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Book: John
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John 13:36b
I. Peter said unto Him, "Lord, where are you going?"
A. Jesus had been saying to them that He was only going to be
with them a little while longer. And as He said to the
Jews, where He was going they could not come.
1. Peter's question is a natural response to the
statement that Jesus made.
B. We now enter into what is commonly know as the Pascal
discourse which is the conversation between Jesus and His
disciples which basically consists of questions and answers.
1. It begins with this question of Peter, "Lord, where
are you going?"
C. Jesus answered Peter, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me
now, but you shall follow Me later."
D. Peter presses the issue and asks, "Why cannot I follow You
now? I will lay down my life for Your sake."
1. I do not have the slightest question of the sincerity
of Peter.
a. Later on in the Garden, as the soldiers came
to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and was
ready to give his life in defending Jesus.
b. In reality Peter, later on did indeed lay
down his life for the sake of Jesus.
c. Fox, in his book of martyrs tells us that
according to some of the accounts, when Nero
decided to find a cause to put Peter to
death, that some of his friends convinced
him to flee from the city, and he through
their importunity was at last persuaded to
do so. However when he came to the gate of
the city he met Jesus and worshipping Him,
he asked quo vadis, or where are you going?
and Jesus responded I have come again to be
crucified. With that Peter returned to the
city and Jerome said that he was crucified,
his head being down and his feet being
upward, himself so requiring, because he was
(he said) unworthy to be crucified after the
same form and manner as the Lord.
2. Peter's statement expresses a lot of confidence in
the flesh.
a. The other gospel writers tell us that Jesus
said to His disciples, "All of you are going
to be offended this night because of Me."
And Peter responded, though all of them may
be offended, I will never be offended. It is
then that Jesus prophesied his denial.
b. It is not good to have confidence in our
flesh. Paul said, "We are they that have no
confidence in the flesh." Again he said, "I
know that in me, that is in my flesh, there
dwelleth no good thing."
c. Be careful of that boasting that says while
condemning anothers actions, "I would never
do
that."
d. Jesus further in this conversation is going
to tell the disciples, "Apart from Me, you
can do nothing."
e. Wise king Solomon said, "Pride goeth before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a
fall."
E. Jesus said, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? I tell
you the truth, the cock will not crow until you have denied
Me three times."
1. Again the other gospels record that at this
prediction Peter objected saying, "Lord even though
they slay me, I would never deny you."
2. Peter is making a cardinal mistake, and that is
arguing with the Lord.
3. If you ever find yourself arguing with the Lord,
you are wrong. He is always right.
F. In the original gospel of John there is no break here with a
new chapter and verse. It just reads, "I tell you the truth,
the cock will not crow, until you have denied Me three
times, let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God,
believe also in Me, In My Fathers house are many mansions,
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you, that where I am, there you may be also."
1. Peter had asked the question, "Where are you going?"
and Jesus is now answering that question declaring
that He was going to prepare a place for them. Jesus
said where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but
you will follow Me later. Now He is declaring that
"If I go away, I will come again and receive you
unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be
also."
II. Recognizing the tie between chapters 13 and 14 let us go back now
and look more closely at the words that Jesus said. "Let not your
heart be troubled.
A. We read that Jesus was troubled in His spirit, but now He is
telling His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled."
1. The very fact that He told them not to let their
hearts be troubled, indicates that their hearts were
troubled.
2. They were troubled because of the things that He was
saying to them.
a. Their concept of the Messiah was that of a
reigning monarch.
b. He was speaking of leaving them, going where
they could not presently come.
c. For the past six months He had been speaking
about His being crucified, put to death by
the Romans.
d. They were thinking that he was going to
defeat the Romans, and banish them from the
land.
e. Now that He is making it more clear that He
is going to be put to death, and that very
soon, their hearts were troubled.
3. Our hearts are always troubled by our failures. We as
Peter often think that we are better than we really
are. Stronger and more committed to the Lord than
others. It is always a troubling thing to recognize
our weaknesses.
a. Peter, before the morning sun comes over the
horizon of the mountains of Moab, you will
have denied Me three times, "Let not your
heart be troubled."
4. What is the cure for a troubled heart? "Believe God,
believe Me." Some have translated this as an
indigative and an imperative, but I believe that the
revised version is probably correct in this case
where it translated it as a double imperative.
"Believe in God, believe in Me."
5. When your heart is troubled because you cannot
understand what the Lord is allowing to happen,
"Believe in God, and believe in Jesus."
III. "In My Fathers house are many mansions." Many abiding places. "I
am going to prepare a place for you."
A. Paul speaks of this body in which we presently live as a
tent. He declares that when this tent is dissolved, that is
my body decays and returns to dust, I have a building of God
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
1. This eternal building of God not made with hands I
believe is the new body that the Lord has prepared
for me. If you please, the mansion in heaven.
2. I do not believe that we will be dwelling in houses
such as we know here on the earth. Can you imagine
angels living in houses? You surely will not need a
bedroom there. I do not believe that our new bodies
will require sleep.
3. We will not have need of electrical systems and
lights, for the Lamb will be the light thereof.
4. I do not believe that there will be super markets.
5. I do not believe that we have even perceived or
imagined what heaven will be like.
6. It is a body that cannot know decay or aging as Paul
refers to it is eternal.
B. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be
also."
1. Again remember the context, the question "Where are
you going and why cannot I follow you now?"
2. "I am going to prepare a place for you, and if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you
may be also."
3. When Stephen was about to be martyred he cried, "I
see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing
at the right hand of God." I believe that He was
standing to receive this martyr into glory. He was
coming to get him.
4. This coming again to receive them unto Himself no
doubt is a reference to the second coming of Jesus
Christ.
5. This we know, He is coming again.
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