The Gospel of John: Expository Sermon #53
John 14:1-11
Believe. Believe Again. Keep Believing.
Sermon Notes & Reflection Guide
1. Listening to the Word
- What was the background that caused the disciples to be troubled? (The situation in chapter 13)
- What is the original Greek meaning of “to be troubled”?
- The statement about going to prepare a place is related to which custom?
- In the Gospel of John, “faith” is recorded not as a noun, but as what?
2. Questions for Understanding the Passage
- Why did Jesus say, “No one comes to the Father except through Me”?
- Why was Jesus grieved by Philip’s question, and where can we see God?
- What are the three reasons we are a “more blessed generation” than the disciples who saw Him with their own eyes?
3. Questions for Application
- What is the true nature of the “trouble” that is shaking my heart like a storm right now? In this situation, what confession of faith must I choose deliberately and decisively?
- Am I treating Jesus as merely one of many ways? In what area of my life am I failing to acknowledge Him as the one and only “The Way”?
4. Sharing Together
- Let us reflect on the words, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” and share with one another a time in our lives when we experienced the unseen but active hand of God at work.
Pray
- Free me from anxiety that is driven by emotion, and grant me an active faith that obeys Your command.
- Through the completed revelation You have already given in Scripture and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, lead me to walk with You each day.
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When the disciples were filled with anxiety in the face of Jesus’ impending death, He told them not to let their hearts be troubled, but to believe in God. He assured them that in His Father’s house are many dwelling places and that He was going to prepare a place for them. Yet Thomas and Philip still struggled with doubt and confusion.
- Who is Jesus, really?
When Thomas asked, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?” Jesus declared that He Himself is the way, and the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. This statement reveals His identity as the exclusive and sufficient Mediator between God and man. In Baptist evangelical theology, this affirms the uniqueness of Christ and the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
- What does it mean to know Jesus?
When Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us,” Jesus responded that the one who has seen Him has seen the Father. He spoke of His abiding union with the Father—that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. To know Jesus, therefore, is to know God Himself. This knowledge is not mere intellectual awareness, but a personal, covenantal trust—an ongoing relationship of faith in the revealed Son, grounded in the authority of Scripture and made real through the regenerating and indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.
Park, Youngsun. Hebrews Revisited. Edited by Sunhyung Moon and Yujin Jung. Seoul: Mugeungeom, 2020.
Song, Youngmok. Reading the New Testament Intertextually. Edited by Gilyong Byun and Hoeyeon Jung. Seoul: Christian Literature Mission Society, 2017.
Selman, Martin J. 2 Chronicles. Edited by Seunghyun Baek, Jaewon Jung, and David G. Firth. Translated by Yohan Lim. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Seoul: Christian Literature Mission Society, 2017.
