Go back with me to John 14. John 14 verse 1 says, let not your heart be troubled. We ended last Sunday morning's
message right there. Do you remember that? Let not
your heart be troubled. Our Lord said this because the
disciples were so down. They were so down. They were
so sad. He had just told them, coming
out of chapter 13, He had just told them that one of them would
betray Him. Imagine if one of us heard that.
Imagine if our Lord, just imagine if He was in the midst of us,
if two or three were gathered in His name. But what if we could
see Him? And what if He said, one of you here will betray me?
Man, you know what every one of us would start saying? Is
it I? I think it is. Well, he had just told them one
of them was going to betray him. And they saw him personally become
troubled in spirit. That's what it said. They watched
a change come over him. And I can't even, I wouldn't
even begin or even try to describe what that would be. But I do know that this is the
one who is always at perfect peace, right? The storms are raging and the
ships going down and he stands up and says, peace, be still. always completely content, always
in communion with his father, completely content. And then
all of a sudden they watched him personally become troubled
in spirit. And they're sitting here looking
at him. He told them that he was leaving
and going to a place that they could not come. Now they've been
with him for three and a half years. And he told him, now I'm
leaving and I'm going somewhere and you can't come with me. Oh. He told Peter, bless his heart,
he told Peter, tonight you are going to deny me three times. Tonight, this is going to happen.
And then he said, let not your heart be troubled. That has always
been one of the sweetest sentences in the Word of God to me. Always. I have always, always loved that
line. It so preciously conveys His
true love and His true forgiveness and His true mercy to His people,
doesn't it? After all that, you're going
to deny me? You're going to betray me? His true love, His true mercy.
It has always said to me that He knows our frame. That's what it says. He knows
our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Is that not just sweet? Don't
worry, I know you're dust. I know you're all sinners. I
know you're weak. I know you're flesh. I know. That's why I'm
going to die. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. Right here in verse one, you
believe in God. Believe also in me. Why? Because he's equal with God.
That's why. He's equal with God, this man
right here, a man was troubled in spirit. He said, father, if
it's possible, let this cup pass from me. A man was lifted up, humiliated,
stripped naked and humiliated. A man was denied. But this man
is God Almighty, the one in the beginning. In the beginning was
the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. All things were made by Him. Everything was spoken into existence
by this man right here. Flesh was formed with the hands
of this man right here. Breath was given from this man
right here. This man is God. The God that
went into that bush and said, Moses, take your shoes off. You're standing on holy ground.
That's this man right here. This man, God was troubled in
spirit. How is that possible? I don't know. God was lifted
up. God was denied. Many people would
say, well, that was the son of God. You're getting it confused.
That was the son of God. All right, we'll go with me to
John 10. John 10, look at verse 30. Our
Lord said, I and my Father are one. We're one. God is a Trinity. And we know that from Genesis
1, verse 26. God said, let us make man in our image after our
likeness. God is three persons. Now here's
what I want to tell you. I'm about to give you an illustration,
but no illustration is perfect. All right? God is three persons,
three individual persons. The Father of God, God is a trinity,
and we have the Father of God, the Son of God and the Spirit
of God. Our Lord said, you believe in
God, you believe in me. You believe in me. Those three
persons are just as much one as I Am just as much a father
as I am a son. Does that make sense? I am a father. I'm a son. Wait a minute, I thought you
said you were a father. I did, but I'm a son. How can
you be a son if you're a father? Which one is it? Yes. Go to John 5. John 5 verse 17 says, But Jesus
answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had
broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father,
making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing
of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do. For what things
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Why? He said, I can't do anything
other than what the Father does. Why? Is it because He's less?
No, it's because they're one. They're one. Whatever Isabella
and Sophie's father does, Marvin Stoniker's son does. That's all
there is to it. You just can't separate it. They're
one. Verse 20 says, For the father
loveth the son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth,
and he will show him greater works than these that you may
marvel. For as the father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." That means that Jesus Christ
is standing at the judgment throne, sitting at the judgment. One
of these days we're going to go meet God, and you know who
we're going to go meet? Jesus Christ. Well, I thought
He was my advocate. My little children, I write these
things that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. I thought he was
my advocate. He is. He's also the judge. Verse 22
says for the father judges, no man, but have committed all judgment
unto the son. that all men should honor the
Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life. and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. Whoever hears the Father and
believes the Father is gonna live. Whoever hears the Son and
believes the Son is gonna live. Why? Because they're one. All
right, now go back with me to John 14. Verse 7 says, now this is our Lord speaking,
If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also. And
from henceforth you know Him. and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the father. And how sayest thou then, Show
us the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's
sake. He said, You believe in God? You believe in me. I'm God. Verse 2, John 14 verse
2, he said, 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 I and every other man and
woman on the face of this earth We all collectively have no idea
what our Lord meant when He said the word mansions. We have no
idea. He said that His kingdom is a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
He said that, didn't He? He told us in Psalm 48 to walk
about Zion and go around about her tell the towers thereof."
He said that, didn't he? Go with me over to Isaiah 65.
Isaiah 65 verse 17 says, For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth. And the former shall not be remembered
nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying. There shall
be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath
not filled his days. For the child shall die an hundred
years old, but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be
accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards
and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another
inhabit. They shall not plant and another
eat. For as the days of a tree are
the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work
of their hands. That sounds nice, doesn't it?
Now I have no idea if every bit of that is spiritual, or if our
Lord means for us to do that when we get to glory. There are
preachers that have been around a lot longer than me, and maybe
they can shed some light on it. I can't. I have no idea. Peter
said, that he knew shortly he must put off his tabernacle.
His tabernacle, his body. This body houses my soul. It's where it lives. One of these
days I'm going to put off my tabernacle and I'm going to be
conformed into the image of Christ. And that glorified body is going
to be a mansion compared to this tent that I'm living in right
now. But I have no idea if that's what our Lord means at all. I
don't have any idea. I do know this. All right? I do know this. When all of God's
elect are finally called home to glory, when we all get to
heaven, like the song says, whether there are mansions there or not,
none of us are going to care. Not one of us. Because every
single one of us will have our eyes completely fastened on the
beautiful face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are there mansions around
here? I haven't looked yet. How long
have you been standing like that? About a thousand years. Are those streets gold? No idea. What our Lord is telling us right
there is There's plenty of room. That's what he's saying. There's
plenty of room. Let not your heart be troubled.
I am going to prepare a place for you. That's what he's saying.
Go back to John 14. Verse 3 says, 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. Did he go? He said, if I go. Did he go? Yes,
he did. Then he is coming again. We have
his word on it. He is coming again. 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. And whither
I go, you know, and the way You know, Thomas saith unto him,
Lord, we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the
way? The way to the father's house.
Do you know the way to the father's house? The way to glory. We talk about going to glory.
How do you get there? The way to this prepared place. Verse 6, Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the
father, but by me. Now, knowing that he and the
father are one sheds a lot of light on that verse of scripture,
doesn't it? He said, nobody's going to get to the father, but
by me. Well, they're one. No one is going to bypass Jesus
Christ to get to the Father. Nobody. It's impossible. They're one. If a sinner is going to make
it to the Father, it is only going to be by Him. That's it. Now, what did our Lord mean when
He said, I am the way? What did He mean by that? Number one, and this, I'm telling
you, this is the key to salvation. I mean, if there was one key
that everybody ought to possess to salvation, this is it. I mean,
this is the secret. This is the key. Number one,
here's what our Lord was saying. A person is the way. He said, I am the way. A person
is the way, not a place, not a thing, not an idea. Church is not the way. You better
get in church. Judgment's coming now. Church
is not the way. Well, you better get your things
in order. Things are not the way. I got an idea. I think I'm finally
getting some theology. It's not the way. A person is the way. A person is the way. If God would
ever reveal that to a sinner and cause that sinner to believe
it, really believe it, then salvation has come to that sinner. If a
sinner ever learns that a person is the way, salvation has come
to that sinner. You know what we preach here?
Do you ever wonder when you drive by, I wonder what they preach
in there? You know what we preach here? A person is the way. We preach a person. The apostle
Paul said in Galatians 1.13, he said, when I was back in religion,
I persecuted the church of God and I wasted it. That's when
I was in religion. Religion is not the way. It's
not the way. You know, a man gets caught breaking
the law and then he gets thrown in prison. And then he feels
sorry about it, and he starts to feel guilty over it. Who doesn't?
When you want to get out of that cell, and you just want to get
out of that cell, who doesn't feel sorry about it? Who doesn't
feel guilty over it? And so he starts to get worried
about his soul. Well, here I sit, you know, and
I've done these bad things. And he thinks, I need to get
religion. Somebody call the chaplain. I
need to get religion. No, you don't. What you need
is Christ. You need the way. Religion is
not the way. It's just not the way. The Apostle Paul told the
Ephesians, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Works is not the way. It is not
the way. You know, I really do, I illustrate
a lot, and I say this a lot, and I don't want to ever be misunderstood.
A person ought to clean their act up and they ought to live
right. They ought to straighten up and fly right. But that's what this world thinks
for salvation. You know, I've got to get my
act cleaned up and I've got to straighten up and I've got to
fly right. It would be a wonderful idea, but it will not bring you
to the Father. It just will not do it. It's
not the way. Look at Matthew 7 with me. Matthew 7 verse 21, Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. How many times have we read this
now? I hope we never stop. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And every
time I read that, I ask the question, what is the Father's will? Hear
Him. This is my beloved Son, you hear
Him. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, we were preachers. We prophesied in thy name. And
in thy name have cast out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. When a man goes to stand before
the judgment throne of God and God asks him, what right do you
have to come in? You're here because you want
to come in. What right do you have to enter in if he says,
I have been in church all my life. I was born, they sent me
straight to the nursery. I went through all the kids'
classes, did children's church, came into the big church. Matter
of fact, I had a heart attack on Sunday morning. I died right
in the pew. He will say, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I never knew you. If that's what a man pleads,
if that's his plea, I've been in church all my life. He'll
say, depart from me. I never knew you. If he says,
I came to a higher understanding of doctrine. There are deep things
that some people don't understand and I studied them. I gave my
life to study in them. And I came to this higher understanding
more so than any other man I ever met. God will say to him, depart
from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. If he says,
I gave my heart to you. What right do you have to come
in? I gave my heart to you. If he says, I gave up this world
for you, I could have gone after the world, but I didn't. I denied
myself for you. God is going to say, depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. But if that man says, I am not
here on my own right, what right do you have to enter in? I don't
have one. I don't have one. I'm here on the right of somebody
else. I'm here on the right of a man
who gave his life for me and shed his blood for me. And his
name is Jesus Christ. That's the only reason I'm standing
here, because of a man named Jesus Christ. If any sinner will
say that, he'll say, Welcome in, thou good and faithful servant. Our Lord said, I am the way. I'm the way. All right, now he's
also saying, I am the way. I am the way. Even though most
people say the name Jesus. Everybody says that name. Did
you know that most people don't believe that He is? Even in the
churches. I bet if you polled that question,
they would honestly say no. They don't believe that He is.
They believe He was. They believe He was. They believe
He was on this earth 2,000 years ago. He came to show us the way,
right? He came 2,000 years ago to show
us the way. To be an example to us, if we
would follow in His footsteps, we'll make it there. Christ didn't
say, I was. He said, I am. I am. Call on him today. We begin this worship service
saying, Lord, help us today. Lord, I know we just asked you
this morning. We're begging tonight. I am. Seek while he may be found today. He said, if you don't believe
that I am, you'll die in your sins. I am. He said in Hebrews 11 verse 6,
he that cometh to God must believe that he is, must believe that
he is. Christ said, I am the way. And then he said, I'm the way,
the way, not a way. You know, that's fine. You go
ahead and take that route. We'll take this route. We'll
meet you in the middle. No, there's one way. There's
one way. He said broad is the way that
leads to destruction, straight is the gate and narrow is the
way that leads unto life and few there be that find it. Few there be that find it. Few
there be that find life. Why? It's because if they don't have
Him, They don't find the way, they're
never going to find the truth, and they're never going to find
the life. People go searching for the truth. What's the truth?
What's the truth? What's the truth? If they're
one of the Lord's, he's going to finally in mercy say, I am. Oh. Christ is all. He's all those
things, he's the way, he's the truth, he's the life. I'm looking
for the life. Well, Christ is the life. If
a sinner finds Christ, he finds everything. If a sinner doesn't
find Christ, if he finds everything else, but he doesn't find Christ,
he has found nothing. He's absolutely found nothing.
If God has revealed Christ to you, who He is, what He's done,
what He finished, if you are resting in that, do you know
that's what we're doing here? All of these things we know are
not new. No, you cannot walk out of here
saying never heard that before. It's been recorded here for thousands
of years, right? And all we're doing here is just
resting in his word. We're just resting in his promise. We're just looking to him. We're
just trusting what he said. He said, if I go, I'm going to
come again and get you. And we're just waiting, trusting,
believing Christ in His Word. We're not trusting our own works.
We're not trusting this decision. We're just trusting His Word. And if you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, here's the message. Let not your heart be troubled.
Just let not your heart be troubled. He said right there, 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,
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. Come to Christ, Gabe Stoniker.
He's the way. He's the way. All right, let's
stand together.