Turn to John, the gospel of John
14. John chapter 14. And it has been
my pleasure and a real joy to be here with you and see old faces and then try to
remember the names again. And I really appreciate you ladies
for the food that you have prepared. Without you, we would starve. Me and my son was watching TV
at home some time ago, sitting there talking, sitting there
for a good while talking, watching TV. My wife came home and I said,
would you care to fix me a peanut butter sandwich? And Jason said,
you waited for her all this time to come home and fix you a peanut
butter sandwich. I said, son, there is nobody.
You can fix a peanut butter sandwich like your mother. I'm telling you ladies, without
you we'd starve. And we appreciate it. We appreciate
it. All right. Let not your heart be troubled. Now let's consider who's saying
this. If I say that, if I just say
don't let your heart be troubled, well, you can probably just blow
it off. But this is the God of creation.
This is the God of redemption. This is God, our Savior, saying
to his disciples, and that's everyone who ever believes on
him, and he says, let not your heart be troubled. If we could
see If we could see from the point that he sees from, we wouldn't
be troubled at all, would we? We wouldn't be troubled at all
if we could see what he sees. But until then, let's just believe
him. Until we are in glory and we have the mind of Christ and
we are rid of this body, let's take him at his word and trust
him. And that's the cure for heart trouble. This whole message,
the cure for heart trouble is to believe him, to take him at
his word and trust him. Now our Lord comforts and instructs
his disciples in the face of his own sufferings. He is about
to suffer the wrath of God for our sins, for the sins of all
his people. He's about to suffer. He's about
to be made sin, and then he's about to suffer for those sins. The wrath of God. But in the
light of that, in the light of his approaching death, he comforts. He's concerned with his disciples.
He comforts his disciples. Do you remember when our Lord
stood at the grave of Lazarus. There's Mary. There's Martha.
Their hearts are just broken. They are weeping, crying. Others are crying. And it says,
Jesus wept. The best, the best comment I've
ever heard on this is this. He felt everything he took away. He felt everything he took away. Here is the high priest touched. He's touched with their infirmities. He's touched with them. He knows
that their hearts are troubled. They are troubled and they're
going to be more troubled in just a little while. This is
just right before he is taken to the judgment hall and whipped
and then to the cross. And he knows their hearts are
troubled. He had just told them back in Chapter 13 that he's
going to be leaving them. He's going to leave them for
a while. He's going to come back. He's going to come back and get
them. You know, he said, as I said to the Jews, I'm going to go
away. Where I go, you can't come. But he says to them, he said,
but now I'll be back after you. I'm going to come back after
you. But I've got to go. I'm going to go someplace that
you can't go right now. You see where I'm going. You
can't go there and come back from there. I'm going to the
cross. I will suffer God's wrath. You
can't do that. And after I go there and I take
away the sting of the sting and after I take away and remove
the curse that I will come back and get you. And then you're
going to go with me. Then you're going to go with
me. And so he's trying to try and he's he's he's comforting
their hearts. He says, let not your heart be
troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. The scripture says
that man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Man is born to trouble as the
sparks fly upward, the scripture says. If there is anything that
we have in common, it's heart trouble. It's heart trouble. for it's anything common throughout
this whole world, it's heart trouble. Now our Lord tells us
how troubled hearts, speaking to his disciples now, to those
who believe on him, he tells us how troubled hearts are relieved.
Ye believe in God, believe also in me. I don't know if there
is a stronger declaration of his deity than this. The same
faith that you exercise in God, you exercise that in me. My, what a statement of deity.
You trust me the same way you trust God. My soul. You believe God. Here's what
he's saying. You believe God. I know you believe God. He knows
our hearts. He knoweth then to trust in him.
The scripture says he knoweth. He knows every heart that trusts
in him. He knows them. And he's saying this, you do
believe in God. You do believe in God. Faith
in God is the only real cure for heart trouble to the believer. To the believer. You know, Henry
told me one time, he said, you can't counsel unbelievers. You
can't counsel. He said, you can't do it. They
don't. Here's what we count for the
Word of God. And the unbeliever is not going to take the Word
of God. He has nothing to receive it in. But he's speaking here
to his disciples. He's speaking to his children. Now, you believe in God. You
believe that God is real. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. It starts there. And that he
is who he says he is. You believe that God reigns over
all and that none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
thou? He knew they believed in a God
like that. You believe that His power is infinite. You believe
His wisdom is infinite. You believe in His love to you.
You believe that. He knew they believed that. You
believe in God. Well, exercise that same faith
in me. Listen. You believe in God. Whom
you have not seen. Now, in a little while, you're
not going to see me. He's going to go back to the
father. He's going to be seated at the right hand of the father.
Now, in a little while, when you cannot see me anymore. You
still exercise that same faith in me that you exercise in God. You trust me. Just trust me. Just trust me. You know, I've
said that to my boys growing up. Why? Why? Just trust me. And as I've gotten older, there's
very little things I really understand. You know, I don't understand
what all is going on, but I'll tell you this. I understand this. I understand that God is God.
That God is sovereign. That God is wise. That God is
good. That He makes no mistakes. And
that's who I trust. I don't need to understand the
rest of it. I don't need to. Let him glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me." He doesn't understand what's
going on. Not everything's going on. I don't know why, why. But I understand something of
who he is. And he said, now you trust me.
You trust me. When the night get long and you
have no light and you can't see me, And what they are about to
see is going to be very troubling. He says, you just trust me. Take
me at my word. Take me at my word. To trust
Christ is nothing short than trusting God Almighty. Nothing
short. As God is, so is Christ. And
to trust Him helps to relieve troubled hearts. Just lean, lean
hard upon Him. My grandson comes over on the
weekends And for the last couple weekends, he really just gotten,
wants mom off. Now, I'm just a piece of furniture
there. But he loves mom. You know what
I'm talking about. Yeah, I'm just a piece of furniture. But
he loves mom off. And for the last couple weeks,
he's come over. I mean, he's trying to melt into
her. I mean, it's just like he's,
you know, he just wants to melt right into her. Melt right into him. Lean hard
upon him. Lean hard. Listen. Listen to
God's word. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Nobody. Nothing can be against
us. Nothing. Who shall separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Then he names
all those things. Nothing. Nothing shall separate
you from his love. Nothing can separate his children
from his love for them. Nothing takes him by surprise.
He's seen everything. He's ordained everything. He's
ordained all our afflictions. Nothing ever comes to us that
takes him by surprise. He already knows it. He's already
determined the end of it. So lean hard upon him. And now
listen what he says to them. He says, let not your heart be
troubled. And then he directs their attention to something.
It's just not an empty statement. He said, in my father's house.
He's talking about home now. He's talking about a place he
knows about. Home is a comfortable place. That's so sad in this
sinful world that for many it's not. But home should be a home
should be a place where you're loved. You know, I go. I won't
marvel that I didn't get in your refrigerator, but I go to my
mom and dad's. I don't know. It's all his comfort. It's love. You know, I'm sure
you might have thought, what's he doing? You know, but mom and
dad don't think that. It's home. It's home. In my father's
house are many mansions. Here's another cure for troubled
hearts. My father's house. My father's house. Now, I want
you to notice this. Our Lord so wisely takes their
minds off this world and he sets them on things to come. He sets
them. He sets them on his father's
house. If your mind is on these things,
you're going to be troubled. You're not going to find any
happiness in any of these things. It's not anything lasting. It'll be in a little while. It'll
be troubling. Your heart will be troubled.
But he takes their minds off of this world and sets them on
things above. And that's what he says. You quoted in Colossians
3. Set your mind, your affections on things above where our Lord
sits at his right hand. There is a man in glory, a real
man seated at God's right hand right now ruling and reigning
everything for our good. Everything God does for us is
good. What he gives us is good and what he takes away is good. If he makes us laugh or if he
makes us cry, it's good. It's good. So he takes their
minds off the earthly kingdom that they were looking for, and
he sets them on his father's house, on his father's house. And our Lord, our Lord did this
because in his father's house dwells love, joy, peace and I
will tell you some sinners are welcome in his father's house. They're welcome in his father's
house. Come and die. That's why I said come and die. Come and die. Thirsty come drink. Hungry come and eat. That's what dwells in his father's
house. No trouble in my father's house. No trouble there. And that's where he's going.
He's letting them know, this is where I'm going. I'm going
to my father and your father. And also in my father's house
are many mansions. That means this, that doesn't
mean there's a lot of just big buildings up there and we're
all going to get to live in a bigger house than we live in here. It's
many, it's many abiding places, dwelling places, plenty of room,
no vacancies. with plenty of room and no vacancies. Now, he didn't say, well, this
one didn't accept me. I'll take his name off. No, I'll show you something here
as we go along. In my father's house are many
mansions. You see, they had left all to
follow Christ. And he assures them. And he assures
us. That they have they have a sure
abiding place in his father's house. There's room for you. And there's
a place. There's a place there for you.
For you. There's plenty of room and each
one of his children are going to have a place there. I grew
up. Seven children in the family.
Me and my two brothers share one bedroom. And then my sisters,
they We had another, I think they had two more bedrooms, and
they shared bedrooms. Well, we, you know, there wasn't
plenty of room there. We were kind of on top of each
other. Then we moved from that house, and I slept in the laundry
room for a couple years. My mom wouldn't want me to tell
you that, but I liked it down there. But he's saying here,
in my father's house, there's plenty of room. It's not a little place. So it's
spoken of as a country. If it were not so, I would have
told you, because he knows what it's like. He came from there
is that I know exactly what I'm I'm telling you something I know.
I'm telling I've been there. I've been there. He is there
because he says where I am, not where I'm going. He said, where
I am, that's where you're going. He said, if it were not so, I
would have told you, you see, Christ is the embodiment of truth.
Every word that came out of his mouth, he didn't just tell the
truth, although he did, but every word is truth. He's the very
embodiment of it. You're looking at truth when
you look at him. When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you
believe in the truth. And everything that came out
of his mouth was pure, unadulterated truth. And since he came from
that place, he ought to know about that place. And he knows who's going there.
He knows who's going to be there. Now, don't you listen. He said, I go, here in verse
2, in my father's house there are many mansions. If I go and
prepare a place for you. He didn't say if now if I go
and prepare a place. And leave it at that, and whoever
accepts me. Well, we'll have a place. He said, if I go prepare
a place for you, you. That's particular, isn't it? He's using particular language
here. If I go and prepare a place for you. God has never, now get
this, God Almighty has never taken his children to a place
that he has not already prepared for them. When God made the heavens
and the earth, and he created everything, he
made the Garden of Eden, what did he make last? Adam. And he took Adam and set him
in the garden. There he was. All prepared. It's
all prepared. When, oh, let me read something
to you. I marked it here this morning. Let me read this out
of Deuteronomy, chapter six, the Lord speaking to the to his
children after he brought him out of Egypt. Deuteronomy six. Let me read you verse 10. And
it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into
the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac
and to Jacob. To give the great and goodly
cities which thou buildest not. And houses full of all good things
which thou fillest not. And wells digged which thou diggest
not. And vineyards and olive trees
which thou plantest not. Now he says when this happens
and when you eat and you're full, now beware lest you forget the
Lord did these things. But now listen. He said the Lord's
taking you to a place that's already prepared. If I go and
prepare a place for you, you see, Peter said, No, you're not
going to go. You're not going to die. You're not. No, this
is part of the preparation. If I don't die, there's it's
it's over. You're not going to that place
and no one else. You know, no one else is either. So I go prepare a place for you.
He didn't say I'm going to go repair the place. I'm going to
go prepare. I heard my Pastor say years ago,
never forgot this statement. He said he went to prepare a
place of acceptance. We lost our place in Adam. In Adam, we lost the way to God,
the truth of God, the life of God. Jesus Christ is everything
to us. He is our life. He is truth.
And he's the way to God. But he's not going to repair.
He's going to prepare. The Lord of that place has come
into this world and became bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh, that he might, as a man, satisfy God's law, satisfy God's
justice, and go and take possession of heaven for a people. That's
what he's doing. That's what he's doing. Now,
they don't understand. You see, they're on that side
of the cross. You and I are on this side. And he said, now the Holy
Spirit, and later on in this chapter, he's going to come,
I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. My Father's
going to give him to you. He's going to come, he's going
to take the things of mine and show them to you. And you'll understand
what I'm saying after a while. You don't understand them right
now, but you will. You will. So he went to prepare, he said,
I'm going to prepare a place for you, going into the Holy
of Holies. I'm going to take possession
of heaven for you. Look over in Hebrews chapter
9. In Hebrews chapter 9, look in
verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. There is a man in the presence
of God representing us. The surety representing us. They are troubled over him leaving
and the kingdom of heaven not being set up at that time. But
listen to what he's saying to them. I'm going to enter heaven
itself. That's where I'm going. I'm not
going to set up a little kingdom down here. His kingdom is spiritual. He said, I'm going to go into
the Holy of Holies. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. And the devil will come back after you. He's going to
take possession of it for you. You and I cannot do that, but
he can. This man can. This man can. Now, for him to do this, to prepare
for us a place, a place of acceptance for God, he's got to suffer the
penalty that's against us. Can't go around it. He said,
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Did it? That shows you it's not possible. That shows that there is no possibility
of being saved any other way than through him. Him drinking
that cup, him being our substitute, him taking God's wrath. It's
not possible to be saved any other way except through a crucified
Christ. The only way. And all this preparing is of
him. It's all his. And listen, not only did he have
to die, but he brought out his righteousness. And now listen,
and the dress code of that place is his righteousness. There's
a dress code in heaven. It's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. And no one who is
not made righteous in him will not be in that place. Don't be
there. And he's the one who's going
to do all the preparing, he says, if I go and prepare a place for
you. It's not a joint effort here. It's all he purged our
sins by him by himself, he purged our sins, says over in Hebrew
chapter one. All the preparing is of him. All of him. All that is required
to fit us for that place. Is him. In him. Says in Colossians Colossians
112 in him, you are complete. In him. Now, if I go and prepare
a place for you. If I do this for you. No one's going to have any part
in this work, you see, he says, I'm going to do it. And if I
do it for you, you can be sure of this. I promise you this. If I go prepare this place for
you, I will come again. You'll see me again and receive
you unto myself. You believe that? Do you really? Then let not your heart be troubled. I couldn't tell you how many
times I've read this chapter. When you get a troubled heart,
read that chapter. Read it. He says, I'll come again. He's not going to send for me.
He's going to come for me. He's going to come for me and
he's going to receive me unto himself as a trophy of his grace. I'm looking at some trophies
of his grace. And he's going to display us throughout eternity
as trophies of his grace. He's going to receive us as a
father receives his children. How sweet is that? That where
I am, you notice he says, where I am, there you may be also.
He doesn't say where I'm going, where I am. You see, he was in
the bosom of the father at the same time he's on this earth.
This is Jacob's ladder. This is Jacob's ladder, where
I am. There you may be also, no more separation. You know, we all have to die.
Henry said to me one time, was walking away from a funeral,
from a gravesite. Henry looked at me and he said,
I'll be glad when we quit dying. I'll be glad when we quit dying.
Well, there will be a day when we will die no more. And there'll
be no separation. There'll be no more heartaches,
no more tears. And whether I go, you know, and the way you know,
You know where I'm going? I just told you. To my father's
house. And the way you know, it's me.
It's me. I told you I'm going to go and
prepare a place for you. I'm going to come and get you.
And Thomas, Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whither
thou goest, and how can we know the way? I'm glad they asked
those questions. I'm so glad they were allowed
to do that. We don't have to look so stupid. He allowed them
to ask. You ever been in a classroom,
teacher asked a question, and you knew the answer. I mean,
you knew the answer. Then some knucklehead got their
hand up first, and she asked him, and he gave the same answer,
and it was wrong. You think, boy, I'm glad I didn't answer
that. Boy, I'm glad I didn't do that.
Thomas, I'm glad he allowed them to do this. I'm glad he did. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we
don't know where you're going. He said, I just told you I'm
going to my father's house. Well, we don't know where that's
at. They thought it's somewhere out out there, you know, in a
different location. Lord, we don't know where you're
going and we've never been to that place. How can we know the
way? How? Where is this place at? And the Lord Jesus says to them,
says unto him, Thomas, you're looking at the way. You see, religion preaches a
way. The gospel is the way. Christ. He's the way. He's not
a way. He's the way. He's the way to
God. He's the way. He's the way. That's
what he's saying. I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. The way is a person. It's a person. There's no earthly road or system
that leads to that place. The way to God is Christ. The
way of acceptance is Christ. The way of peace is Christ. The
way of righteousness is Christ. The way of justification is Christ. He said, no other way leads to
God but Christ. All the ways lead to the opposite.
They take you away from God. Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way, and few there be that find it." Few there be that find it. He's
the way. I want you to listen to this.
When the Lord healed the woman with the issue of blood, and
that leper, that leper came to him and said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me whole. Now listen. They did not look to a righteousness
produced. They did not look to a blood
that was shed because it hadn't been shed yet. They were looking
at that person that was standing in front of them. They were looking
to the Lord, our righteousness. You see, he didn't produce righteousness
and settle over here to the side and say, now look to this. We look to him who is our righteousness. We look to him whose blood was
shed. Christ is the way. Christ is the way. He is the
way, the truth, and the life. He is my righteousness. This
man, this God-man, He is my righteousness. And He's the truth. He didn't
just tell it. He is the truth. He's the revelation
of truth. He's the revelation of truth.
You don't believe the truth until you believe Him. It's not believing a story, it's
believing Him. Job said, By the hearing of the ear I have heard
of thee, but now mine eye seeth thee. And I abhor myself, as
I cough at ashes. We learn the truth from the truth.
That's what we do. And I am the life. Life was manifested. We've seen it. And His name is
Jesus Christ. The name of life is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said, no man comes unto
the Father but by me. We have no access to God except
in Christ. No other way. No other way. Now,
if you had known me, you should have known my father also. Herein
lies our greatest problem. If you had known me. If you had
known me. Our problem, our troubled hearts
arise from lack of knowing him. Trusting him, believing him,
taking him at his word. That's where they come from.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Learn of me. I didn't come to the doctrines
of grace. I came to the God of all grace. And then I learned
the doctrines. Then I learned them. If you really knew me, here's
what he's saying, Thomas, if you really knew me and he's going
to, he's going to grow. We grow in grace and knowledge
of him. If you really knew me, your hearts wouldn't be so troubled.
If you really knew me, you'd know the father and your hearts
wouldn't be so troubled. And from henceforth, you know him
and have seen him. He speaks in the presence of
things that's going to happen, but he speaks of it as though
it's already done. He said, henceforth, from now on, you know him. You
know him. They hadn't realized it yet,
but in knowing him, they knew the father. They knew the father. And in
seeing him, they saw the father. And they'd come to realize this
later on. Now, Philip said unto him, and I'll close this. Philip
said unto him, Lord, show us the father. And it suffices us,
it'll satisfy us. Let us see the Father with our
own eyes, like they were looking at Him. They wanted to see the
Father like they were seeing Him. And that will satisfy us. No, it won't. No, it won't. Whatever these eyes see, never
satisfies. Whatever these old fleshly eyes
look at, never satisfies. It's that eye of faith. It's
that eye of faith that he gives to see, that hearing ear, that
seeing eye that he gives, that he gives. That's what we need.
And Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long a time with you,
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. That's kind of like my father, my earthly father,
St. John. Have I been with you so long
you still don't recognize me? Here he is standing there. Here's
the Son of God in the flesh, but here's the Father also. He said, the Father's in me.
And he's speaking. He said, Philip. He could have said, Son, don't
you recognize me? I'm your father. His name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, The almighty God, the everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Here I am. You look at me, you're
looking at the Father. Don't think the Father is something
different than the Son. He said we're one. We are one. Look no further than Christ when
you look to the Father. He said you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. Believe it's now not that I'm
in the father and the father in me the words. Now listen now
more close the words that I speak unto you. I speak not of myself
but the father that dwells in me. He does the work. He's saying the words I speak
are the works of the father. Receive that side. He said you've seen the father
at work. You know, when he spoke, things happened. It's not like
the Father is sitting inactively by watching like it's a movie
going on. Salvation is the work of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You can't separate that.
You cannot separate it. It's the work of the Trinity.
He said, the words I speak are the works of the Father. Now, if you don't believe this,
at least believe what you've seen. At least believe the work
that you've seen. No ordinary man can do this.
No ordinary man can do this. The cure for troubled hearts.
The cure is to believe God. Take him at his word. Trust him. When you don't understand what's
going on, you're like a child of God sitting in darkness. Trust
him. That's why he sent his disciples.
Don't let your heart be troubled. Just trust me. I'm coming back. I'm repairing a place. I'm about
my father's business. I'm finishing the work. I'm finishing
the work. And then I'm going to come back.
And then I'm going to get you. And then I'm going to take you where I
am. In my father's house. And the things we go through
here, it's just part of the journey home. OK.