us to turn again to that passage
we read in John chapter 14. And these are the words that
I want to focus on and we will expand this morning. As it happens,
I think it's very appropriate because of the turbulent times
that we're in. Jesus said, let not your hearts
be troubled. Verse 1 there. You believe in
God, believe also in me. Now, let's just be clear, we,
all of us, every single one of us, at times we know troubled
hearts. It's the nature of man, it's
the world that we live in. And there may be some of us now,
right now, in our church and fellowship, who are troubled,
very troubled. There are many things that come
to us. The trouble that was going to
come to these dear men, the disciples, was unimaginable. They really
did not know what was going to happen in the next day. Our dear
Saviour, of course, did, because He knew exactly, and He told
them exactly, and therefore He has to prepare them. Our pastor
has ministered somewhat on some of the last sayings of Christ
in recent months, It's been very good to look at these things,
and we've gained much from it. Our Saviour wants to come to
them, and I think our pastor said, when we look at these last
things, we note all of the scripture, but we do note that these are
the last things, he says. If you're going away and you're
leaving instructions to people, They are very important, aren't
they? And these are the things he felt, above all things, he
wanted to say. We have to remember the deep
love Christ had for these disciples. We can't enter that place, but
we have to, by faith, accept the tremendous love. And for
three years, he's had them. He's the shepherd. They were
his flock, weren't they? His sheep. And though he said
hard things to them at times, and had to, had to reprimand
them, he deeply loves them. And that's the man, you know,
he's God and he's man. Don't underestimate the humanity
of Christ. He's going to leave his dear
friends. You know, if we knew, I mean,
those who love this church, if we knew tomorrow you were gonna
leave this church and never come back, it would hurt us, I'm sure
it would. That's the position with our
Lord. So it's his farewell, his final teaching. And the strength
of that feeling, I remember this morning, it comes out a bit in
Luke 22 and verse 15. You probably know this verse.
I think it tells us a lot about Christ. This is the parallel
passage, where it's the last night, the Lord's Supper. And
when they sat down for that supper, because that was all part of
that last night, he said unto them, With desire I have desired
to eat this Passover with you. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. Then he took the cup. You know,
before he took that cup, before there was that blessing, before
they divided amongst themselves, he said, there's this desire,
and I think we see that desire. If I can take that thought with
you into this chapter 14, it's the same time, isn't it? There's
something very strong about it, the pressure, the strain, the
emotion. You think, well, he's going to
torment the man that our dear Savior is going to go through.
And yet he says to his dear disciples, let not your heart be troubled.
His heart was probably greatly troubled, wasn't it? Was it not? Humanly speaking. He says, but
I go to prepare a place for you. This is one of the most comforting
parts of scripture. I'm sure we all know our scriptures
well, and we know where to go. In this passage, there is so
much comfort for us, and we draw from it. There's so much in the
chapter, I've got to just concentrate on a few verses this morning.
I want to look at 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 then verses 16 and 17 and I will pray the father and
he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever
even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because
it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. And so this morning there are
four points that I want to bring to you. I'm not usually a great
one for points. I remember listening to a tape
on how to give sermons and it was pointed out, Al Martin pointed
out that Paul never gave a three-point sermon all beginning with P or
R. But I think sometimes it's good to have key points and the
first point here is the obvious one but he is leaving he's got
to tell them and they don't really take it in do they you've got
to tell them he's leaving it's not an easy message but he goes
to prepare a place for them And it's wonderful. And we could
misunderstand what he said. In my father's house are many
mansions. Some people think, well, it's just many rooms. But
I think we missed the point if we just lower it to the physical. Mansion, I mean, I visit mansions. Jill and I like National Trust
buildings. Some may not like it, but we
particularly like the gardens. And we go, there are some beautiful
places near here, but they are mansions. They've got something
special about it. Lovely grounds and gardens. There's
a glory. That's what Christ says. I'm
going to prepare a place. It's not just a place. It's grand. It's glorious. He's not even
going to attempt to describe it. That's what Christ is saying
when he says mansions. He's not just saying rooms. He's
saying something wonderful. I go to prepare a very wonderful
place for you. Isn't that so good? If it wasn't
so, I would have told you. And he says, and I go to prepare
that place for you. And he says, I'm going to come
again. so there's that he's told us before but there's a reminder
that he will come again these are extremely difficult things
for the disciples and we know they struggle with it as we shall
see they struggle with this we hear what they say but i will come again i will
receive you unto myself isn't that the hope of every true christian
at the end of our days whenever that may be maybe tomorrow he
will receive us to himself if you've got that hope that's we
trust that that's what God brings us through this word of God he
brings us that hope if you haven't got that hope or you seek the
Lord while he may be found that you might have it And he says,
where I go, you know the way. He's got to tell them. And they
know the way. Like Thomas, Thomas gets a bad
press, doesn't he? But my view on Thomas, and you
may not agree with it, is that I think he was so devoted to
Christ, so dedicated to him, that when they said they'd seen
him again, he just couldn't grasp it. The Christ had gone, and
then they said, we've seen him. I think Thomas found it too much. And he's called Doubting Thomas,
and there will be a description of him. But Thomas speaks up
here. I think the others were probably
thinking it. Interesting, we don't hear Peter, do we? Thomas
speaks up. And he says, we know, not whether
or not, we don't know where you're going. And how can we know the
way, says Thomas? How can this be? It's too hard
for him. What does Jesus say? We know the verse, verse 6, but
we need to know the context. Jesus says, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That's his answer. to Thomas. You've got to lift yourself up.
You've got to see the totality, the greatness of the ministry
of Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. We live in the world where we're
told of multi-faith and multi-cultures, but each of those other cultures
is quite convinced it's correct. Jesus is the way. He's saying
to Thomas, you've got to believe the whole revelation of God. It's not just this event. You've
got to be totally committed to me, and that's the challenge
to us this morning. Where do we stand? He is the
only way. and then there's Philip, he says
if you know me you should have known my father also and from
henceforth you know him and have seen him, there's a bit of rebuke
in this Philip says Lord show us the father and it's a fire
set up, so there's the voice of Philip speaking up, see this
is difficult for them and what does Jesus say have I been so
long with you and yet hast thou not known me In other words,
he's there. Have you not seen that I am deity? I'm God. I'm man. I am the Son
of God, the eternal Son of God in human form. This was the mystery
of godliness before him. It's quite a challenge. You've
been my disciple. What have you seen in these three
years? Have you really grasped it? When
we read the scriptures, we read these things. Have we really
gross trust that we have come to that complete total and absolute
persuasion in our souls that he is the way the truth and the
life and that that is the way to the father is that your conviction
that's that's what the word of God brings us to this morning
it's it's an imperative he has to he has to bring them to to
see that he's going to be departing from them as I said earlier it's
not An easy message, is it? And one that they would struggle
with. And I want to just direct you
to Matthew 26. And these verses, we know them, 26 and verses 26
to 28, where In the supper, the communion
itself, he's really saying to them, he's telling them, he's
going to die. We know that. They're symbolism,
isn't there? They were eating, and he took
bread and blessed it and break it, gave it to his disciples,
said, take, eat, this is my body. His body's going to be broken.
and he took the cup and gave it to them saying drink it all
of it for this is my blood of the new testament which is shed
for many for the remission of sins he said my body is going
to be broken My blood is going to be shed. He has to tell them,
and we know that when we come next week to the table, that
is a wonderful demonstration of this. It's a demonstration
of the Gospel. It should speak clearly to us. And it's not light. We see here
His love for His disciples. We see that as we read on, and
particularly in John 17, where He prays specifically for them. There are those who don't like
this. They don't like what we would call particular redemption,
election. They don't like the fact that
we are told that God is calling a people out. They find this
offensive. But we have to believe, and I
certainly can only preach, that which is the word of God. And
we know these passages well, Ephesians 1, verses 3 and 4,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him now in the history of grace God speaks clearly to us he had
a chosen people and this was Israel was set forth as a type
of a chosen people the people of God we know from all the scriptures
that there is a true Israel isn't there a true Israel of God the
disciples these dear men of all their as we think foibles and
misunderstanding, were chosen by Christ. They weren't nominated,
elected or appointed or they may have come to Him by various
means, but in the end He called them to Him. He called separately
to Him these 12 men. He knew one was a devil, we knew
that. but that was the will of God to betray him but they were
loved and called of Christ they are a type of the church they
are a type of the elect and of the people of God and of the
chosen when in John 6 he said no man can come to me except
the Father draw him that's when people started departing from
him as we read, he said it twice and people went no more with
him and he said to the disciples and Peter are you going to depart
from him? What did Peter say? Thou hast
the words of life. They were drawn to him. It's
a two-way thing, isn't it? The gospel is a remarkable thing.
It's magnetic, there is the will of God towards us, but then that
work of the Spirit in our souls, we are drawn to him, aren't we?
We come to him. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. God is sovereign, it's a mystery.
This is God's work. It's not the work of the church.
You can go to churches when you can do your alpha course and
you can be manipulated and go through various stages and fill
up forms and say prayers and eventually be allowed to be a
member of the church. Well, we don't do that here. We let God
do the work. We preach the truth and we want
God to work in your heart and in my heart. That's the gospel.
It's mysterious. What are we like? Are we like
Thomas? We probably are at times, you know. Like Philip, if you've
got questions, we should have questions. And we come to the
word of God for the answers. And we thank God we have those,
like our pastor, we can come to and be helped. So the first
point he's got to make to them, and it's a hard, I've said it's
a very hard message, he's leaving. But this is the glory of this
chapter, isn't it? We're not left alone, they were
not left alone. Isn't that wonderful? Verse 16
and 17, aren't they wonderful? This is what the Lord said, I'm
going, and I'm going to pray the Father that he shall give
you another comforter. We all know, I trust that word
there in Greek is the parakletos, or we would say paraklete. It's
a unique word, it had a kind of legal meaning. It was, I'm
going to give someone who is to stand alongside you. Someone who is for you. someone
who will support you, maybe in life or in business you've done
that. I did that at an employment debate once, and I was, as a
worthy advocate, I stood for somebody else. Sadly, I also
was the paraclete with somebody in a divorce court, which was
not very nice, but it was a necessary event. Not nice, but that person
needed somebody with them, they needed help, they needed support,
and it was important. that he may abide with you forever.
See that word abide? You could miss that. But I think
it's terribly important. The spirit. The believer has
the spirit that he may abide with you forever. Some get very
troubled. They think that the spirit and
presence of God, as it were, come and go from them. Well,
of course, our hearts grow hot and cold. We may feel the Lord
is not with us, but this is what the word of God says. Even the
spirit of truth, who in the world cannot receive because it's he
of him not, neither knoweth him. But he says, but you know him.
in a sense they did, they had known because they'd seen the
works of Christ, they knew because there was power in them, Christ
had appointed them, they went out and they had themselves performed
miracles, they had seen the power of the Spirit, for it dwelleth
with you and shall be in you, this is, we preach, this is the
greatest comfort that we could bring to anybody, Jesus said
let not your hearts be troubled, but where's the comfort? The
comfort can only be in being a true child of God, and it can
only be in the precious work of the Spirit. This is where
comfort comes. In our age, when people aren't
well now, or there's a disaster, they bring in truckloads of counsellors
and therapists. You go to the doctor now and
they say, what do you want to do? Certain therapists, they
give you, they recommend books to you and some of it can be,
for example, related to Eastern meditation and culture, which
is very suspect. But the Christian, where's the
Christian's comfort? It's got to be in God, hasn't
it? God in three persons. We see that in this particular
passage. And we have one alongside us.
And I like this. This is a Trinitarian verse.
There are those who speak against the Trinity. Unitarians say it's
not in the scripture. Here we read verse 16. Jesus,
the Son of God says, I will pray the Father. and he shall give
you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. How
can that not be a Trinitarian verse? We can find many, many
in the scripture. God, the mystery, isn't it? We
don't understand the mystery of godliness. Christ manifest
in the flesh. How can that be? It's beyond
us. It's actually something we can preach, but we can't explain. This is the power of God, isn't
it? Remarkable. But we're not left
alone. This is the point. And he's revealed
to us as the spirit of truth. In our day, there's a search
for truth. And that's the philosophers today,
well, they're incomprehensible and bankrupt. But the scientists
think they're searching for truth and they tell us things. But
you know, a lot of what they tell us in the New Scientist
if you read the creation magazine, is lies. They don't really understand.
They come up the truth from the blinkered eye of the natural
thinking, evolutionary accident and chance, and they can't see. If they came up the truth from
the right way, this is the work of God, their science will be
so much better they would advance so much more quickly and be so
much more relevant to us but they can't see it because they're
blinded by the God of this world he is the spirit of truth his
prime role in our lives is to take as we read here to take
the things of Christ and reveal them to us verse 26 the comfort
the Holy Spirit who the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things." How is it we're going to learn all things
that we know? It's going to be by the Spirit. "...and he'll bring all things
to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you." Those things
that he had spoken, his ministry, they will be brought to their
remembrance, thus we have the Scriptures. And we know that
the Lord brought revelation to the likes of Paul as well. And
he wrote down that which I have received of Christ. He wrote
it down. I've received of the Lord. But the disciples, they
wrote these Gospels, but the Spirit brought the remembrance,
the things He said, and we know that the first three Gospels,
there's a similarity, and people often say, oh, John's Gospel
is totally different, and there's a big problem there, but I think
that the Holy Spirit, you, because of that intimacy between John
and Christ, there were things that John had to say that were
not in the other three, and this was the last and I believe that
those things were brought forth that we had a more complete record. As John says, it's all the things
that we need to know for salvation are set before us. God provides
us in a remarkable way that we are not left alone. Draw your
attention to Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25. It's a verse
I'm sure you know. wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them and we love John chapter
17 and we might say well that was his last prayer well it's
his last prayer perhaps in some ways on earth but I like this
we are told in heaven there is Christ the God-man the Son of
God, and He ever lives to make intercession. Isn't that remarkable? He is still for us. He's still interceding for us. And we love that. But we don't
leave it there. I preached, I think, on this
not so long ago. John, in Romans, chapter 8, and
verses 26 and 27, you see the other aspects of this. This is
where we get so much comfort from the Scriptures. John 8,
26 and 27. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray, for
as we ought, the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. in heaven praying
for us. Isn't that wonderful? And there's
the Spirit on earth with us, in us, praying for us. Now, again, we don't, as it were,
see and feel these things, but by faith we should take great
comfort. Christ is leaving, but we are
not left alone. Oh, do you know that work of
the Spirit? Oh, we must desire that. Now, we move on. We see
here a closeness with the Lord. We read amazing, amazing things
in our chapter this morning. Absolutely incredible truths
are revealed to us in this chapter, John 14. Verse 11, I want to
go to. believe me that I'm in the Father
and the Father in me or else believe me for the very work's
sake. We see there the closeness of
Father and Son. This is part of the mystery of
the Trinity. That is well spelt out in our
article in the Little Blue Book. You should read that. But there's
that closeness, that intimacy. This is what Christ is trying
to convey. There's an intimacy. But he goes on beyond that, because
if we go to verse 20, there's this verse. I think I pointed
this out on Thursday. At that day you shall know that
I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Just think
about that, and that's something I can't, in a sense, explain. I can point you to it. Christ
says, I and the Father are one. I am in the Father, and the Father
is in me, but he says, you are in me, and I am in you. And this
is a very remarkable verse, isn't it? What we see here, what he's
trying to say is that as the Father and the Son have that
intimacy, that inexpressible oneness of the Trinity, so it
is that with Christ and us, and will be for eternity, there is
here that intimacy, closeness. The Gospel is a come near, isn't
it? If you don't understand that,
we come to Christ, we come near to him, that's the invitation.
Come unto me, says our Lord Jesus Christ. Come to me, people might
say that's a gospel verse, but in a sense it's not. It's a verse
really for believers to come unto me, O ye who labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
learn of me, for I am meek, lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls, for my burden is easy. My yoke is easy,
my burden is light, says the Lord. It's a call to those, you
can only come to Him if you have faith. come to me, says Christ. This is the thing. We see in
this chapter, and as we see the whole of this 13th through to
18th, we see the intimacy that the Lord is setting forth. Do
you want that? That's the Christian life. It's
a coming close to Christ. Not trying to, as it were, walk
alongside and go at the same pace and be regular in our church
going, but there's an invitation. Because if we are his, we're
now in the kingdom of God. We are now in that kingdom of
heaven. We don't have to wait for eternity. We're in it. That's
why the world doesn't like us, why we find we're in opposition
to the world. Because we are in another kingdom. Jesus said,
my kingdom is not of this world. And if you're in that kingdom,
all that closeness is something I can't explain. It's very personal. Do you have that? Do you have
that really wanting to come to him, to know him, to love him,
to desire him? Let me give you a parallel. It's
difficult to give a very accurate one, but I think this one will
help. Let me talk about family. So
each and every one of us, family, is very, very important. And
we know it is. I don't need to elaborate on
that. Because in a family, you have
that something, don't you? That belonging. You belong. And you've got that closeness,
that intimacy. It's something that is remarkable.
Of course, it's God-given. Let me just say straight away
that the normal family, husband and wife and children, is of
the will of God. And as we get this ridiculous
sort of communist agenda going in our country, so it will only
bring chaos and misery. But this is, God blesses it. This is what the will of God
is. It's a blessing of God on the family. And we feel it, don't
we? We feel. We feel we belong to
it. When you're married, you have
that oneness, that bond between you, husband and wife, that is
very hard to explain, but when you marry in the Lord, it's the
most precious. precious thing to you and it's a source of comfort
to us when Jesus I'm his and he is mine we sing in that hymn
and you know I love this hymn love with everlasting love we've
looked at Ephesians 1 isn't it led by grace that love to know
spirit breathing from above thou has taught me it is so now is
this where the Lord has taken us this is where we want to be
oh this full and perfect peace oh this transport all divine
in a love which cannot cease I am his and he is mine. That just says what I'm trying
to say, the hymn writer, Montgomery. What I'm trying to say this morning,
that's a sovereign grace, lovely verse. That's what we're looking
at this morning. That's what the Lord would tell
us through the scripture. There is an invitation to the
will. to me. There's a closeness with the
Lord to see that we are bound to God. He has possessed us in
Christ. Jesus has come as a good shepherd.
As he said, the sheep know me. and I know them, I know them
by name, he says, doesn't he, John 10, and I know them, and
they know me, they hear my voice, they come to me, you know that,
have you ever seen a shepherd at work, and you see a flock
of sheep in the field, and the shepherd calls them, and they,
all their ears turn round, they all trot to him, because they
know that he is the source of water, he's the source of food,
he's the source of protection, they go to the shepherd, is that
how it is with you, are you drawn? to Christ. Are you drawn to this
place? Are you drawn to the Good Shepherd? People want to feel
things, but we must believe. And we must believe the Word
of God. And so those who are with Christ
are in a family. The world finds a fellowship
like our church here. They find it very strange and
all. They don't understand that relationship we have with each
other. But see, in Christ, isn't it? We are a family. in a sense. We know that, don't we? And we
have that interest in each other, and we have that care for each
other. Sometimes our ties and feelings for each other are actually
much stronger sometimes than our natural family, when they're
unbelievers. They can be very difficult, and
they can be against us. Whereas we have dear, dear friends. We've known, you know, so many,
I've known the pastor for nearly 40 years, and very dear friends.
When we say, and Cliff, I've known him for so many years,
when we say he's a brother in Christ, we don't just sort of
trot in there. We mean that. He's a very dear
brethren in Christ. That's what we see here. Oh,
this is the gospel. It's a closeness with the Lord.
That's part of what he wanted to say. I will come for you.
I will comfort you. I will not just leave you, but
I've got to go. Yes, he says, your heart, not
be troubled. Your hearts are troubled, But
don't be troubled for these reasons. Closeness with the Lord. My last
point, we said he's leaving. We are not left alone. There's
a closeness. Oh, see that closeness. And finally,
briefly, we have a wonderful gospel. of all the messages in
this world, we've had lots of messages in recent weeks and
we've been trying to be, people have tried to persuade us of
this, that and the other. Let me tell you, nothing but
nothing we've heard was wonderful. A lot of it was actually fairly
miserable and gloomy. What we have here is wonderful. Nothing, nothing but nothing.
is more wonderful than this, the Gospel, the Saviour Christ,
nothing is greater than this, this is what we need and he's
our example and we love that prayer, it's sometimes called
the Lord's Prayer, John 17, that we note carefully, he makes the
point, he's praying for them, many parts we could pick, let
me just pick out one or two, verse 9, he says, I pray for
them, that's his disciples, I pray not for the world but for them
which thou hast given me for they are thine and I love this
verse all mine are thine and thine are mine and I'm glorified
in them isn't that wonderful this is what God thinks of the
believer in Christ and Christ prays for his sheep some people
might not like these verses but this is the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ just a few more verses 20, neither pray I for
these alone, that's the disciples, but for them also, which shall
believe on me through their word. He's praying not just for them,
but for the whole Israel of God. Those of us this morning who
know him and love him, there's a prayer for us here. And this is the eternal son of
God. This is, as it were, an eternal prayer. It comes out
and reaches us. And again, this intimacy, verse
23, he says, I in them, thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. those whom thou hast given me,
be with me, where I am. What did Jesus say? He said,
I go to prepare a place for you, didn't he? He said, I go to prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there may ye be also. And we see here, when we get
to that place, that glorious place, which is what Manchin
is talking about, he's talking about the glory of it. Very hard
to put that word forth, We see that they may behold my glory. This is what Christ is saying.
This is part of the compliment. I go, but I will take you to
myself. There will be a time when I take
you to myself. I have prepared a place, but in that place you
will behold my glory, says the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the
great comfort that they have been given. Yes, in this world
you shall have tribulation, he says, but be of good cheer. I
have overcome the world, says the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
might know that love of God. We have here a gospel that is
complete. It's perfect. It's for sinners,
isn't it? It's for you and me. It's by
faith. Oh, that the Lord would speak
to us. He would bring to us that understanding
of what it meant for Him to leave, to leave these disciples. but
he would not leave them alone. That provision, wonderful provision
that is there in the church. People look elsewhere, but it's
spiritual, even the spirit of truth himself. There's that closeness. That's what's precious, isn't
it? That desire. That's why amongst
us people talk about experimental religion. I know what they mean.
They want to know, they want to feel. They want to live this
life because we have a wonderful gospel world. We thank God for
his word of truth. May he bless his word. And we're
going to sing now in conclusion, hymn number 1078 and the tune
is Arizona, number