Introduction to John 14

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/7/2016 10:33 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Introduction to John 14:1-14

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 14:1-14

            Message of the verses:  John 14:1 says “1"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”  John 14:27 says “"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  I suppose that these words from our Lord which were given to His disciples almost 2000 years ago are truly needed for all of us who live in the United States of America today.  If there is one thing we need today it is peace from our Lord as we look at what is going on, not only in our world, but in our nation.  We have studied the things that the Bible teaches us about the end times, things about how there will be a one world government headed up by who the Bible calls the Antichrist, how Israel would become a nation, how the Old Roman Empire would begin to be seen, especially in the uniting of Europe.  So as we look at all of these things coming into fruition and a very unstable country we live in we can understand what it means to have a troubled heart and so as we study this section of John we can understand a little bit about why the disciples of Jesus were troubled.  Jesus tells them that He is going away and they can’t follow Him at this time, He also tells them that there is a traitor among them, and then Peter speaks up, who is the spokesmen for the group and tells Jesus that he is ready to go with Him and even die for Him, and then Jesus tells Peter that before the night is over that he will deny that he even knows Him.  With this background we come to chapter fourteen and we will begin to look at verses 1-14 as we follow the outline that is in the commentary written by John MacArthur who entitles this chapter “Comfort for Troubled Hearts.”

            It does not take long as we begin to read the Bible that trouble is going to be a way of life, and the reason is because of sin and yet right after man sinned along with his wife God tells them that He will send a redeemer to care for the sin problem.  Just yesterday while sitting in Sunday school one of the ladies was telling the man sitting next to me that a friend of theirs was in the hospital with double pneumonia.  A little later on we get the news that our 7 year old grandson’s friend was being taken by air to a major hospital in Cleveland, the very same hospital where our son had open heart surgery 36 and a half years ago.  I was awakened in the middle of the night and that little boy was on my heart and so I spent time praying for him until I fell back to sleep.  Trouble is all around us and we all, like Jesus’ disciples need comfort from the Lord.

            John MacArthur writes about our troubles “But the blessed promise of Scripture is that God, ‘the Father of mercies and God of all comfort’ (2 Cor. 1:3; cf. Isa. 51:12), will comfort His children.”

            The first way that God gives us comfort is forgiving our sins as I mentioned after Adam and Eve sinned this promise is found given to them in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."”  God promises here that His Son would come to grant to those who will receive Him forgiveness of sin and salvation and then in chapter 16 of John’s gospel we are promised the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to live within us.  We, as His children are also promised to be with the Lord in heaven one day, and promised to be with the Lord as soon as we die, leave out earthy body for absent from the body is present with the Lord.

            We will now look at the last paragraph from John MacArthur’s introduction to show us where we will be headed in our study of these first fourteen verses of John chapter 14.

            “On the night before His death, the Lord Jesus Christ addressed the eleven remaining disciples (minus Judas) in the upper room.  Though the cross with its sin-bearing (2 Cor. 15:21) and separation from the Father (Matt. 27:46), was imminent, Jesus’ focus was not on His own ordeal.  Instead, He was concerned for the disciples, whose world was about to be shattered.  They were already hurting, confused, and anxious because of the impending loss of their beloved Master.  Soon He would be gone, and they would ‘weep and lament’ (16:20).  Because of His perfect and complete love for the disciples, Jesus sought to comfort them in the face of His departure.  The first fourteen verses of chapter 14 lay the foundation for the comfort—not only for the disciples gathered in the upper room but also for all believers.  Comfort comes from trusting Jesus Christ’s presence, preparation, proclamation, person, power and promise.”  And now we see this outline we will be following and the timing of it is spot on.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Peace and comfort is exactly what is needed for me and for all believers who live in our country at this time period and so this is a good time to study this very important set of verses from John’s gospel.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to give comfort to me as I study this section of John’s gospel.

Memory verse for the week (Romans 6:16) “16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either sin resulting to death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Mary” (Luke 1:27-28).

Today’s Bible question:  “In communion, what is symbolized by the cup?”

Answer in our next SD.

11/7/2016 11:19 AM