“His Many Mansions, Part One”
John 14:1-11

August 14, 2005
by C.W. Powell

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

Introduction: All of these verses are connected. Jesus is not darting from flower to flower like a butterfly, but there is an important vital doctrine for life and faith set forth here. We will try to let it ring out this morning.

I. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. [vs. 1]
Peace in the heart is the absolute requirement for the growth of spiritual virtues. The agitated heart is no soil in which goodness and holiness can grow.

A. Reasons for agitation.

1. Unbelief. This is the root, and Christ would cure the agitation of His disciples by calling them to faith.

a) Ignorance. Faith cannot exist without knowledge. You cannot believe a promise if you don’t know what the promise is. Chicken Little thought the sky was falling. Her knowledge was defective.

(1) If you do not know God, then you cannot have faith and you will be involved in endless turmoil.
(2) Ignorance breeds fear and alarm. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. It wasn’t falling, but Chicken Little and her friends believed it was. There is such sad ignorance of the Scriptures these days that people are easily raised by alarms and fears.
(3) Christ would call the disciples to Himself. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

b) No trust. Unbelievers cannot not trust in God’s promise. Jesus would remind His disciples of the promises that He had given them and would call them to trust Him and believe.

2. Rebellion: The soul finds rest only in God. The modern world is filled with agitation and distress and fussing around.

a) Against the revealed will of God: Ps. 119:165. If you are in rebellion against God’s precept, you will not know peace in your heart, and your life will become agitated and distressed.
b) Against the decreed will of God. This is the lot that God has decreed for you. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Ps. 34 This is your lot in life. God has arranged the circumstances of your life. It is just as hard to submit to God’s decree as it is to submit to His precept.

(1) Life does not come in nice neat little packages. As Solomon put it, ‘Canst thou make straight what the Lord has made crooked?” This is from Ecclesiastes 7 and I would urge you to read it. It is by many tribulations that we enter into the kingdom of God and we are not to be overcome by them, but to trust in the Lord. “Rest in the Lord,” the Psalmist said. “Wait patiently for Him.” “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.” (Ps 37:8 AV) “The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.” (Pr 19:3 AV)
(2) It will not due to chafe against your lot, but you overcome it with the virtue of patience. Agitation and unrest are intoxicants that bring the whole soul into disorder, and you end up saying and doing things you ought not to do.

B. Cure for agitation: Faith. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

1. This is not a pious wish of Christ. Ye believe in God. Believe also in me. Without faith in the Lord Jesus your faith in God is simply a flutter in the mind. So you say that you believe in God; all that shows is that you are in the image of God. You are called to a living union-a vital union.
2. Without faith and submission to Christ your idea of god is an idol. But saying that you believe in Christ and really believing in Christ are two very different things.
3. It goes to authority. You cannot believe in Christ and look to another authority. What is the final authority by which you judge things? How do you decide? What binds the church and what binds your conscience?
4. Christ is not an idea or an abstraction: He is the Person who lived on this earth some two thousand years ago, who was revealed to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection from the dead. He now is in heaven and rules the church by His word and Spirit. You and I are bound to obedience to Him.

II. The next verses are remarkable. Vs. 2-4 I will be speaking on them next week.

III. How do we know the way. How different the answer given to Thomas and the answer given to the Rich Young Ruler. They both asked the same question essentially.

A. What must I do to inherit the kingdom of God? The Rich Young Ruler was a proud, self-righteous, and self-sufficient man and Christ told him to keep the commandments. When he confidently said, “All this I have done from my youth up,” Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give to the poor, the only time anyone was told in the Bible to do this. The proud and rich in spirit, who think they have all the answers, must be humbled by the law and slain by the law and laid in the dust by the law.
B. Thomas: “How can we know the way?”

1. The RYR thought he knew the way and wanted Christ to confirm it. He didn’t come to Christ for information; He was proud in heart and arrogant. He had no faith and really didn’t believe in the law. If he had believed Moses he would have believed Christ. He believed neither. He believed in himself and his ability to understand.
2. Jesus said that Thomas knew the way; Thomas said he didn’t. Who was right? Christ was right, of course. Every Christian knows the way, but he is often not aware that he knows. The wise man knows more than he thinks he knows; the fool thinks he knows more than he knows.
3. The humble are often confused and distressed; this is the reason for these assuring words by Christ.
4. Solomon said, “wisdom is before him who has understanding, but the eyes of the fool are in the ends of the earth.” The truth was right there before Thomas; so was the way; so was the life.
5. It is always a mistake to arrogantly set aside the humble Christian, as though he doesn’t know anything. He very often knows a great deal more than you think he knows, but it is also true that he often is not aware of how profound his knowledge is.
6. Knowledge puffs up, Paul said. “If any man think he knows something, he doesn’t know anything yet as he ought to know.

C. “All you need is Me, Thomas.” I am right here before you. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

1. Without Christ, the way is a winding labyrinth that takes you nowhere except into deeper darkness and gloom.
2. Without Christ, what you think is truth is deception and folly.
3. Without Christ, what you think is life is but the painted face of life, a painted face that hides the rot of your own sin, your deadness and gloom, shut up in your own heart, without joy, without thankfulness, without anything but your fretfulness and misery.
4. Christ is not

b) True. This implies that there is something else that validates Him. He is God and the Wisdom that validates everything else, but is judged by no man, as He himself said.
c) Alive, as though life was some adjunct to Him. He is the eternal, self-existent, and eternal Living God, who gives life to all things, and gives eternal life to those who believe on Him.

“An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” (Pr 29:22 AV) “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:” (Pr 22:24 AV Amen and Amen. May God bless you.