Look with me in John's Gospel
chapter 14. I appreciate the great privilege
of being here with you, dear brothers and sisters, to pray
and to worship. I appreciate so much that God
has put grace in your hearts, that you're concerned and have
a desire, together you are this evening, to worship Him to hear
His Word, to be concerned about one another while the world goes
headlong in pretense, hypocrisy, false religion. He gathers you
in sincerity and in truth, concerned about one another, concerned
about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, I thank God
for that. Thank God for you. Thankful for
His grace to you. I've chosen this evening a simple
text Just a few verses here in John chapter 14. I want to begin
reading in verse 1. 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 you may be
also. And whether I go, you know, and
the way you know. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we
know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father,
but by me. If you had known me, you should
have known my Father also, and from henceforth you know Him
and have seen Him. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it suffith us. Jesus said unto him, Have
I been so long with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, and how saith thou, show us the Father? 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 dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for
the very work's sake. Let not your heart be troubled. I guess a lot of us will be quoting
Brother Scott Richardson, But I remember what he said one time
about a Christian, a child of God. And he said, he's either
in trouble, he's coming out of trouble, or he's going into trouble. And that's been my experience. That's probably been your experience.
I'd love to see the Lord save somebody, fill them with the
joy of the Lord, Give them peace and rest in their heart. Give
them an easy road through this lifetime and receive them to
heaven. But that's not been my experience.
That's not been the experience of these apostles and these disciples
of the Lord. Man that's born of woman is a
few days and full of trouble. Job said, as sure as the sparks
from a fire fly upwards, That's how sure a man is born into trouble.
Let not your heart be trouble. What's the most difficult trouble
that a man can face in this world? It's heart trouble. It's heart
trouble. Our stomachs may be upset. Our limbs may be afflicted. We
may be in some unfavorable circumstances, but if the heart is restful,
all is well. But if we feel good physically
and everything is well outwardly, if the heart is afflicted, if
the heart is troubled, nothing's well. Let not your heart be troubled. This little statement here tells
us that the Lord Jesus Christ is concerned with the most vital
part of us. That part that houses our intellect,
our affection, our will, what we are. When you get down to
the center, to the core, the heart, that's what He's concerned
with. The world is concerned with the
outward. The world is concerned with the temporary. The seen. The Lord Jesus Christ goes to
the heart. Let not your heart be troubled. Keep your heart with all diligence. Why? Out of it are the issues
of life. It's the essential part, the
vital part, the heart. If you're troubled in your heart,
you're troubled. You're troubled. But our Lord
Jesus is not only concerned about the heart trouble, But He's concerned
about that which troubles our hearts the most. He knows the
heart, and He knows what trouble in the heart. And we find here
in the context of the Scripture that I read to you, two particular
things that was troubling, and would most definitely trouble
the hearts of these disciples. One of them is found here in
the 13th chapter, in verse 33, and in verse 36. The Lord Jesus
tells them this, little children, a little while I am with you
and you shall seek me. And as I said to the Jews, whether
I go, you cannot come. So now I say to you, and in verse
36, Peter was so concerned about this. He said this, Lord, where
are you going? Jesus said unto him, where I
go, thou canst not follow me now. You shall follow me later.
Peter said, Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay
down my life, not only for you. I'd lay down my life before I'll
lose your presence. What was it that disturbed these
disciples? When the Lord Jesus said, I'm
going away. You're going to lose my presence,
even though it's for a season. You're going to lose my presence.
And Peter says, Lord, before I'll lose your presence, I lay
down my life. Here's a man that knew something
for three and a half years of the presence of the Son of God,
taken our humanity and fellowship with these men, watched over
them, taught them, protect them. And now he says, I'm going away.
And Peter said, I'll die before I lose your presence. You take
a man and you take a woman that knows something of the saving
presence of the Lord of glory, and let the Lord for a time,
even though it be for a time, hide Himself from that heart. I tell you, you've got a troubled
heart. Brother Bob read back in the study just a little further
in the 14th chapter, the Lord Jesus described these men. He described their hearts. upon
the loss of his presence. I will not leave you comfortless."
How does a man feel when he's lost the presence of his Lord? He's comfortless. I tell you,
there's nothing that troubles the heart more than the loss
of the presence of his Lord. Well, I know, as well as you
know, we don't really lose it, but we lose the manifestation
of it. We lose it experientially in our hearts. He hides Himself. Remember the little Shulamite
woman whom the Lord visited in the night, knocked upon the door
of her heart, and she says, I don't have time now to sup with you.
I put off my coat, my shoes, and I'm in the bed. And He ran
in His hand by the hold of the door, and she must have saw His
hand, just His hand. And she was awakened and jumped
out of bed. And he had left his sweet smell and savor on the
locks of the door. And she was overwhelmed and she
opened the door. But she said, my beloved had
withdrawn himself. He was gone. And her heart fell. She went out in the street and
said, have you seen him whom my soul loveth? What is it to
lose the very presence of the Son of God? The reality of it
in your heart. I tell you there's nothing that
more troubles the heart than this. Moses told the Lord one
time, he said, don't you lead me up if your presence don't
go with me. One man said, I'd rather be in
hell with Christ as to be in heaven without him. Ain't it
the truth? David said, Lord, don't cast
me out of your presence. Isn't that hell itself? I've
often thought that when the Lord Jesus told those people on the
Day of Judgment, depart from me ye cursed. I think the most
dreadful thing anyone could suffer was to be told, depart from me. In His presence is life. In His
presence is fullness of joy. What's outside of His presence?
Misery. When the rich man lifted up his
eyes and hailed, I wonder sometime when he said, there's no God
here. There's no Christ here. Is that
not torment? Is that not more than having
one's tongue tormented in the flames? When God made us and
breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, He became our
Creator. He breathed eternal life into
our souls. In the new birth, He became our
Redeemer and Savior. And no man will ever be satisfied
until he experiences the saving presence of his Creator and Redeemer. And when you experience it and
you lose it, I tell you, it will trouble your soul. It will trouble
your soul. This was what was ready to trouble
these people. Lord, I'd die before I lost your
presence. What value, dear soul, what value
do you put upon the saving presence of the Son of God? There's not
a one of us here tonight that could estimate the value is too
high. And I'll tell you what will send
you mourning. I'll tell you what will make your heart so heavy
you'll have trouble breathing. Let him hide himself. Let Him
hide Himself. That's hell on earth, isn't it?
Let not your hearts be troubled. I tell you, only He, only He
can comfort this trouble. He says, because I've told you
these things, sorrow has filled your heart, but I'll see you
again. And you shall rejoice. Your hearts shall rejoice. And
your joy no man takes with you. When He leaves us for a time,
only His return will comfort the heart. When we hear Him say,
let not your heart be troubled, that's the first thing that was
to trouble the hearts of these poor men. Second thing is found
here in verse 38, and it was sin. In verse 38, the Lord Jesus tells
Peter, will you lay down your life for my sake? Verily I say
unto you before the cock, before the rooster crows, you shall
deny me thrice. You shall deny me thrice. Sin. Sin. You shall deny me, Peter,
not just once, not just twice, but you'll deny me three times.
And you'll curse and you'll swear to it that you've never known
me. Oh, what an awful sin. And it
wasn't just Peter. All of them finally forsook Him.
He looked for help. There was none to be found. He
looked for comforters. They all forsook Him. And here
was a man that went out and wept for three days and three nights
because he had so sinned against his Master. Oh, what will sin
do to our hearts? You know it, don't you? How heavy
It becomes upon the heart. Oh, how it stings and burns the
conscience. Sin troubles a man's heart. David said, Against thee and
against thee, O Lord, only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. What is sin? It's evil. It's
evil against God, evil against the Christ of God, evil against
the Spirit of God, evil against the law of God. It's sin, it's
evil against Him who made us, and uphold us, and loved us,
and saved us, and shed out His heart's blood for us. Oh, what
is sin? Oh, it's a troubling thing, ain't
it? It's a burdensome thing. It's a heart-troubling thing.
Though one of the Bible calls sins, wounds that stink, and
an ever-present evil, and a burden that we can't bear. This was
what was going to burden the hearts of these men. Denial,
cursing, forsaking the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, isn't it strange,
right in the middle of this, he says to Peter, let not your
heart be troubled. You're going to deny me. All
of you are going to forsake me. Let not your heart be troubled. The Lord Jesus Christ seeks and
secures our comfort when our troubles are too difficult for
anyone else to relieve. Who can relieve the heart? Who
can relieve the heart of these disciples? Nobody but Him. Nobody but Him. And that's the
case that He seeks. That's the heart He seeks to
heal when all other doctors fail. He's the great physician. He
takes on the cases that's very, very difficult. That's impossible
for everybody else. Let not your heart be troubled
over the loss of my presence, over my sin of denying the Son
of God. Let not your heart be troubled. Somebody says it's easy to be
a commanding officer when all the troops are assigned to secure
base. I could do that. I could be a
commanding officer if all the troops were assigned to a secure
base. But Jesus Christ, the captain
of our salvation, he comes and finds you out in the muddy trenches.
He finds you when the enemy is advancing. He finds you when
the mortar rounds are going off and throwing dirt and mud in
upon your head. He's not a summer soldier. He's
not a sunshine patriot. It's easy to be a patriot when
everybody loves the country. I tell you though, when he'll
find you, when he'll speak to you, when the country's full
of aliens and traitors, that's when he'll stand with you. That's
when you'll find him, the great savior, the mighty to save, the
comforter of the heart. Let not your heart be troubled. The Apostle Paul, before he left
this world, he said at my first answer, nobody stood with me.
Everybody forsook me. I pray God it be not laid to
their charge, but they all forsook me. And then he made this wonderful
statement, nevertheless, the Lord stood with me. I love those
nevertheless, don't you? How many times have you experienced
it? Nevertheless, the Lord stood with me. And He strengthened
me. He strengthened me. And He delivered
me out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord called these apostles
and they followed Him earnestly and sincerely for three years. And now He's wanting them to
know this. Trouble is coming. Hard trouble. But I'm not going
to forsake you. I didn't bring you out here this
far to leave you when trouble comes. I've called you to endear
hardship and heart trouble, but I've called you to endear it
to the end, and I'll comfort you in the time of your trouble. I tell you, I've had some time
in my life, and I know you have too. I know some of you. I know
what some of you have experienced. I remember one particular time
in my life, years and years ago, a young Christian. I remember
it so well to this very day. The very words I said from my
heart, I'll never get through this. I'll never make it through
this. I was in such a dark hole. I
thought there's no way to get out of this. But here I stand. Years later, here I am. With
a measure of joy, a measure of confidence, and I attribute it
to nothing else. but the Lord Jesus Christ and
His faithfulness and His ability to speak comfort, to heal the
heart, to give rest to the troubled soul. That's all I attribute
it to. Because I've told you these things,
sorrow has filled your heart, but I'll see you again and your
heart shall rejoice. He deals with the heart, doesn't
He? Aren't you glad for that? We went for years and never even
realized we had a heart. We didn't realize we had a heart.
We live to the flesh. We live to nature. And then He
comes and awakens us. And then we realize we've got
a heart. When He breaks it, we realize
we've got a heart. And then we realize only He can
heal it. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. I searched the commentaries to
find out what this meant. And everybody has their own opinion. Let me give you mine. Since everybody's
offering their opinion, let me offer you mine. What does this
mean? You believe in God, believe also
in me. And let me say it like this.
It's like he looked at Peter and said, Peter, do you believe
in God? Of course you do. What do you believe about God?
Well, He's eternal. He's the everlasting God. He's
the eternal Holy Spirit. He's God. The true and living
God. Believe the same concerning me. Believe the same concerning me. You know the only way to believe
in God savingly is to believe God in Christ. The only way to
know God savingly is to know Him in His Son. You know God
is Christ. You know Christ is God. That's
what He's saying. That's what He's saying. You
believe in God, believe in me. I am God. You believe in me the
same way you believe in God. You believe God's eternal, I'm
eternal. Look what he says down in verse
7. He went on to tell them. Look what he said. If you had
known me, you should have known the Father also. From henceforth
you know Him, and you have seen Him. Philip said unto Him, Lord,
show us the Father, that'll satisfy us. Jesus said unto him, Have
I been so long with you? And yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And how saith thou then? Show
us the Father. Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you, I don't speak of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me. Now let me ask you this question.
How much of God dwells in Christ? The Father dwells in me. How much of God dwells in Christ?
Every bit of God dwells in Christ. You want to see the fullness
of God? Look at Jesus Christ. There He is. In Him dwells all
the fullness of God, the divinity in His body. If you've seen me,
you've seen God. When we get to heaven, we won't
see two gods or three gods. We'll see one God. Dear brother
Scott Richardson, the first message I think I ever heard him preach
was, they shall see his face. He's experiencing that tonight.
He's looking upon the face of Jesus Christ. And who does he
see? God. The eternal God in Jesus
Christ. He's the only God Larry will
ever see. Ain't it amazing what the Lord
can teach us in the time of our heart trouble? He often brings
us into heart trouble, and He teaches us, and when you're taught
something in your trouble, you don't likely forget it. And He
taught these fellows here, you're looking at God when you're looking
at Me. You see Me, you see the Father.
I am one with Him. One in essence. You remember
three days, the Lord was in the tomb and He raised, and He appeared
to His disciples in the upper room, and He showed them His
hands and His feet, and they rejoiced that He had risen from
the dead. But Thomas wasn't there. And
they said, Thomas, we've seen the Lord. He's alive. He's risen. And He said, if I don't put my
fingers in the prints of His nails, And I don't thrust my
hand in that huge hole in his side. I'll never believe. And
eight days later, the Lord Jesus appeared to him again. And Thomas
was there. And he said, Thomas, come here. Put your fingers in the prints
of these nails. And you thrust your hand into
my side. And you don't be doubtless. You
just believe me. Remember what Thomas said? He
said, My Lord and my God. Jesus Christ is the fullness
of God. There's no God outside of Christ. There's nothing of God outside
of Christ. He is God. Oh, what a lesson
to learn when the heart is troubled. But they never forgot it. They
never forgot it. I heard Todd Navritch say one
time from this pulpit. Oh, it went home to my heart.
I love it too. I love to say Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ
is God. Jesus Christ is God. Don't you
love that? He's taught us that, hasn't he?
He's taught us that. You believe in God? Believe in
me. I am God. Everything that's said
of God, everything that's attributed to God is attributed to me. In
my Father's house are many mansions. In my Father's house We know
God's everywhere. By ascending to heaven, David
said, He's there. If I make my bed in hell, even,
He's there. Take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the othermost parts of the earth. He's there. He's
everywhere. But you know, He has a house.
He has a place where His glory is especially seen. That's heaven. That's His house. I love the
way He calls heaven His house. You know, it's a kingdom. He
could have said, that's my kingdom. He could have said, that's the
city. It's called a city, a heavenly country. I love it when He calls
it His house. Because we know who dwells in
the house, don't we? That's the family, ain't it?
That's where the family dwells. Of all the names our Master could
put upon His house, His heaven, He calls it His house. Our Father's
there. Our elder brother is there. All
our brothers and sisters are there. That's why we don't have
to fear death. When a dear child of God dies,
they leave this world in which they're strangers and they go
home. We should never be afraid to
go home to the Father's house. And you know something about
the Father's house? Nobody enters the house to molest
the children. Not this father. There in the
Father's house, nothing will enter to molest the family. There
will be no sorrow there. There will be no tears there.
There will be no crime, no pain, no sin to molest us, no death. All of these things cannot enter
the Father's house. In my Father's house. And I love
what he says about the Father's house. He said in my father's
house are many dwelling places. There's many residences in my
father's house. There's room for all kinds of
people. A great host in my father's house. What he calls a great number
here, I think John would call a number that no man can number.
The Lord Jesus says many dwelling places. John says in Revelation
7-6 that he saw there in the father's house a number that
no man can number out of ever kindred and tongue and nation
and people. Oh, I'm sure that God can number
them, but we can't. Heaven is immeasurable to us.
It's immeasurable to Him, but it's immeasurable to us. And
the Father has determined to fill it up with a glorified humanity. People just like you and people
just like me. And there's room enough there,
brothers and sisters. I think there's going to be more
than 144,000, don't you, Bobby? A fellow came to my house one
time and he said, now there's just 144,000 going. You know,
that's not very many in the whole scheme of things, is it? That's
very few. And the Lord Jesus said, no,
there's many. There's multitudes. I remember
that parable the Master told us, where He made a great supper. And he bade many. And they didn't
care to come and gave all those excuses. And the master of the
house was angry and sent his servant out. He said, go out
into the lanes and the streets of the city and you bring them
in here that my house may be full. Ain't that what he said?
I'm going to have a full house. And they did that. And they came
back and said, Lord, we've done just what you told us to do.
We brought them in. And yet there's room. And He
sent them out into the highways and hedges where the criminals
live. Out into the fields where the
slaves work. And He said, you go out and compel
them to come in. I tell you, I'm going to have
a full house. Oh, brothers and sisters, there's
room in heaven for every one of us. Everybody in Christ. And how many is in Him? A number.
Nobody can number. In my Father's house are many
mansions. The poor, and the crippled, and
the blind, and the lame, and the leprous. Don't you feel yourself
that way sometimes? Don't you look upon yourself
as being so leprous? Just full of it. And you come
to Him and say, Lord, if you will, you can make me clear.
And you just keep coming. Because you just keep feeling
yourself that way. But there's a leprous. in heaven. Did you know that? The blind
is in heaven. The poor is in heaven. The cripple
is in heaven. Oh, I'm so crippled I can't make
one step towards Christ if He don't give me grace and strength
to do it. Can't reach out an arm of faith
to Him if He don't give me grace to do it. But that's the kind
of people that go up to that place. In my Father's house are
many mansions. Do you believe that? Do you really
believe that? You say, Bruce, there's too many
high doctrines to be concerned about heaven. Well, heaven's
pretty high. And I think when the Lord Jesus was talking about
heaven, that's pretty high doctrine, don't you? And the amazing thing
about it, look who he was talking to heaven about. He was talking to heaven about
these fellows that were so troubled in their heart, they couldn't
get along. They were weeping. They were troubled men. Fell
into sin. Denied the Son of God. And talking
to them about heaven? Ain't that amazing? I'd have
been talking to them about hell, wouldn't you? You wretched betrayers,
you denier. I'm warning you, Peter. But he doesn't do that, does
he? Ain't this amazing? Peter, you're going to deny me
three times. Peter, in my Father's house, there's room for you.
You're going to swear that you don't even know me, Peter. There's
room for you in my Father's heaven, Peter. Ain't that amazing? Ain't
that just like our Savior? When you think, boy, I've incurred
His wrath. Boy, He is going to get me this
time. Oh, He comes in tender mercies.
in my Father's house. Don't let your heart be troubled. Do we believe this, brothers
and sisters? Do we believe in heaven? Do we believe there's
a place above this world, a heavenly place, where our Father dwells
in all His glory, where Christ is seen in His glorified humanity,
where the elect angels are, where the spirits of Just men made
perfect dwell? Where the saints go when they
leave this world? Do we believe that? Do we really
live in the faith of that? How would it affect us if we
did? Is there such a place called
heaven? Is it real? Yes, it is. And how do we know that? Well,
the Lord Jesus tells us here in the last portion of verse
2. If it were not so, I would have told you. I would have told
you. Our Lord's not like some politician,
brothers and sisters, that'll promise more than He can provide.
He'll not have men and women hoping in heaven just to disappoint
them at last. These men put a value upon heaven
that you could not estimate. And He didn't rebuke them for
it, did He? You won't be disappointed when
you get to heaven. you'll never think too highly of heaven in
this world. If these men have thought too highly of heaven,
if they had put too great a value upon it, right here would have
been a perfect time to say, now wait a minute. It's good, but
it's not that good. But he didn't say that, did he?
He's an honest Savior. He said if it wasn't so, if there
wasn't a place above this world If there wasn't a place that
we call heaven, the Father's house, and if there wasn't room
there for you, if it was just for a select few prophets and
some imminent saints, I'd have told you. I'd have told you. But its glory, its rest, cannot
be estimated. If so, I would have told you.
I would have told you. You can't think too highly of
heaven, brothers and sisters. I'll tell you what it's going
to be like. When his children get there, it's going to be like
the queen who said the half's never been told. That's what
it's going to be like. I remember one time I was looking
for a truck. I knew just what I wanted. Year and everything
I wanted. Kept looking in the ads and one
day there it was. There it was, the truck I wanted. A 69 Chevy pickup. There it was. And I call the fella up, you
still got that truck? I still got it, he said. I said,
well, I'm down here pretty good ways from you. What kind of condition
it is? He said, oh, you'd have to see
it to believe it. You'd have to see it to believe it. I said,
well, that's just what I'm looking for. You sure it's in good condition?
I'm telling you, you'll have to see it to believe it. It's
a long way out there. It's a long way out there, but
I'm headed that way. You hang on to that truck, I'll
be there. I pulled up in that fella's driveway when I finally
found the place. And I'm telling you what, I wouldn't
have drove that truck down the street. You'd have fell through
the bottom or out the door. It was a rust bucket. A rust
bucket. And I left there so disappointed. He had built my hopes up so high
just to let me down. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
that way. If heaven's not a glorious place,
beyond apprehension, He would have told you. He would have
told you. He'll not have you hoping just
to disappoint you at last, brothers and sisters. Think highly of
heaven. Think often of heaven. It'll
help you to let go of this world. In my Father's house are many
matrons. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Three things that has to take place here. I go to prepare a
place for you. Before a dear child of God can
be raised from the dead and ascend soul and body into heaven. Three things has to take place.
Number one, that place has to be prepared. And as far as I
understand the scripture, That part is already done. Come and
hurt the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. The Lord Jesus didn't say, I'm
going up there to prepare heaven, to create heaven. It's already
there. The Father's house already exists
from the foundation of the world. But He has to prepare it in another
way for us. By the way of the cross. by the
way of being punished for our sins, by the way of the tomb,
by the way of being resurrected Himself and glorified and ascending
there and entering that place in His humanity on our behalf. You know nobody ever raised from
the dead and went to heaven until He did. Nobody was ever raised
from the dead and glorified and went to heaven until after he
was raised. He was the firstfruits. He had
to do it first. And then when he entered there
in his humanity, he secured that place on our behalf. He entered
there for us in our humanity. And that assures us someday,
dear child of God, when he ascends, when he comes again, I will come
again. And here's the third thing that
must take place. When He comes again, He must
speak to those dead bodies that's laid and decayed in the earth,
turned to dust. He must speak to that body. And
that soul and body must unite. And the body must be glorified
and made likened to His glorious body. And then they enter heaven
forever to be with Him. I go to prepare a place for you.
I will come again and receive you unto myself. I'm going to
heaven and I'm coming again. And look what Thomas said. Look
what Thomas said in verse 4. Whether I go, you know, the way
you know, Thomas said, Lord, I don't know where you're going. How can I know the way? I love to thank Jesus. The Lord
looked down at him and said, Thomas, do you know me? Lord, I know you. I know who
you are. You're the son of the living
God. I know who you are. Then you know the way. You know
the way. Thomas, do you know me? Yes,
Lord, I know you. You're the son of the living
God. I know you, then you know the truth. I am the truth. I am the way. I'm the way to
the Father. I'm the way to heaven. Thomas
said, I don't know. He said, yes, you do. You just
don't realize it. If you know me, you know the
way. If you know me, you know the truth. And if you know me, you have
life. And if you know me, You're going
to be partakers of the resurrection because I am the resurrection. It all comes down to this. Do
we know the Lord? Do I know Him? I am not skilled to understand
all God has willed and all God has planned, but I know this,
at His right hand is one who is my Savior. That's enough to
know. I take Him at His word and deed. Christ died for sinners,
this I read. And in my heart I find a need
of Him. That's enough, ain't it? That He should leave His place
on high and come for sinful men to die. You count that strange? So what's to die? Before I knew
my Savior. You know Him. You know enough.
You know Him. You know it all. You know the
way. You know the truth. And you've
got His life abided in you, if you know Him. No man, now look
here what He says now, and I'll close with this. No man cometh
to the Father, but by Me. What a mystery. He just was going
to tell them, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. I
am God. And now He turns around and says,
you can't come to the Father, except by Me. What a mystery
the Trinity is. And right in the midst of their
trouble, He was teaching them of it. I am God and I'm the mediator
between God and man. You approach Him to God by me.
If you're to be accepted, you do. No man was ever accepted of God. No man will ever be accepted
of God. But in Christ and through Christ.
And every man that comes to God through Christ will be accepted.
Every man that comes to God through Christ will find favor and mercy
and grace and salvation. Everybody. Everybody. I was reading
a commentary, Kathleen Parker. She's a columnist for the Washington
Post. She wrote in our paper last Sunday,
I guess it was. the title of her article. And
it was phrased as a question. More than one path towards God. More than one path towards God. And she told about this study
that they did at some university. And where they took Muslims,
they took Methodists, they took Pentecostals, they took Buddhists,
Everybody from all the religions that they could get to participate
in their research. And they wired their brains somewhere
or another. While they meditated and prayed,
they wired them up. So they could study the brain
activity as they prayed. You know there wasn't a single
Christian participated in that. Can you see, can you imagine
going to that poor publican and him standing beating on his chest
and say, we want to wire you up? He'd put a knot on your head. I'm seeking the living God. You
get away from me. I'll put a knot on your head. Not a single Christian participated
in that study. But she said this, she hooked
them all up and they did all this research and they came to
this startling conclusion. Now this is a conclusion they
came to. That's important now. Conclusion that everybody that
was wired up had the same brain activity. And they reached the
conclusion, therefore, that everybody was seeking the same God. And therefore, there must be
many, many, many ways to God. What does the Master say? I am the way. I am the way. You come to the Father by me.
You'll find mercy. You'll find acceptance. You'll
see His smiling face. You try to get to Him some other
way, but through me, through my cross, through my intercessions,
through my marriage, through my obedience, you'll see His
bad side. You'll see His frowning side. One way. Our Father in Heaven, Oh, we
do come tonight, as the dear brethren have already, through
the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Oh, our Father, we rejoice to
come through Him. We're confident that You accept
us in Him, because of Him. You accept us as You accept Him. You look upon us as looking upon
Him, as clean, wide, and righteous. that we find as much favor in
your eyes as he does, because you accept us in him. Oh, our
Father, our Father, we rejoice to call you our Father, because
you are. We deny all others. If you're
not a father to us, we're orphans. We have no other father but you. Thank You for sending Your blessed
Son to teach us, to reconcile us, to bring us again to Yourself. Thank You for sending Your blessed
Holy Spirit to quicken our hearts, to bring our hearts to You now. And oh, our Father in Heaven,
we trust that soon You'll bless us as You have blessed our dear
brothers. You'll bless us to drop faith and to see your face and to be
like you indeed. Thank you for this, dear people,
your people, your redeemed people, your family. Thank you for blessing
them. I pray you'll visit them. I pray
you'll uphold the dear pastor here and continue to bless him
for your glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus,
we pray. Amen.