Well, it's awfully good to see
all of you. I thank the Lord that he's given
us. His blessed time. To be able
to assemble ourselves together once again. In his name. I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of John. I'm going to be in John 14, but
I want to start in John 13. John 13. Our Lord had been speaking to
His disciples. And He told them some things
that had troubled them. They were truly grieved over
what they had heard the Lord said. He told them in John chapter
13, in verse 18, He's got them now assembled, and He says to
them, He said, not of you all. I know whom I've chosen, but
that the scripture might be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
has lifted up his heel against me. He said, somebody in this group is against
me, lifted up his heel. In verse 21 of John 13, when Jesus had thus said he was
troubled in spirit, he testified and said, verily, verily, I say
unto you that one of you shall betray me. Then the scripture says in verse
22, then the disciples looked one on another doubting of whom
he had spake. How can these things be? One
of us? One of the disciples? I wonder
if it was this one over here. Could it be? No, it couldn't
be. It couldn't be this one over here. They were puzzled. And he told them over in In verse
33 of John 13, he said, and the little children, yet a little
while I'm with you, and you shall seek me, as I said to the Jews,
whether I go, you cannot come. So now I say to you, I'm going
to be leaving, but now you're not gonna be able to leave with
me when I go. Verse 36 of John 13, Simon Peter
said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered, Whither
I go, you cannot follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. And then he told him, Peter said, verse 37, he said,
Lord, Peter saith unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now?
I'll lay down my life for thy sake. Lord, where are you going? I'll die for you. And the Lord
told him in verse 38, Wilt thou lay down thy life for
my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Will you really die for me, Peter? The cock's not gonna crow till
you deny me three times. Now that word right there troubled
these men. They were troubled. Now here's
the Lord revealing to them what all men are by nature. They're weak, they're frail,
they're liars, they're unreliable. And here's the Lord telling them,
this is what's gonna happen. I'm going to have to go. You
can't go with me now. I'm going to have to go. But when I go, these are going to
be some signs. It's going to follow you as I'm
going, going to the cross. And these things, as they troubled
his disciples, he gave them some words of comfort. Now, these
words right here, I'm going to tell you right now, we all need
them. We're in a world that's uncertain. Things just don't always go the
way we think they're gonna go. And it happened, they happened
just very quickly. I mean, when the Lord started
talking to these disciples, right, I mean, he was talking to them
right now, and they were listening to him. They were listening to
what he was saying, he's leaving, and he told them, he said, you
can't go with me right now. Peter said, why can't I go? I'll go to the death with you,
Lord, don't. Will you? Will you, Peter? And
he told him some words that I want us to consider for just a moment. Verse one of chapter 14. He says unto his brethren, let
not your heart be troubled. Don't let the calmness of your
spirit be stirred. Don't, don't, don't be agitated. Don't, don't, you know, listen. We're in this place and we're
prone to trouble. It just seems like trouble follows
us. Job chapter five, verse seven,
yet man is born unto trouble, unto toil, unto worry, as the
sparks fly upward. Why? Because of Adam's sin. Because of Adam's transgression. Because of his rebellion in the
garden. And here's the Lord, and He says
something to him. He's saying something to His
disciples. He says, let not your heart Now
we're, again, we're in a world that's full of trouble. Let not
your heart be troubled. Now listen, you believe in God, believe also in me. You believe
in God, believe in me who is God. I am the Lord. This is the only hope for trouble. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Him. Faith in Christ. Living upon Him. Living upon
His Word. Lord, help me. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Here's the
Word of God that settles the heart of God's sheep. You believe in God. He's telling them, you do believe
in God. Let me tell you what a believer believes. You believe,
you that believe, you believe in the triune God. You do believe in God. The God who chose a people before
the foundation of the world. That's what Ephesians 1 says.
God Almighty has chosen Chosen before the foundation
of the world. You do believe that. You believe in God. Why
do we believe that? Because He said it. Because He
said so. Parents, you ever told that to
your kids? Doing so and so. Why? Because I said so. You do
believe God. You believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom you were chosen, you believe that He laid down
His life for your sins. You believe that. I lay down
my life for the sheep. Who did he die for? Well, according
to his word, he said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And those for whom Christ had
laid down his life, God's going to call them. He's
going to call them under the sound of this gospel right here.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. You believe God. Now let me tell you something. For God Almighty to say that
to His people and give them a heart, give them a heart to believe
Him. You believe in God. He knew their hearts were broken. God's sheep, as I said, in this
world, I need to hear of His assurance. I need to hear of
His love for me. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Believe that I am. Believe that
I am the fulfillment of all that has been set forth in the scriptures. Believe me. He said, that rock that you read
of in the Old Testament, He said, I am that rock. You believe that that brazen
serpent that was set forth in the Old Testament, He said, I
am that brazen serpent. That water that came forth from
the smitten rock, I am that water. You believe in God, believe also
in me, all of the need of God's people. You know, we speak of the Lord
as always in these things, past tense, and I understand that,
I do. We speak of these things that
were set forth in time and years ago, and it's almost like we're
just studying history. You want some assurance? Yes. Right now. Right now. I am. I am that I am. Right now, the Lord Jesus Christ
can say to his people, and they hear it in the heart, I spoke to Moses in the burning
bush. I spoke to him. I'm the one. Those tablets of
stone that you read about, and you say, well, that was, honey.
He said, I wrote. I wrote with my own finger. I wrote that. That cloud that followed the
people in the wilderness, he said, I am that cloud. It's leading God's people right
now. I am. Let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Then he says in verse
two, 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. Now here's what he's saying.
In my father's house, there are many dwelling places, many mansions. And He's telling
His disciples, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Not to build
them, start building them. Start, you know, construction
series of buildings and stuff like that. I'm going to the cross
to prepare a place for you. And here's the comfort of His
people. What the Lord has promised, he shall supply. In my father's
house are many dwelling places, many mansions, and there's one
for all God's sheep. He knows his sheep and all God's
elect. There is sufficiency. A place,
a place in glory, a place that demands His preparation. I go
to prepare a place for you. He had to go to the cross. He
had to die as our substitute. Why? God's justice demanded it. God's word set forth. He must
be buried, He must rise the third day. Why? because God Almighty before the
foundation of the world had set forth, I have, I have a people
and they are justified. Nothing ever starts with God.
I must go to the cross. I must die. I must ascend into
heaven as your forerunner. Heaven is a prepared place for
a prepared people, chosen, redeemed, regenerated, called. He must go, why? That where he
is, there we may be also. He's preparing a place for us.
I'm not preparing it, you're not preparing it. I go to prepare a place for you. But here's our hope and comfort.
He said, let not your heart be troubled. You know, Isn't it amazing how
obvious the Lord makes that? Don't you just, there's time
you just get tired. You just get tired of this world.
You just get tired. As I said so many times, things
and mess and stuff. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. God's people believe that. They
can't set forth the fullness of it. Somebody said, well, tell
me about the many mansions. I can't. Tell me what heaven's
gonna be like. I can't. You believe in heaven? Yes, I do. But I can't tell you any more
than what he's revealed. He said concerning the preparation,
in verse three, 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." Oh, here's the hope. Here's the hope of a believer.
The Lord is not going to leave us, the word comfortless, I will
not leave you comfortless. I'm not going to leave you as
orphans. I will come again. He will come for his own. Now let me tell you what he's
going to do. He's going to come for his own, either in death
or in the second coming. One of the two. But he said,
I will come again. I am coming again. In his second
coming or in our death, All that He's eternally loved. All for
whom He's eternally stood as the surety. All that He's redeemed. We're going to see Him. Again,
there's so much I cannot tell you. I don't know. But this is
the hope of a believer. This is the hope of a believer.
We're going to be with Him. I go to prepare a place for you
where I am. That's where you're going to
be too. And a believer's heart rejoices in that. Even in the
midst of these trials and tribulations, man in himself has reason to
be troubled. If I did not know anything concerning
the mercy the grace of Almighty God, I got a lot of reasons in
this world to be troubled. Everything is falling apart.
Everything is under control. Now that's comforting right there. Man has a good reason. He's a
sinner. And he knows something about
the wages of sin. He either knows it in theory
or he knows it in truth, but he knows something about it.
We've got a good reason. Listen, don't let your heart
be troubled. Lord, if there's anything I need,
I need to be taught that afresh. Because in my heart, in myself,
I find great reason to be troubled. These words of comfort to his
apostles are the words of comfort to his people this morning. For
everyone chosen in him, I can tell you right now, there's a
place prepared for you. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, guess what? I'm coming
back. That's the anticipation that we have. I pray that God
take these few words and bless them to our hearts. Because I'm
telling you right now, I guarantee you, if you're not grieved over
something that's going on right now in your life, hang on just
a second. Just give it a second. Let not
your heart be troubled. Well, I'm not going through anything
right now. I'll talk to you in just a few minutes. Let's see
how it's going. This world has got no peace in
it. No, none whatsoever. Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe me? Lord, if there's
anything I need, I need, give me faith to believe you. For
Christ's sake, I pray these things. Amen. All right.