Welcome to the Defender Bible Study, a weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable around the world. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children's Services where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.

Good morning. It is Monday, May 19, and this is Blake Wilson, Lifeline's vice president of operations. We're gonna jump in this morning back into John chapter 14. We wrapped up chapter 13 last week, and we are in chapter 14 looking at the first fourteen verses today. I hope you guys had an excellent weekend and enjoyed the time the time away.

Excited about what the Lord's gonna do with the new week with us here at Lifeline and continuing in the study of John chapter 14. This passage is short, but it has a lot of meat. And I feel like we could spend many, many weeks talking about these 14 verses. But I wanna try to breeze through these and really breaking it down by some of the key statements from the mouth of Jesus as he is talking to his disciples. In my bible, it actually talks about, or the subheading rather is listed as Jesus comforts his disciples.

So he is comforting his disciples as he is preparing for his departure because he he knows what is coming. As we progress through the book of John, you're gonna see, ultimately, we're gonna see his death, burial, and resurrection. He's preparing his disciples for this. So, you know, as the journey goes and as they, continue to build their relationship together, he is slowly preparing them for his absence. So he gives them a lot of statements in this.

I think it's probably eight or nine direct statements. We're gonna look at probably five or six depending on time today of key statements that Jesus told his disciples in this passage. And right out of the gate, he starts in verse number one, and the very first section says, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. So the first statement is do not let your hearts be troubled.

You may say, well, why why is Jesus telling his disciples this? Why why is he telling them to not be troubled? We would all agree that in this world, we have a lot of trouble. Right? It doesn't take long for us to look out our window, to be surrounded by hardships and troubles.

Our hearts are troubled with the brokenness of our world and what we see around us. Jesus isn't specifically talking about that. He's not talking about these worldly troubles. In this passage, what what, what the prerequisite to this, if you rewind just one chapter, a few short verses before in John thirteen thirty three, Jesus tells his disciples about his absence. This is what it says.

My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, where I am going, you cannot come. That's a pretty pretty bold statement, and I would say earns, right, earns the ability to to be troubling to his disciples. He is these disciples have left everything. Right?

They left their nets at the shore. They left their family. They followed him all across the region as his disciples and his apprentices, learning and being shaped by Jesus, by watching his day to day interactions, being surrounded by they had sacrificed themselves and their families and their jobs to follow him. And now he's saying he's leaving, And he's saying, I'm not only leaving, but you can't come with me. It was a troubling statement to these disciples, and they had a reason to be concerned.

So what Jesus is telling them here is not not be troubled with brokenness or sin. I mean, think about all of the hurt that these disciples saw. They saw the lame. They saw those ridden with disease. They saw the blind, the mute, the demon possessed.

They saw the dead. Right? They saw, people resurrected. They saw trouble. Right?

They saw the weeping of parents. I mean, you name it. They were surrounded and exposed by brokenness and trouble. This isn't what Jesus is saying. He's saying don't be troubled about who I am.

Don't get distracted in who I am. You believe in God, you believe in me. And if you believe in me, you will have everything that you need. So don't be troubled with belief in me, with your faith in me. Be consistent.

Just because I'm not going to be with you doesn't mean that that should change. So don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, then you believe in me. And that is a consistency that you see in the scripture. So he tells them he's leaving, but listen at verse number two.

My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? What a what an awesome thought to think about Jesus preparing a place for us. You know, as I was studying this, I learned something new, and it was about the Jewish tradition and tying back to the Jewish wedding of of when a a groom would propose to his to his wife, to his fiancee. Before the wedding, he would depart and leave and go back to his homeland where he would prepare a place for his bride.

He would you know, it could have been I don't know. It could have been building a house. It could have been preparing a room in the home of his parents. Who knows what it be what it was, but he would ultimately leave and prepare a place for his bride. But before he could come back, his father had to approve of what he had prepared.

So you can think of a young, a young man going to prepare a place for his family and for his bride, but his dad had to give the stamp of approval before he could return. Jesus is saying, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and in my house has many, many rooms. This is a very relevant illustration that his disciples would have understood because it was part of the Jewish custom of what they were to do when preparing preparing for marriage. He was going to prepare a place for you. So I think it's humbling for us to stop and think that our savior, the Messiah, the creator of the universe, has ascended into heaven, and he is preparing a place for us to spend eternity with him forever.

That is so humbling to know that our sin ridden selves are going to be with him, and he is preparing, for that glorious day when we'll be together. But we will be together because what? He's coming back, and that's your third statement that I wanna look at today. Verse number three says, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back, and I will take you with me and that you will be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am where I'm going.

Excuse me. So you know the place where I am going. The third statement is is I'm coming back. That should bring a smile to our face that he is coming back, that he will return, and he will return the same way that he left. Acts chapter one verses nine through 11 say this.

And after he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, and suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. So this speaks of Jesus' ascension into heaven, and we have the promise just as Jesus said in verse number three, I will come back.

He will come back the same way that he left, descending from heaven. And this is the hope that we have. This is the hope that he will return, that he will gather, so we will see the place that he is preparing for us. Therefore, we should not be troubled. I love the way these statements are just promise after promise of the goodness of God.

And then we look at verse number five, and then there's Philip and Thomas, in this next section of just questions. Right? We all have questions, but but why? I don't understand. Help me.

You know, and I can just I can relate to these guys. I have a lot of questions. I feel like if I were there with Jesus, I would have probably been Philip or I would have been Thomas saying, I don't I don't quite get it, Jesus. Help me understand. He says in verse number five, Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?

And Jesus answered, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. There's your fourth statement. I'm the way, I'm the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

Jesus is being very clear that there is one way to heaven. That that place that he is preparing for us, there is one way to it, and it is through him as Jesus the Messiah. It's not he's not a way. He's not a option of truth. He is the way, singular.

He is the only way. He is the truth, and he is the life. There's only one way, and Jesus is is reminding Thomas of this. You know the way, and the way is through me. And he says in verse seven, if you really know me, you will know my father as well.

From now on, you do know him and you have seen him. Here's Philip. Philip said, Lord, show us the father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered, don't you know me, Philip? Even after I have been among you for such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the father.

How can you say, show us the father? You know, I get to see Jesus saying, come on, Philip. Why don't you get it? What's wrong? I can't believe you don't understand.

Just a level of you know, I don't I don't wanna say frustration, but just, like, dumbfounded. Like, come on, buddy. What is going on? He is claiming about his his deity here, and he says, anyone who has seen me has seen the father. There's your fifth statement.

It's a very bold statement, a statement of of deity and reminding Philip to say that there's no reason to be confused. You should know. If you have seen me, you have seen the father. He's claiming his deity and reminding his disciples of who who he is. So don't verse 10, don't you believe that I am the father?

This is a continued narrative in conversation with Philip. Don't you believe that I'm the father and that the father is in me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the father living in me who is doing the work. Believe me when I say that I am the father and the father is in me or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the father. You know, Jesus is saying, come on, Philip. Come on. Just believe. Like, I am the exact imprint of God.

I am God. God is me. We are the same. And he's trying to help him understand, but he even goes I love this in the verse 11. He says, at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

He's like, where have you been, man? You've seen you've seen people healed. You've seen demons cast out. You've seen the blind see, the the lame walk, the deaf hear. You've seen all of these miracles that have happened.

Believe at least believe in the evidence that you have seen of the works themselves. Like, what else can I do, Philip? He's just, you know, he's just trying to say, what else can how else can I phrase this? What else can I say to help you understand and believe that I am him? Verse 13, and I will do whatever you ask in my name so the father may be glorified in the son, and you may ask me anything in my name, and I will do it.

There's our I think this is the last thing that we're gonna have time to get to today. But it says, you may ask me anything in my name, and I will do it. And I I think as a as a as a young man, I remember hearing this verse. I grew up in the church, and, you know, it's easy it was easy for me to view this verse as kind of a magician or a genie in the bottle and saying whatever I ask, you know, just just rub it, rub the lamp, and I'm gonna get my answer. It's so easy to take this out of context.

But luckily, we see John in verse number 13 that gives us so much context. And it says, and I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the son. There are two important components to this promise, and the first one is it has to be asked in his name. So if it has to be asked in his name, in the name of Jesus Christ, that request has to be consistent with his character and his authority. It has to be aligned with his will.

So when we are asking, we are praying and interceding, what we ask has to be consistent with the character of Jesus Christ. So those those requests are not going to be for wealth and possessions and success. You know, those should be in clarity and wisdom and how to become more like him. You know, those those prayers are going to be consistent with the character and the understanding of who Jesus is. But even beyond that, it says that the father may be glorified in the son.

So we're not we're asking it in the name of Jesus, but what we're what we are asking for and what we're petitioning for should be bringing glory to him. It says that the father may be glorified. So when we are praying and when we are asking, we should be asking with this in mind. Is this bringing Jesus glory? Will this request bring him glory?

So ask it in his name, but ultimately, it should be to give him praise, honor, and glory, and to further his kingdom. Those are the components that we ask in anything in his name, and he will do it because it's gonna further it's gonna be it's gonna further the gospel. It's gonna grow the gospel to the nations and do greater things than this. What he what he references up in, I think, it's verse 12 because, ultimately, we're going to see the gospel spread to the nations because of the Holy Spirit and the coming at Pentecost. So what we ask, we ask in his name that he may be glorified.

James, chapter four gives us another reminder of this. James four two, you do you do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures. What a reminder from the book of James here of how we ask and what we seek and what we pray for. You don't have it because you ask with the wrong motives.

I'm so guilty of this. You you pray, and you don't even realize you're doing it, but you pray with the wrong motives. You pray of what you want the outcome to be, not what the Lord has in store for us. So may our motives be pure, asking in the name of Jesus that he may be glorified through those through those requests. So I think we probably covered six six different statements here in this passage, but let our hearts not be troubled because he has gone to prepare a place for us, and he will come again.

He is the way, the truth, and the life. Whoever is seeing the father has seen him, has seen me. And then if you ask anything in my name, I will do it again. As we as we close out our time today and we kinda start a new week together, guys, let's not be troubled. Let's not get discouraged by the brokenness of the world around us, but let's hold tight to the eternal security that we have through Jesus as the Messiah.

Let's believe he is who he says he is and that he has gone to prepare a place for us and that he will return the same way that he ascended. He will descend and come to bring wholeness and completeness to this world. So let's have that hope today as we hear the words of our of our Lord giving us so many rich promises throughout the first fourteen verses, of John 14. Let's close out our time today in prayer and just ask that the Lord will continue to bless, this ministry and give us wisdom as we, as we strive to make his gospel known. Father, we are thankful, today for what you're doing in this ministry at Lifeline.

You have been so good, and you have given us such opportunity to keep you at the center. And, Lord, I pray that even this morning as we are starting our day off in prayer and bible study, Lord, may this just be reflective, of who we are as a ministry. Lord, may our culture, be reflective of your glory. Lord, may may our prayers be reflective of your character. And, Lord, may Lifeline just be, known as a ministry grounded in the truth of the gospel.

And, Lord, may others see that difference because of our authenticity in in who you are, who you've created us to be. So, father, I just pray that as we step into a new a new week that you give us that wisdom on those that we will cross paths with, God, that you'll give us the words of encouragement. And, Lord, may we see people come to saving faith in who you are and to to trust you as their Lord, this week. Lord, I pray for our team on the ground, whether they are hosting an event, around the around the country, whether they're maybe serving a mom who has just, found out that she is expecting and she has a lot of questions and just is uncertain about next steps. God, I pray for our staff who will minister to her this week.

Lord, I pray for those families that are interested in starting the adoption process. God, I pray for our inquiry team and people that will be interacting with them and praying for them. God, may you, bless those decisions. God, send us more families who have who are just responding to the call to proceed with international adoption. God, you have you have gifted us with, so many countries, and we're we're so grateful for the new countries, working in and, Lord, especially Ecuador.

Lord, may you just work and send us families, to join the the lifeline family to where we can see these children come into loving Christian homes and become disciples of of you. So, Lord, thank you for your word. We thank you for the hope of the gospel. And, Lord, we we thank you that one day, as we read this morning, that we will see you descend from heaven, that you will come again, and we will see the place that you have prepared for us. We'll be with us now as we serve you, and we ask these things in your name.

Amen.

Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline child. You can email us directly at info@lifelinechild.org.

We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.