Confident… But Lost

Continuing our our series on John, it's been an amazing

series on this. Today we're going to dive into

John 14 a little bit. But before we do that, I just

want you to sit with something for a moment.

Just a feeling, a feeling that most people don't always talk

about. And I want you to think about a

time in your life where things didn't collapse all at once, but

it just quietly stopped feeling right.

And not a crisis, just a subtle shift where if somebody asked

you, you would still say I'm good.

But underneath that, things weren't as steady as it used to

be. And it's not a panic.

It's not even an anxiety. It's something much quieter than

that. And it usually shows up in just

quick small moments, moments when we have some time to be

quiet, moments when we're not distracted.

And in that moment, you can just feel it.

Something is just not right. And in that moment, you also

can't fully explain it. Because if you can put a name to

something, then you know how to deal with it.

But if you can't, it just sits there quietly affecting

everything else that's going on in your life.

So just stay in that moment for a second.

And maybe that's you today. Maybe you're sitting with that

feeling of something is just not right.

And we can, we can get to the bottom of that feeling by asking

one question. But it's a question that most of

us tend to avoid. And that question is, do I

actually know where I'm going? Because that quiet instability

and that underlying tension, that's not random.

That's what it feels like when we are moving through life

without direction. See, in our modern life, we have

more navigation than ever. We've got Google Maps, we've got

Waze, we've got GPS on our phones.

But also at the same time, we have more people feeling lost in

their lives than ever before. So we can get to a restaurant

within 3 seconds, but we don't really know where our life is

heading. And the problem is that we are

very used to moving with confidence, right?

You you open your GPS, you put in the address and it tells you

where to go and you don't question it.

You don't question every second turn, you don't second guess the

route, you just follow. But see, that only works if the

source is accurate and true. And if the source is wrong, you

can drive for an hour completely confident, but heading in the

complete wrong direction. And when that feeling shows up

for us, most people don't question the direction they're

on. They think they just need to

keep moving. I just need to do more.

I just need to be consistent. I just need to keep building.

So I want to ask you this morning, do you know where you

are going? Not today, but ultimately you

know, not your career, not your retirement plan, not next month,

but do you know where you are going eternally?

And I want to tell you to answer that question, we don't need

direction, we just need the way. See, the reason why we

experience that feeling and why we struggle to put our finger on

it is because we often rely on the world and not the word as

our source to answer that question.

Do I know where I'm going? Because one of the biggest lies

of our time is that as long as you're a good person, you'll

find your way. You know, as long as you have

good intentions and you don't offend people, that's the right

path in life. So when people say I love my

life according to the Bible, but I only take all the positive

things and I apply that and all the harsh things, I stay away

from that because I don't want to hurt people's feelings.

You know, I don't want to box them in.

And that sounds beautiful, but it's done.

And I hope that doesn't hurt your feelings because the world

instills in us just enough desire for other people to like

us that we tiptoe around hurting people's feelings.

We twist and edit the truth so it works for everybody.

And there's a quote by Leonard Ravenhill that says if Jesus

shared the gospel like most of us do today, he wouldn't have

been crucified. That's because the world tells

us to seek comfort instead of conviction.

That tells us to take the the safer options instead of

standing for the truth, no matter the consequence.

And I love this, this verse in Colossians 2, verse 8.

Colossians 2:8

I took this one from the new King James Version.

It says beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty

deceit according to the tradition of men, according to

the basic principles of the world, and not according to

Christ. That's like when people say, you

know what? Just do what works for you.

You do you. You'll end up where you're

supposed to be going as long as you are sincere.

And that sounds beautiful, but it's dumb.

Proverbs 1412 says there is a way that seems right to a man,

but it is the it's end is the way to death.

And that verse doesn't describe careless people.

It describes people who are convinced that they are right.

And that's where the idea of sincerity breaks down.

Because you can be completely sincere and completely wrong.

Because sincerity doesn't determine truth.

And it also contradicts Jesus. Because if all we need is to be

sincere and have good intentions and not hurt people's feelings,

then that means that everyone is right.

And if everyone is right, then Jesus is wrong.

But if Jesus is right, then most people are lost and they don't

even know it. So we just keep moving through

life with confidence, but no idea where we are actually

going. And so when we get to John 14,

we see that truth isn't something you build, that's

someone you follow. I remember once running a trail

in the mountains and I thought I knew the way.

I was pretty sure about the direction and I was very

confidence running. And at some point, I just took a

wrong turn. And when I looked up, the path

completely disappeared. And I stood there for a while

trying to figure out where I was.

And thinking back about that, I realized that confidence doesn't

equal direction because you can be confident and still be

completely lost. But luckily you don't need

direction, you just need the way.

So when we get to John 14, we see how direction collapses

because John 14 begins with Jesus talking to a group of men

who think they know where they are going, but actually they

have no idea. And if you've traced what's

already happened, like Stephen shared with us last week in John

13, you start to feel the weight in that room.

In 13 verse 21, Jesus has already said that one of them

will betray him in 13, verse 30. Judas has already already left

the room in 13 verse 38. He's looked at Peter and told

him that he will deny him before the night is over.

And in that moment in the room they don't fully understand

what's happening, but they can feel something is just not

right. So by the time we arrive in John

14, the tone has completely changed because these are men

that have built their entire life around Jesus.

They've left everything to follow him, believing that they

are part of something that's going somewhere, something

stable, you know, something that's building.

And then Jesus says in John 13 verse 33 where I'm going, you

John 13:33

cannot come, yo. Just like that, everything they

thought they understood shifts because now the future is

unclear and the direction is uncertain.

Now the person they've built their whole life around is

speaking in a way that sounds like he's leaving and that room

goes quiet, but not in a peaceful way, in a heavy way

where people are thinking and processing and they're trying to

hold on to something that's slipping.

And in that moment, if you open to John 14 verse one to four,

Jesus says do not let your hearts be troubled.

You believe in God, believe also in me.

My Father's house has many rooms.

If that were not so, would I have told you that 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 am going.

Do not let your hearts be troubled because you know the

way to the place that I'm going, you know?

And then Thomas says what everyone is feeling in John 14

verse five, he says, Lord, we don't know where you are going

and how can we know? And he's not trying to sound

deep. That's a man trying to steady

himself because everything just shifted and he can feel it.

And then when things start to feel unstable, we all do the

same thing. We start reaching for things we

can hold on to in that moment, just like we experienced those

times where things just don't feel right.

Thomas realizes something that most of us avoid to confront,

and that is, I don't actually know where this is going

anymore. I thought I knew, but I don't

know where it's going anymore. And that's maybe maybe that's

you today sitting here where you thought you knew where something

was going, where your life was going, but you just actually

don't know where it's going anymore.

But you don't need direction. You just need the way Jesus says

in John 14 verse six, He says I am the way and the truth and the

life and no one comes to the Father except through me.

Now, when Jesus says that to them in that room, He's not

comforting them. He's removing every alternative

that they are looking to hold onto.

And that's an uncomfortable thought for us because when we

do not know where we are going, we are searching for clarity

because clarity seems and feels like control.

So if I can understand what's happening, I can manage it.

And if I can see what's coming, I can prepare for it and I can

make sense. If I can make sense of it, then

I can handle it. And we do the same thing with

God. We say, God, just show me what's

next and then I'll trust you. And it sounds spiritual, but

it's no, you can't say that can hurt people's feelings.

It's not, it sounds spiritual, but it's not because if you slow

it down, it's not trust. It's a condition, Lord, I'll

trust you once I understand. And in John 14 verse 8, Philip

John 14:8

says, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us

control disguised as trust because in Philip's mind the

certainty of the future is crumbling.

And so he starts to negotiate for a sign just like we do.

Lord, you say we will face challenges in this life, but

just give me a sign. Show me that you are in this and

then I'll be at peace. Two Chronicles 32, verse 31 says

God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his

heart. So when you experience that

moment, that feeling that just doesn't feel right, what's in

your heart? Is it trust or is it control?

Do you really have faith or are you negotiating for signs?

So in John 14 verse 9, Jesus responds and he says, have I

John 14:9

been with you so long and yet you have not known me?

Philip, He who has seen me has seen the Father.

So how can you say show us the Father?

So notice what Jesus doesn't do there.

He doesn't give him plan or steps and He doesn't explain how

everything's going to unfold. He just removes what they are

reaching for and he doesn't give direction.

He gives truth. He gives the way again, John 14

John 14:6

verse 6, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one

comes to the Father except through me.

Not I'll show you the way, not let me show you the Father.

I am the way. You know the Father because you

know me, which means the issue is no longer do I know where I'm

going. That goes deeper than that.

It becomes, do I trust the one who's leading?

And this reminds me of a story. There was a guy that hired a

guide to take him on this adventure through a a forest,

dangerous forest. And just as they've all prepared

and as they start walking, the guy says to the guide, Are you

sure where we're going? And the guide just says, stay

close to me. So they keep walking through the

forest and they walk for about 30 minutes.

And the guy again says, hey, just to check, Are you sure you

know where we're going? And the guide says, just stay

close to me. And so they keep walking for

about another hour. And the guy says, just have you

double checked the coordinates? Are you sure?

And the guide says, just stay close to me.

And at one point, the guy says, I think I see a better path.

And he heads off in a different direction.

And hours passed. It's nightfall.

It's dark. This guy comes crashing through

the Bush. And he's done.

And as he comes through the Bush, he walks into the guide.

And the guide is sitting there peacefully around a warm fire

with the entire camp set up. And this guy is raging.

And as he's about to unleash onto the guide, the guide just

says, I didn't lose you. You left me, so do you trust the

one who's leading? Deuteronomy 8 verse 2 says

Deuteronomy 8:2

remember how the Lord your God LED you all the way in the

wilderness to humble and test you in order to know what was in

your heart? What is in our heart?

Is it trust or is it control? When we get to this point, this

is where it starts to press on us because we are comfortable

with Jesus when He fits into a plan, we understand and when it

fits into a plan that we can control, just like Philip says,

Lord show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.

Let me take control of that plan.

But we struggle when he replaces the plan altogether or he

changes the plan like that moment where he says where I'm

going, you cannot come. And now it goes from I thought I

knew where we were going, but I don't anymore.

You know, that wasn't the plan. And when people here I am the

way most people don't reject it immediately.

They just misunderstand it because they don't year it as

truth. They year it the way that we

were trained to think according to the world, we year direction

and we year steps and we year a path to follow.

So we assume Jesus is saying here's how to get where you need

to go, but that's not what he says.

And if you miss that, you miss the point.

And I want to show you how easy it is to miss that point.

There's a quote by Jiddu Krishnamurti say that three

times fast, if we can get that quote up, it says the day you

teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see

that bird again. Now, this quote isn't

criticizing knowledge. It's exposing what happens when

wonder dies. Because you see, when a child

sees a bird for the first time, there's this amazing wonder in

it doesn't know what it is. So he watches how it moves and

how it flies, and he starts diving into and looking at the

colors and the way that it reacts.

And it starts studying the bird. And there's a tension and

there's a draw to it. And there's a kind of closeness

forming because he hasn't reduced it yet.

And then someone comes along and they say, oh, that's a Sparrow.

And then at that point, the child files it under bird

subfolder Sparrow. And for the rest of his life, he

feels like he knows it, but he doesn't, because he only knows

the name. And because he thinks he knows

it, he stops looking and he stops engaging and he stops

paying attention. And wonder is replaced by

certainty or confidence. And the point that he was trying

to make is that naming or labeling something can replace

direct, curious observation with a word.

And once that happens, we stop truly seeing it.

And we do the same with Jesus. We experience Jesus for the

first time and there's a wonder and we start paying attention

and we start drawing closer and we start following.

But then something happens where where something just doesn't

feel right. And the world comes along and

they label Jesus. And then we hear things like

Savior and Lord and Messiah, and instead of encountering him and

experiencing him, we just label Him.

And depending on how we've been exposed to him, those words

either become familiar or it becomes something we've already

decided we don't agree with. But in both cases, it's possible

to deal with the label without ever experiencing the truth.

So we stop listening and we stop engaging, and somewhere along

the line we stop following Him. We replace encounter with

assumption and we replace revelation with familiarity.

And instead of engaging with who He actually is, we operate from

what we think we already know. I thought I knew where I was

going, just like Thomas Lord, we thought we knew, but we do not

know where you are going. And by the way, that's the same

for people who reject Christ because often what they reject

isn't actually Christ. It's a version of him that they

were given a label or distorted picture.

So you end up with two groups of people, those who think they

know him and those who think they've rejected him, but both

can be operating without ever actually encountering him.

Now if we bring that back to what Jesus says in that room

when he says I'm the way A it often doesn't land the way it

should because we hear it as information and not as an

invitation. He's not saying understand this.

He's saying come to me. And the more I read this chapter

and the more I thought about it, I realized it's actually so

simple. It's so simple.

He is not a way, He is the way. And if he is the only way, he is

the truth. And if He is the way and the

truth, He is the life. So if it's that simple, why do

people still live in uncertainty, like they lost,

like they don't know where they're going?

That's because once they go off the past path and they follow

their own direction, once things stop feeling right, they don't

turn back to Jesus. See, Christianity is not the

absence of challenges, it's the absence of perseverance to turn

back to Jesus every time you face a challenge.

So they turn to the world and they start reaching for clarity

and control instead of truth. And we see this too.

We start going to other people and we collect opinions and

perspectives and ideas. And all it does is it reinforces

confusion because truth is not something we build together.

It's something revealed. That's something that we learn

to recognize. And I've seen this so often and

I've lived this, I've done this. You feel lost.

So you go to someone for answers and you say to them, just just

give me the answer. And so they tell you something

that you don't like to you. Or maybe you don't apply it.

Or maybe it just doesn't work for you because you do you.

And So what you do is you leave them and you go to someone else,

and then the next person and the next person, same question,

different voices over and over and over again.

And because I've lived it and I keep seeing it, there are

moments where I see people stuck in this endless cycle.

I'm just tempted to put a Bible in their hand, slap them, and

say, start here, right? In a good way, but I can't do

that because it'll hurt their feelings, you know?

Can't and won't are two different things luckily.

But jokes aside, at some point a shift has to start happening for

us if we are caught in that something just doesn't feel

right. Because instead of going from

one person to the next saying give me the answer or give me

direction, we have to start asking.

Show me where it is, Help me see it.

Help me read what's actually there.

Because if you don't anchor yourself in truth, you'll start

to drift. And if you start to drift, you

won't know where you're going. But luckily there's a way out of

that because we don't need direction, we just need the way.

When we hear that and we are honest, we still, when we hear

Jesus say I am the way, we still try and leave room for something

else, for alternatives. And we won't say it out loud,

but it's there underneath everything.

Because when Jesus says He is the way and Acts 4 verse 12 says

Acts 4:12

salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name

under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

We still try to leave room for alternatives, not intentionally,

but in a subtle way because we start thinking, surely God

understands my unique situation. Surely sincerity counts.

Surely there are other ways. You know all roads lead to Rome,

and it sounds reasonable until we bring the cross into it.

Because the cross forces one question.

If there were other ways, why did Jesus have to die?

If there were multiple paths, if sincerity was enough, if people

could reach God through different paths, then the cross

is unnecessary. And that's saying that God

allowed his Son to suffer for something that wasn't necessary

but just optional. But Scripture says in Isaiah 53

verse five, he was pierced for our transgressions.

And Hebrews 9 verse 22 says without the shedding of blood,

Hebrews 9:22

there is no forgiveness, which means the cross is not one

option among many. That's the only solution.

That's the only way. And that changes everything,

because now it's not about what feels right, it's about what is

true. See, if Jesus wasn't enough, he

wouldn't have had to die. And if the cross is one option

among many, or not one option but the only solution, then

what's happening in that room where Jesus is talking to the

disciples? It starts to make sense because

they are not rejecting Jesus in that moment.

They are struggling to accept Him on His terms, and that's the

same thing we do. Most of most people are not

rejecting Jesus, they are just editing Him, keeping what they

like, removing what they don't, adjusting Him to fit their

lives. You know, this is what works for

me. And then they wonder why nothing

holds and why things just don't feel right in their life.

So you don't need a better version of Jesus, you just need

the real one, because a version of Him cannot lead you, only the

real 1 can. And we don't need direction, we

just need the way. So within hours of that room,

that conversation, everything collapses.

Jesus is arrested, the disciples, disciples scatter,

Peter denies him, and everything they thought was stable breaks.

And this life pulls us into situations like this.

And this is where his words become real when we experience

this in our life. Because in those moments, you

don't ask where to go. You fall into what you've been

following all along. You don't discover what you

believe, you reveal it in moments like that.

And if you've stopped seeing him and you've stopped seeking the

truth, you'll default to what you think you know or where you

thought this was going. And if you've reduced the cross,

you leave room for something else.

And slowly you build your life on something that seems right

and it sounds right, but it just doesn't feel right because it's

not him. Because if He is the way, not

one of many, then he doesn't share space with other options.

See, there's no version of Jesus and your truth, or Jesus and

good intentions, or Jesus and what feels right, or Jesus and

another path. Because the moment you add

something alongside him, you are no longer following him.

You've replaced him. And when everything in your life

starts to shift like the disciples experienced in that

room, the question won't be theoretical.

It'll be real and unavoidable. And it's not going to be, do I

know where I'm going? The real question is, do I trust

the one I've been following? Because you don't need

direction, you need the way. And if you're sitting here today

with that feeling or you've experienced that feeling, if you

don't know where you are going, I want to say to you again, God

is not a way. He is the way.

He is the truth and He is the life.

God bless you.