You Dont Need to Worry

(John 14:1-3)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last time, we saw
Jesus reveal that one of His own disciples
Would betray Him: Judas.
He told His disciples in advance
So that when it happened,
Not only would they know He is God,
But we would as well.
One of the many ways
Jesus proves to us
That He is who He claims to be
Is by doing something only God can
Predict the future
And He wants us to know He is God
So that we will listen to Him,
Do what He says,
And be safe.

We also saw the reason Judas would betray Him:

That He might go to the cross,
First, to glorify His Fathers justice and grace

To show us that He takes sin seriously,

But also that He graciously offers forgiveness
If we will trust His Son
Second, that He might be glorified
That He might be rewarded for His sacrifice
By being given a people,
And the power and authority
To rule and overrule everything
For their and so for our good
And third, that He might bring us to glory.

B. Preview.
But of course the immediate impact of this news
On the disciples could not be a welcome one:
Jesus was going to be betrayed;
He was going to die;
They wouldnt be able to come with Him now,
But would later;
Peter was going to deny that He even knew Him;
And they would be left alone.
How could they bear up under all this?

Jesus now turns His thoughts

To comforting them

He tells them:
1. First, that they shouldnt worry, but believe.
2. Second, that He is leaving that He might prepare a place for them in heaven.
3. And third, that He will come again and bring them to Himself.
II. Sermon.
A. First, Jesus tells them they shouldnt worry, but believe:
Believe that He and the Father are in control.
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me (John 14:1).

Remember that the chapter breaks were created

By the translators and printers of the Bible
To make it easier to find different passages in Scripture
Not by the original authors.
This is the same event:
Theres no break between
What Jesus had just said to His disciples,
And what He says here.

They were troubled

Because Jesus was leaving.
What would they do without Him?
How could they carry on the work Jesus had called them to?
How could they be safe from the Jews?

Essentially, the disciples were going to be left

In the same situation we find ourselves today.

Jesus finished His earthly work almost two thousand years ago,
And now is in heaven.
He has called us and left us here
To do the same work He called them to do.
As we look at the increasing hostility of the world against Christians
And know the Lord has called us to reach them
Not to mention all the difficulties
We have to face in life
We can be troubled as well.
What should we do?

The same thing Jesus told His disciples:

Believe in God, believe also in Me.
There is a trusting in God and in His Son for salvation;
But there is also the kind of trust that believes
That Jesus and His Father know what theyre doing,
And that what theyre doing is best.
Trusting them in this sense
Can make all the difference between anxiety and peace.
It can bring as we were reminded two weeks ago
Fullness of joy in any circumstance.

Jesus, of course, isnt telling us

That we should simply trust Him,

But we should act on that trust,
And do what He says
Knowing we really have nothing to fear
Knowing that nothing will happen to us
Outside of His will
Knowing He will use what we do
To build His kingdom.
Trusting in Jesus takes the fear out of life.

B. Second, Jesus gave them another reason they shouldnt worry:

Because He was leaving to prepare a place for them in heaven.
He says in verse 2, In My Fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not
so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

There was a place in heaven for them

And there is one for us
Because of what Jesus has done
Because He went before us
To prepare a place for us
And that place is glorious.

Keith Green once said in one of his concerts

That if the Lord created the heavens and the earth in six days,
But Hes been working on heaven

Since the time He left almost 2000 years ago,

That we must be living in a garbage can
Compared to whats going on up there.

Though Keith meant well,

Thats not what Jesus was talking about.
He didnt go to heaven
To build place for us to live:
He laid down His life,
Rose again,
And ascended into heaven,
That we might go there.
If He hadnt sacrificed Himself,
Heaven would be closed to us forever
But He did,
And in doing so, opened heaven to us.
The author to the Hebrews writes, Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the
things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with
hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us (9:23-24),
And, This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast
and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for
us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek
(6:19-20).
Jesus entered heaven through His blood
Through the merits of His sacrifice

That He might eventually bring us in as well.

Now that Judas was gone,

Jesus could speak these words of comfort
To those who were His especially to Peter.
If anyone had a reason to be concerned
That he would never see heaven, it was Peter:
They were all about to fall away.
The Shepherd would be struck
And the sheep would be scattered
But Peter was about to deny three times
That he even knew Him
Before the sun came up the next day
Jesus said earlier, Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also
confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before
men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33).
What would this mean for him?

The Lord was speaking to Peter as well when He said:

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My
Fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:1-2).
Even though Peter would deny Him,
He would not deny Peter
Peter was going to make it
Because Jesus loved him.

The difference between what Peter did

And what Jesus was warning against
Is that Peter didnt make a habit of denying Jesus
He was crushed and repented when he did
And spent the rest of his life confessing Him.
We may often fail our Lord,
But we dont plan on it.

Another difference is that Peter belonged to Jesus

While those who habitually deny Him dont.
Jesus will never lose His own.
Once He saves us, He will keep us.

When we come to the Father through Jesus,

He adopts us into His family.
Notice, Jesus didnt say,
In heaven there are many dwelling places,
But in My Fathers house.
When we trust Jesus,
We not only become His brothers,
We share the same Father.

But our relationship goes beyond even this:

When we trust Jesus, we also become His bride

The bride He will eventually bring to His Fathers house.

When it was time to find a wife for Isaac,

Abraham didnt send him to Paddan-aram
To marry and to live there
He sent his servant there
To bring a wife back for him.

To get a wife for His Son,

The Father sent Jesus into the world
That He might redeem His bride the church
That He might bring her back
To His Fathers house in heaven
When her work on earth was finished.

Jesus says in His Fathers house

There are many dwelling places
The Father has planned to save many
So many they cant be counted.
One of these dwelling places belongs to you,
If you belong to Him
If you have trusted Him.

If you havent trusted Jesus,

Know that this is what He offers you this morning,

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If you will only believe in Him,

Turn from the things that dishonor Him,
And follow Him.

C. Finally, they didnt have to worry

Because He was coming again to take them home.
He says, 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 (v. 3).

Jesus has prepared a place in heaven for His disciples

And for all who trust Him:
But how are we going to get there?
Jesus says He will come and get us.

Was He talking here about His Second Coming?

Obviously, thats not what He meant for His disciples.
They all died a long time ago,
And the Second Coming still hasnt taken place.

But He did come for them

He just didnt come personally.
He sent His angels to bring their souls home
When their work was done in this world.

The author to the Hebrews writes regarding the angels,

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Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those
who will inherit salvation? (1:14).
Yes, they are.
And one of the services they provide
Is bringing the souls of the redeemed to the Fathers house
To be joined with Jesus.
We read in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus,
Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abrahams bosom;
and the rich man also died and was buried (Luke 16:22).
When our work is complete,
They will come to get us.

Jesus tells us this morning

That we dont have to worry
We simply need to trust.

The Father has the best plan.

Jesus is carrying it out perfectly.
He has promised to be with us
And to keep us through life.
And even when we fall into sin,
Even when we deny Him,
He wont forsake us.
He went to heaven
To prepare a place for us.

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And He not only knows when we will die,
He also knows where,
And will have His angels standing by
To take us to His Fathers house
Where He will fill us with His Spirit,
Love and cherish us,
And satisfy us with joy and happiness
For the rest of time,
Because He loves us.
If all this is true,
How can we worry?

We really cant, if we know Him.

We should, though, if we dont.
But if you dont, remember:
The Lord will save you,
He will take away all your fear,
If you will only come to Him.
Wont you come now?
If you do, you can know
He has prepared a place for you in heaven as well. Amen.

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