What Makes It All Better

There's some days you're gonna be all out of ideas, and you're just gonna be like, God, I've done everything I know how to do.

This isn't working, the whole God and Jesus thing isn't working for me, church isn't working for me, and you're gonna want to scrap it all.

On those days, you gotta remind yourself, you know what, this was not my idea.

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Amen.

Just kind of stay right here just for a second.

Uh, we sang the song before about how we've seen God move the mountains and we believe he can do it again.

And sometimes you're gonna face the mountain.

One of our men stopped me after the last service and he said, uh, I'm not facing a mountain.

There's a mountain coming at me.

Uh absolutely, absolutely.

So you need to have things that you say to the mountain, and you need to have things that you sing to the mountain.

And so, what I want to do is go back and sing this.

This is an old hymn.

Uh uh, if you're visiting our church today, we still sing hymns because we think they're doctrinally sound and they're biblically relevant to today.

Uh they use language that we didn't we don't use, like it says, uh, bring her bud to glorious flower.

Like, oh, what in the world?

Basically, a bud is like the little flower before it opens up.

And see, saying, hey, we don't want to just be content to say we have potential.

Potential is just a religious way of saying you've yet to do anything.

Uh you know, it it it's it's hey, uh we we we don't we don't want to just stay there.

We we we want this thing to blossom and come into the fullness, okay?

And so sometimes hymns use irregular language.

Don't be put off by that.

But you're gonna face the mountain.

Uh uh and sometimes it's it's it's tragic, sometimes it's kind of challenging.

Sometimes it's like we have two daughters.

Our oldest is a junior at Baylor, finished up her junior year, gonna work at a church in Richardson this summer, great church she worked at last summer.

Uh she's been struggling with this for a while.

She let me know this weekend, hey dad, I think I really do want to go to grad school after all.

So I'm thinking next year I'm getting a raise.

Oh no, we got next year, and then we got three more laps around grad school.

And she said, here's some of the ones I'm looking at, and then I made the mistake of getting online and see how much that costs.

So if you see me on the side of the highway picking up stuff, cans, just go ahead and throw some cans out when you drive by.

Uh, in anyway, no, it's just sometimes mountains come in different forms.

But here's the deal: when I sit when I sing and say to God, I I I've seen you move, you, you, you, you move the mountains, and I believe you do it again.

This is an opportunity to believe that and experience what we say we believe.

So I'd like us to have things, not just to say to the mountain when it comes, but to sing to the mountain.

So I'd like us to, we're gonna put the words of that great hymn back up there.

And I'd like us just to say this again, just so when the mountain finds you, you find yourself at the mountain, and look at me.

You can face the mountain because God's got your back.

You're not there alone.

You didn't, it's not like looking around going, where is God?

No, no, no.

This did not catch him off guard.

Okay, one of the promises, we'll talk about this one in the sermon.

One of the promises God makes to his people is in all things, I am at work.

You've got to train your eye to see and your ear to hear how God is at work in every circumstance you face.

Before you jump up and start panicking and getting frantic and frenetic.

Okay?

So let's just go back.

Let's just kind of let our eyes get on these words.

Let's let's sing this together, church.

Clyde, you lead us.

God of grace and God of glory, that's covered.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

God, we just uh we want wisdom and courage so we can face the hour.

We don't want to live in fear.

The Bible tells us you've not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of uh of love and discipline and a strong mind.

And so, Lord, enhance and strengthen our mind today from your word and by your spirit.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And Lord, before I close this prayer, I pray for my two friends over in Dubai, Pierce and Asher, today.

God, I pray your favor be upon them, heal their body, uh, guard their mind in Christ Jesus.

Let the peace of Christ be on their home.

We prayed all this in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen, amen.

You you can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, take it, open up if you would, to John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Uh, if in case you're wondering, I have two friends uh they're like in like fifth or sixth and fourth grade that live in Dubai.

Their parents, dad, their dad works in the oil industry, and they watch the podcast, and they're like, hey, we're praying for you, Pastor Neil.

And then so I said, Hey, I'm gonna pray back for you.

And so that's who Pearson Asher is, if you're wondering who are those people he's talking to.

Uh they live in Dubai and they watch our podcast and pray for our church.

And I'm like, great.

Uh get some oil out of the ground and send it to us.

Anyway, uh, if you're our guest today, we're going through the Gospel of John.

We kind of skip forward in John to do Holy Week, and now we're going back to where we were in John chapter.

Actually, I'm going to start in John chapter 13, verse 36.

John 13:36

I want to talk to you this morning about what makes it all better.

What makes it all better?

Because in this passage, uh the Peter and the disciples are kind of stirred up and they're anxious, and then Jesus starts talking, and this is actually called the the beginning of the farewell discourse.

John 14, 15, 16, 17.

I mean, if you've got a red letter edition of the Bible, it's a lot of red, which means Jesus is talking.

But what makes it all better?

As a mom, you know that sometimes in the middle of the night you hear a cry and your sorry husband's laying there sound asleep, and you shoot out of that bed like you're shot out of a gun.

And here's all it takes sometime is shh shh, mommy's here, mommy's here.

Makes it all better.

Okay?

It just makes sometimes men, you gotta take your wife in your arms and look into her eyes and say, we're gonna get through this, okay?

I'm not going anywhere, you're not going anywhere, there's no one I'd rather go through this with.

It's crazy, it's chaotic, but we're gonna get through this.

That makes it all better.

When I was a kid, I grew up on a farm and we we'd come up with ideas, and my dad would say, Great, I'll get you the supplies, and you do it.

And so we learned to do a lot of things.

One thing we wanted to do was to build a zip line.

So my dad got some cable, some of those U-shaped clamps, and a come along, and he said, You know, you want one end higher than the other where you begin, you know, is it gonna be higher?

So we stretched it to this tree across our cow pin, uh, about 60, 70 yards over here.

Got it, got a got a come along and winched it, cabled it all up, wrapped a blanket around the tree on the receiving end, like that would cushion the blow.

Uh, it doesn't, by the way, but we're like poor white trash living in the country and built that little deck up here in this tree.

So we're up there.

I mean, the first couple days, it is incredible.

My dad's little league team comes out and they're like, this is awesome! We had a zip line and a pet monkey, okay?

We were a hit.

And so we're out there and it's great.

About the third or fourth day, uh, though, we had a rope on it.

We would zip down it, and they had a rope tied to the handle, and you'd walk it back and sling it to the next guy.

Well, when somebody slung it, the little pulley, like a little wheel sitting on the cable, got off a little bit and it was kind of jammed.

And my brother's getting getting ready to go next.

He's 10 years old and this happens, and so he's kind of like, we have it like a T.

It comes down and the handles go out like that.

And my brother's like, I'm just gonna dive out there and grab this thing.

And so that'll unstick it.

For the record, you don't unstick a pulley like that when it's jammed the cable in the side of the wheel.

My brother's hands hit that, his weight swung out, and when he got to the bottom of the swing and inertia took over, my brother did two backflips in midair.

Falls about 20 feet, hits the ground with a thud and starts going, huh?

I'm nine years old, I freak out, I go screaming.

My dad's working about a couple hundred yards away.

I'm running over there.

My dad always had a cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

My boy, slow down, what's wrong with you?

And I'm like, he fell out of the tree.

Is he bleeding?

I'm like, nobody's going.

And I'm my dad's like, he just got the wind knocked out of him.

My dad doesn't run.

My dad just kind of walks over there, flicking his ass, kind of like my brother's laying under grass.

He goes, Boy, you okay?

Reaches down, grabs my brother's belt buckle, picks his waist up a couple times.

Slow down, slow yourself down.

Don't panic, slow yourself, cry if you need to.

It ain't gonna help anything.

Slow your breathing down, boy.

Get in charge of this.

After about two minutes, my brother's my dad's sitting there, my dad goes, You boys want to go to the dairy queen.

My brother out of the grass sets up and goes, Can I get a dip cone?

And that was it.

We got in the truck and we went to town.

Now that's a big deal.

It's eight miles from our farm to town, okay?

It's like going to Vegas for us.

And we were just like, We got a dip cone.

We're driving back, and I'm like, hey man, can you fall out tomorrow?

We'll come back and get a dilly bar.

But I was struck when I was reading in John 13 because it starts off, Jesus is getting, he's not gone to the cross yet.

He's getting his disciples ready for the fact that he's leaving and they are freaking out.

What makes it better?

What makes it all better?

Let's read John chapter 13, verse 36.

John 13:36

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going?

And Jesus answered him, Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.

Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you.

Jesus answered, Will you lay down your life for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, what I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going.

And Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going.

How can we know the way?

Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

From now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.

Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say, Show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

And the words that I say to you, I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me also will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, this will I will do.

That the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Now, pay careful attention today, because that last two or three verses has caused a lot of guilt, a lot of frustration, and a lot of resignation in the Christian life.

And so I want to go back and I just want to give you five words to kind of frame the text that we just read, to give you some perspective.

And one of the things I want you to see this morning is that the preacher's never long-winded.

It's just that the Bible has a lot to say.

Amen?

See how I slid that in on you right there?

That's not, I'm not, I'm not trying to be long-winded.

Let me just here's what we see in the Bible.

There's five words that capture this.

First of all, you see a promise.

You see a promise.

It's verses 36 to 38, end of chapter 13.

And here's why I want to spend a little time unpacking this because Peter's like, you know, Jesus is like, hey, I gotta go.

Where you go and where I'm going, you can't come.

Oh, why can't I come?

I'll do anything for you.

I mean, I'll lay down my life for you.

And Jesus is like, really?

And by the way, Jesus is not mocking Peter.

He's like, really?

You'll lay down your life for me?

Let me tell you something.

Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

And what he says here is not to mock Peter, but to remind him and us that God's love for us isn't changed by our behavior.

That we have to stop.

Here's the point.

We have to stop relating to God based on promises we make and start relating to God based on promises that he has made.

There's a big difference in those two.

Because a lot of times people will make rash promises.

Now, I'm not trying to get in between you and your vow to God or anything like that, but let me demonstrate in my own life.

When I'm in the eighth grade, I helped uh me and my brother and some other guys helped a man plant a peach orchard, 1,500 peach trees.

Uh, and we had a stinger on the back of a tractor, we dug the holes and we had to plant all the trees.

We had to cover them up, certain level of dirt and everything.

We had to water them.

There was no irrigation system, there was no drip line, uh, there was none of that.

There was me and about four of the guys in buckets.

And it was brutal to water 1,500 trees.

But what made the job captivating was Mr.

Stafford, the old man that was putting the thing in.

That was his retirement, part of his retirement.

He was so gracious.

Now, my dad was a firm man.

Somebody asked me after the first service, they said, What was your dad like?

I said, if you saw the movie Grand Torino with Clint Eastwood, that's my dad.

My dad just accepted my dad didn't wear his pants up to here, okay?

Uh my dad was old school, he would show you how to do something, he did not repeat himself.

He he he did not, I found myself saying to my to my kids the other day, why am I having to repeat myself?

I was like, Oh my gosh, I am my father.

Uh uh, but and so, but but my dad was pretty he was pretty uh direct.

If you screwed up, it wasn't great.

But Mr.

Stafford was so gracious, he would show us how to do something on the tractor or or out there on the orchard, and then he would say, Now I'm not gonna stand here and watch it because I'll just make you nervous.

But if you break something or if you mess up, just come knock on the door and we'll fix it, okay?

Or we'll find what we need.

It's no big deal.

And I was like, shut up.

What?

We can make mistakes and it'd be okay.

And so we would break stuff and we'd knock on the door, and he'd go, you know what?

I need a new one of those anyway.

Thank you for breaking that, because now I can justify getting a new one.

There's a phrase that never came out of my dad's mouth.

My dad, well, you broke what?

How about I break you, boy?

And so it was fascinating.

And I so my heart was so drawn to this man.

I said this to God one night.

I was getting in bed, had a great day at work.

I'm in the eighth grade now, not even a Christian.

I said, God, because Mr.

Stafford was old.

I said, God, he's such a nice man.

I don't want him to die.

Please take me before you take him.

Now, that's a promise.

I meant that.

I mean, as much as you can mean that as eighth grade, Mr.

Stafford died about 32 years ago.

And I'm still alive.

And I'm so glad I'm still alive.

I don't feel guilty about that.

And I don't think God looks down and kind of says, hey, buddy, remember that?

But I got it on the list of failed promises that you made.

Uh, here's what I want you to understand.

Sometimes we say things that we we we mean, but God understands them, understands them on a level we don't.

The Bible talks about in the 103rd Psalm these words the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Hear this part right here.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust.

Hear that part, for he knows our frame.

I don't think.

Now there was a part of my life after I heard that Mr.

Stafford died, I thought, what does this mean for me?

Oh my gosh, is God coming for me next?

Uh now I wasn't a believer back then.

Uh I am now and have been for a long time.

And one thing I understand about God is that God, He knows my frame, He knows my constitution, He knows what I'm made out of.

And sometimes my battleship mouth overloads and misrepresents my little rowboat self.

And God doesn't look down and kind of go, uh-huh, you liar.

I'm gonna get you for that.

That's on the list.

He knows our frame and he remembers that we are dust.

Now, I said a few minutes ago, we have to stop relating to God out of the promises that we make to him and begin to relate to God out of the promises that he's made to us.

I brought you some, like just a little ten promises that God's made to us that I want you to see.

There are promises that God's made, like that he is with us in our darkest times.

He promises to give us wisdom if we ask.

Uh, I won't read all of them.

And by the way, don't try to write these down.

Pull your phone out and just take a picture.

Nothing wrong with that.

Some of you are like, hey, can I get my phone out?

Was God gonna strike me?

Get it out and let's see.

Anyway, I bet no one falls asleep next week.

All of a sudden somebody gets zapped.

Hey, let's go back to that church where God fried that kid, okay?

Uh now, by the way, one of the last ones, uh the next last one, he promises that this was his idea.

Philippians 1, 6 says, He who began a good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.

Now look at me, okay?

Take your picture and look at me.

He we hear will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.

What you need to hear that, but also hear, he who began a good work in you.

There's some days you're gonna be all out of ideas, and you're just gonna be like, God, I've done everything I know how to do.

This isn't working, the whole God and Jesus thing isn't working for me, church ain't working for me, and you're gonna want to scrap it all.

On those days, you've got to remind yourself, you know what, this was not my idea.

He began this work in me, and he's going to continue it.

And so I'm not saying you don't have to do anything, I'm saying you have to understand something.

Keep in mind that the promises of God belong to the people of God.

Uh one one of the problems, one of the reasons people are increasingly indifferent about God and church and Christianity is about 25 years ago there was an emphasis in the church called the seeker uh movement, the seeker-sensitive movement.

And all of a sudden, very unbiblical because we made church all about lost people, people that didn't know Jesus.

And so everything was kind of catered to them.

What happens is that preachers who meant well, but they violated the integrity of the text, they took all the promises of God and they said, these apply to you.

And so people begin to think about God in terms of his promises to his people, not his requirements of them.

And so the salt in America for the past 25 years has lost its saltiness because people love the promises of God, but they don't know the person of God.

Do you hear the difference what I'm talking about?

They love the promises of God, but they don't understand, they don't know, they don't have a relationship with a person of God.

Now, when I it's important to remember God makes two types of promises.

He makes what's called an unconditional promise, and he makes a conditional promise.

Unconditional promise, this is a promise that's void of conditions.

Nothing has to happen for this to be true.

It depends on nothing but the nature of the person making the promise.

It is unconditional, it stands alone, no caveats attached to it.

Then there's what's called the conditional promise.

This is a promise that's subject to certain qualifications and requirements, which is why it's so important to understand the context of a promise.

It's never a good idea just to see a promise in the Bible and just kind of pluck it out of context and claim it for your own.

Here's why.

Because a lot of times there's this condition attached to that promise that you may and I may or may not meet.

For example, Psalm 37, 4 says this delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I've heard preachers say to people, God has promised us in his word, he will give you the desires of your heart.

Is that what the Bible says there?

Not at all.

What the Bible says is, delight yourself in the Lord.

And as a consequence of this, he will give.

There's the condition, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Now, the Bible is so beautifully written, and the language is so uh uh consequential.

The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and the word for delight is a nag.

Don't think about your wife right now, men.

Of course we wouldn't do that.

Uh it's a nag.

That's how it's pronounced.

A nag, it's not a nag, it's an a nag.

Uh and it means this.

Look at me.

It means soft or pliable.

And so what he says, when he says, delight yourself in the Lord, he says that you are to have this soft and pliable posture before God.

You so delight in God that you are moldable to whatever God wants of you and from you.

And from this person and towards this person, God grants the desires of their heart.

He gives them the desires of their heart.

But here's the connection you and I have to make today.

Because our heart is soft and pliable before God, what happens in that process is that his desires become our desires.

And so when he grants us the desires of his heart, we are get to experience the desire of the Father's heart.

Much different than, oh, well, I just, you know, I wanted this and I said it and I got it, and blah, blah, blah.

Oh man, God, somebody passed me the other day in one of these King Ranch Ford pickups.

Have you seen one of those?

Haughty, today, gosh almighty.

Uh, and and and I just thought, oh, no, I got a truck, works perfectly fine, but I just thought, oh, that thing probably still smells new right there.

And if you're not careful, what happens is that you just think, oh, that's a desire in my heart.

God, I want one of those.

And we're like, that's not what the Bible says at all.

It's got nothing to do with that.

And here's the danger if we're not careful, uh, we begin to relate to God.

So instead of us delighting in God and it where it transforms our character uh to become like the character of God.

If you're not careful, God becomes an errand boy who's out there pursuing your desires.

One of those is biblical, that my character is soft and pliable and becomes more like God.

One of those is very American and not biblical at all.

It's called the prosperity gospel.

You just name it and claim it.

This is my desire.

Therefore, God, it's your responsibility.

That is nowhere in the Bible.

So the first thing we see is a promise, okay?

Secondly, a peace.

A peace.

Look at chapter 14, verse 1.

Jesus has been talking to Peter, and then he turns and talks to all the disciples.

You say, How do they know that?

How do you know that?

Because the word hearts is plural.

Unless Peter has four hearts, he's talking to all the disciples.

He says, Let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me.

The Bible is so powerful and provocative, it says a lot in that one little verse.

You say, What do you mean?

He says, This peace is the byproduct of believing in two people who are one, later to be uh three people who are one, the Trinity, the Triune God, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Here's what I mean when I say this peace comes.

He says, You believe in God.

That's a statement about God.

And then he says, believe also in me.

This is a statement about us.

To believe in Jesus, I'm acknowledging some things to be true of me as well.

Otherwise, why does Jesus leave the sanctity of heaven and come to the chaos of earth?

So when I say I believe in God, you can say that anywhere in America, people, oh yeah, okay, that's great.

But you say I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, that then you've redefined the dialogue at that point.

Because here's what it means: four things we're saying about ourselves when we say I believe in Jesus.

I'm acknowledging that, first of all, I'm sinful and separated from God.

Therefore, Jesus is necessary.

I'm incapable of making myself right with God.

Therefore, Jesus is needed.

I am in need of someone to solve this problem.

Therefore, Jesus is sufficient.

I am loved by God.

Therefore, Jesus is the demonstration of the Father's love.

Jesus doesn't say much beyond that.

He says, You believe in God, believe also in me.

And then he turns the dialogue.

We've gone from a uh a promise that was made rashly.

Uh, and then Jesus kind of applies peace to that.

He says, Hey, relax.

You believe in God, believe also in me.

One of those has implications about God.

One of them has big implications for us.

And then thirdly, Jesus begins to talk about a place.

You believe in God, believe also in me.

And then in verse 3, he says this.

He says, in verse 2, excuse me, in my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would I've told you that I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Now, all of a sudden, Jesus is talking and it's kind of like, what wait a minute.

Remember this.

If you're a note taker, write this down.

God comes to us in ways with which we are familiar.

Let me say this again.

God comes to you in ways with which you are familiar.

If you're an accountant, you think a certain way.

It's not a bad thing.

It's whatever side of the brain that is.

Is it left or right brain if you're an accountant?

Left, yeah.

I'm right brain.

I am not an accountant type person.

I have friends, they're like forensic accountants, they go audit stuff, and those cats, they can tell you where every nickel they've ever made has been spent and what they got for it, and blah, blah, blah.

I'm like, hey, can we eat out this week?

That's my idea, balance on the chip.

Can we eat out this week?

And she's like, oh, well, you know, we're on the dot dot.

It's great.

I'm not mocking that.

But to the left brain person, God comes to you in left-brain ways.

To the right brain person, God comes to you in right brain ways, but not exclusively.

Sometimes you left-brained people, God kind of says, Hey, hello, this really is me.

And you're like, uh, uh, I don't think we have a line item in the budget for that kind of activity, so that must be the devil trying to tempt us.

Here's what I mean when I say, because by the way, I bring crazy ideas to the table to the elders here.

I say, What about this?

And they're like, Have you been alone this week?

Slow down.

Uh uh, but but when I say God comes to us in ways that are familiar, hear it again, okay?

Verse 2 in my father's house or many rooms, if it were not so what I've told you.

What is Jesus talking about?

Here's what he's talking about.

He's talking about a Jewish wedding.

Now, most of you have never been to a wedding where you wanted to stay at the reception for seven days.

Especially you men.

He said men go to a wedding.

Men go to a wedding, they go, is there an open bar here?

No.

How long will I stay, baby?

30 minutes, 45 minutes.

She's like, shut up.

These are my friends.

I don't know these people.

You work with these people, this is boring.

I'm just sitting over here.

So your husband's on his phone playing video poker, whatever, and you're like, do not put your phone up.

But if your husband goes to a wedding, they go, hey, it's an open bar and it's all free.

Your husband's like, I love all these people.

Let's stay.

You may stay three or four hours, not one of you have stayed seven days.

What I'm saying is the way we do weddings in America is ruled by Pinterest, not by the Bible.

But what do you mean?

I'm not ragging on anyone's wedding.

I love weddings.

I got a couple coming up in the next couple months.

Here's what I'm saying.

When God comes to, when I say he comes to us in familiar ways, let me just kind of walk you through the steps in a Jewish wedding.

And don't just think this right here.

Think the whole story of the Bible.

Because God comes to us in familiar ways.

Here's step one: the marriage covenant.

The father pays for the bride and established a marriage covenant.

It's called the bride price.

The father, hello, pays for the bride.

Number two, the bridal chamber is prepared.

The son, after this, he goes back to his father's house and prepares the bridal chamber.

This is what Jesus is referring to right here.

Number three, the bride is fetched.

I love that they use that word.

Is fetched.

That's something you say you play with a dog, you play fetch.

But the Bible's not demeaning women.

Women get this.

At a time determined by the father, by the way, the groom doesn't know.

When the father knows that the groom is ready and the bridal chamber is prepared, the father tells the son, go get your bride.

At a time determined by the father, the groom fetches the bride to bring her to his father's house.

Although the bride is expecting the groom to come to her, she does not know the time of his arrival.

He arrives accompanied by men bearing torches, and because his arrival is preceded, she knows he's coming, but not when.

His arrival is preceded by a shout, so she can make herself ready for her groom's appearance.

Fourthly, the bride is cleansed.

The bride undergoes ritual cleansing prior to the wedding ceremony.

Fifthly, the wedding ceremony, a private wedding ceremony.

Sixthly, they go into the bridal chamber, they consummate the relationship.

In the privacy of the bridal chamber, the bride and the groom consummate the marriage.

Seventhly, there's a celebratory marriage feast to which all are invited, or many people are invited, and this is the marriage feast that lasts for up to seven days.

Now you go, What do you mean?

That's the gospel, folks.

That's eschatology.

That's how this is all going to go down in the end.

And Jesus is just kind of winking at the disciples, and because they start off with anxiety, and he talks about, he just kind of pulls back the curtain and says, In my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, their mind immediately goes to, wait a minute, wait a minute, you're acting like you're the groom and we're the bride.

And Jesus is like, mm-hmm.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself that where I am you may be also.

Think of your life as a Christian in two ways.

On this earth, it's about dominion.

In heaven, it's about communion.

Okay?

And so this is what he's talking about, a place.

This is what he's talking about.

Fourthly, we see in the text a person.

A person, starting in verse 4.

He says, And you know the way to where I'm going.

Thomas says, Lord, we do not know where you're going.

How can we know the way?

From verse 6 down to verse 11 is Jesus' response to what's the way?

How do we know the way?

Verse 6, Jesus says to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

From now on, you do know him and you've seen him.

He's talking about himself.

The next time a Jehovah's Witness rings your doorbell, just read to them from right here in John 14.

They do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

They do not believe that Jesus is even God.

And Jesus says here, I and the Father are one.

If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

This is the person he's talking about.

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the way because he is the truth of God and the life of God.

I'm the way.

You want directions, but God sent you a person, okay?

Because later on, Jesus says, if you don't believe in me, believe on the signs that I've done at least.

Either way, you have a basis for belief, Thomas.

There's no reason you can't believe in me.

Now, why is Jesus saying this?

Because, again, get your head around this.

Up to this point, even at this point, many of the disciples still do not believe in Jesus.

They appreciate him, they listen to his teaching, they enjoy his provision, but they do not believe in him.

He says, I'm the way.

Then he says, I'm the truth.

I'm the truth.

Now, listen very carefully, okay?

Because I want to make a distinction that we need to know about in our culture.

He doesn't say, I am a truth.

All through the Bible, one of the things you'll see is that the Bible refers to Jesus as the truth or the truth in Jesus.

It's not just out there, you got your truth, I got my truth.

There's the truth, the objective standard by which all of life is evaluated and appraised.

And the Bible says this is found in Jesus.

Paul references it in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 21.

Ephesians 4:21

He says, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.

Because the Bible says this is the truth is in Jesus.

He's saying the very truth of God.

Truth itself resides in Jesus.

And here in verse 6, Jesus is saying the same thing about himself.

Now, here's the distinction I want you to understand.

Truth is not the teaching about God that's transmitted by Jesus, but it's God's very reality revealing itself in Jesus.

Let me say that again.

Truth is not, you know, hey, this is the truth of God and then teaching about God, that Jesus is kind of transmitting.

No, no, no.

Truth is this reality that's found in Jesus.

That's why back in John 4, he says that the worship, the Father seekers, worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth.

This is what we were created for.

This divine reality that's revealed by Jesus is what the Bible calls the truth.

Lastly, he says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life.

It's not the best version of your life.

It's not your best life now.

Uh, it's his life in you.

And so think about it like this.

If there's any area of your life where you're being overcome right now, then let this remind you that in the in that area of your life, uh, that the life of Jesus is not being manifest.

This illuminating reality is not kind of cutting through the darkness because the Bible says that everything in this world is incapable of overcoming.

Back in John chapter 1, uh, now I say this a lot, and here's one of the times I want to repeat it.

John 1 · chapter mention

Uh, the Bible is just one big story.

John's saying the same thing over and over and over because he's he's trying to get these religious people who don't have a relationship with God to understand what it means to have a relationship with God.

And so he uses two themes all through John's gospel: light and life.

He started off in John chapter 1, the first five verses, by saying this: In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

John 1 · chapter mention

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life.

Hear that.

In him was life.

Now, when he says life, it's the word Zoe, not bios.

Bios refers to our biological existence.

We eat, we sleep, we drink, we go to work, we come home, we play, we hang out, we go to dinner with our wife.

That's biological existence.

When he says that you he says life here, it's a different word in the Greek.

It's Zoe.

Zoe.

And Zoe, we'll get to that in just a minute.

He says, and him was life.

And the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Now, what do you mean life?

Zoe refers to this.

Here's a technical definition.

I've given this to you before, but it it doesn't bother me to remind you because I want to remind myself.

Because here's what I don't want to do.

I don't want to just bump through life, just doing my best and asking God for forgiveness.

I want to experience the life that Jesus died for me to have.

Zoe refers to life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed in the portion, even in this world, of those who put their faith, excuse me, their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection, to be consummated by new ascensions among them a more perfect body and to last forever.

And so when the Bible talks about that, I know that's clunky and kind of nerdy, but what the Bible's saying to us is that, hey, this life that we get to live, this Christian life, doesn't start in heaven.

It starts here on earth and it's culminated in heaven.

Do you hear that?

It's not just, well, I just do my best and I just try and it's tough.

No, no, no.

Here's why.

Because this life is the gift of a person.

And this person in him was life, and this life was the light of all men.

And this light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

That means you can go to work tomorrow, confident that you have a reality in you bigger than anything anybody brings to the boardroom.

Anything anybody brings to the bank.

Anything that people bring to the work group.

And the Bible says it like this in 1 John 4.

He says, Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

And so when he talks about a person, Jesus is talking about himself.

And he says, Hey, think about me this way.

I'm the way.

There's not directions, there's a person.

I'm the truth, I'm the life.

Lastly, he says there's this possibility.

There's a possibility.

It's verses 12 to 14.

You still with me?

Y'all are like, dude, we're like we're drinking from a fire hydrant.

I told you, the Bible is so packed with implications for our life.

I don't want you to miss them.

Listen very carefully to this, okay?

Because a lot of people misunderstand this and they live and drown in guilt.

Jesus says in verse 12, Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do.

Hear this phrase, because I am going to the Father.

Mark that in your Bible.

Because I am going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.

That the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Now, here's why I say pay attention, because you've got to be careful in how you understand these verses, or they can be really guilt-producing and not life-giving.

Notice where Jesus says, because I am going to the Father.

This is about completion, not just intercession.

This is about when he says, I'm because I'm going to the Father, it's about completion, not just intercession, because he is seated at the right hand of the Father now, and he ever lives to intercede for us.

That's not what Jesus is talking about.

It's not like, hey, these things you shall do in greater, because I'm going to go plead your case before God.

I've heard so many, especially TV preachers, say that.

Oh, just whatever you want, Jesus wants it for you, and he's telling God to give it to you.

Unbiblical prosperity gospel nonsense.

And people follow up and say, oh, it's just right here that, you know, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.

Here's what I want you to understand, beloved.

When I say this is this is completion, not just intercession.

Jesus is talking right here in John 14 before the cross.

Even some of his own disciples have yet to believe.

Once he goes to the Father, because he's finished living out the gospel, death, burial, resurrection, the disciples have a robust gospel to proclaim to the nations.

And so when Jesus says, These things you shall do in greater, what he is saying is, because I'm going to finish the story, and the culmination of the story is my death, burial, and resurrection.

You guys now have a gospel to take to the nations and two expressions of the these things you shall do in greater.

Number one, the gospel goes to the Gentiles, not just to the Jews.

That's who John's writing to.

But secondly, it's Pentecost and the birth of the church.

Now keep this in mind.

The Bible's not hard.

You have to find a church that'll actually teach it to you.

Jesus is talking to his disciples.

Remember who he first started off talking to?

The guy and said, Hey, Lord, I'll follow you anywhere.

What was his name?

Peter.

That's right.

Peter, Lord, I'll follow you anywhere, Jesus.

These people may give up on not me, I'm your man.

You know, we best is Jesus.

Jesus like, man, before the rooster crows.

In other words, before the sun comes up, dude, you're gonna deny me three times.

Come on, he said, I love you.

I remember your frame.

I know you mean well.

Sometimes you say too much, take responsibility for things that aren't your responsibility.

Come on, let's hug it out.

That Peter.

When Jesus says, These things you shall do in greater, one of those is the birth of the church, happens in Acts 2 at Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit is given.

And there's a man that preaches there, and 3,000 people come to faith in Christ.

What was his name?

Say it again.

Peter.

Peter.

So Jesus is speaking to this smoldering wick who's feeling kind of sheepish.

Like, yeah, kind of shot my mouth off Jesus.

And then when the chips were down, I was like, I don't know him.

I'm not with him.

He even swore on one occasion that I do not know him.

I swear on my mother's heart.

He understands what Jesus means when he says these things you shall do in greater.

Now, listen carefully.

Does it involve the miraculous?

Yeah, sometimes it does.

But you can't conjure that up on demand.

The miraculous finds you and reminds you.

It's not something that you use to draw attention to yourself.

It happened probably a month ago in Africa.

Some preacher claimed to raise somebody from the dead three days later.

Oh, there, no, they paid him to do all that.

It's all fake.

Because people are like, oh, whatever you ask in my name, I will do, and the Father be glorified in the Son.

Look at me.

The Father is not glorified by any of that nonsense.

You set the cause of Christianity back.

But I will tell you, I was in college and uh we had an outreach, our BSU, as it was called back then, Baptist Student Union, had outreach to this apartment complex, this government apartment complex, we're gonna give them all turkeys for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and we'd gotten stores to not me, I was just like, hey, I'll help.

A guy had gone around and got in stores to donate, and we thought, man, we got 55 turkeys.

We had to get these chest freezers to put them all in.

I had extension cords, everything in the community center room, you know, at the apartment complex.

And word got out, and the line wrapped around that thing twice, went out the parking lot and down the hill.

And then some smart people started counting 57, 58, 59, 60, 74, 75, 76.

How many turkeys do we got?

One cat in a room.

He had them eyes that look like two bonfires.

Like, either I love Jesus a whole lot, or I'm gonna kill all of y'all as soon as the turkeys are gone.

Walks in there and lays his hands on the freezers and just praise the Lord.

We need more turkeys.

We need more turkeys, Jesus.

Make more turkeys.

I don't know what happened.

I'll try to figure it out.

Everybody in line got a turkey.

And people were like, hey man, do you know about what happened with them turkeys?

I mean, how many?

Now, the guy in charge, his name is David.

I saw David in the cafeteria the next day.

I was like, hey man, what about it?

He's like, tears streaming down.

Oh man, God's faithful.

Oh, that last guy was the biggest turkey we had.

Little boy, he had the rare back and whoa arched his back to get it home to his mom.

Boy, God's faithful.

I didn't even want to question it.

Now there were interrogators there at our campus that lawyers that wanted, oh, you know, can you verify this on the testimony?

I was like, did everybody get a turkey?

Yeah, we had more turkeys than we thought we did.

Now I went to college and people say it was miraculous.

I'm like, wonderful.

I did not go out the next day and get 50 turkeys and try to give them away to 84 people.

Sometimes the miraculous finds you.

You don't need to go looking for it.

What you need to be about is, hey, these things you should do in greater.

He says, ask, ask anything in my name.

And that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Ask in keeping with the character of his name.

Ask and keeping.

It's not, oh, it's an open invitation.

But is the Father glorified in the Son?

Or are you glorified?

Clears up a lot of things.

So if you're a guest today, here's what we like to do here we like to teach the Bible, and we like to give you some space to kind of think about it.

Some questions come up on the screen.

Don't try to write them down.

Move out your phones, take a picture.

We have a community group that's a meeting tonight.

They'll talk about these questions.

Let me voice a prayer and let's just ask God.

Hey, God, what are you saying to us?

Because in a couple weeks we'll get into the next section of John 14.

And Jesus is getting ready to go.

Here's the other thing that's comforting to the disciples.

They're like, okay, you can go.

He says, hey, I'm not going to leave you as orphans.

I got to go so that the paraclete, the comforter, the Holy Spirit can come.

And then Jesus says this: He will lead you into all truth.

He'll lead you into all truth.

So you don't have to smother me and try to keep me here.

I'm finished.

Okay, I'm getting ready to finish this whole thing out and give you guys a completed gospel story to take to the nations.

But the Father's gonna always be with you.

Let's pray together.

Holy Spirit, Jesus said that you would lead us into all truth.

And so we're asking you now to do what Jesus said you would do.

And so just lead us into the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

So help us, God.

Help us, your people, to better understand the word of God and the ways of God.

We just want to think about this now.

And we want to think about it in Jesus' name.

Father, we're mindful today that the Bible says that the commands of the Lord are not burdensome.

And so we don't have to sit in a room in silence and just feel burdened.

We do need to sit and just think for a little bit.

Just say, you know, it thing starts off with a promise and it ends in a possibility.

And God takes a man that said something that he meant in the moment, but God remembered his frame that there's no way he can't live up to this.

That didn't disqualify him.

Matter of fact, he's one of the first people that experienced these things you shall do in greater.

So, God, I pray for people in this room who've made promises that they meant in the moment and then couldn't fulfill in the days to come.

That you'd wash off of them shame in Jesus' name.

You'd let them hear the voice of God saying, Hey, hey, you're still included.

This still applies to you.

So, Holy Spirit, thanks for the truth and thanks that it sets us free.

I pray that we'd be freer people when we walk out here in just a few minutes than we were when we walked in.

I pray that we would be free to your glory and to our pleasure in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest, uh, thanks for being a part of our church.

If you have any questions about anything you've seen today, we'll be available down front in just a minute when you're dismissed.

Hope you've had an opportunity to grab one of those uh those guest cards in the seat pocket in your row uh and fill it out.

If you haven't, would you just take a moment before you leave and fill that out?

And then on your way out, just drop it on these wooden boxes by the doors.

That's also where we receive our offering.

If this is what you call your church home and you're worshiping God today through obedience or generosity, that's where you would take care of that as well.

Uh, there's a couple different things going on we want to make you aware of before you're dismissed.

So give your attention to the screens for our announcements this week.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Camp registration is now open for kids, bridge, and students.

For kids, our church will be hosting Pine Cove Camp in the state.

The bridge camp is happening in Wichita Falls, Texas, and students will be traveling to Durango, Colorado.

For Bridge and Student Camp, making your deposit and registering now will save you some money as registration prices increase on May 2nd.

For more information, go to Grandparkway.org slash events.

Chat and Chow is happening on May 1st from 6 to 9 p.m.

at Rudy's Barbecue in Richmond.

This is a come and go evening of feasting for all women.

So bring a friend to enjoy some barbecue and enjoy each other.

If you have questions about anything you've heard today, or you would like someone to pray with you, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

There was a picture up on the screen, I think, while I was preaching.

I gave you a big long theological definition of Zoe and blah, blah, blah.

This is Zoe.

This is the life you're created to live.

You ever grab a little kid and throw them in the air and it petrifies them?

As soon as you catch them, they're like, do it again.

That's Zoe.

That's the life God created you.

Sometimes it's scary, but after you experience it, you're like, all right, all right, all right.

Yeah.

That's what you're created for, okay?

Stand to your feet.

Let me speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

Your God so loved you that he left the sanctity of heaven and came to the chaos of earth, not as punishment, but to rescue you from a little L life and to invite you into capital L living.

Depart now and live in this exuberant, sufficient, juicy goodness of God.

This is the life you were created for.

And let this life and the light that it produces in you bring light to all the places you go.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.