Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, there's good news. And the good news is where you are, God wants to meet you right there and help you get connected to Him.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled, "Read the Red." Let's listen in as JP delivers the message, "Get Connected, John 14:1 through 4."

JP Jones: If you have your Bibles, would you open to John chapter 14? We are continuing in the larger study that we have been going through this year, which is "Read the Red." We're looking at the actual words and teachings of Jesus. It's in red words in the red-letter edition of the Bible. But we're looking at a particular section for the fall. It's John chapter 14, 15, and 16.

We're going to be in those chapters over the next several weeks. It's known as the Upper Room Discourse because the context is at the end of Jesus's three-year public ministry. He comes to Jerusalem, and he is in his final hours, final days. He celebrates the Passover meal with his disciples. He shares some words with them at that Passover meal. Then there is this teaching of Jesus that really is equipping his followers to connect with God, to walk with God, to grow in their relationship with God because Jesus is anticipating going to the cross and dying on the cross and then rising from the dead.

Physically, he's no longer going to be with his followers, but he tells them spiritual principles how every person can connect with God. We are looking at this series over this fall season, talking about how to get connected. And wherever you are in your spiritual journey, there's good news. And the good news is where you are, God wants to meet you right there and help you get connected to him.

You may be here this morning, and you're a guest, you're a seeker, you have a lot of questions. You're not yet convinced about what Jesus Christ has to offer and who Jesus Christ is. And the good news is you can get connected this morning. You can get connected to a relationship with Jesus Christ. You may be here, and you are young in your faith. You've given your life to Christ. You've crossed the line, but you're full of questions. You can get connected and learn how to grow in a deeper, more fulfilling, more satisfying discipleship relationship with Christ.

You may be here, and your earliest memories is going to church, being a part of the Christian life, and you are fully convinced that Jesus is who he says he is and that you are committed to following Jesus. But you can get connected, and Jesus Christ can transform your life, and you can grow in your relationship with God and give away to others what God has been building into you. Getting connected isn't just about a first step; it's about a next step for every one of us.

So in these passages, Jesus is teaching us about being connected to God. And we're looking at John 14, verses 1 to 11. It says this: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you. 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. You know the way to the place where I'm going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?"

The words I say to you are not just my own; rather, it is the Father living in me who's doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father's in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. Here's this section, John 14 to 16, the Upper Room Discourse. Jesus is talking about how to get connected to God, how to take next steps in our relationship with God. Wherever we may be spiritually, how to move towards God. And he says the way that we get connected is through Jesus Christ, through himself.

In fact, Jesus is emphatic in this teaching. He's the only way. Wherever you are spiritually right now, at this moment, the only way to a deeper relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. And that's what Jesus is going to unpack for us in this passage. And what I want to do is I actually want to start at the end and work backwards to the beginning. The last truth in a series of truths is this: Jesus reveals the Father.

Verses 7 to 11, that's what Jesus is talking about. He said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I'm in the Father; the Father's in me." Jesus reveals the Father to us. Jesus says that he uniquely reveals the Father. In other words, if we want to know God, we've got to look to Jesus Christ. That's what the Apostle Paul says over in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 4. The Apostle Paul says, "We don't preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, 'Let there be light,' is the one who has shown in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, and it's seen in the face of Jesus Christ."

If you want to know God, you look at Jesus. Jesus says, "I'm in the Father; the Father's in me. I reveal the Father." We were at a football game Friday night. My youngest daughter, Ashton, is a cheerleader for Tesoro High School. So we drove over to Chino Hills; that's who they played. And we're watching the game, and in the second quarter this gal walks up. I didn't really know who she was, and she sits down next to my wife, and they immediately recognize one another and greeted one another.

I overheard the gal saying to my wife, "I was looking at the cheerleaders, and I saw that blonde in the front, and I said she has to be a Jones. And so I started looking in the stands until I found you." And what had transpired was this was a gal who 15 years ago was a part of a church that we were pastoring up in Thousand Oaks. And we moved down here, and then just last year or so she moved down here, and she had a child going to Tesoro High School also.

But she didn't know that we were down here and didn't know that we had a daughter at Tesoro. But she was looking at the cheerleaders and saw this one cheerleader, and the recognition was like, "That has to be Donna's daughter. They look so much alike." And so she looked up in the stands and found my wife. Sometimes children look so much like the parent that you see the child, you see the parent. Jesus says, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I'm in the Father; the Father's in me. I reveal the Father."

The fact behind Jesus revealing the Father to us is very essential and very important theologically. First of all, Jesus reveals the Father because the Bible teaches Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity. That term Trinity, you won't find the term in the Bible. But what the Bible teaches is that there's one God who eternally exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the second person of the Trinity.

Jesus is God. In fact, John in his gospel makes much of this. This is a big point in John's apologetic or his defense of the Christian faith. And he begins his gospel in John chapter 1 and says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning. All things came into being through him, and nothing that has come into being has come into being apart from him. In him was life, and the life was the light of men."

And then he drops down to verse 14 and says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The law came through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only Son has revealed him." Jesus Christ reveals God to us because he is God, the second person of the Trinity. He has a unique relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So Jesus says, "I'm in the Father; the Father's in me. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Jesus reveals the Father because Jesus is God, and Jesus reveals the Father to us because he's the God-man.

The God-man. Fully God and fully man. It's what is known as the doctrine of the Incarnation. The Incarnation is God becoming a man. What John says in John's prologue, John 1:1 to 18. God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. That baby in the manger that we celebrate at Christmas time was fully God and fully man. That's what the scriptures testify to us. And Jesus says, "I'm in the Father; the Father's in me. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father."

Paul unpacking this deep theological truth over in Philippians chapter 2 says, "Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself and took the form of a servant. And being found as a man, he humbled himself even to the point of death, death on a cross. Therefore, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow in heaven, on earth, and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Jesus reveals the Father because he's God, the second person of the Trinity, and because he's the God-man, the incarnated Son. And that's deep theology. Jesus just says it simply, "I'm in the Father; the Father's in me. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Jesus reveals the Father to us. There's a second observation, John 14:6: Jesus is the only way to the Father. Verse 6 says Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

That is such a familiar passage around Christian churches that sometimes I think it loses its significance on us. Just listen to what Jesus Christ says. In a world of competing ideas, in a culture of pluralism, listen to what Jesus Christ says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus positions in this statement what is translated as "I am." It's *egō eimi*. "I am" the way, the truth, and the life.

These are several "I am" statements that are found in the Gospel of John. They parallel that great statement that's in the Hebrew scriptures in the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 3, when Moses is talking to God in the burning bush and says, "Who shall I say is sending me?" when he wants to go back to Pharaoh and pull the children of Israel out of bondage. And God says, "I AM THAT I AM." Jesus, picking up in that same language, claims "I am" because he's God.

But what Jesus says in this passage is, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me." Again, in the language, notice the definite article. Jesus doesn't say, "I am a way, I am a truth, I am a life." He says, "I am *the* way, *the* truth, *the* life." And no one comes to the Father except through me. That is an exclusive claim. Jesus makes an exclusive claim to truth, an exclusive claim to be the only way to God.

Based on the words of Jesus, any religion that doesn't have Jesus Christ at the center is an empty religion. Based on the teaching of Jesus, any spiritual path that you would consider that isn't based upon Jesus Christ is a false path. Think about it. A basic presupposition of communication is what's known as the law of non-contradiction. The law of non-contradiction is a law of logic that we don't prove; we just assume. And if we didn't, we couldn't have any communication.

The law of non-contradiction says in mathematical terms, A cannot be A and non-A at the same time. Black cannot be white, and white cannot be black at the same time. Otherwise, you might be saying white, and I might be thinking black, and we have no basis of communicating. When we say white, we mean white. When we say black, we mean black. I can't say I am right now JP Jones and Rick Warren. I may be neither, but I can't be both at the same time. You see what I'm saying?

So Jesus doesn't give us the out to believe that he's a good religious teacher, that he's a moral guru, that he articulates a positive life philosophy. No, he's either the way, the truth, and the life, or we reject him completely, write him off. And what Jesus is saying in this passage in John 14:1 to 11, he's the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. In other words, if we want to establish a relationship with God, we've got to come through Jesus Christ.

If you're here this morning and you, in your own awareness, do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you don't have the absolute certainty that you know God, that God knows you, and you're going to spend eternity with God when you die, the only way to that relationship is through Jesus Christ. That's what Jesus says. But Jesus says something else about this as well, because for those of us who do know Jesus Christ, Jesus says, "I'm not only the entry point; I am always the only means for you to experience the way, the truth, and the life."

The other day I was sitting on my front porch. I was talking with my daughter, Ashton. And it was one of those great conversations that you really appreciate with your teenagers, when you really are talking about the things that really matter. And Ashton was asking me about my relationship with God and how long I'd been a Christian and how was it that I continued to want to love God and follow the Lord. And so we're talking and I said, "Ashton, here's the thing. I don't think of myself first and foremost as a pastor."

I think of myself as a Christian. I think of myself as a follower of Jesus Christ. So the decisions I make about how I grow and how I mature and how I seek the Lord aren't about being a pastor; they're about me being a Christian. And I've discovered the most important thing about being a Christian is to make it all about Jesus. It's not about religion; it's not about being a moral person; it's not about having a lot of knowledge. It's about loving Jesus Christ and abiding in Jesus Christ and having my life centered on Jesus Christ and growing in my relationship with Jesus Christ.

So I make my decisions based on how I can grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. That transitioned in our conversation to talking about Bible study and the habit of reading scripture. And I said the reason I read scripture every day, the reason I have that habit and I journal, isn't because I'm trying to prepare sermons or I'm trying to get leadership ideas for the church. It's because it helps me know Jesus and love Jesus and follow Jesus. And I want to do whatever it takes to keep my life all about Jesus.

Because Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me." So you may be someone who's a follower of Jesus Christ, and this spiritual truth is just as important to you as the person who's thinking about becoming a Christian. Because Jesus, not the church, not religion, not morality, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him.

Here's a third observation from this passage; it's right from the verses right before this, John 14, verses 2 to 5: Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven. Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you. 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." Jesus is preparing a place for us in heaven.

For those who know him, who love him, who have a relationship with him, we have the certainty of heaven, the absolute hope and guarantee of heaven. Jesus says in this passage that he came from heaven, he went back to heaven, he's preparing for us a place in heaven, and he's going to come back again to take us with him. Last week in our study from Luke chapter 16, we saw from the teaching of Jesus everybody dies.

Either everybody dies, or some will be alive when he comes back. So either everybody dies or some are going to be alive when he comes back. Either way, at that point in time, there's the great separation that the Bible talks about: heaven and hell. In this passage, Jesus is promising heaven, the hope of heaven. In fact, Jesus is promising the hope of heaven in response to troubled hearts.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, *Facing Goliath*. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a minute, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any final insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in this series called "Read the Red," and we're looking at John chapter 14, verses 1 to 4. Jesus is talking about the hope of heaven. He's talking about the fact that he's going away. He's speaking to his disciples; he's going away to prepare a place for them. And because he's going to prepare a place for them, he's going to come back and bring them back with him where he is. This is the promise of Jesus Christ. It's the promise of his second coming; it's the promise of our eternity in heaven with him.

This is the hope of every believer. The hope of every believer is that there is before us at the end of this life the ushering into the new life, eternal life, where there's no more pain, no more crying, no more fear, no more death, no more dying, no more cancer, no more divorce. There is only the blessing of God, the enjoyment of God, the love of God in our lives, and the blessing of God we experience with every other believer who's gathered together to spend eternity with God in heaven.

This is the hope that Jesus is promising in John chapter 14. In fact, it's hope for troubled hearts because Jesus begins this teaching by saying, "Let not your heart be troubled." Do you have a troubled heart today? Are you discouraged today? Are you struggling with some fear or some worry today? Jesus says let not your heart be troubled. Jesus says believe in God and believe in me. Jesus promises that heaven is real and it's before us.

Whatever trial we're going through right now, whatever difficulty we have right now, the hope of heaven far surpasses it. Paul says in Romans chapter 8 that I consider the sufferings of this present time to be unworthy to be compared with the glory we're going to receive with God in heaven. That's before us today. Would you look to God? Would you look to God and the hope of heaven that's before you as a believer in Jesus Christ? Would you call upon him and cast all of your anxiety on him and know that he cares for you?

If that's your desire to step into that experience, would you just tell God that right now in prayer? Lord, thank you for the hope of heaven. Thank you for your promises, and thank you that you speak to our troubled hearts. And so, God, we ask you to take all of our concerns and cares, all of our anxieties. We thank you for the hope of heaven. Fill us with the hope and joy of the Lord right now. And we ask for that in Jesus' name, amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you'll find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.