Yes, Lord, I Believe

Two portions of Scripture – one verse from Romans 4 and then a few verses from the Gospel of John.

Romans 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,)…

This was spoken to Abraham. Now at that time he wasn’t a father of many nations. He wasn’t even the father of one son, but yet God spoke that and spiritually speaking it was a truth and had a reality as soon as He spoke it because Paul goes on to say:

Romans 4:17…before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were.

That is a very familiar verse and I do not know that we always understand it, but it is a truth. God calls things that are not visible or manifested in the natural as a reality in the realm of Spirit. When God says a thing, it is truth. Whether it is manifested in the present or not has nothing to do with it, and we are required to believe those things which God has said. If we are believers, then we believe what He has said.

“But I cannot see it. I can’t touch it. I can’t feel it. There’s no evidence of it in the natural realm.”

It doesn’t matter. There doesn’t have to be. It is a truth that we believe because God says it and His Word is truth.

Now, I want you to keep this principle in mind as we read some verses from the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John. It is important to remember this principle, and it is going to be put into action here. We will begin with the very first verse. This takes place immediately after the Lord told Peter he would forsake Him three times before the cock would crow in the morning.

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me.

The Greek reads a little bit different. It says, You believe into God, believe also into Me. We have talked about this many times that you can believe in God from a distance, but to believe INTO Him means a co-existence of life. This is what Jesus is saying, Believe into God, believe also into Me.

I want to point out one other thing in this verse of scripture that I want you to remember. In this verse of scripture, you notice that Jesus indicates a separation or difference between God and Himself. Believe into God, believe also into Me. He does not speak as though He and God are one in the same. Jesus makes a distinction here that we are to believe into God and believe into Him. Remember that. Alright, verse two.

John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions …

Now that is King James translation. The Greek word for “mansions” there is mone and it means “dwelling place.” In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. What is His Father’s house? I know one occasion where Jesus went into the temple and ran out all the money-changers, the people who were selling oxen, sheep, doves and things for sacrifices. He ran them out and said, “Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” We know that Jesus is speaking of spiritual things there. The temple in that day was merely a type. On another occasion He said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19)” Then the scripture makes that plain by saying, “He spoke of His body, that He was the temple of God.” So, in that sense, Jesus is the Father’s house. The Father dwelt in Him, and so there are many dwelling places in Christ.

Also, in Corinthians Paul asks the question, “Know you not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?” So, the Father’s house can be related to different things and in a real sense Jesus Christ was the Father’s house and in Him are many dwelling places, and also within each one of us there are many dwelling places. I am sure you can relate to the fact that Jesus can take control over certain aspects of your life, and they become dwelling places of Him, but yet, there are other aspects of your life that He is has not taken control over, the Lordship of Christ is not over those particular areas, so there are many dwelling places. It’s not a matter of “Well, Jesus is the Lord over me.” That is a blanket statement. Which part of you is He Lord over?

Many dwelling places. In verse one Jesus says, Believe into God, believe also into Me. Makes God a dwelling place. Makes Himself a dwelling place.

John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Now Jesus says, “I am going to prepare a place for you in My Father’s house, a place for you to dwell.”

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again (The Greek is in present tense = I am coming again), and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

We need to remember that principle that Paul brought out in Romans 4: He calls things that are not as though they are. We will completely miss what the Lord is saying here if we look at this coming of Jesus as in the future. He says, “I am coming,” but it is something that is happening right now. Right then when He said it, it started happening. Now something has taken place because Jesus is standing there in a fleshly body just like we have. He has not gone anywhere yet, but He says He goes and He says He is coming again. Here is something that is established that has not taken place in the present. It is not manifested in the history yet, but it is a truth. This is what Jesus says and immediately that truth begins to work.

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. Where Jesus is we can be also. Of course, Thomas immediately responds, “We don’t know where that is.” Well, here again, it is not only just where in a matter of place, but where are you spiritually speaking. Where are you? A change is taking place here. Where are you in that change? And Jesus says, “This change is taking place in you, too, because where I am you are also.” Do you understand? Where I am, there you may be also. That’s not just a geographical place but a spiritual place also.

John 4:4 And whither I go you know, and the way you know.

When Jesus says that you know, you know. Well, Thomas immediately speaks up and says, “Lord, we don’t know where You’re going, and we don’t know the way to get there.” But Jesus said, “You know.” The moment He says that you know, He has put it in your spirit. Now maybe it hasn’t worked to your conscious mind that you have an understanding of it, but your understanding of it doesn’t make it an untruth. It is still a truth.

“Where I go, you know the way.” We have to accept that. One of the most difficult things for a Christian to do is to believe the word of God and the way that the Lord speaks it.

“It doesn’t make sense to my intellectual mind.”

That’s all right. When He says it, it is a truth. You can lay your life down on that.

John 4:5 Thomas said unto Him, Lord, we know not whither You go; and how can we know the way?

Thomas was being very truthful. He didn’t know what the Lord was talking about.

John 4:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by (through) Me.

Jesus just talked about Himself going because in verse 28, He says, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. So, He is the way. “Thomas, you say you don’t know the way. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes unto the Father but through Me.” Look what He says in verse 7.

John 4:7 If you had known Me, you should have known My father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him.

Verse 1: Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me.
Verse 7: If you had known Me, you should have known My father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him.

John 4:8-9 Philip said unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us.
9 Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; and how do you say then, Show us the Father?

Do you sense what has happened since verse 1? In verse 1: believe into God, believe also into Me. A separation there. But when you get down to verses 7,8,9, and 10, Jesus is now saying He and the Father are one. What He has spoken and said in the verses in between have completely eliminated that separation between Him and God. Now He is saying, “Disciples, if you know Me, you know the Father. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” Do you understand? Jesus removes the separation between Him and the Father. He’s speaking a truth here that must be accepted.

John 4:10-11 Believe not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me….

A removal of that separation completely. When you become that dwelling place for God or for the Lord, both begin to move in.

John 4:18-20, 23 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more; but you see Me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love Him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

There comes a time when you have a relationship with Jesus and the relationship is also with the Father because they are one and the same. As long as we only relate to Jesus as the Nazarene, then there is that separation between Him and God. But when you come forth in Him, to believe into Him begins the process of the elimination of that separation.

To me this is wonderful! 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. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. You know. About all you can say is, “I know,” and agree with it. That is how you believe into Him. “I know, Lord. I know where You’re going.” Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you should have known My father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him.

Maybe this is a little bit above me also because I can’t say it the way I want to, but I see this differently than anything I’ve ever seen before – a separation between Jesus and God in verse 1 and then you get down to verses 7,8,9 and that separation between the two of them is completely eliminated. It is eliminated before Jesus goes to the cross. It is set, believe it.

I was asked by one person, “Who is Jesus Christ?” I answered, “He’s God,” and oh, I was laughed to scorn over that one. That person laughed and said, “How can anyone say that?” I could say it because it’s a fact. He’s God. After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, that eliminated any separation between Him and God. He is the Lord God Almighty, and if you can receive it, it is a truth that is available to be believed even before that. But when He speaks it in this chapter 14, that made it a permanent truth and we cannot be like Thomas and say, “Lord, I don’t know where You’re going. I don’t know what You’re talking about, and I don’t know how to get there!” Even when that is exactly how you feel, say, “Yes, Lord, I believe. I believe it. There is nothing in the natural that would confirm it. My eyes can’t confirm it. My ears can’t confirm it. My hands can’t confirm it, but it is a truth.”

Lord, we love You, and we worship You. Amen.