everlasting covenant. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojourning, and the land of Canaan, and for an everlasting possession, and I will be your God or their God. So I think the Jews understand pretty well that their blessings are going to be, Jehovah would be the object of their faith, that all the promised blessings was going to be earthly. Everything had to do with the earth. There were going to be great nations that he was going to make out of Abraham's descendants.

They were going to be fruitful on the earth and they would be in the land. So that's their focus. So when he speaks to the disciples about in these verses, do you think that they had a little bit of problem grasping what he's saying? Their views of blessing are earthly. They're not heavenly. Their concerns from the beginning have been what he would do for them on an earthly standpoint.

These twelve men attached themselves to Christ primarily because they believed he was the Jewish Messiah, and that meant earthly blessings. Now, the issue with Christ is that he has been preaching the gospel of the kingdom, which is the millennial kingdom to come, which was offered to the Jews as Him personally.

Now, in Mark 1.14, Jesus says to them, now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, that's the millennial kingdom, and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent or change your mind and believe the gospel.

And in Luke 8.1, He says, and it came to pass afterwards that He went through every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve are with him. So he's teaching and preaching blessings that are going to be in the kingdom.

And now he turns to him and he says, in my father's house are many dwelling places. If there were not so, I would not have told you. And I go to prepare a place for you. Well, what do you think they thought? Where was he going? Was he going into the land? They didn't get the idea that he was going to leave the earth. And if I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself so that where I am, you might be also.

I would think that they were a little confused by this. When you talk about in the oriental environment, my father's house, what you find is, is that wealthy men had big homes and the whole family would live in the home. And Jesus was indicating to these disciples that his father's house, where he was going to go, there was room for all of them. The many mansions can be translated into places or apartments or homes or whatever. And they would have understood that.

They understood about the house, but the going away part, I don't think they grasp. And I'm puzzled this week of why wouldn't they get it? Again, I think the answer is, Every blessing from God from their viewpoint was earthly in character. So when Jesus says he's going away, they didn't really know what he was referring to.

So and here's another interesting thing right here. And we can look back Monday morning quarterbacking and from Paul's epistles and see what he meant. But this is the first hint in the word that there was something new in the plan of God and in the blessings of God. What would we call that change in administration today? We talked about it in Sunday School. The term that we use is dispensation or a change in the administration or the stewardship within the household of God. A change in administration.

Charles Ryrie wrote a very interesting piece that I'll quote to you. The teachings of Jesus are possibly the most difficult part of the entire Bible to interpret accurately. Why is this so? Because in his humiliation, he lived under the Mosaic law and perfectly kept it. But he also presented himself to Israel as their king. And when he was rejected as king, he introduced the new part of God's program, the church, and gave some teachings about it. In other words, he lived and taught in relation to three different stewardships or dispensations of God's program in this world, the law, the church, and the kingdom. To keep these aspects of teaching distinct and without confusion is not always easy. Well, if Charles Ryrie doesn't think it's always easy, it isn't that easy.

So, who do we recognize now that Christ is coming to get? If you're one of the disciples, you're not sure what he means when he comes. Does he mean just the twelve of them? Does he mean the nation of Israel? What would you think he meant? I think we would think that he's coming to get his bride, get us, the church, and take us to heaven. The church at this point is not a recognizable entity to the disciples.

So after he gathers his bride at the rapture, which is what we're all waiting for, there's a seven-year intervention time And after that, he comes to earth to rule and reign as the king of Israel and as the ruler of the world. And they would have known about that. They wouldn't have known about the seven-year period very much, but they would certainly understand from Deuteronomy, from Jeremiah, and from others that he was going to come back. And just to quote a few things, then the Lord our God out of Deuteronomy will restore you from your captivity. and have compassion on you and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you." In Jeremiah he says, Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, As the Lord lives, we brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt. But the Lord lives and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. and they will live in their own soil or in their own land. So the disciples understand that.

They don't understand he's going to come back, that he's going somewhere other than what they perceive. So Thomas, and don't you love Thomas? He's a guy that always asks the question that you didn't have the courage to ask. He says, Lord, we don't know where you're going. He's right. They don't know. And if we don't know where you're going, how do we know the way?

And Jesus said to him, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, no one comes to the Father but through me. Now those of you who have been in the Greek class understand this little term, it's called egoimi. And when the Lord Jesus refers to himself, he uses this term egoimi, which means that I am who am. Any Jew would understand that if the Lord Jesus said about himself, Ego Emi, he was telling them, I am God. So he says to them, Ego Emi, the way. Ego Emi, the truth. And Ego Emi, the life.

No one comes to the Father but by me. So it's interesting now that Thomas doesn't know the way. And again, what's the reason? Because he doesn't understand what Christ really is saying to him. And where is the Lord Jesus going? He's going to the Father. And they should have seen the Father because they had seen Him. And thus having seen the Father in Him, they would have known the way. For in coming to Him, they came to the Father, who was in Him, and He was in the Father. And He explains that in a few verses down.

The Lord Jesus does not take a lot of time right here to explain what the way, the truth, and the life is, but it's certainly something that we need to take a good hard look at. I would say, take a look at what Jesus didn't say. He didn't say, I know the way. He didn't say, I know the truth. And he didn't say, I know the life. Nor did he say, I'll teach you what the way is. He did not make himself an exponent of a brand new system. What he did was he declared himself to be the final key to all mysteries.

So when it comes to the way. You could say that between the present of present man's failure, the lost condition and the future of God's design for man, there's a gulf there and it must be spanned and it's unbridgeable from man's perspective. So he had led his disciples to follow him in spirit on high through the knowledge with acquaintance with his person, in which the Father was revealed. He gave them where he was going and he was the way. He gave it to them, but they didn't pick up on it. What he was saying to them is, the way is, is I'm going to bring you back to God. That's what I'm going to do. And then he says, ego me the truth. I am the truth.

Now, I would say the truth is probably one of the scariest commodities in the world. All the philosophers for all time have sought it, but none have really attained it. Not one great mind has ever been able to achieve it by his conduct. So what you come down to is that truth is not an abstract system of integrated propositions, nor is it an impersonal ethic contained in the rules.

What is the truth? The truth is a person. The truth is Christ himself in the perfect revelation of God in the soul's relationship to him and in bringing out the real condition and character of all things in the light of God. It's interesting when you look at Christ as the truth. If he is the truth, then he's the center of everything.

And out from him comes all knowledge and all understanding. In Colossians, Paul says that in him dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So I find it interesting that we educate ourselves. We spend lots of money earning degrees and whatever. And the real issue is knowing a person. not knowing an abstract fact, that Christ himself says, I am truth.

And when we discuss God's omnipotence and his omniscience and how he functions, he does not think sequentially like we do. He doesn't have a memory about what was back here, thinking about something today and then tomorrow. He has all knowledge in play right now. Right now.

So he is truth. And the Lord Jesus being the embodiment of God himself is truth. So if you want to know the truth, what's the solution? Get to know Christ. And then he says, Ego eimi, the life. The way was a means of reaching the Father. The truth defined the righteous standards of the way, which was Christ. The life adapted a dynamic which could make attainment to the Father possible. It was the life in which God and truth could be known. Man found in Christ that which could enable him to come near and enjoy the Father. Life is the principle of spirituality that originates with God and that lifts man out of his sin to God himself.

John 1.4, John says, in him was life and the life was the light of man. So believing on God is really receiving what God gives. Being a Christian or a believer is receiving and being indwelt by a person, not a concept. It's not a matter of feeling, but a scriptural fact. It's not making a commitment or deciding to follow him or anything else like that.

God gives eternal life by giving you his Son, who is life eternal. The Lord Jesus said, I am the life. That's what he says right here. And in 1 John 5, the Apostle John says, this is the record that God has given unto us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. And he that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has no life. These things I have written unto you, that you believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life."

So, with this transition now from a law-based system to a life-based system requires new terminology and is developed to fit the situation. Sometimes or often those who believe in the Lord Jesus have been designated disciples. This term is never used in the epistles. During his lifetime on earth, men had been called to follow Jesus. We are not called to follow him. Rather, we are believers, and we're called to do something far more intimate and satisfying. We have an in Christ relationship. Formerly, he said, come unto me. Now he says, abide in me. And the little word in. becomes the most significant and the most dominant word in the New Testament language. It is used by the Lord 31 times in John 14. It's used by the Apostle Paul 11 times in Ephesians 1 alone.

So not only are we as believers in Christ, but Christ is in us. and he is the source of the new and heavenly life that we have. The branch receives his life from the vine and as we abide in him we draw upon him for the qualities of that life which are of him alone. Often a man is heard to say, I'm trying to live the Christian life, which means that he is depending upon himself to do it. His resource is himself. He's substituting a good life for the Christian life. And then he says, no one comes to the Father but through me.

Now, as I thought about this, I thought, you know, that's a very interesting point right here in terms of, and we all have discussions, have discussions about this every week. All of us have non-believing friends. And we can say to them, in spite of your past experience or your present condition, there's but one thing that really matters. If you realize that you're not a believer, and if you acknowledge that you're a sinner and need a Savior, then God says to you in his word, if you sincerely want to be born again, then this is for you. However, if you feel that you're not ready to receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, the truth set forth here may prepare you to put your trust in the one who is the truth, the Savior who lovingly says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life, no man comes to the Father except by me.

John 8.32 says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. More and more, I think, believers, it's evident to me that believers don't have the Lord Jesus in the proper place among us.

He's not the object of our hearts. It is either a doctrine that we're hooked on or a dogma or an experience, but it's something beside himself. So if you recognize that, you must ask the question, how do you come to know Christ as your very life? How's that done? The first thing is by his word. And the second part of that is by His Spirit.

When you spend time in the Word of God, you are not there to become a theologian. You are not there to be smart. You are there to become acquainted with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. And the Spirit of God's job is to reveal Christ to you.

That's what He's been sent to do. So if the Lord Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, he said his father's word is truth. And he said of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. Well, we look at that as he's going to guide me into being really smart about everything the Bible says. No. The Spirit's job is to guide you into an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus himself. So there is the key, the knowing of the new.

It was instructed that John said, the Lord Jesus said in John 17.3, and this is life eternal, that you might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Nor that Paul would exclaim in Philippians 3.10 that I may know him. We seem to have much the spirit that actuated Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration. Notice that when Peter's up there and the Lord is transformed before him and he glows and it's an incredible experience when it's Peter says, let's make three tabernacles. Do you see how he doesn't get it? The father says right after that, while he yet spoke, behold, a voice in the cloud said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Here he him. I don't want a tabernacle, I want you to pay attention to him.

And when the disciples heard that, they fell on their faces, because they knew it was God who spoke. And they were sore afraid. And then Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man except Jesus. So my question is, do the eyes of our hearts see no man except Jesus? Have we reached the top of the mountain? Have we had our faces down? And has Jesus said, do not be afraid and we see only Him?

Is Christ all in all? Do we make Him this? Or is that a question of my salvation? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved? No, He does that. Is this a question of relationship with God? You are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Is it a question of your experience for me to live as Christ? Is it a question of your service? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Is it a question of your path? I am the way. Is it a question of heaven? or the place with which my path leads. He would define it as, where I am, there you may also be.

So, the night before the Lord Jesus was crucified, and this is within a few days of his crucifixion, he systematically delivered to his disciples a number of things that were new to them, that was going to come in this church age, which they didn't really know about. But he reported these things briefly because he knew his disciples wouldn't understand them.

And I'll run through some of them. He gave them a new commandment. And the commandment was that they were to love each other in the same way that he had loved them. That was new and that was not understood. He opened up a new place when he said, I prepare a place and I'm going to come back and take you to be with me where I am. That was new to them.

He promised another Comforter who would minister in a number of new ways, enlightening them, advising them, exhorting, enabling and comforting and interceding and convicting them and teaching them and revealing Christ to them. He unveiled a new relationship, the Holy Spirit in them, not just with them, believers in Christ and Christ in believers. He established a whole new basis for prayer and that it was to be done in his name. All of these reveal tremendous differences between the economy that they were used to and the coming new age of grace or the stewardship of grace.

And then he says in 7 and 8, he says, if you had known me, you would be willing to know my father. And from now on, you do know him. and have seen him. And Jesus is saying to him that he is the great expression of the Father's character. If you want to know God the Father, it's like what God the Father is like, you just get to become acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything there is to know about God's character, love, what's in his heart is knowable. by the intimacy with Christ.

Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father. It would be sufficient for us. That was like a new thing to Philip. And Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father?

Now as then, what turns out to be the main issue with the Lord Jesus Christ? The main issue is that I may know Him. Our object in sharing these truths of the Word is that we may be turned from all that God condemned unto a deep personal knowledge of our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Truth can be very impersonal and ineffective if its ultimate purpose is not realized. What we need is the Spirit's application of the fully orbed work of the cross. This will enable us to avoid the sin within and without and to give our complete attention and love to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anything short of this will satisfy neither him nor your hungry heart. We must remember that by coming to know the Lord Jesus that we also come to know the Father. We are not to know the Lord Jesus in order to emulate him as our example, but rather to behold him in the word and allow the Spirit of God to conform us to his very image. No imitation, but confirmation. If we flounder in the old man and pay attention to his clamorings, the hateful works of the flesh will inevitably be manifested for all to see and suffer from.

Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 11.29, learn of me.

His infinite glory must not discourage us from pursuing our privilege of knowing Him intimately. His divine majesty is unfolded in order to display His divine mercy and grace. Now, we can behold Him in several ways. We can behold Him as the Creator. The Word sets forth Christ as the Pride. Christ as his prior to his humiliation here on the earth in the glory that he had with the Father before the world began in John 17. There he is seen as creator in one aspect of his life.

The fruit of the Spirit is developed in us as we behold him in his earthly walk and work. For actual growth there is to be in entering into his life via the word, feeding upon him, appropriating him. It's appropriate for us, I think, to study the Gospels not to emulate Christ, but just to behold his person. We can consider the Lord Jesus as he lovingly shares his life with the up-and-out religious leader Nicodemus.

Observe his tender concern for those individuals who represent the extremes of the spectrum of human need. Note how faithfully and effectively he applies the truth to their hungry hearts, not by method but by nature, a ministry of life. You can pay close attention to him as he calls his first four disciples, and especially note the way he ministers to Peter.

You can spend time with him as he shares and applies his wonderful parables by the sea. You can enter into his restful attitude as in turn he gives rest to the tossing tempest and the tempest tossed. You can stand with him as he commissions the twelve. Observe him. Listen to what he shares with them.

All of this teaches us who he is and what he's like. Feed upon him as he feeds the four thousand and hear him reveal himself as the bread of life. How touchingly his character is depicted by his parables of the Good Samaritan. And nowhere is he more explicitly manifested than in his fellowship in the Bethany home and one of his humble yet ever majestic service to the twelve during the Last Supper. How our love is drawn out to him there.

So these are but just a few of the specific instances in the Word by which we can come to know the Lord Jesus more intimately. Thus, we realize something of the life of the Holy Spirit, that life of the Holy Spirit is developing within our hearts. Miles Stanford used to say that the Word of God goes from objective fact to love and affection with a person. Let's pray.

Father, how we thank you for your son. How we thank you for your spirit that reveals him to us. Father, we ask that you would open up our hearts and our minds to understand the intimacy that we have with your son, that we might behold him day by day so that we might be conformed to his image and just be able to fellowship and rest in him, Father. We thank you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.