Turn to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Job said, man that is born of
a woman is a few days and full of trouble. And as I grow older, I realize
the truth of that more and more. Trouble seems to be on every
hand. The more people I talk to, it seems that sooner or later
it comes around to trouble. Somebody's in trouble, just like
you talk about them being in trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble.
But the Lord says here, in John 14, let not your heart be troubled,
over-anxious. Our Lord has spoken to his disciples
about his leaving. He's going to die. This is where
Peter says, no, no, that's not going to happen, that can't happen.
He says, that can't happen. Well, I sure am glad it did.
I'm glad it did happen. I'm glad our Lord went to the
cross. I'm glad he suffered in my stead. I'm glad he was willing
to do that. Because of that, he can say to
me now, he can say to me, let not your heart be troubled. I
can't say that to everybody. I can't say that to everybody.
Those who believe not on Christ have a reason. They have a reason
to be troubled because trouble's coming. But to everyone who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, God's revealed Christ to you in whatever
situation it is. He can say, let not your heart
be troubled. Let it not be troubled. Their hearts were so troubled
over the Lord's dying and departing from them that they were in distress. I like what our Lord says over
here in verse 28. He said, You have heard how I
said to you, I'm going away and come again to you. If you loved
me, if you loved me, you would have rejoiced. You would rejoice
because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater
than I. If you loved me, you would rejoice.
When I read that, I realized there is too much me in my love.
Too much me in my love. Do you know why it's so hard
to leave? You know what makes dying so
hard? Our relationships here. We don't
want to leave our relationships here. We get attached to these
things. We get attached to one another.
And I understand that. We love one another. Our children,
we're attached to them. And it's hard to leave. But Christ
said, if you love me, Oh, if you loved me, you'd be glad that
I said I'm going away. I'm going to my father. My father
is greater than all. We have, listen, we have a high
priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He felt their pain. He felt their
pain. He recognized it. You remember when Lazarus died,
Mary and Martha weeping, weeping, and it says Jesus wept. One writer said this, and I like
this. He felt everything he took away. He felt everything he took away.
He felt their pain. He felt their pain. The Word
of God says we have a high priest who can be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He who made the heart knows the
sadness of the heart. He experienced it. He was sent to bind up the broken
hearted. He was sent to bind up the broken
hearted. And in time he'll bind up every
broken heart. Every heart that belongs to him
that's broken, he'll bind it up. He'll bind it up. Now notice
what he says to them. He says, let not your heart be
troubled. You and I have every right Not to let our heart be
troubled. And notice how he starts here.
You believe in God? Here's why he's saying, you believe
God. I know you believe God. He knoweth them that trust in
Him. I know you believe God. This is where our hope and our
comfort begins. Believe in God. Believe in God. That's where the comfort comes
from. When we really believe, All things are of God. Do you
believe that? Do you believe that? Do you believe, do you
believe that everything, absolutely everything that happened today
is for your good? Do you believe that? If you really
believe it, you'll find comfort in it. It'll comfort your heart. He said, you believe in God? You believe in His infinite power?
You believe that? You believe God's able to do
all things? You believe God is able to deliver you. Do you believe
that? Daniel? Do you believe that God is able
to deliver you from the lion's den? You believe in His infinite goodness? Let me tell you something. No
matter how bad my day is, God is good. A bad day for me doesn't
change the nature of God. God is good. infinitely good. God is infinite wisdom. He knows what He's doing. You believe God knows what He's
doing? Every tear that God will wring out of my eyes before it
ever happened, I believe this, He took it into counsel before
the world began, saw the good in it, the wisdom of it, and
ordained it to be so. Ordained it to be so. There's
infinite wisdom behind everything that happens to me and to you,
everyone who believes. Infinite wisdom. You believe
in His sovereignty? You believe He has a sovereign
right to do as He will? Absolutely. Absolutely, I believe
that. God is God. God's on the throne. God rules over all. He has the
power and the will to do exactly as He will. And I'm glad it's
so. I'm glad that the one who is
infinite in wisdom and in goodness and in knowledge and in power
has the right to exercise all that on our behalf. On our behalf. He has the power to do it. he will fulfill all his promises in his time in his time Lord
you said call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver
thee and thou shalt glorify me well that's a promise and he'll
do it but he'll do it in his time he'll do it in his time
maybe when we've learned the lesson and then that's time God whom you've not seen, you
believe. You believe Him. That's what
the Lord is saying to His disciples. I know you believe Him. I know
your heart. You believe Him. Well, listen. Believe in Me. Exercise. And He's showing forth
His deity here. Exercise that same faith that
you exercise in God, you exercise it in Me because I'm God. He
says to them later, He that has seen Me, Has seen the Father. You're looking at the Father.
The Father walked among them. He said, you're looking at Him.
There's no difference. We are one. Saw a little bit
of that in the Bible class this morning. They're one. Never separated. Except at Calvary when the Father
forsook Him on our behalf. With the same faith that you
believe in God, exercise that same faith in me when you cannot
see me. You can't see God. No man has
seen God at any time. And yet you believe him. You
trust him. And he's saying here, exercise
that same faith in me when you can't see me. In a little while,
you're not going to see me. I'm going to go to the Father
and you're not going to see me again. Not until you die and
I take you home, I come again for you. Not until then, but
until then. Until then, trust me. That's
what he's saying. When he says, you believe in,
you trust God? Do you trust God? Trust me. Trust,
I know what I'm doing. You ever say that to your kids?
I've said that to my boys more than once. Trust me, I know what
I'm doing. And that's stretching it for
me to say that. But for God to say that, Trust him. He knows what he's
doing. In my father's house, now he's
going to talk about the family, the family's home place. You
like to go back to your family home place where you grew up?
From time to time, I like to drive by the place that I grew
up in West Virginia. Grew up on a 100 acre farm. We
farmed at the place. But every now and then, I like
to just drive by. Now, I've gone up there and stopped
And just memories. Memories. Look at those things. I said, I used to do that. I
remember this. That was home. That was home. Home for me had real good memories.
I know in this world not everybody has that. But home for me had
good memories. In my earthly father's house, and my mother,
It was a quiet home. It was a home where we were loved.
It was a home where I felt comfortable. Home is where you can go into
the house and you can get in the refrigerator. You just go
in and open it up, see what they're in there to eat or to drink.
I wouldn't do that to your house. I've got my brothers and sisters.
I've got four sisters and two brothers, and I wouldn't dare
walk in their house and open the refrigerator up and just
start going through it. But I do my mom and dad. I do theirs. It's home. And now he's getting ready to
talk about home. Where you and I are going to
go. We are called strangers here.
This is not called home. This is not the home place. Where
Christ is, is home. And he's getting ready to talk
about it now. He says here, in my Father's house are many mansions,
many dwelling places. Many rooms. Many rooms. And if it were not so, I would
have told you or I wouldn't be saying this. I go to prepare a place for you. A place, you know, fix the room
up. He's coming home. You ever have somebody, one of
your kids coming home and you go fix the room up? You ever
see my wife? One of the boys gonna come home and she'll be
cleaning that house and just preparing it. And our Lord said, I'm going
to my father's house, and I'm going to prepare a room for you. For you. In my father's house. In my father's house. You know,
home is where you're loved. It's where you're loved, not
for what you have, but for who you are. Sons and daughters. Sons and daughters. It's a place
where you're always welcome. I go visit my parents. My parents are in their 80s now. And I'm telling you, my mother,
she'll be turning 82, I think. I can't hit the door five minutes.
She goes, what do you want to eat? I mean, she immediately
starts to, I don't know if there's something on me that says hungry
or what, but she starts to cook. She wants to fix something to
eat and it's just like wanting to take care of you. It's where you're welcome. It's a place where our loved
ones live. It's a place where we can rest
and sit down for a while. It's a place of fellowship. And this is what the believer
has to perfection in their father's house. Can you imagine the fellowship
that's going on there right now? It's real, and it's happening,
and it's going on right now. As I said, here we're called
strangers, but there we're called sons and daughters of God. There we are loved, loved as
we ought be loved and love as we ought to love. Welcome, at
rest, and have the sweetest fellowship in my Father's house, in His
house. Now that's a home worth going
to, isn't it? That's a home worth going to. And in that home are
many mansions, many abiding places, many rooms. When I was a boy, I grew up on
that farm Nine people in the house. We didn't each have a
room. All of us, us three boys, stayed
in one room. Then the girls, they had a room.
Then we all had to pile up. We didn't have that many rooms,
that many bedrooms. Nine bedrooms? Great. But not so in my father's house.
Not so. He says there's plenty of rooms.
None empty. There'll not be an empty room.
But there's plenty of room. Plenty of room. Just as there
was plenty of room in the Ark for Noah, his family, and all
the animals. You ever look, think about that
Ark? Think about that Ark. Look at the animal world. Look
at the animal kingdom. Look at all the vastness of it. How big it is. And the human
race. And to think that all of that was on that Ark. You've read of the measurements
of that ark. You look at that and you say, how did that happen?
How could that ark, how could all this, the animal kingdom
and all, come out of that boat, that ark? It wasn't, it really,
it wasn't that big. We're not talking about an aircraft
carrier. We're just talking about a boat that's about, what, football
length or so. I mean, it wasn't that Or a football
field, if I'm saying. A few hundred yards is all. You know how many people look
at Christ, and one day you're going to look
at the population of heaven when the believers, when we stand
there, and you see 10,000, and 10,000, and 10,000, and 10,000,
and every one of them there because of the Christ. All come from
Him. He's sufficient. That ark was
sufficient to carry everything that we see today. Christ is
sufficient to save everyone that comes to Him. Everyone. This also shows the permanency
of it. This tent is only temporary. What you're looking at right
now is like a tent. A tabernacle. I'm dwelling in
it. That's all it is. It says in
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1, for we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. It'll never die. It'll never
perish. It'll never decay. I am decaying. I'm decaying. This body's growing
old. I don't care if you can You can
get the shampoo that's supposed to help you not age. You know,
all this soap. You get this soap and it says,
age defying. Well, you'd have to be a complete
idiot to believe that. Age defying. It doesn't look
to me like it's working. Does it? Is it working? It ain't working. No. No. But one day, we will have a body. We'll have a body that'll never
die, never decay. It'll never grow old. Never. All the aches and pains are gone. I was watching my pastor. Last
time I was preaching down at Paul's, down at Rocky Mount,
and I was watching my pastor come over, walking over to sit
down. And I noticed the age he's really
showing. But I thought, as I thought this, as I watched him, I thought,
you're almost well, brother. In a little while, you're almost
well. In a little while. In a little while, we'll all
be well. And all this, that sin has done
to us, marred us, scarred us, messed up our minds, messed up
our bodies, it'll all be gone. That's real. That's real. Now
he says here, 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. That ought to make them rejoice. That ought to make us rejoice.
I go and prepare a place for you. This is why he must suffer
and die. This is why I must go to the cross. We lost our place
before God and Adam. We have no place before God as
we are by nature. Christ said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. By His holy life and sacrificial
death, He has taken and gone into glory to prepare a place
for us in the presence of God, in the Holy of Holies. He's called
the forerunner. The Heavenly Father has now reconciled
his prodigal sons and daughters through the blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Now he went to prepare a place
for us and now he's going to prepare us for the place. You
know you wouldn't enjoy heaven like you are. You wouldn't enjoy
it. Not like you are. Not with sin
remaining in us. Nuh-uh. No, he's got to get rid
of all that. All that's got to be left here
and burned up and done away with. When God created Adam, what did
he do first? He created the garden. He prepared
a place for Adam. Then he made Adam, and then he
put Adam in the garden. Our Lord says, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. And then I'm going to prepare
you for that place. And that starts with the new
birth. That starts with regeneration. And then I'm going to come and
I'm going to get you. I'm going to come and get you. Each one of his children, he's
going to come and take them home. That's what he's going to do.
He's going to come and take them home. I will come again and receive you. What's he going to do? I'm going
to receive you to myself. You're mine. You're mine. You're my jewel. You're my possession. You're mine. And no one else
is going to have you. You're mine. You know, the world sees death
as the end. as a tragedy. And for the world,
it is. If you die lost, it's a tragedy. It's an eternal tragedy. There's
no end to it. There's no end to the suffering
and the pain. That rich man in hell who lifted up his eyes in
hell, being in torments, he's still there. And he's still in
torment. But for the believer, it's the
beginning. It's the beginning. It's like
graduation day. It's graduation day. It's to
leave here and to go be with the Lord? To be absent from the
bodies to be present with the Lord? To be rid of all of this? That's why the Scripture tells
us in Colossians, set your affection on things above. If we can do
that, it won't make leaving so difficult. If we can set our
affection on things above, where our Lord sits, at God's right
hand. Where I am. He said, I'm going
to prepare a place for you. I'm going to come again and receive
you to myself. That where I am, where is it? In paradise. Paradise. There you may be also. You'll
be there too. He said in John 17, 24, Father
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am. Where is he? Seated at God's
right hand in the heavenlies. That they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. 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
you loved me before the foundation of the world and if he loved
all those in Christ he also loved them before the foundation of
the world And the Lord says to them, and
whither I go you know, and the way you know. He's going to expose
something here. You've got to remember, you and
I have the whole Word of God, they didn't. They didn't have
all the written Word that you and I have. You know where I'm
going, I just told you, to my father's house. And the way you
know, the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we
don't know where you're going, He just told him. He said, I'm
going to my father's house. But we don't know where you're
going. How can we know the way if we don't know where you're
going? And the Lord said to him, I'm
glad he asked that question. I'm glad he allowed me to ask
these kind of questions. I don't have to now. I got the
answer to it. I got the advantage. Jesus said unto him, Thomas,
you're looking at the way. Don't pull out a GPS. That ain't
going to help you. Look at me. I am the way. You're looking at the way to
God. There is no other way to God except through Jesus Christ.
Period. I am the way, Thomas. I am the
truth. I'm not just telling you the
truth. I am the embodiment of truth and life. I'm the way, the truth,
and life. He doesn't just have life. He is life. He is life. And no man, get this now, no
man comes to the Father but by me. Our Lord makes it plain that
the way to God is a person, and He's that person. He's that person.
Listen, Adam lost the way to God, but Adam himself was never
the way to God. Adam was never the way to God. We read of God coming into the
garden in the cool of the day and speaking to Adam, but we
don't ever read of Adam going into paradise and speaking to
God. But we do of the second Adam. The second Adam, which
is the Lord from heaven. He went back into paradise, into
the holy of holies. And that's where you and I are
going. Right into his eternal presence.
Adam lost the truth of God, but Adam was never the truth. Christ
is truth. He's truth. We lost the life
of God, but Adam was never Life. He was never life. Christ is life. The second Adam
is the Lord from heaven. The second Adam is a life-giving
spirit. The only thing that we could
get from the first Adam, of course, was sin. And we could come into
this world that way. But never into the presence of
God. Never into heaven itself. You
know, it says that Christ went into what? Heaven itself! He went into heaven itself. The
second Adam took us right into the presence of the Holy of Holies. Christ not only restored all
that I lost in Adam, but Christ is, to me, all that I lost. He is all that I lost. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption, truth, life, all
of that. And he says here in verse 7,
and I'll close. If you had known me, if you had known me, you
should have known my father also. From henceforth, you know him
and have seen him. They knew Christ. Peter said,
thou art of Christ, the Son of the living God. But they had
a lot to learn, didn't they? Had a lot to learn. And I tell
you this, I have a lot to learn. We can never exhaust knowing
Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. And you and I never graduate
from that. We never graduate from it. We can learn more and
more and more of Him. Let not your heart be troubled.
Don't let it be troubled. Don't be overly anxious about
anything. That's what he's saying to us. You believe God? Exercise that
same faith in me. Now I'm going to go back to my
father's house and I'm going to prepare a place for you. Of
course, the way for him to go back was through the cross. My
way of the cross. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. If I prepare a place for you, I'm coming again to
get you. That where I am, there you may be also. Forever and
ever and ever. Does that not give comfort? Does
that not give comfort to your heart? That's one portion of scripture
that gives me comfort. No matter how dark the hour is. I remember this John 14, don't
let your heart be overly troubled. The Lord knows there's going
to be trouble. He said, don't let your heart be troubled. I'm coming back
after you. I'm coming to get you. And all
this is going to be over. And we're going to dwell in our
Father's house. Go home. Going home. Homecoming. Homecoming. OK.