64. The Way to Know God - John 14:5-31

G'day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Dave here.

Did you know that God is more wonderful and more amazing than we can possibly imagine?

There's nothing better than getting to know God.

There's nothing greater than being in God's family.

It's true.

God's more wonderful than the best thing you can imagine.

Knowing him is greater than owning a pet.

Greater than an overseas holiday.

Greater than becoming an astronaut or a pilot, or even being a multi millionaire.

Some people think it's impossible to know God.

He's too far away or he's too different to us.

Some people think he's really scary.

He isn't kind or caring.

He's just interested in bossing people around.

Some people think that God doesn't even exist.

But they're all wrong.

God is there.

He's really, really great.

And we can know him really well.

In fact, if you know Jesus, you have God with you all the time.

How do I know?

Well, you're about to find out.

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, Jesus was comforting his disciples.

He'd told them that he was leaving, which they thought was the worst news in the world.

He explained though, that he was going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house.

He needed to leave to do that, but he'd come back and take them to be with him.

That was the best news in all the world.

But they didn't really understand what he was saying.

He finished by telling them some more good news.

He said to them in chapter 14, verse 4, you know the way to the place where I'm going?

Unfortunately, the disciples are like, umm, no we don't.

In verse five, Thomas says to him, lord, we don't know where you're going.

So how can we know the way that shows that as much as they love Jesus, they still don't understand the most wonderful thing about Him.

They still don't recognise the most amazing thing about Him.

What they don't understand is that God is bigger and stranger and and greater and more wonderful than they've ever imagined.

They don't understand that even though there's only one God, that one God at exactly the same time is also three.

In fact, he's always three and he's always one.

He's never not three, and he's never not one.

There's God the Father, who they think of as God.

There's God the Son, Jesus, and there's God the Holy Spirit.

Three but all one weird but wonderful because it means that Jesus isn't just a great prophet like Moses or Elijah or Daniel.

He's actually God sitting there with them in the room.

It also means that there's a way to know God.

The way to know God is through Jesus.

If you know Jesus, you know God because Jesus is God.

If you want to know and be with God the Father, you can do that all through Jesus.

The place where Jesus is going is, is to His Father.

And the way to get to God the Father, the way to know him and be with him and be saved by him into his family is through Jesus.

If you know and trust Jesus, you can get to the Father.

So when Thomas says that we don't know the way to where Jesus is going, Jesus says in verse six, I am the way and I am the truth and the life.

The only way to the Father is through me.

If you really knew me, then you'd know my Father too.

But now you do know him and have seen him again.

The disciples like, huh, seen the Father.

We haven't seen God the Father.

We think we'd know if we'd seen God the Father.

But they don't know.

They don't know that God is three as well as being one.

They don't understand that by seeing Jesus, they're also seeing God the Father.

One of the disciples, Philip, says in verse eight, lord, show us the Father.

That's all we need.

Jesus answers.

I have been with you a long time now.

Do you still not know me?

Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father.

So why do you say show us the Father?

Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words I say to you don't come from Me.

The Father lives in Me and He is doing his own work.

Jesus also tells them how they should be able to believe all this just by looking at the works that he's done.

Normal people don't go around raising dead people to life.

Jesus really is God the Son.

He really is God with His Father, One God together.

If you know Jesus, you know the Father.

If you know Jesus, you know God.

In fact, Jesus is the only way to know God.

You can't know God through dreaming or through another religion or by guessing.

You know God by knowing Jesus.

So we've got God the Father and God the Son.

But God isn't two in one.

He's three in one.

There's God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The disciples should know God The Father, because they know Jesus.

But hang on a second.

Jesus is about to leave.

He's about to go back to the Father.

Does that mean that God will become like really distant?

Like he's there but a long way away?

Like if one of your parents or grown ups goes away for a long time and you know they still exist, you might even be able to make a phone call to them.

But it's just not the same as having them there with you.

Is that what it's going to be like with God?

No.

Because of something wonderful that's going to happen when Jesus leaves.

Jesus says everyone who loves him should do what he says.

But he'll do something far more wonderful for us than we could ever do for him.

Jesus will ask His Father to give his disciples another helper.

A helper who won't ever leave them.

A helper who's the best helper in all the universe.

Because that helper is God.

God, the Holy Spirit.

And he won't just live in the same city as them.

He won't just live in the same street as them or the same house as them.

He'll actually live in them.

Teaching them to live for Jesus.

Training them to do what's right and good.

Helping them to trust Jesus forever.

Jesus says to his disciples in verse 15, if you love me, you will do the things I command.

I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper.

He will give you this helper to be with you forever.

The Helper is the Spirit of truth.

The world cannot accept him because it does not see him or know Him.

But you know Him.

He lives with you and will be in you.

Have you ever felt lonely or alone?

It's not very nice, is it?

If you trust Jesus, though you're never alone, God is always with you.

He's always there to help you when you're in the dark.

When you're surrounded by people you don't know.

When you're surrounded by people you do know who aren't very nice to you.

If you trust Jesus, then God is with you.

God, the Holy Spirit is living right there inside you.

And God's the kindest, most wonderful, most powerful person in all the universe.

Jesus wants his disciples to know, and us to know that even though he's gone back to His Father, God's still with us.

And so we don't ever need to be afraid.

In verse 25, Jesus says, I have told you all these things while I am with you.

But the Helper will teach you everything.

He will cause you to remember all the things I told you.

This helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.

I leave you peace.

My peace I give you.

I do not give it to you as the world does.

So don't let your hearts be troubled.

Don't be afraid.

After telling them a few more things, it's time for them to go.

Jesus starts getting them ready to walk out the door into the dark where Jesus will be arrested.

He has a few more things to say along the way, but that's a story for next time.

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If you can't, as we say in Australia, no worries.

Keep trusting Jesus.

Bye for now.