His Father's House

We'll turn with me today in your Bibles to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places. 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. 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? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Today, I want to speak to us about The father's house. This is what our Lord called heaven in verse two, in my father's house. Clearly he is speaking about heaven, the dwelling place of God. In the scriptures, heaven is referred to as a house, it's referred to as a city, and it is referred to as a country. When I think of heaven as a house, I think of the family of God, that God has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ our Lord. You can have a house, but you make it a home when there's a family. living therein. And that's what I think of when I think of heaven as a house. Our Lord said here, his father's house in which there's many mansions, many dwelling places. When I think of heaven as a city, I remember that the cities of those days were cities that had high walls, strong walls, and strong foundations.

And the church of the Lord Jesus Christ certainly speaks to us of security, or heaven does, speaks to us of the security of God's people built upon the foundation of God, the foundation of His eternal purpose. You know, our God never changes. He never alters His plan. What He has purposed, He executes. What security and what safety, what assurance do we have in Zion, city of our God? Because it is the city that God has built for the habitation of his people.

And then when I think of heaven as a country, I think of a country as being a large place where there's many people, and we know that in heaven, God's people are many, so many that when John saw their number, he said it was more than man could number.

But this morning, I want to speak to us about two truths concerning the Father's house. First of all, the way, the way. That's important, isn't it? The way to the Father's house. And when I say Father, I'm talking about the Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, in my Father's house. So I want to talk to us first about, first of all, about the way. That's very, very important. And then secondly, I want to speak to us for a little while about life. in the Father's house. What's it going to be like to live eternally in the Father's house? So first of all, the way. Notice it says, he said rather in verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Have you ever considered, as you read the word of God, if you were to begin in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and read through it, how many times this is pointed out, that there's one way, there's one way. It's pointed out over and over and over again. For instance, the very first word, the very first word that God spoke concerning the way to the Father, he spoke to the serpent.

And this is what he said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. You know, notice it didn't say between her seeds. The apostle Paul in the letter of Galatians makes a point about this, showing just how inspired is the word of God. He didn't say seeds, but seed, singular. And in that verse, the woman's seed, it. Another singular word, right?

It shall bruise our head. Who is going to bruise the head of Satan? Who's going to destroy the works of the devil? Not a group of people, not even all the holy angels, but one. One is going to do that, the seed of the woman. And then as you read on, when God The wickedness of man. The wickedness of man had just increased to such a degree that God said, I'm just going to destroy all flesh. He provided one way.

How many arcs? How many arcs were there for a person to escape being destroyed in the flood? There was one and only one, the ark that God told Noah to build. And eight souls, Noah and his wife and three sons and their wives, eight souls were saved and all flesh. In other words, all mankind at that time outside of the ark. The scripture says, the waters prevailed over them all. I mean, people may, maybe they fled to the mountains as the highest mount they could find, but they didn't escape.

There was one way of safety, one way of salvation. And you, we see this again and again, that night when the when the destroyer passed through Egypt, and the firstborn in every house is going to die. How many ways, how many ways were there that the destroyer would pass over the firstborn in that house? There was one way, and one way only, and that was the blood of the Passover lamb applied to the lentils the side post of the houses, the door post of the houses, rather. There's only one.

And then, you know, the story when Israel came out, they were ensnared in the wilderness. They came out of Egypt, yes, but God didn't lead them a straight path. He led them around so that they would be ensnared in the wilderness, and Pharaoh and his armies, they would think and pursue Well, they're trapped. Israel's trapped there.

We're going to destroy them. Oh, no. God provided one way, one way through the Red Sea. He didn't open the Red Sea up in three or four different places. No, there was one way in which they escaped and walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. What am I saying? I'm saying that all of the Old Testament, we could give other examples.

When they came into the wilderness and they needed water, and God told Moses to strike the rock. He didn't say strike the rocks. There was one rock, one rock to be struck so that the water came gushing out to provide for them. And then he fed them for 40 years with one food. Every day, Monday through Sunday, every day they ate manna. That's all there was.

And all of this is pointing right to there's one way to the Father's house. There's one way to God. As Paul would say it in the New Testament, for there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Not the saints, not the Virgin Mary, not anything other, not some church or some group of men. No, there's one man, the God man, Jesus Christ.

The only way to the Father's house. The only way to the Father. And then, if you want to turn to Isaiah chapter 35 and verse 8, but we know there's many prophecies also, not only pictures and types in the Old Testament that spoke that there's only one way, but many promises and Many prophecies in Isaiah chapter 35 in verse 8, this is one here. We read, and a highway shall be there and a way. That's what I'm talking about, right? There's one way to the Father. A highway, a highway shall be there and a way, Christ, and it shall be called the way of holiness. Well, that's speaking about Christ, isn't it?

Even the devils confessed, we know who thou art, thou holy one of God. And the unclean shall not pass over it. Well, that's all of us by nature unclean. But in this way, those in this way, that is in Christ, we're not unclean. Such were, the Apostle Paul wrote to those believers at Corinth, such were some of you, and he had just named a long list of wickedness and evil. Such were some of you, but you are washed, washed. What washes away the sin of God's people? Only the blood of Christ. Not only washed, but you are sanctified. What sets God's people apart?

The Lord Jesus Christ. Justified. That's the way. And notice, this is the reason I called our attention to this particular prophecy, but notice it says, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. Now there are things about God and about the scriptures that we don't understand and we cannot explain.

But I'm going to tell you one thing that every child of God knows. There's one way. There's one way. child of God, everyone who has been born of the Spirit of God. We all know this, there's one way to the Father. And we know who that way is as he confessed himself to be the way, the truth, and the life. You see, to go to the Father's house, we needed something done.

First of all, we needed God's justice to be satisfied. God is a God of mercy. The scripture, I love to think about the mercy of God, don't you? His mercy is as high as the heavens. He delighteth in mercy, but His mercy is only found, His saving mercy is only found in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Mercy and truth are met together. That's what the scripture says, mercy and truth. In other words, God is a God of mercy, but he's also a God of truth, of justice, of righteousness, of holiness. And mercy and truth have met together. Mercy cried for us to be forgiven, but God's justice demanded payment. Satisfaction. Where do they meet together? Where do they meet together? Only in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Nowhere else. God's justice, he completely satisfied for his people. When upon the cross, the scripture says, the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. As a lamb to the slaughter, he was led. Lamb before his shears opens not his mouth.

He went there willingly. He came to do the Father's will, and that will was to give himself as a sacrifice for his people, to pay our sin debt. There's only one way to the Father's house. Not only did divine justice demand satisfaction, but we needed a righteousness to be welcomed there in the Father's house. Our Lord gave a parable that spoke of a king who gave a great feast, a wedding feast.

And in those days, when you were invited to a wedding feast, you were provided a garment when you arrived. And so when you went in, you would put on that garment. It was provided for you, didn't cost you anything. You put it on. And when the king came into the feast, everyone had on a wedding garment except one person.

One person. And what happened to that person? He was cast out into outer darkness. Why? Because he didn't have the wedding garment. Remember when the prodigal son came home, what the father said, put a ring on his finger, put sandals on his feet, and bring forth the best robe, put on his back. That best robe, it's the righteousness of Christ. It's his obedience even unto death, his righteousness that is imputed or charged to the account of everyone who trusts in him. The way to the Father's house, singular, there's only one way. Secondly, I want us to think for a few minutes about life in the Father's house. What do we know about that? What do we know about life in the Father's house?

I was thinking this morning, going over these notes, several years ago, there was a, I guess you'd call it a serial from England, Upstairs, Downstairs. I don't know if any of you remember that. Had several episodes, Upstairs, Downstairs. Well, the people downstairs, they lived completely different from the people upstairs. The people upstairs, they owned the house. The people downstairs, they were servants of those who lived in the house upstairs.

What would it be like? Do you think any of those servants ever thought, I wonder what it would be like to be living upstairs instead of living down here in the basement? Well, do you ever wonder what it's going to be like in the father's house, life in the father's house?

I was speaking to a brother who's since passed away, member of our church a few years ago. And he said, well, we know this, and he was right, it's going to be better than what we can imagine. It's going to be much better than what we can imagine to live in the father's house, life in the father's house. But I have five things about life in the father's house I want to mention. First of all, And I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 22 with me. First thing we know about life in the Father's house is it will be a life of service.

A life of service. In Revelation 22 and the first four verses we read, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal. proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. Life in the Father's house is going to be a life of service. And when you think about this now, give some consideration. It's just a continuation of our life down here.

That is the lives of those who are saved by the grace of God, where his servants I think often of Paul's words that he spoke to those mariners on that ship after they had been turned around every which way. And he came out and of course they threw everything overboard trying to save themselves. A cyclone or hurricane I guess they'd gotten into. Everybody was afraid everybody's going to die. Everyone was going down with his ship, and Paul came out from having prayed, and he said this, the angel of God, whose I am. The angel of God, whose I am. He didn't mean he was the angel of God, but he was God's, whose I am and whom I serve. servants. Now, the word that's translated servant, if it was translated literally in the New Testament, it would be translated slaves, slaves.

We are His slaves. At that time, slaves were bought and sold, and the Lord Jesus Christ, He has bought All of his children bought us with his precious blood and has made us to be his slaves. That's the reason we call him Lord. Lord, because he is our Lord. He has bought us with a price and that price was his precious blood. We serve him here. We serve him in many different ways. But in heaven, we will serve him in a way that is so much greater than our service here.

In this life, sometimes we grow tired in well-being. I know this is true because Paul said, be not weary in well-doing. We're serving him, but sometimes we grow tired in well-doing. Sometimes our hearts grow cold. Sometimes our zeal, remember that zeal when the Lord first brought you to Himself and you wanted to serve Him and nothing was too hard and you wanted to tell everyone that you possibly could, that you had been saved by the grace of God? Is that still the case? Our zeal, it grows lukewarm, doesn't it? And our love.

Paul had the Lord warn that church at Ephesus just a few years after he had gone back to the Father. Remember, he writes to the church at Ephesus, and he says, I have somewhat against thee. Thou hast left thy first love. We serve him here, but yet these things that I've mentioned, none of that will be true in the Father's house. None of that will be true.

In heaven we're going to serve Him like the holy angels now serve Him, as they are quick to serve Him. You know, it seems like a paradox, but there are many paradoxes in the Scripture. How is it that we will enter into rest when we enter the Father's house? When we leave this world, we will enter into rest, but at the same time, we will be serving Him. That seems paradoxical, doesn't it?

Resting? Yes. At the same time, serving. How? How will we serve Him? I wish I could tell you. I wish I could tell you all the ways that God's people are going to serve Him. The Scripture just says we're going to serve Him. Now, I do know this. There's a great choir in heaven. There's a great choir in heaven. You may serve him in that choir. You, if you have a voice like a croaker down here, you're going to have a voice that's in tune, that is melodious, that is beautiful if you're in that choir. And you're already going to know the hymn that you will be singing, because you've learned it down here.

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Yeah. And not only is there a choir, but there's worship. We know that. There's a great host of people worshiping God. Well, like my friend said, we don't know what it's going to be, but it's going to be better than we can even imagine. But you're going to be serving if you're one of his. I want to serve him, don't you? I want to serve him now, but I must confess that I failed many times in so many different ways. That's not going to be true there, no. A second thing about life in heaven, it's going to be a life of holiness. There we will all be like Christ.

We will not need the exhortation in our Father's house that Paul gave to believers here, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We're not going to need that exhortation ever again. Why? Because we're going to drop this robe of flesh, that is, not only this physical body, but that old nature, that corruption of nature that we bring with us into this world. We're not going to take it with us to the Father's house. We're going to be like Christ. You know, down here, he says, be ye holy as your Father is holy.

And yet all of us, I know, we asked ourselves, Is that true of me? Not like we would want it to be, I think everyone would say. It will be there. It will be a life of holiness. We will bear His image. We love Him now, but our love is feeble. It will not be like that in the Father's house. It's weak here, and many times we pray, Father, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. But you know, faith will be swallowed up in sight there.

Yeah. To know the will of God, to feel that our wills are completely in harmony with His. It won't be our will and His will. No, it will be our will. His will is our will in the Father's house. Yes. We'll be in complete harmony with God in every way. And that's going to be our delight. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ delighted to do His Father's will. So we too shall delight to do his will.

And a third thing about life in heaven is going to be a life of joy. You see, holiness and joy go together. They're like twins, conjoined twins. Holiness and joy, they go together. And there is a place of holiness, and we will be holy as He is holy, and we will have joy. As Scripture said, at thy right hand there's a fullness of joy.

Like I said, there's things about the Father's house that we don't know. Someone said, Where is heaven? Have you ever had anyone ask you that? Where is heaven? Well, I know that when the Lord prayed or blessed the food he was going to multiply, he lifted up his eyes toward heaven. And so we all just imagine heaven's up there. But we're not told where heaven is. Other than it is where God is, it is where Christ is, that's where heaven is.

When I was in Mexico trying to preach and speak in Spanish, people asked me, well, what language are we going to speak? And of course, they all like to say, we're going to speak Spanish in heaven. Spanish is a language of love. Well, I don't know if it's going to be Spanish, but it is going to be a language of love that we speak in heaven.

Joy. The Apostle Paul wrote, to die is gain. And you know he didn't say you die today and sometime way out there in the future is going to be gain. He said to die is gain. In other words, as soon as a person closes their eyes in death here, immediately we're in the presence of God. And to die is gain. That thief who sought the Lord that day Christ was crucified, he said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom today. Not tomorrow, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.

Number four, we know that it shall be a life of ever being with the Lord. So shall we ever be with the Lord, the Apostle Paul wrote in First Thessalonians. You ever think of what it would have been like to have been one of his disciples? to walk with him for three years here, to hear him teach and preach, to be like Mary, to sit at his feet when your sister's over in the kitchen working, choosing the best thing, and that is hearing his word. Yeah, heaven is going to be life with the Lord.

And it's never the last thing. We know that it shall be a never-ending life. You see, eternal life doesn't begin when we enter His Father's house. Eternal life begins now. And it's eternal. It doesn't become eternal. If you're saved today, you have everlasting life. You have eternal life. All you need to do is move upstairs to enjoy heaven. Yes! But you already have life.

Christ is our life. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is our life. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then we shall appear with him. It's never-ending life. He said, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.

That last stanza of the hymn, Amazing Grace, John Newton didn't write this last stanza. He wrote the first three stanzas we sing, but that last stanza is, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first began. Do you know that little chorus, In My Father's House? Does anyone here know that chorus?

Some of you are afraid to raise your hand. In My Father's House. Oh, no, it's, come and go with me to my father's house, to my father's house, to my father's house. Come and go with me to my father's house, where there's joy, joy, joy. Surely some of you know that. You do. You was afraid to hold up your hand that I might call upon you. Sing that with me. Come and go with me to my father's house, to my father's house, to my father's house. Come and go with me to my father's house where there's joy, joy, joy. Amen. You ready to go? Christ is away, you know that. Well, let's sing this last hymn before we're dismissed. My Redeemer, I will sing of my Redeemer.

His Father's House

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