I don't mean to comment on every
song. But it's hard. They're really good. And they
say such beautiful truths in such simple ways. None but Jesus,
none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good. It's the most simple
truth and the most true thing we know. Nothing but Christ can
do a sinner good. How simple is that? And absolutely
true. The most true thing we know.
I mean, what a simple, beautiful statement. So I'll be preaching this morning.
The title of it is, Our Home Is With Christ. It kind of started, or was born,
from a conversation that Katie and I had. Got some people in
my life right now that, I'm not gonna get into it, but they're
going through some really hard things. and things that are totally unexpected,
which a lot of life is. And we were just talking about
how life can be so unexpected. It doesn't end up where you think
it's going to. Pretty much always. I mean, we
all have a picture in our heads, throughout our lives, of how
our lives are gonna go. I mean, that starts When you're
young, where your life will be, who you'll be with, where you'll
be, how you feel, the experiences. We all have that picture in our
minds of how our futures are going to be. It starts very young. Expectations. You have, as a child, you have
expectations of adulthood. Who will you marry? You have
that picture in your head. What will your home be like?
What will your kids be like? It's totally normal, totally
expected to have that. But how often does the picture
we have end up reality? Pretty much never. I mean, we
can have all the plans we want. And as you age, your expectations
do too. As you become an early adult, you start thinking about,
okay, I have kids. What are they gonna be like when they get older?
Who are they gonna marry? What are my grandkids going to
be like? I see these things. I picture myself as a grandpa.
I'm at that point in my life. I mean, my kids are getting older.
And I see these things, even like you look ahead to retirement.
I mean, how many of you that have reached retirement are living
the retirement you thought you would? I mean, we all have pictures. We all have expectations. And
very seldom does that plan go according to what we expect. So we have these expectations.
I would dare to say that these things very seldom happen. The
smallest things in life can change the direction of what's happening.
And it can be big things. And of course, I say these things
like life is just random. It's not. I know that. You know
that. These are all perfectly happening according to the plan
of our God, of the Lord. But for us, we're just living
it. Turns happen every day. Could be something small, could
be something big. Could be financial. All of a sudden you lose your
job. That changes everything. Or you get sick. I mean, it was
Henry Mahan, I think, that always said we can't even fix our own
toothache, let alone, you know, earn ourselves salvation. We
can't control so much of what happens to us. And when you look
at it, if you didn't have the truth, if you don't have Christ,
what a terrifying way to live. To think that this is just it.
This is everything, and every turn that we don't have control
over is the only truth that there is. Nothing to hold onto, no
hope, no truth, no foundation that doesn't change, that doesn't
move, because everything else does. The fact that all these things
can happen around us that we don't have control over shows
us multiple things. Obviously, it shows us that God
is the only one in control. He's the only one that has a
plan, and He's the only one that has a plan that's actually going
to happen. It also shows us that we have very little control over
any of it. And it also shows us that the world we live in, a lot of very difficult things
happen. Unpleasant things happen. This world is cursed. It's been
cursed since Adam. And we're living in a cursed
world. It's not hard to see that when you look around. I mean,
it feels like recently it's even more obvious how cursed this
world is. And I'm sure other generations
have felt the same way. But you don't have to look far
to see what this world has become, and feels like it's becoming
more every day. And we're a part of that world. We're a part of
the curse. And I'm sure you probably agree that we don't have to look
very far at ourselves to see that as well. So as we were talking about all
these unexpected twists and turns in life, you know, there's obvious
health, relationships, money, societal changes, political changes,
war, some crazy stuff happening to the East right now. Even life
itself could end at any moment for any of us. I could live 30
more years or I could fall over right now. I don't have control
over that. So as we talked about these unknowns
and insecurities of life, the natural question for me in my
head and in my heart is, well, what is known? What is secure? If nothing around me is, what
can I hold on to? What can I look to with confidence?
Well, nothing here. You can't look to any aspect
of this world, any aspect of this life, any aspect of yourself,
anything around you with confidence, because it could change like
that. And some of us have experienced
that, I would imagine. Lost a loved one, you know, or
diagnosed with something. There's so many different ways
that this can happen. You can't hold on to anything here. It's
all fluid, it all changes, never stays the same. So what can we
hold on to that isn't changing, that is a solid foundation? Believers obviously know the
answers to this, the answer to this. We hold on to Christ. We
hold on to the promises that he's given us. There is nothing more sure than
a promise from God. He created everything. He controls
everything. He is everything. And if he makes a promise, there
is nothing more sure than that. Which is why I ended up looking
at this scripture. First of all, Peter, I always
love Peter. He's a perfect example, quite
often, of us, and the world, and how we approach things. And
Christ uses him so many times to show us that. So you go back,
Peter goes, you know, after Christ is telling him, I'm gonna be
leaving, and you can't come with me. Peter says, Lord, why can't
I follow you now? He didn't understand. And he
said, I'll lay down my life for you. I mean, I have confidence
in myself. And Jesus answered, would you
really lay your life down for me? And most of you know what
follows by saying, you're gonna deny me three times in the next
12 hours before the rooster crows. You're gonna tell three different
people you don't even know who I am for you to stand in front
of me right now and say, I am so confident in myself that I
would lay my life down for you. That's again, we can't have confidence. We can't hold on to anything
here, including ourselves. And this is how Christ shows
us that. He puts Peter directly in his place. But what I love
about this scripture is that if you keep going, right after
he tells Peter, you're gonna deny me three times, the very
next line is, don't let your hearts be troubled. We are Peter. We are going to
do everything wrong that we are allowed to do. As much leash
as we're given, we're gonna take. That's who we are. We're flesh. But Christ doesn't say to Peter,
look, you're gonna deny me three times, and man, are you gonna
regret it. He doesn't say, you're gonna
deny me three times and you better not ever do it again. He says, you're gonna deny me three
times, but don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
you believe also in me. And then goes on to say, I'm
gonna go right now and prepare a place for you. Peter, again, often a great example
of human nature, full of pride, as we all are, full of confidence
in himself and in the world. He had a plan, just like we do,
and I guarantee his plan did not include denying his Savior
three times. Our plans don't usually include
those things either, but what happened? Just like us, we have plans,
we have intentions, we have expectations. Born of this world and of ourselves,
and almost every time we will be severely disappointed in both
the world and in ourselves. But what does Christ tell Peter?
He follows it with a promise. He doesn't promise Peter that,
I'll make sure you improve. You believe in me, so I'm gonna
make sure over the next 20 years or so, you're gonna get way better
than you are now. And you would never, in 20 years
from now, you're gonna be so much better that you'll never deny
me." That's not what he says. He doesn't say, yeah, you really
messed up, but it's no big deal. I'll just
let it slide. Not what he says. He doesn't
say, yeah, you betrayed me, but as long as you don't do it again,
He says, my father's house has many rooms. He doesn't say anything about
Peter. Not one thing about Peter. Doesn't
say anything about who Peter is, how Peter can change, what
can be done to improve who Peter is. He doesn't even mention Peter,
besides the fact that he's going to go and create a place for
him, a home for him. He says, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with
me, and you can also be where I am. Where was he about to go
as he's saying this? He's not just making a promise
with words. He's not saying, you know what, I'm gonna make
a place for you, it's done. He is on his way to being crucified. That's where he's going. When
he says, I'm going to prepare a place for you, it doesn't mean
he's just gonna go create a place. He has to go die to create that
place for him. The Son of God, perfect man, says, you're gonna die on me
three times. You are so pathetic and low, you can't help yourself.
And in order for me to make sure you have a place with me, I am
going to go suffer the wrath of my Father. And that's not just for Peter. He says that's all of his people. I'm going to completely circumvent
you. I'm gonna go around you completely,
because you cannot help Peter. You can offer nothing to this
situation. So I'm going to go do my father's will. I am going
to go suffer according to his wrath. I will do this to remove
the curse that you are under and create a place for you with
your name on it. A guaranteed home. A real home. This isn't home. When we actually get home, we're
gonna realize what a home this isn't. where you truly belong. And that's the same message for
all of God's people. It's true we live our lives here,
and it can make many turns and obviously lots of things beyond
our control. Money, we'll go through all the
list again. All these things. When all these things happen,
Christ, when we look to Christ's promises, He doesn't promise
that things will get better. He doesn't promise to his people
that they will get better. He promises that they have a
home among the heavens. He promises them that there is
a place with him that is prepared specifically for them. And again, this isn't just a
promise made of words, this is a promise guaranteed by His blood. Regardless of how life proceeds
for you, you, as one of Christ's people, have a home waiting for
you. Paid for by Christ, guaranteed
by Christ. You've heard that C.S. Lewis
quote, he talks about how he can't find What is it? If I find myself
a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the
most probable explanation is that I'm not made for this world.
And God's people are not. This is not our home. There is
a place prepared for you, prepared for us. I could live for 30 more
years, or I could die tomorrow. It really doesn't matter, because
either way, I have a place prepared by Christ. Christ is the one
that prepared it. He even said it, I go. How much
more guaranteed can it be if it's prepared by Christ himself,
paid for by his own blood? Peter did nothing in this situation
to help himself. We have nothing we can offer.
All we can do is rest in the fact that it's finished. And the other part I love about
this is that he doesn't talk about the place itself. It's not, I'm gonna go prepare
this amazing place for you in heaven. It's not, I'm gonna go
make sure you have a mansion. It's not about what the streets
are made of. What does he say specifically? He says, I go and
prepare a place for you. I'll come back and take you to
be with me, that you also may be where I am. That is heaven. To be where Christ is. With nothing
in between you. Nothing needed to buffer the
perfection of him and the imperfection of us right now. At that point,
all of this sin and all of this flesh will be gone, and you'll
be able to be with Him in the perfect way. Like, there'll be
nothing that is needed to dull that anymore. That is what He's
preparing for you. It's already prepared, it's already
paid for. Your name's on it. It's God's people have a home
waiting for them, a home with Christ. We will be with him. That makes all the twists and
turns of God's plan here a little bit easier to take when you can
remember, I have a home waiting for me. Guaranteed place, prepared
by the blood of Christ. Can't be more guaranteed than
that. This is where we have confidence.
This is where we have hope. No matter what happens in our
lives. There will be difficult times. It's gonna happen. Everybody.
Hard ones. And life can be great, too. I
mean, there's a lot of times when we really do have a lot
to be obviously very, very grateful for. But regardless, we are on
our way home. a guaranteed home, to be with
Christ. As believers, we know the answer
to this, the promises of God. That's what we can look to in
our difficulties, in our hard times, in the twists and turns
of life that we don't expect. It's all part of God's plan.
It says in Romans, all things happen according to his will,
and that it will be good for the people that love him. Doesn't
mean that it's gonna bring good for us now. It's not gonna happen. There'll be some good, but there
will be some hard. But it's guaranteed that all things happen according
to his will, that we will eventually be with him. which when you're
making your way through this world, that sure is a comfort
and something to rest in, truly rest in. So we have been promised by God,
we have a guaranteed that as we go through this life, we are
literally marching to Zion. We are on our way home to be
with Him. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we thank you
for what you have done for us. To see us as you saw Peter. To see us in our true state that
we can't do anything for ourselves. But to see us with love and to
see us with mercy. And to Go through what you went through
in order to create a place with our name on it, guaranteed by
you, that we can eventually be with you in a way that is pure
and perfect. We thank you for what you've
done. We thank you that it's finished. We ask that you help
us to rest in that. We pray this in Jesus' name,
amen.