I'll go back to John's Gospel,
chapter 14. In the next few chapters, the
Lord is talking to His disciples only. His disciples. He's not talking
to the world. These are the things that He's
saying. It's not to everyone. It's to His disciples. Okay? Judas left. The betrayer. The
pretender. He left. And right after he left,
the Lord said, now. And He began to talk to His disciples
and He called them little children. And everything He says to them
in these next few chapters are comfort. and blessed promises. Okay? This is to God's people. Great error takes place today
when men apply God's Word to everyone without exception. It's
not. And this is very clearly to His
disciples, to believers. And blessed promises, that's
what Peter said, these precious promises to those who have obtained
like precious faithfulness through the righteousness of our Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not to the world. Like chapter
17, he said, I pray not for the world. I'm not praying for the
world, he said. I'm praying for those whom thou
hast given. So look at verses 1 through 4
of chapter 14. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And where I am, you may be also.
And whether I go, you know, and the way you know." Who's he talking
about? You. He keeps saying you. He doesn't call anyone's name
in particular, but he's talking to Simon, he's talking to John
and James. They knew him. Why did they know
him? He revealed himself to them.
He chose them, didn't he? One time he asked the disciples,
who do men say that I am? And they gave all sorts of different
opinions of what men say. And if you ask people today,
who do you think Jesus is, you'd get just as many different opinions.
And he said, who do you say that I am? And Simon spoke up again. He said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And he said, blessed are you. Blessing blood didn't reveal
that to you. And he said, have I not chosen you? I chose you.
See, no man knoweth the Son but the Father, our Lord said in
Matthew 11. No man knoweth the Son but the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son, and he
to whom the Son will reveal Him. You don't figure out God. You
don't discover God. He chooses to make Himself known
to you, to make Christ known to you. You. If you're a believer,
he's talking to you. Okay? I believe. I really do. By God's amazing grace, I do.
There was a time I didn't. There was a time I had no interest
in God whatsoever. I wasn't calling on God. I wasn't
seeking God. But God. But God. So do you believe? I do. I really
do. And I look around this room and
I see mostly believers in here. So I'm talking to you. And I'm
told by our Lord and through Isaiah, to comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith the Lord. Comfort ye, speak ye comfortably
to my people. Tell them The warfare is over. Comfort. Iniquity is pardoned. That's who I'm... Comfort, okay? And I believe... And our Lord
is. That's what He's doing. Comforting
His peoples. And that's what I'm doing. This room is full
of believers and people listening on Mixler right now. And I'm
talking to you. Johnny. Tommy. David, Teresa,
if you're listening, Kate, Sister Kate, Mike, Debbie, listening
over a mixer. I'm talking to you. So he says,
beginning with verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. He's talking to his disciples
now. He's not talking to the world. The world's in big trouble. Who really believes that God's
going to rain fire down from heaven? They didn't believe it was going
to rain in Noah's day, did they? They didn't believe a word of
it until it happened. Noah believed. Whoever was in
that ark believed. The world's in trouble. Trouble with
God. God's people aren't in trouble
with God. Why? Because Christ did away with
that trouble. Sin. Christ put away sin. And this
is what he's going to tell us here. So he says, not to the
world, it's to his people. And he says, let not your heart
be troubled. You know, man that is born of
woman, scripture says, is a few days and full of trouble. Full of trouble. We've got trouble
all around us, don't we? Trouble within. Trouble without. Trouble in the job. Trouble in
the world. Some troubles at home. Shouldn't
have, but we do. Troubles everywhere in the world. Troubles. Why? Because of sins
in this world. And sins in us. We've got trouble
that people cause us. We've got trouble we cause them.
We've got troubles that we cause ourselves, and this is the biggest
trouble God's people wrestle with. Sin trouble. And we're going to wrestle with
this until the day we die. So our Lord said to Simon Peter
and all the believers and you who have trouble, let not your
heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. Look at chapter 13. He had just
told them all that they were all going to flee from him. He
had told them all, you're all going to be offended by me. You're
all going to run. Scared. And he said, one of you
betrayed me. And they were, they were troubled. And we ought to have thought
of that. And then he told Simon Peter,
he told Simon Peter, he told all of them he's leaving. He
told all of them he was leaving. First he told them, you're going
to leave me. And then he said, I'm going to leave you. And they
were troubled. Let me ask you, those of you
who profess to be believers, are not these two things the
things that trouble you the most? The thought of our Lord leaving
you, leaving you to yourself. When He comes back, He's not
going to take you. It's not your biggest trouble,
the thought of leaving Him. You know how, come thou fount,
it says, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. If He doesn't keep us, we'll
leave. If you can leave, you will. But if you belong to him,
you won't. If you do run off, he'll come
get you. So he says, let not your heart be troubled. Simon Peter, probably more than
any of them, was really troubled. Because he just told him, Simon,
before the sun comes up, you're going to deny me three times. And I just know there was silence.
Don't you know Simon Peter hung his head? Oh, man. I'm sure he did. I'm sure he
did. Now, as I said, the world doesn't
give it a thought. You can't leave someone you don't
know and not with. And you don't care if you don't
know this person. You don't care if they're with
you or not. Do you? Do you worry about Him leaving
you? Do you worry about Him leaving
you? Do you? That's a good sign. So He says to you, you're not
in your head, sister. So He says to you, let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God. He didn't
say this, there's not a question mark there, is there? Do you
believe in God? He didn't say that. He said you
believe in God. You believe also in that. You
believe in God. Why do they believe in God? I
quoted it to you. He revealed the Father to them.
Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John were fishermen. They
didn't care about God. How about you all? Was there
a time, Mike, you didn't care about God? You weren't seeking
God. You'd be sitting in a church
pew, the last place you wanted to be. That's me. I believe in
God. I really do. I really do, don't
you? I mean, you believe God is God.
The God of the Bible, the one who is God. Not this fellow that
people let be God. Ah, that's not God, is it? It's
the one that lets you know he's God. You believe in God, he said.
Believe also in me. Believe also in me. And so Christ,
He's saying all through here that I am God. That's what He's
saying. You've seen me, you've seen the
Father. He said in verse 2, in my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And Simon Peter said, I want
to go. He said, you can't. Now. He said, you will later. And
what's he mean by that? Where's he going? And they all
kept asking. He'd been telling them for three years where he
was going, didn't he? From the very beginning, he'd
been telling them where he's going, the reason he came, where
he was going, what he was going to do. And after he did it, what's
going to happen? He told them the end from the
beginning, didn't he? I saw it dull hearing. He said, for this cause came
I into the world, that is, to die on a cross to put away the
sin of God's people by sacrificing Himself and put away their sins
and make a way into the Holy of Holies by His own precious
blood for God's people. And he said, they're going to
take me and they're going to do everything the Scripture says they're going
to do to me. They're going to pluck out my beard. They're going to
strip me. They're going to spit in my face.
And they're going to beat me. And they're going to give me
vinegar to drink. They're going to do all that.
And they're going to crucify me and kill me and bury me. But three days later, I'm coming
out. That's what he kept telling me. Like little children, don't
go, please. And he says all through this
chapter, if you knew where I was going, you'd rejoice. If you really understood why
I came, what I came to do and where I'm going, you would rejoice. We do now because we read the
last chapter. We've got an advantage over the
apostles. They did not yet know. And Simon said, Lord, I want
to go. I want to go. I want to follow you. And the
Lord said, you can't. Go back to Genesis 22 with me.
Genesis 22. You can't go with me, Simon Peter.
None of you can. Why is that? Well, look at Genesis 22. You
know this story. Abraham, the father, and his
son Isaac. This is one of the clearest pictures
in all the Old Testament of God the father and God the son on
Mount Calvary. How that Isaac, the son of promise,
a miracle son, is Christ. And how the father offered him
up to God for a burnt offering. and substitution. This is all
a picture of Christ and Him crucified. Look at verse 3. Genesis 22,
verse 3. It says, Abraham rose up early
in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men
with him. Okay? And Isaac his son. And he claimed the wood for the
burnt offering, split the wood, and he rose up, went to the place
of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And then Abraham
said unto his young men, the two young men, you've got to
stay here. You stay here, at the bottom
of this mountain. I and the lad will go yonder and worship. And look at this,
and it come again. You see, our Lord went to Calvary
where He would by Himself purge our sins. Nobody helped Him. Salvation is not a cooperative
effort by man with God. He made an offer and made it
possible and you've got to make it effectual. That's blasphemy. Scripture says He by Himself
did what? Purged our sin. Not made it possible, purged
our sin. Scripture says He entered into
the holy place with His own precious blood having what? Obtained eternal
redemption for His people. Now here in the house, go back
to the text, in the house they're sitting around the table and
there's the Lord and eleven men. They went into the garden in
the next little bit. They go into the garden of Gethsemane
and He took three men with Him. He took Peter, James, and John
with Him. Okay? But when our Lord went to the
cross, that's why everybody had to leave. He said, you're all
going to leave. They have to. This is the Father
and the Son together on Mount Calvary where God's going to
make His Son to be sin for His people. And Christ is going to
put away their sin by Himself. Nobody's going to help Him do
it. See, why? He gets all the glory. Even faith
is His gift. Okay? He gets all the glory.
So our Lord went to Calvary. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. That is His disciples. He said
all the way back in chapter 10, He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, not goats, the sheep. And He said, I go to prepare
a place for you. Our Lord went to Calvary. and
was the sacrifice for the sins of God's people and God accepted
that sacrifice on our behalf. Okay? And then he went to the
grave where he went before us and came out of the grave and
showed us afterward he's abolished death. Death couldn't hold him
and he said, and you that believe on me will never die. He abolished
death, brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. And
he came out of the grave, and he went back to the Father. He
arose, went back to the Father. Scripture says we were risen
with Him. And he's seated in the heavenlies
right now at the right hand of God, and Scripture says we're
seated with Him. He went back to the Father, into
the Holy of Holy, and this one man opened the way into the Holy
of Holy, into the presence of God, Through the veil, that is,
by His flesh. And the next thing He's going
to say, I'm the way. I'm the way. And He went through the
veil and opened that up to bring us to God. He said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And that's what He did. And God's
people are going to get to heaven. by Jesus Christ alone. Let me
just put it very plainly. There's one reason anybody's
going to get to heaven. Jesus Christ. Not your faith in Him. Faith is a result of what He
did for God's people, not to cause it. All right, He's going
to bring us to God. So He says, let not your heart
be troubled over sin. It's virtually impossible for
God's people to not be troubled by sin. And the Holy Spirit convicts
us of sin to the day we die. But He also gives that consolation
which we should have in Christ, shouldn't we? And in Him is no sin. You know that? John says, in
Him is no sin. Where does it say we are? All the way through
Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1. What does it say? In Him. You
are complete, where? In Him. Completely what? Without
sin. I don't understand. I don't either. But it's true. Alright, it's
true. Let not your heart be troubled
over sin. I've put it away by the sacrifice of myself, Christ
said. Let not your heart be troubled over the world. He said there
in Matthew 11, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world, didn't
I? That's John 16 where that is. Be of good cheer. They were
troubled. He said, be of good cheer. Worried
about the world, what's going on? I own this place, he said. I run this place. Be not troubled
over the future. Are you troubled over the future?
Sure you are. We all are. We're creatures of
time. We don't know what tomorrow holds.
Does that trouble you? You're not human if you don't,
if it's nothing. You know what he said? He says, I'm the Lord
of the dead and the living. Chapter 17, he says, He's given
me power over all things. Everything. Everything. He works all things. The future,
we don't know the future, but we know Him who holds the future,
who controls the future, okay? And the Scripture says all things
work together for good. Everything. The power. He's working
on it. He said, you believe in God. That's a fact. They did. Because
he revealed the fact. He said, believe also in me.
Now, brothers and sisters, you know how few people really believe
in God today? Huh? I mean, I mean the God of
the Bible. You know how few people really
believe in God? It's becoming fewer every day,
it seems like. You know how few people believe
God? There's a difference. They believe everything He says,
that this book was written by God. Everything the Apostle says,
God's Word. You know how few people believe
that? Do you? Do you? You know how few people
believe that that man named Jesus that walked this earth years
ago is God that made this world? You know how few people there
are that believe that? Do you? Do you? Do you believe that Jesus
Christ is just as much God as God the Father? Do you believe
that? Equal with God. That's not your argument. You
believe in God. Believe also in me. Now look
at this. He said in verse 1, In my Father's
house are many mansions. In my Father's house. Many mansions. The word actually is dwelling
places. But God, you see, numbers the stars. He knows how many
stars. He made them all. He knows how
many grains of sand. Seriously. He knows how many
hairs are on your head of every head of every person in the world.
You believe that? That's what Jesus Christ said.
I don't either, but that's what makes Him God. He's got the stars
numbered. How many stars are there? How many stars are there? Well,
here He says, In my father's house are many dwelling places. Oh, I don't know if there's room
for me. Seriously. Many dwelling places. Many. Reckon there's room for you?
I reckon. Yeah, but I'm such a sinner. Really. Are you now? Well, good. Because that's who Christ came
into the world to save. That's who he went to prepare
a place for, didn't he? Let me tell you who's in one
of these mansions up there. There's a woman named Rahab.
Right now. Don't you know she thought, everybody's
going to get to heaven but me. Mary Magdalene. She's right beside
her. Don't you know Mary Magdalene
thought, I'm the last person that'll be in heaven. She's one
of the first. Let me tell you who's up there
right now in one of these mansions. A thief on the cross. He thought, Lord, would you remember
me when you come? Surely, he's not going to remember
me. The Lord died before he did. He thought, surely, he's forgotten
me. He just said, today, shall thou
be with me in paradise. There's room all right. There's
room for all of us. Every sinner. Every sinner. Our Lord said, come unto me all
ye that labor and everything. I'll give you rest. So, there
are many mansions. Now, mansions, I think, He said
this just to let us know that our Father is the King and He
lives in a palace. Okay? Scripture says, I hadn't
seen, ear hadn't heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man things that God had prepared for them to love. We just don't
know. We don't know. I really don't
believe, and Scripture teaches, that there's not really going
to be a temple in heaven. We're not going to need a dwelling
place. We dwell within Him. And our
Lord didn't have a place to lay His head. Why? He dwelt in the
Father. This is all symbolic, that there's plenty of room for
all of God's people. They're all going to be with
God in glory, and you're not going to get there by the skin
of your teeth. It's not a wish and a chance
and a hope and all that. Scripture says an abundant entrance
into glory. When the thief went into glory,
our Lord said, let's have a celebration. He's here. One center that repented. And
this mansion, I believe, just signifies that it's going to
be an abundant and unsearchably rich and glorious and amazing
entrance into glory. That's why there's going to be
silence in heaven for 30 minutes. It's all over. Scripture says
silence in heaven for 30 minutes. Everybody there is going to be
amazed that they're there. And we're going to see Him and
it's just going to be spellbound. He's altogether loving and glory.
Look at Him. We see Him. We now finally see
Him. Look at Him. And then we're going to erupt
and never be silent again. Laughter and joy and rejoicing
and singing. But I think he's saying here
in an abundant entrance. You see, throughout the Scripture
there's examples of the goodness and the mercy and the grace of
our God. My, my. Like our Lord's love
and mercy and grace, it's vast. And heaven and this new heaven
and new earth is just vast. Plenty of room. And it's just
glorious. Wait and see. Just wait. But
all through the Scripture, like Jacob's sons, sons of Jacob,
Joseph was on the throne, remember? Joseph was in control of everything. He knew them, they didn't know
him. They didn't know him. They were sinners all. But their
brother's on the throne. And he loves them. He's not ashamed
to call them brother. So he told them, he said, bring
some sacks when you come. Bring some sacks. And he filled
up the sacks. Well, the next time they brought
sacks, what happened? They went home with wagon loads.
And shortly thereafter, they were all dwelling in the land
of Goshen. The best land of all. They couldn't
believe it. They left famine and now they're
in the land of Goshen. That's what we're all going to
say. I can't believe it. A mansion. A mansion. Poor and needy are
now rich beyond understanding. The woman who came to Christ
pleading with Him for a few crumbs, she didn't get crumbs. The prodigal
son came home and said, just give me a little place in the
barn, Dad. No. Come in the house and we'll have
a celebration. He said in verse 3, if I go to
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself. I will come again. He will. He's
coming. Lo, He comes with clouds descending. Whenever you see clouds in the
sky, you need to know those are the dust of His feet. That's
what the Scripture said. The days are short. His coming
is near. Our Lord said when you see all
these things, know that He's near. He's at the door. Stirring
the clouds. Okay? It's very soon. He's the
last day. I will come again. And he said,
and I will receive you. He's still talking to you. Unto
myself. That where I am, you may be also. Now here's the key. Alright? He said, in my Father's house
are many mansions. What do you think about God's
house? This is God's house. Church is
God's house. This is where God's people meet. You came here tonight. Why did
you come here? Why did you come here? Habit? Duty? This is Wednesday
night. This is optional. Lord's Day,
you know, it's our reasonable service. But this is Wednesday
night. You couldn't be doing so much else. There's people
listening right now who have service tomorrow night, Thursday
night. Let's listen on Wednesday. Why
are you doing that for? You love the Father's house,
don't you? What did you come to the house
to do? Hear His voice. That's what Stephen prayed back
there in the study. Oh, we need to hear Your voice. We need to
speak to You. We want to sing His praises.
We want to hear Your Word. We want to read Your Word. We
want to meet together with the saints. I want to see God's Christ's
glory. I want to hear His voice. I want
to hear the Gospel. I want to be with our brethren.
Is that really why you came? Into God's house, the Father's
house? You're going to be in the house
all the days of your life. I'm coming to you again and receive
you into the Father's house. I had wonderful parents and had
a wonderful home and I felt so safe and provided for and loved
and I enjoyed coming home. I enjoyed
coming home. Well, you want to go home? You want to go home? Everybody does. They like it
here just fine. He said, when I come, I'm going to receive
you to myself, that where I am, that's where you'll be, where
I am. See, this is talking to the bride,
to the bride, that where your husband is, that's where you
want to be. Did you enjoy being with your
husband? Did you look forward to him coming home from work? Well, the bride's husband's coming
for that. And we're looking for him. We're
waiting on him. What are you laughing at, John? Sure she does.
She loves seeing you come home. Like seeing you leave for a while.
But she loves seeing you come home. I know I'm married. But I love coming home. Here's
the whole point. I love coming home and my wife
loves me coming home because we love each other. Now, either
you love Christ or you don't. You come here because you love
the Lord. You want to be in His house. And you want to go there
for one reason. Not to see mama. Unless your
mother's a believer, then you'll really be glad to see her. But
you're not going to be glad to see one person. Your Lord. Your husband. See, I'm coming
again to receive you to myself. To where I am. Where I am. You want to be where He is? There
you may be also. So he says, and I've got to conclude
this. He says, whether I go, you know,
and the way you know. And we do, don't we? We do. He's going to tell us, and verse
6 needs a whole message by itself. You understand that? The way, the truth, and the life. And let me just tell you this
much, though. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know where you're going,
and we don't know how to get there. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Do you? Do you know where Christ
went and how you're going to get to Him? Do you? Sure you
do. He's the way. He's the way. where He is, you may be also. All right, I hope these words
have comforted God's people. Stand with me.