The Lord commanded the prophet
of old to comfort my people, saith the Lord. If the prophets
comforted God's people in their day by the subject of all their
prophecies, which Christ said spoke of him, how much more of
a comfort are his own words in the hearts of his people today? Our Lord comforts here in John
14 his troubled disciples with the promise of why he's going
away and that it won't be permanent. It won't be permanent. I'll see
you again. I'm coming back. I fear that
I dwell so much on our Lord's first coming and what he accomplished
that I neglect the promise and the comfort of his second coming. They are so tied together, aren't
they? So tied together. Though we look
back to his first coming and we rejoice in all that he accomplished,
all that he obtained for us. Redemption, when he came the
first time, he accomplished eternal redemption for us. He obtained
it. At his first coming, He brought
in an everlasting righteousness. At His first coming, as He intended
to do and was sent into the world to do, the sins of all that He
represented, He bore them away once forever by His own body
on the cross. However, here in John 14, He
speaks of more that he's doing and more that he will yet do.
What he says in verses 2, 3, and 4 is the solid foundation
of what he says in verse 1. It's the reason of verse 1. He
gives them the reason for not allowing their hearts to be troubled. And then he tells them why. In
Psalm 45, let me read one verse of Scripture to you. And it's
speaking of our Lord. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore, God hath blessed thee
forever. Who has not at this time accepted
him? Grace is poured into thy lips. And here, by his precious promises
to his troubled disciples, grace pours forth from his lips. Psalm 84 says this, the Lord
will give grace and glory. That's what he tells them here.
Everyone that's received grace, the true grace of God that's
in Christ Jesus, every sinner who ever experienced that, without
an exception, the Lord says he will also give glory. The Lord. The Lord says so. That's his promise. And he's
not a man that he should lie. Just as our Lord said here, what
I'm telling you, you can bank on it. You can believe it. It's
so. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be telling
you it is. The Lord shall give grace and
glory. The psalm from which that verse
is taken, Psalm 84, is called a marching psalm. And as we journey
through this world, the psalmist tells us to keep our eyes on
the Lord. As the Hebrew writer says in
Hebrews 12, looking unto Jesus, look unto Him always. Why? Because the Lord is the source
of both grace and glory. Neither one of those blessings,
neither one of those truths could come to us from any other source,
especially ourselves. He's the security of all grace
and all glory. Both are in his mighty, capable
hands. Turn, if you will, to 1 Peter
1. This is what he tells us here.
I love these verses of Scripture. People, or rather, Peter speaks. of the promise of our eternal
salvation, our inheritance in heaven, as being sure. In verse
3 of 1 Peter 1, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy not according
to your desert, not according to your merit, no, but according
to His mercy. Oh, I'd rather stand on those
grounds than anywhere else, wouldn't you? But according to His abundant
mercy, have begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved, reserved,
Isn't that nice? Reserved. You have a reservation
in heaven. All God's people do. That's what
he told his disciples. There's mansions there for you,
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. And the foundation, our footing
for that blessed promise stands upon the foundation of God's
free grace. Again, Psalm 84, 11, the Lord
will give. He will give. Now, to a person
who vainly imagines, who deceives himself into thinking, that he
can work out a righteousness of his own before God that God
will accept, that's not good news. To tell them that all that
they can do The very best they can do will never be a grounds,
will never be a basis for acceptance before a holy God. It'll never
be enough. It'll never be enough. Or they'll
say, I don't like that, that destroys my foundation. Oh, but
if you stand on the footing of God's grace, Realizing what grace
is, it's a gift from God, something that the Lord gives. It can never
be earned by us, it can never be merited, and it can never
be taken away through any default through us. It's already been
earned, it's already been merited by someone, but it wasn't us.
It was him. It was him. And that's your sure
footing, isn't it? That's what the elder told John.
John, one has been found worthy. One. There's one individual. There's one unique person that's
worthy enough to fulfill all the decrees, all the purposes,
all the will of God, and it's that lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Our right to enter through the
gates into the city is due to his merit. It's the reward of
his doings. Don't you find that comfortable?
I wouldn't find the promise of glory, the promise of eternal
life, the promise of entering heaven, I wouldn't find that
believable, possible on any other basis, would you? If I'm told
it's determined, it's dependent upon you, upon my own faithfulness,
upon my own doings, I could never have any peace. I could never
have any assurance. And indeed, I wouldn't deserve
any assurance. I'd be looking in the wrong place.
But direct my eyes by the grace of God to behold Him. Him. And looking at him, I find no
fault at all. Looking at him, I see enough
merit, enough worth, enough pleasing to Almighty God that then I find
comfort. I find it indeed believable that
he's able to keep whatever I've committed unto him against that
day. Looking unto him, yes, I find
this promise of a place in glory, a place reserved in heaven for
all of his own, I find it believable, and I find it very comforting.
Grace and glory. Where there is one, there will
be the other. for Christ's sake. Where he gives
the one, he'll give the other. Someone said that glory is the
full bloom of grace. Grace is glory in the bud. All but glory is grace in full
blossom. Someone told a member of Bruce
Crabtree's church one time, I'd been there preaching at Field
Inn for Bruce, And they said, I'll not come back to hear that
man. I've heard him half a dozen times, and all that he preaches
is grace. Now they intended that to be
an insult, Lonnie, but I counted it a great compliment. And by
God's grace, I intend to preach nothing else. He shall give grace
and glory. What good news that is to suffering
pilgrims? What good news to hear that the
God of all grace has promised those glory as well. All that
He redeemed. All that He redeemed will experience
His grace before they leave this world. That's what our Lord said,
didn't He? That's what He said. I came down
from heaven. not to do my will, I'm doing
the will of my Father. I do always those things that
please my Father. I say and do what He sent me
to say and do. And I came down from heaven to
do His will, and this is His will. This is the will of the
Father who sent me, that of all which he had given me, I should
lose none. All that the Father gave me,
he said, shall come to me. In time, they'll come to me,
if they were given to me. They were among those blessed
ones that were given to me before the world began. They were given
to me that I became responsible for every one of them in time. Before they die, before they
leave this world, they're going to come to me. I'm their shepherd. They're my sheep. I know my sheep. And one day, one day, I'll seek
them and find them and they'll hear my voice and they'll come
to me and they'll follow me. They'll follow me all the way
to glory. Yes, my sheep know the voice
of their great shepherd. All that have experienced his
grace will experience his glory. And isn't that a blessed, blessed
promise? Do you see any reason in that
not to preach the Gospel? Any reason not to witness? Any
reason not to invite sinners to hear the truth? Any reason
not to pray? Can you find any grounds for
not doing so in that? Oh no, the very opposite. All
the reason to do those things. Because He says, all that the
Father gives me, they'll come to me. They're going to hear
my voice. Every sinner, every sinner before
they leave this world will hear the voice of this shepherd, all
those that were given to him, and they'll follow him, the God,
the sovereign God of heaven and earth. That God who sits above
the flood has declared, I will be gracious. He says, I will
be gracious. Has he ever determined? Has he
ever willed anything that wasn't realized? And he says, this is
among the things that I will and purpose. I will be gracious. I will have mercy. What a wonder. I will have mercy,
God says. There are people in this world
that will experience my mercy and grace, my hope for you. for
every child of God is the same that I have for myself. The same
one that Paul expressed in Acts chapter 20. He's on his way to
Jerusalem. He doesn't want to be detained,
so he asks the elders of the church at Ephesus to meet him.
So they meet him on Miletus. And he says, I won't see you
anymore. lay eyes on one another anymore.
And they wept, they wept sorely. They loved Paul. Paul was that
one God was pleased to send to Ephesus preaching the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. And God used that message to
open the hearts and to give grace to a multitude of idol worshipers. And now he says, you won't see
me again. I'm going to Jerusalem. And I
won't be back. You won't see me again." And
they wept. But Paul said, I commend you to God. I commend you to
God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up
and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. He wrote to the church at Philippi,
being confident of this very thing, that he which had begun
a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God's grace is indestructible. God's grace can't be stopped.
God's grace can't be resisted. God's grace says, come down sinner,
and the sinner comes down. God that begins a work of grace
in any individual, he'll carry it on, it'll succeed until the
day of Jesus Christ when they enter glory. Our gracious Redeemer
says to his disciples again in verse 1, let not your heart be
troubled. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. Everything's for you. Both advance. The first time he came, it was
for them. Why did Jesus come? Why did he
that was God become man? He that was rich become poor
for your sakes. Why did he come the first time?
It was exactly as Gabriel told Joseph. He shall save his people. He came for his people, to save
his people from their sins. And all that he's done since,
it's been for you. I go to prepare a place for you. And he says, the reason I'll
come back The reason I'll return again, it's for you. He does
everything for his church, everything for his elect, everything for
his bride. During World War II, I remember
reading this in high school. General Douglas MacArthur was
the head of the forces in the Philippines. I don't recall,
I think it was a political thing, but he was told to leave there. And he gathered around him those
Philippines and he told them, I'm going away, going away. And they were much like these
disciples. The shepherd told them, I'm going away. Sorrow
had filled their heart. And to them, MacArthur represented
the greatest nation in the world. And they thought, if he leaves,
if he leaves, what's going to become of us? But you remember
what he said. He's become famous. He said,
I'm going away, but he said, I shall return. I shall return,
and he did. And that's what the captain of
our salvation here promises his troubled flock. Let not your
heart be troubled. I shall return. I'm coming back. His second coming is as certain
as his first. Will he not have all that he
purchased? Will he not? Will he not see
and prevail of his soul and be satisfied? As Moses said to Pharaoh
who wanted to compromise, Moses said, no, it won't happen. There won't be a hoof left behind. We're leaving here and we're
taking everything. And so it is with our glorious
Redeemer. He will see all that he purchased. He'll have it all. Will not the
will and purpose of the triune God be realized? Soon after this,
After he spoke these words to his disciples, they leave the
upper room, and he prays that high priestly prayer. And among the things he said,
he said, Father, I will this too. I want this too. Behold how he loved us. Everything
for his people. They're going to deny Him. They're
going to forsake Him. If we'd have been there, we'd
have done the same thing, been right with Him, just beating it through
the darkness. But in John 17, He prays for them, pray that
they'll be kept, pray that they'll be united, pray that they'll
be sanctified. He never mentions anything about
their sin. Nothing about their failures,
no accusation. No, on the contrary, he says,
Father, I also will this. I want them with me. I want them
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, the glory
as the only begotten of the Father. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. Paul in Romans 8 said, Whom God
did foreknow, that is forelove. God has prior knowledge, foreknowledge
of all people. But that's not what Paul's talking
about. Whom God did foreknow, forelove, he also predestinated
those same people. And those he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Them he justified, he'll also
glorify. There'll not be a broken link
in the chain of God's great salvation. And there'll not be any unoccupied
mansions in heaven. Our Lord said, I'm going away
to prepare each of you a place. And He speaks to you and I as
well, that each of you is sheep. And He says, I know my sheep. To deny this is to deny every
attribute of God. It's to deny His power, His wisdom,
His love, all but think of that. For you. For you. He wants us with him. Isn't that
a marvel? We, God's people from time to
time, need a break from one another. I tend to get, to be honest,
if we were around each other constantly, get on one another's
nerves. But Christ says, I want them
with me. Father, I want them with me where
I am. He who is in the heavens, doing
whatsoever he has pleased, is pleased to have all of his sheep
with him, the great shepherd of them all. Every member of
his body will be with their glorious head. He wouldn't be complete. Christ wouldn't be complete without
His church, without every member of His body which is the church.
We're told that we are complete in Him. And would He be complete
if all those in Him are not with Him in glory? The bride with
her bridegroom. The religious leader in John
the Baptist day sent some folks out to ask him if he were the
Messiah. And John said, no. No, I'm not
the Messiah. I'm not the bridegroom. The bride
doesn't belong to me. John said, he that has the bride,
he's the bridegroom. And the bride of Solomon's song
said concerning her bridegroom, He's altogether lovely. He's
perfect. He's perfect. Perfect wisdom. Perfect righteousness. He's perfect
in every way. Altogether lovely. And we could
sit, and we will, in glory as the ages roll on and never get
over the wonder of His loveliness. What a Savior. But you know what? So is His bride. All together
lovely as well. Turn, if you will, to Revelation
chapter 19. The bridegroom is perfect. Oh, but so is His bride. with
the robe of His perfect righteousness. She's perfect. In chapter 19 of Revelation,
verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to Him. Why? For the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her
was granted, given, not earned, but to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. With that garment,
that robe, a pure and perfect righteousness on, she stands
before the thrice holy God without blemish, without defect, without
a spot of any kind. When our hearts are troubled,
may God give us grace to drink from this cup of sweet consolation. God gave us grace to drink from
it often. The cup of grace that's in Christ
Jesus is always full. No, it's more than that. The
psalmist said, it runneth over. He giveth and he giveth and he
giveth more grace. Now, let's look at the words
of verse 3 again in John 14. Our Lord tells them and us, If I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. The great physician prescribes
the antidote for heart trouble. Believe me, he says. Believe
me. Trust me. You believe God? Believe me. Where I am, where
I am, Could there be a better definition
of heaven than that? Where he is. He says, I'm going
to my father's house. But it's your house too. My father
is your father. And my God is your God. I'm going to our father's house. Heaven is the home, the eternal
abode Moses, Psalm 90. Perhaps he was
looking at them as they set up tents during one of the many
nights of those 40 years in the wilderness when he penned this
psalm. Perhaps he penned it when they
were taking the tents down and getting ready to move on. He
said, Lord, you've been our dwelling place in all generations. Here,
no permanent home. But we have a home with you.
You've been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the
mountains were brought forth or ever thou created the heaven
and the earth from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Heaven is our home, our eternal
home, where Christ is. Where Christ is. Home. It should. It's not always the case, they
say. But home should conjure up just good feelings, good memories,
should it not, home. I'm always welcomed back home.
I called mom. I call her often. Talked to her
the other evening. She wanted to know when I was
coming back home for a visit. She mentioned when my brother
would be there and some others. And I said, well, mom, you wouldn't
have room for me. Oh, we'll make room. We'll make
room. Always welcomed home. Always
accepted at home. always loved at home. And our Lord said, I'm going
to your home, and my home, to your God, and my God, and I'm
coming back for you. Turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, and notice how Paul speaks these words. He says,
for we know, in verse 1 of 2 Corinthians 5, In another place, he said, to
be absent from this body for a believer, any believer, is
to be present with his Lord. And in verse 1 of 2 Corinthians
5, he says, 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. For in this we
groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house
which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
For he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing as God,
who also hath given to us the earnest of the Spirit, Therefore,
we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in
the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith,
not by sight. We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. And He's prepared
that place. We're expected there. What about
that? We're expected there. He's given
us the right to enter there by His merit. He's already entered
there as our representative. He now appears in the presence
of God for us and makes intercession for us. Heaven is where He is. Where He is. We're told much
in God's Word about what heaven is not, perhaps more so about
what it's not than what it actually is. We're told that there there'll
be no more death, no more sorrow, no pain of any kind, no tears,
no reason to shed tears, no regrets. No regrets. But all that without Him wouldn't
be enough, would it? Nothing could replace him or
make heaven to be glory without him. Heaven, there will possess
a perfect nature, spotless, incorruptible, sinless. Sinless. No sin. Bodies without weakness,
without sickness. Hearts free of unbelief. free of temptation, free of any
care. Heaven, an endless day of perfect
peace. One old preacher was preaching.
We read in Genesis that Enoch walked with God and was found
not because God took him. And that preacher said, God said
to Enoch, come up and spend the night and he never came back
because there's no night there. Today, our Lord told the thief
on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. You've just now experienced my
grace. And all who experience my grace
will experience glory. Today you'll be with me in paradise. And he's been there ever since.
Ever since. That day has never ended. And it never will, never shall.
An endless day of being with Him. In John's Gospel, our Lord
spoke those great seven I am's. I am the bread of life. I am
the light of the world. I am the door of the sheepfold. I am the good shepherd. I am
the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. He said that in chapter 14 here. And he says, I am the
true vine in chapter 15. All that the great I am is, he
declares, we will be with him in glory. There will ye be also,
in verse 3. That's heaven, isn't it? To be
where he is. Job said, I'm going to die, go
the way of all the earth, the skin worms will devour this flesh,
yet in this body I shall see God. I know that my Redeemer liveth
and that I shall see him. Let not your heart be troubled. where I am, there ye shall be
also." You, Peter? You? Especially. These words were speaking especially
to Peter. They were spoken in the context
of our Lord telling Peter, although he denied it, that he would deny
knowing Him. In that context, Peter, the cock
shall not crow, till thou hast denied me three times, let not
your heart be troubled." Oh, what grace! Peter will be there,
Peter who denied Him, yes, because as Peter would afterwards write,
he's the God of all grace, the all grace. They all forsook Him
and fled. And His people have, since that
day to the present, denied Him, forsook him and fled. And yet he says, I want them
all with me. I want them to be with me where
I am. You who were loved and chosen
and redeemed and called, you've been called unto his eternal
glory. Because we read in scripture
that he, being that seed that falls into the ground, bringeth
forth much fruit. Another place, that he will be
the firstborn among many brethren, that he will bring many sons
to glory, and that he shall justify many, and all the many, without
exception, all be brought home to the Father's house, to be
with him. to be with their Redeemer forever. I can only imagine what that'll
be like. I jotted down a few lines of
an old hymn. Let me share a couple with you.
It says, and when I breathe my final breath and drop this robe
of flesh in death, when my appointed work is done and my allotted
time is gone, don't stand around my grave and cry, I'm not there,
I did not die. Isn't that what our Lord said
to Martha? Your brother, whosoever rather liveth and believeth in
me shall never die. My Savior came to call me home,
and I with Him to heaven had gone. And now I'm free from sin
and pain, and with the glorified I reign. Don't stand around my
grave and cry, I'm glorified, I did not die." Take this word
with you. Let not your heart be troubled. 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 ye may be also." And in verse 27, He
said, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Amen. God bless you.