Turn to John 14. Title of the
message, Let not your heart be troubled. The Word of God says that man,
over in Job 14, that man that is born of a woman is a few days
and full of trouble. full of trouble, full of heartaches. It's written in Job 5 verse 7,
Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Can't get away from them. Can't
go around them. No one is exempt from trouble. No one. It touches every home. It touches every life, touches
every heart. We all know what it is to cry
because of trouble. However, our Lord gives us a
remedy, a remedy for heart trouble, heart trouble. Now, let's keep
in mind the situation that brought forth this lesson. Our Lord had
told them that one of them would betray Him. And He told them that He was
going to go away, and that where He was going, they could not
follow Him now. They would afterwards, but He
was going to go away. And that troubled their hearts. Very troubling to them. It was
a very troubling night for them. They were being told things that
they did not want to hear. They were being told things that
they did not understand. They did not yet understand the
meaning of what our Lord was saying. He's going to go to the
cross. He's going to be rejected. He's
going to be despised. They couldn't comprehend that.
They could not understand that. But this also shows how He love
them to the end. Facing this hour, this hour of
humiliation, this hour of suffering, this hour of death, this hour
of being made sin, He shows His great concern for
them and their hearts. Their hearts. And He knows how
troubled their hearts are. He knows how troubled every heart
is. He knows. And He says to them,
let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be troubled. You
believe in God, believe also in Me. As the high priest over
the house of God, he felt, now listen, he felt their troubled
hearts. You and I can sympathize with
one another, especially if we have gone through the same trouble.
We can weep with one another, but I cannot, cannot feel your
heart. I cannot feel the depth of that
pain, but he can. He can. When Mary and Martha
wept at the grave of Lazarus, And it says Jesus wept. I believe
one of the reasons that he wept was that he felt their pain.
He felt their sorrow that the death of their brother had caused.
He felt it. As one writer said, and I've
never forgotten this, he felt everything he took away. Don't
ever forget that. He felt everything he took away. It says in Hebrews 4.15, For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. The high priest of old could
not be touched with the feeling of the infirmities of the people.
But we have one. We have one that can be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. And it says here, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Tried as
we are, yet without sin. Now, he gives a cure here for
troubled hearts. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. Faith. Trust me. Trust me. You remember when he
was on the ship and he was asleep? had that demeanor, attitude and
trouble like our Lord had when He was laying in that boat asleep
and that storm was raging. And the disciples woke Him and
they said, carest thou not that we perish? Oh, does He ever. Does He ever. And He said, oh,
ye of little faith. Troubled hearts. I'm going to
say most of my troubled hearts My troubled heart comes from
lack of faith. It's where it comes from. I know
it is. You believe in God. And this
is what he's saying. You do believe in God. I know
you believe in God. He knew their hearts. He knew
their hearts. You do believe in God. You believe
in His power to keep you. There's no doubt about that. They believe God was able to
keep them. You believe in His love towards you. You believe
in His mercy towards you. You believe in His grace towards
you. You believe in His faithfulness. You do believe in God. I know
you believe in God. You take rest and comfort in
God. And you've never seen Him. You've
never seen Him. Yet you trust Him. You have confidence
in Him. You find some rest in Him. You
find hope in Him in keeping you and protecting you. I know you
do. But exercise that same faith
in me when you cannot see me no more. I'm going to go away. He's been with them for three
years. I mean, they've been side by side for three years. But
now He says, I'm going to go away. He's going to go to the
cross. He's going to go prepare a place.
He's going to die. He's going to send back to the
Father. And they're not going to see Him again physically with
these eyes. Now, he says, that same faith that you exercise
in God now, and you've never seen Him, you exercise that same
faith in me when you cannot see me no more. This is one of the strongest
declarations that our Lord makes of His deity. You believe in
God, believe also in me with the same faith. Believe also
in me. Trust me the same way. Guess who wrote this? Whom, having
not seen, ye love. In whom, though now ye see him
not, yet believing, You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. Peter wrote that. Peter wrote
that in 1 Peter 1, verse 8. He wrote that. Whom have you
not seen? You haven't seen Him you love. In whom, though now you see Him
not? I've never seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet you believe
Him. And you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. That's what our Lord is saying
to him at this time. He said, Peter, and the other
disciples there, rejoice. Don't let your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God. You trust God. Exercise that
same confidence and trust and faith in me. Now, in my Father's
house, he's going to speak of his Father, are many mansions. And we know
he cannot be talking about Joseph. Joseph was a poor man. Lived
in a poor house. But he says, in my Father's house.
God the Father. In His house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you. In His house. In my Father's house are many
abiding places. Plenty of room. Plenty of room. Yet no vacancies. Plenty of room,
yet no vacancies. Christ speaks of His Father's
house, and He speaks of it as a house because it's His home. You know, I have a house on Gusher
Street, and that's our home. Me and Vicki and the boys, that's
our home. And He's speaking here of home. That's what He's speaking
of. He's speaking of home. Home is
a place where the family is welcome. You are welcomed in my Father's
home. And there's plenty of room for
you. There's a place for you. Home is a place where you are
loved. Home is a place where you are
provided for by your Father. It is a place of joy. And that's
the way the home ought to be. And that's sad. That's sad. In
this world, there's very few homes like that. It's so sad. But that should describe home.
It should be a place where it's quiet, peaceful. There's no fussing,
fighting, carrying on. That's home. That should be home.
And it is in my father's house. We live in His flesh and we get
out of shape and everything else. But I tell you what, in His house,
in His Father's house, in His home, in our home in heaven,
I tell you what, that's a place of peace and joy and happiness
and love in my Father's house. And that's where I'm going. See,
everybody wants to go to heaven, but he's talking about his Father's
house. Home. He's talking about being in the
home. And there are many abiding places here, he says, which shows
the permanency of it. Here, we are just pilgrims dwelling
in tents. Every one of us know. We don't
know when. Everyone here knows that we have
to die. We have to die. Sooner or later,
young or old, we have to die. And we have a home. The believer
now, when the believer dies, he's going home. He's going home. Right now, we just live in a
tent. This body is spoken of as a tent.
Even though I live in a house over Augusta Street, really and
truly, that's nothing but a tent. That's temporary. But I'm going
home in a little while. And you are going to go home.
You who believe the gospel, you're going to go home in a little
while. And it's going to be permanent. You won't have to worry about
leaving that home again. You won't have to worry about dying
and all that's gone. It's gone. It's home. It's home.
And now, he said, if it were not so, I would tell you. I would tell you. He says in
John 18, to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into
the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. I would
tell you. If it were not so, if my father's
house, if there were not many abiding places, I'd tell you about it. Everything
he spoke was truth. He did not embellish anything. Every word he spoke was truth.
He said, if it weren't so, I'd tell you. Now, I go to prepare
a place for you. Now he's saying to them, let
not your heart be troubled. And he knows their heart's troubled.
That's the reason why he said it. Let not your heart be troubled. He
knew their heart was troubled and it was going to be more troubled
in a little while. They said, don't do that because
I'm going to my father's house. I'm going to go home and I'm
going to prepare a place for you. In my father's house. I'm going
to prepare a place for you. You see, man's place was on this
earth. When God made Adam, when He created
Adam, He did not take him to heaven. He did not put him in
paradise where God is. He put him in the Garden of Eden.
God created this earth, this world, and He created a garden.
He made a garden, it says. And He put Adam and Eve in the
garden. You see, man's place Man's place was on this earth. But when the second Adam came, you see how much better this
is? If, just for argument's sake,
if Adam had never fallen, we would have just always been on
this earth. We would have just been here. But now Adam has fallen. And the second Adam has come, and he's gone now to prepare
a place for us. He's not going to repair a place.
He did not go to repair a place. He did not go to repair the Garden
of Eden. He said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. Where? In my Father's house, where God dwells. In the Holy
of Holies, in that paradise, a man, think about this, a man,
a man or a woman is going to be taken off this
earth, from this earth into the very presence of God. We would have never had that
in the first Adam. We would have never had it. I go to prepare
a place for you." Christ is the forerunner who has entered heaven
itself and prepared for us a place. We have a place. All God's children
have a place for them prepared. God has never taken any of His
children anywhere that He has not already prepared for them. When He made Adam, He made Adam
last. He made the garden and prepared
everything in that garden. That garden was perfectly prepared
for Adam. And then He made Adam and He
just put him in the garden. And our Lord says, I'm going
to go where no man has been before. And I'm going to prepare a place,
a place of acceptance. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. Hebrews 6.20 says this, Whither the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus, He's the forerunner, made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. He's entered in for us. A man.
The God-man. God and yet a man. But this man, this God-man, is
going to prepare a place for us in His Father's house. We have a place there. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, Well, this gets right down particular,
doesn't it? He doesn't go and prepare a place,
now whoever ends up there, ends up there. You know, it's like on Sunday
morning, I don't know who's really going to show up and who's not.
You know, I don't know. I tell you what, he knows exactly
who's going to show up. He knows everyone's going to
show up. He will see to it that they show
up. If I go and prepare a place for
you, and this ought to help a troubled heart, if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again. I won't forget you. In this mass of humanity, He
never forgets those whom He prepared the place for. I'll come again and receive you
unto Myself. I'll come and get you Myself. That where I am, there you may
be also." You can be sure of this. You can mark this down. If the Lord Jesus Christ has
prepared a place for you If He went to Calvary for you, if He
suffered for you, if He died for you, if He ascended back
to heaven and seated at the right hand of God for you, you can
be sure He's going to come back and get you. You can be sure of it. He will come to get you and
take you to that place. But right now, What's going on
is this. He's preparing you for that place.
He's preparing you and me for that place. And what a place
that must be where God dwells. I was watching a program the
other night on the national parks. And I thought, how beautiful.
How beautiful this world is, even with sin in it. What must
it be like? What will it be like when there's
no more sin? Where God dwells. And He says, "...and receive
you unto Myself, that where I am..." You notice that always struck
me. He doesn't say that where I'm
going, there you'll be also. He's saying where I am. He was in the bosom of the Father
at the same time He was on this earth where I am. But I'm going to come and get
you, and you're going to be there also. We are trophies of His
grace, and I assure you this, He will have His trophies. And
He will display His trophies throughout eternity. And where I am, there you may
be also forever to be with the Lord. with the Lord. Never to
be separated. Never to part again. Never. He says in John 17, 24, Father,
I will. He's the only one who could say
that. I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me
where... And remember, he's saying this.
This is just a couple more chapters. while He's here on earth. And
He says, where I am. Where I am. That they may behold
My glory. Well, we just got a glimpse of
His glory. That's all we have. We have a
glimpse. We are given a glimpse of His
glory. It's like looking through the lattice. We can see something
of His glory. But He said, I want them to be
where I am that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given
Me for Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world.
I want them to be where I am and I want them to see and behold
My glory. And I assure you that will happen.
He will have everyone whom He died for. Can you imagine what
a disgrace it would be when all is over with and he's
prepared a place and you've got a lot of empty seats? Now, would
that be glory to him? Plenty of room, but no vacancy. And whither I go, you know, and
the way you know. Remember, Peter had asked Christ,
Whither goest thou? He said, Where are you going?
You see, they had not yet understood the cross. They had not understood
the depth of redemption because they were on the other side of
the cross. You and I have the advantage. We have the whole
Word of God. We're on this side. And Peter said, Whither goest
thou? Well, in these last few verses, these last three verses,
Our Lord answered that question. Peter asked him, he said, where
are the goers now? And he says, I'm going to my father's house.
I'm going to prepare a place for you. And then I'm going to
come back and get you. Come back and get you. And you know the way. You know
the way, you know where I'm going, I told you. I'm going to my father's
house. And you know the way. They knew him. Peter said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. But yet they didn't
fully know him. Not like they're going to. Not
like they're going to. And Thomas piped in. And Thomas
said unto him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We know
not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? We don't
know where you're going. We've never been there. They
thought he was going somewhere outside of Palestine. probably
set up a kingdom. They still had their mind on
the earthly kingdom. They still had their mind on
that. And Thomas said, we don't know where you're going. How
can we know the way? We've never been there. If you leave us now, we will
be lost because we don't know how to get there. And the Lord Jesus said unto
him, Thomas, and he said this to all the disciples there, I
am the way. You know the way. He said, the
way you know. They said, well, no, we don't
know the way. Yes, yes, you do. You know the
way. Because I am the way. I'm the
way. I am the truth. and the life. No man cometh unto heaven. He doesn't say heaven, does he?
Because that's religion for you. Religion is everybody wants to
go to heaven. He said no man comes to the Father.
No man comes into His presence. No man can come into His presence.
But by me. Here is one of the clearest revelations
of salvation in all the Word of God. I am the way. Back years ago, when I first
made a profession, I was about 20 years old, and they would get me to go out
with them. On Tuesday nights, they'd go out. I think it was
Tuesday nights. They'd always go out witnessing, knocking on doors. I went a few
times. I didn't go too many times. I
went a few times with them. And they'd always go through
this Roman's Road. Well, Roman's Road is not the
way. Christ said, I am the way. I
am the way to the Father. The law is not the way. I am
the way. Most of today's preaching has
left the way. Trying to find another way. Christ says, I am the way to
God through my blood, through my righteousness. I am the way,
Thomas. You're looking at the way. You
know the way. You're looking at it. I'm the
way. He's the way of acceptance. He's
the way of reconciliation. He is the way of righteousness. He is the way. That's so plain. That's so plain. And if he's
the way, then why try and go any other way? How foolish is
that? How foolish is that? If he is
the way, then how foolish is it to try and go another way?
He said the thief climbs up some other way. They climb up another
way. And I am the truth. I tell you
what, He is everything that we lost in Adam. Adam lost the way to God. Adam lost the truth of God. Adam
lost the life of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
all those things to us. He is the way. He said, I am the truth. He is
the embodiment of truth. Now he spoke the truth, but he
is the truth. He is the embodiment of truth. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That's how it came. And he says, and I am the life.
Not just the giver of life, I am the life. If you have life, if
you have spiritual life, you have Christ. He is that life. Verse John 1, 2 it says, For
the life was manifested, and we have seen it. He said life
was manifested. And we've seen it. And bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life which was with the Father was manifested
unto us. And that life is Jesus Christ.
That's who He is. It says in John 5, verse 26,
"...whereas the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given
to the Son to have life in Himself." He is life. Now, if you had known
me, Philip, Thomas, Peter, the other disciples, if you had known
me, then you should have known the
Father also. If you'd known me. And from henceforth,
from this time forth, you know Him. You know Him and you've seen
Him. Herein, listen, herein lies all
my spiritual defects. Here it is. If you had known
me. If you had known me, your heart
wouldn't be so troubled. Now they knew him, but not like
they're going to know him. If you had believed me, your heart
wouldn't be so troubled. And if you had known me, you'd know my Father also. Because
they can't be separated. They're one. They are one. Now Philip said unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it be sufficient. It's sufficient. This clearly
shows that salvation must come by revelation. We cannot understand
spiritual truth with these earthly minds. Can't
do it. Not with human reasoning. Can't
do it. Has to be a revelation. There has to be a renewing of
the mind. So the Lord said unto him, Have I been so long a time
with you? Have I dwelt with you and walked
with you and ate with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
Philip, don't you know me?" This is a rebuke. Our Lord is giving
a rebuke to Philip here. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. When you read through the Gospels and you see Christ
having compassion on 5,000, you see the Father having compassion
on 5,000. When you see him healing the sick, you see the Father
healing the sick. He said, you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
They do not operate independently of each other. Have I been so long with you
and you still don't know who I am? Shame on you. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Philip said, show us the Father
and it will be sufficient. And this is what our Lord said.
I am the best and final and only representation of the Father. You're looking at the best. Show
us the Father, you're looking at the best representation. So he's now read to you Hebrews
chapter one. God who has sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person. Philip, you're looking. at the best representation,
the best expression of the Father. You're looking at it. 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 dwells in me, he doeth the works. If you notice here how
he speaks of his words, he speaks of his words as being the works
of his Father. And how's that? When he spoke,
it happened. When he healed someone, they
were healed. And he's saying, my words are his works. The results
that you've witnessed by my speaking. He raised Lazarus from the dead.
He fed 5,000 with that lunch. He said, my words that you've
heard me speak, are the works of my Father. You witness the
works of my Father. He speaks of His words as being
the works of His Father because His Father accomplished them. And I'll close with this. He
says in verse 11, Believe me. Believe me that I am in the Father
and the Father in me. Believe. Take me at my word.
Trust me. Or else, believe me for the very
work's sake. Philip, my words are, they are
enough. They are enough to convince you.
But if not, at least believe what you've seen. I'm in the Father and the Father's
in me. Show us the Father. You're looking at Him. You're
looking at the best representation that you'll ever have of the
Father. His Word is enough. Our Lord's Word is enough. And
we need to take Him at His Word and trust Him and rest. He said, let not your heart be troubled. Let it not be troubled. And my heart would be troubled a lot less if I would
just take him at his word and rest at it. Okay, Mike.