THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: The Promise of Heaven
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve and ChatGPT
Key Point
And when the world looks a little shaky out there, right? And when we hear about wars and rumors of wars and you know, maybe we hear about the economy constantly every other week, it’s like, “Oh, next year is gonna crash,” right? And it’s gonna be a recession and the Great Depression and all of these things. And these things wanna create fear in our lives and there’s an invitation to us as believers to say, “Hey, let me bring it back. I’m not gonna let my heart be troubled, but I am gonna have faith in God.”
Introduction
There’s a story about an American tourist that visited a famous Polish rabbi, and so he was touring his house. So astonished to see that the rabbi’s home was only a simple room, filled with books, plus a table and a bench. The tourist asked, “Rabbi, where is your furniture?” “Where’s your furniture?” replied the rabbi. “Mine?” asked the puzzled American. “But I’m a visitor here. I’m only passing through.” “So am I,” said the rabbi.
And so great this morning and this passage that just reminds us, like, this is not our permanent home. There’s something better that is waiting for us. Some of you that’s… any of you excited for that home and for Heaven? Okay, six of us. I’ll remind me that I ask you again after my sermon. Hopefully I can stir up some more excitement for this part.
Now, this chapter, chapter 13 and chapter 14, this is all part of the last discourse from Jesus. We have about four of these sermon moments in the life of Jesus. This one is pretty intimate. It is private with his disciples. It is the last meal and he’s sharing some really important things with his disciples. And so looking at chapter 13—so if you have your Bible with you, go to chapter 13, John chapter 13—and I want to just show you a couple things because this will set us up for 14.
In chapter 13, beginning stages of this meal—so they’re having a meal and then Jesus made it a little weird. He got up and he washed their feet. All right, and it’s like everyone is uncomfortable. It’s like, “What do we do with this? Why is Jesus.. he’s the guest of honor. Why is he washing our feet?” It is actually meant for people that’s lower than even Jewish servants. And so here Jesus is washing their feet. And so they’re kind of awkward and Peter is kind of having a moment like “Jesus, you can’t wash my feet.” And then Jesus said, “Hey, if I don’t wash your feet and your whole body in a sense, like, you know, then you can’t be part of me.” So that’s the one part. That kind of set the moment, awkward moment for us. And then you can see in verse 21, he’s talking about somebody betraying him.
So it’s just the disciples. Intimate moment. And now he drops the bombs, like, “Someone amongst you is gonna betray me.” Now, this was really a shock on their system. They’ve been doing life and ministry for over three years. And that’s kind of awkward, right? And it’s like, that’s shocking to them. And I believe that they were a little shaken up by that.
And then in verse 33, he tells them, “I’m gonna leave you.” And you can again imagine, it’s like, “What do you mean you’re going to leave us?” And then he goes on and said, “Well, and where I’m going right now, you can’t go with me,” because he’s talking about the cross, right? And so not a great night. I don’t think the attitude… I’m assuming that they were a little stressed out at this point. And then there’s kind of this very embarrassing moment in verse 38 of chapter 13, where Peter is like, “Well Jesus, I will lay down my life for you. I got your back.” And then Jesus answers, or kind of… I don’t know that he’s embarrassing him, but he’s like, “Oh, really Peter? Let me tell you, actually, before this day is over, you’re gonna deny me three times.” And so that’s the atmosphere and the vibe of this evening.
Now, let’s look at John 14, starting in verse one, because now kind of the rest of this chapter will make sense to us.
“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.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. So how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my father as well. From now on, you do [not] know him and have seen him.” 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 such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? Don’t you believe that I am in 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 his work. Believe me when I say that I am in 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 things because I’m going to the father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the son. You may ask me for anything in the name and I will do it.”
May God continue to bless his word this morning.
This is a passage that I have used many times in funerals and it brings great comfort to all of us as we ponder and reflect on this incredible promise that we have of… these words that we hear from Jesus.
I’ve always appreciated, over time—and in honor of Reformation Day that is happening here pretty soon—Martin Luther reflects on this passage, and this is kind of a quote from him, he says, “The best and most comforting sermon that the Lord Christ delivered on earth, a treasure and a jewel not to be purchased with the world’s goods.” And so he’s kind of just setting the tone for us as we ponder this passage, and it is. It brings so much comfort to all of us, and it should bring some great comfort to us.
Now just look at that verse one, it says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.” Now, we have to read chapter 13 to kind of understand this part here. Again, this is a whole conversation that is happening. Obviously it’s easy for us to kind of lose a little bit with, you know, reading through chapters. We think, “Oh, new day, new story,” right? But there’s everything is happening in this evening in the upper room with this last supper and that’s why I shared with you earlier, they’re dealing with a lot of things. They’re dealing with all of these words that Jesus has been sharing with them and so of course their heart is troubled. Their hearts are troubled. They’re concerned with “What do we do with all of this?” Now, I think we can all relate, right? There is so many things in this life that causes trouble and stress in our lives, and I just… I love the awareness of Jesus in that moment where he’s just he’s speaking to all of the emotions that they’re experiencing, right? It’s not just a denial here, but he’s speaking to it and he says, “Hey, don’t let your hearts be troubled.” I can kind of see him in a sense saying, “Hey, time out boys, okay? There’s all this stuff that’s been happening. I know you’ve heard a lot of crazy things tonight but let’s refocus here. Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
Stress and Fear
And so he’s calling them back, like, into this reality and he’s saying to them, it’s like, “Hey, have faith. You believe in the Father. Now also believe in me.” Now a lot of times in life I have dealt with, you know, stress, and there’s maybe some fear and then some anxieties in there, and it’s helpful to say, “Okay, just believe,” right? But a lot of times we want more than that. What do I do when my heart is overwhelmed, when my mind is overwhelmed? What can we do? Well, when we look at, at least in this passage, an important step—and the most important step—is really to have faith in God.
Faith in God
And so Jesus is telling us, He says, “Hey, you believe in the Father. You also have to believe in me.” I understand that you don’t understand the full picture yet, right? We have the benefit of seeing the full picture (for the most part) of the life of Jesus, and we see how things turn out, but they did not have that full picture in front of them. So there was a lot of confusion. And so Jesus is inviting them to say, “Hey, trust in me. It’s gonna be okay. Trust in me.” And you know, they have seen God’s faithfulness in so many events in the past, right? I mean just think about all of the different miracles and moments where Jesus was faithful, and think about your own life just in the past as well. How many impossible situations in your life where it’s like “There is no way out, I’m gonna drown in this moment. I am in deep, deep trouble,” and then somehow God comes in, and He makes a way, and He comes through for us, right? And He’s faithful. And this is my encouragement to all of us as we look at the craziness of this world and as we maybe go through persecution, we need to be people of faith.
We need to really trust in God’s Word. We need to really trust in all of His promises. And when the world looks a little shaky out there, right? And when we hear about wars and rumors of wars and, you know, maybe we hear about the economy constantly every other week, like, “Oh, next year it’s gonna crash,” right? And it’s gonna be a recession and the Great Depression and all of these things. And these things wanna create fear in our lives, and there’s an invitation to us as believers to say, “Hey, let me bring it back. I’m not gonna let my heart be troubled, but I am gonna have faith in God.” Now, easy for us a lot of times to say it, but do we really have that faith? Are we really putting our trust in Him? Where it’s like, “Okay, God, if there’s no… I can see there’s no way out. I’m gonna drown in the natural, but you will get me through this. I’m trusting you.”
And I wanna just, for all of us, because we get so comfortable sometimes when things are going well, right? And when we have a retirement plan, we have money in the bank, and all of these things, to just be on a place to say, “I don’t wanna put my trust in those things. Even though it looks like a lot of peace around me, can I continue to work on my faith and in my trust in God?” If all of hell breaks loose against you today, and your family—suddenly there’s all kinds of health challenges, there is financial stress. Will you still show up? Will you still trust in God? Will you be able to have peace in the midst of all of those storms?
And that’s the invitation for us. And so this morning, step one, in times of trouble, we do need to have faith in God, right? We can try many other things, but that’s the foundational piece to really really live this thing out.
Physical Health
Something that has been very helpful for me—and sometimes I’m good at this, and a lot of times I just bomb when it’s too busy, right? And especially when it’s winter—and that is physical health. When it comes to fear and stress, anxiety, there’s really a lot of wisdom in doing physical activities.
You know, to go to the gym, to go for a walk, to make… to create that time. A lot of times with self-care, when I go and see a spiritual director or counselors and stuff, they’re like, “Okay, Steven, are you exercising?” And it is amazing how that deals with stress in our lives.
Watch Your Intake
And then I’ll just say, “Watch your intake.” I’m not going to read through this now, but write down Philippians 4:8. But if we’re stressed out and when you’re already anxious, it is probably not going to help you to watch horror movies or war movies, right? Or the things that you’re reading. You probably don’t want to go and listen to all kinds of heavy metal music in those moments. Really, there’s a common sense piece of like, are you creating moments around you that is gonna create peace? Are you reading scripture? Are you standing on the promises? I mean, I think God really comes in and he does a lot of miracles, right? And supernaturally and spiritually. But there’s a partnership that needs to happen. We can’t be just dumb and say, “Okay, I can do all of these wild things and take in whatever,” and then think I’m gonna have peace. It’s like, no, we have to be wise with our intake.
Heaven Will Be Beautiful
Now, as we work through this… now Jesus is sharing with them, he’s communicating, he’s saying, “Okay, don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe 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.”
Several years ago, we had the opportunity to go and visit Germany and Austria, and we had some extra time and I just Googled while we were in Austria, I just said, “Interesting places to visit.” And I just put it in Google and this little town, Hallstatt, showed up on Google. And I looked at the photos and I was like, “Wow, that is beautiful.” And it was only like 45 minutes drive from where we were at. I said, “We’re gonna get a car. We’re gonna try and visit this place.” And so this is Hallstatt, and just incredible small little town, but I’ve just have never seen anything like this. Gorgeous, and just amazing people. We only had, I don’t know, four or five hours there driving and walking around and exploring, but it was just a town that I will never forget. It was just so, so beautiful and so peaceful. And I highly encourage you if you ever get a chance to visit Austria to stop there.
But when we ponder Heaven—and maybe you have seen many beautiful places. I mean, we’re pretty spoiled for four days in the fall in Duluth when it’s not raining and the colors are perfect, right? And you come up on the hill and it’s like, “Oh, this is beautiful. I’m so grateful I live here.” And then it’s cold, snow, and rain. It’s like, “Okay, Lord, send me to Austria.”
But we’ve all seen incredible places, but this morning, just a reminder, as Jesus is giving us some information about Heaven. Now, when you read Old Testament and New Testament there’s more than 400 references to Heaven. So a lot of information, and yet not a lot of information. We can create some picture, but we don’t know everything. And so there’s gonna be a lot of surprises for us.
I just Googled, looked at some research on what people believe about Heaven. There’s a Pew survey of 6,485 people, American adults, including 1,421 evangelicals in September of 2021, about the afterlife, and specifically their views on Heaven and hell. So just a couple of things: One in four Americans don’t believe in Heaven or hell. Instead, 7% believe in a different kind of afterlife, while 17% don’t believe in any afterlife. One in three Americans believe in reincarnation.
And so just different views in this, maybe even some views this morning, different views about Heaven. I remember just going to… in seminary there was a well-known professor, and he didn’t believe in traditional view of hell. And like I said, when we have conversation, just like with end times, people have different views about Heaven, people have different views about hell, and we really need to go to scripture and then say, “Okay, what’s in here that we can take that we can… so that we can have a firm foundation on some of these things.” So I want to talk about a couple of things.
One is, as we ponder Heaven, I want you to know that I believe with all of my heart—at least when I’m looking at scripture—that it will be a beautiful place. We serve a God that is so creative, right? Just look at what we already see in Heaven with all of its… already on earth, with all of its brokenness and different things. It is beautiful. I mean, beautiful people, beautiful nature. So I can imagine that Heaven will be beautiful. If you get a chance, I want to encourage you to go and read all of Revelation 21. There’s a lot of information in there. I’ll just share some of it. It says, “The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the lamp are its temple. The city does not…” and I love this, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.”
Isn’t that beautiful? Right? And so we know about the streets of gold and just that presence where God’s glory will shine, right? We’re not going to have to pay Minnesota Power. I’m very happy about that, right? And it’s just… God’s glory will shine. That is gonna give us the light. And so, you know, we can be excited. Heaven will be beautiful. We’re a little bit limited with our creativity, but we’re in for a surprise. It’s gonna be gorgeous. And you don’t even have to pay a ticket to Europe to go and experience that.
Heaven Is Available to All
Alright, very important this morning: Heaven is available to all. Can I hear an amen?
I am very grateful. When we think about Romans chapter 10:9, it says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Even when we study, I mean, some of those important passages about the gospel, God doesn’t want anybody to perish. It is really his heart to be with all of his creation in Heaven one day.
And so there is a door that every person can walk through. Nobody in this building, nobody in West Duluth, nobody in Minnesota. Even if we think about some evil people, right? And kind of the worst person you can think of right now—Heaven is available to them as well. Jesus died for everyone on that cross.
And so obviously there’s a decision. It’s like, “Man, am I going to receive this incredible gift of Jesus Christ in my life, and am I gonna walk into that beautiful promises?” But at the end of the day, all of us can experience it. And I’m so excited about that.
Heaven Will Be Diverse
I really like this. Again, this might be a little challenging for us, especially in Minnesota, and maybe especially in Duluth, but Heaven will be diverse. We’re going to eat some good Indian food. Can I hear an amen?
I don’t know about the food, but all I know is this: Heaven will be diverse. I am so excited that we will be worshiping, that we will be face to face with God, with people from all over, right? From Egypt, from Israel, from South Africa, from Sweden, even… I don’t know who’s allowing them in, right? Even people from Superior.
It’s gonna be super diverse. Just look at Revelation 7:9 (this creates a lot of excitement in my life), “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,” ooh, I like that, “from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” That’s gonna be sweet to just worship and to be with our brothers and sisters from different tribes and just worshiping our God where there’s gonna be—truly be—unity. It’s gonna be beautiful.
And so even for us, I think there’s some wisdom to ask about, “Who is in my life? Is my life already—and is our church already—reflecting some of this diversity,” right? Because if we’re uncomfortable right now with diversity, or with Indian food, you’re gonna be uncomfortable in Heaven, and I just want to get you ready, right? It is so easy to get comfortable just with one culture, with one style of worshiping. But Heaven is gonna be rich.
And what can we do right now even to just say, “Man, I want a taste of that. I want to have a taste of that Heaven already now.” And so to challenge yourself to say, “Maybe… can I reach out? Can I make friends with people from a different tribe, from a different nation, different skin color?” Because it is really important.
Heaven Is Where Christ Came From
Heaven is where Christ came from. John 6:42, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from Heaven?’” Then Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee,” this is an angel speaking to the disciples, “they said, ‘Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into Heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into Heaven.’”
Our Response
Now this morning I want to just leave you with this response. So kind of as we wait, this morning we just, we’ve got these words of comfort, and Jesus saying, “Hey, don’t let things all shake you up and trouble your heart and your mind. I want to just let you know I’m going to Heaven, I’m creating a place for all of us, and it’s gonna be a beautiful place. And this place has many, many rooms.” So don’t be freaked out this morning thinking, oh, Venessa is gonna take your spot, okay? There is many, many rooms. God’s got this. And so we can be at peace with that.
And in the meantime, James chapter five gives us some great wisdom. It says, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near.”
My encouragement to all of us this morning, again: just stand firm. Be patient. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. And don’t let your hearts be troubled. God is creating an incredible place. And at some point—we’re praying hopefully soon—we’ll get to just worship with every tribe, every nation. Can I hear an amen? Amen!
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Kids Message by Christo Möller
I’d like to know how many kids do we actually have in the service today? Are there any kids? Will you put up your hand if you’re a kid? Okay, we got a lot of kids. A lot of you who are in the service today are maybe not part of our youth group, Remedy, on Wednesday night. Some of you are, but some of you are not. And if you are part of Remedy, then you all know at Remedy, we teach everyone that there is one answer. Now, if you’re in Remedy and you’re here this morning, can you guys tell me what the answer is?
Jesus! This is the answer. Jesus is the answer.
And so it’s strange because, looking at some of the worldviews, we see that some other people have other ideas. Some of them have an idea that there’s more than one answer. Do you guys see that? How many answers do you see here?
Five answers. Some of them say there’s five answers, but we say only Jesus is the answer, right? Jesus is the only way.
Other people say, “No, no, I’m pretty set, there’s probably only two answers.” You guys see that? Two answers. A lot of people in church sometimes get confused. They say there’s more than just Jesus. They say you have to go… there’s Jesus, and you have to go to church to get to Heaven, and you have to read the Bible to get to Heaven, and you have to pray to get to Heaven. There’s many more ways than this Jesus.
But what do we believe? How many ways are there? Just one way? Is it a lot of ways? Is it just maybe two? Is it a couple? Or is it just one? There’s one way to Heaven. What’s the answer, you guys?
Jesus. Amen.
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Steven after Christo’s message
Man, it is so easy to just be a youth pastor, right? Like… just draw five circles, and then it’s like, “Here’s my sermon this morning… one way to Jesus…” And then you guys go, *clapping motion*. I’m here since four o’clock this morning, and I’m probably going to get nothing.”
I don’t know why I said yes to this Lead Pastor thing.
Let me pray for us.
