If you want to turn to follow
me in my text this morning, it's going to be found in John chapter
16. The 16th chapter of John. I just
have one verse I want to read to you. Verse 33. John's Gospel chapter 16 and
verse 33. I don't want to keep your Bible
open. I want to be looking at some
Scriptures in the 13th chapter through the 16th chapter. Well,
let's read this text together. The Lord Jesus had gathered His
disciples, His apostles here in the upper room. They had eaten
the Lord's Supper, we call it, the Passover meal. And He's ready
now to leave. And from chapter 13 through chapter
16, He's been talking to them and giving them instructions.
And here's the way He says it in verse 33. These things I have
spoken unto you. that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. These things have I spoken unto
you." The Lord has spoken so many things and taught them so
many things, and it was meant to give them peace. It was meant
to show them that in this world indeed they would have tribulation,
but they were to be of good cheer on what grounds He had overcome
the world. Now He told them many things.
I want you to look back in your Bibles in chapter 13. He told them some things that
would make them happy. Here in the 13th chapter, The
Lord Jesus had been sitting and eating with
His disciples, and suddenly He gets up, He takes a towel, and
He girds Himself with a towel. He picks up a pan of water, and
He gets down on His knees, and He begins to wash each disciple's
feet. And He comes to Peter, and Peter
said, Lord, you'll never wash my feet. And he said, if I don't
wash you, you have nothing to do with me. So Peter wants his
head and his feet all washed. But the Lord was teaching them
a lesson. And he tells them here in chapter
13 and verse 12 the lesson that he was teaching. Look at it in
verse 12. So after he had washed their
feet, and had taken his garments and was set down again, he said
unto them, Know you what I have done to you? You call me Master,
and you call me Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I,
being your Lord and your Master, have washed your feet, you ought
also to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that sinned greater than he that sinned him. If you know
these things, happy are you if you do them. If you know these things, if
you do these things, you're happy. Humility makes a person happy,
does it not? to have the mind of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what was His mind? Being
found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient
to death, even the death of the cross. A man who has the mind
of Christ is a happy man because he does not exalt himself. He
is always filling himself beneath everybody else. He does not think
he knows better than somebody else. He always exalts his brother,
doesn't he? If you know these things and
you do these things, you are happy. A humble person is a happy
person. He told them things that would
make them sorrowful. We go on here in verse 18 and
look in verse 18 through verse 21. I speak not of you all, I
know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against
me. And look over in verse 21. And
when Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit and testified,
saying, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall
betray me. And the disciples looked round
on one another, doubting of whom he spake. And Mark tells us this. Mark tells us this. as they looked
around on one another. Each of them said this, ìLord,
is it I?î And another said, ìLord, is it I?î This so grieved these
disciples and made them so sorrowful because they doubted whether
it would be them or not. Now I see a degree of humility
here already, donít you? What would pride have done? Broadwood
said it may be one of them, but it's not me. But humility says,
oh no, oh no. If he's going to be betrayed,
surely it's me. Lord, is it I? Am I going to
do this dastardly deed? Am I going to sell you? Am I
going to trade you for pieces of silver? There's a degree of
humility here. What true humility sees is its
own weakness, isn't it? It sees its own fallible and
changeable condition. A humble heart never trusts itself. It's ready to see itself so vulnerable
and so weak and changing. That's a humble heart. These
men already had a degree of humility about them. They didn't trust
themselves. Boy, a man trusts himself, knows
nothing about himself, does he? If I had to get up here this
morning and I say, the Lord's made known to me that somebody
in this congregation is going to leave him next week, I'd have
one of you bow your heads, wouldn't you? Oh, Lord, keep me. Don't
let me go. I'm telling you, a man who trusts
in his own heart, the Bible says, is a fool. Because the heart's
deceitful. We sing that old song sometimes,
I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world's delight.
I am resolved to go to Jesus. That's a good resolve, isn't
it? But I tell you, we better not trust in our resolves because
they're changing things, aren't they? Our hearts are changing.
Better put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to be our keeper. Lord, is it I? Peter said, Lord,
though all men forsake you, I'll never forsake you. That may be
a good resolve, but you better not trust in it. You better not
trust in it. Boy, they were grieved. The Lord
told them things that made them happy. He told them things that
made them doubt themselves, made them fearful of themselves, grieved
in themselves. He spoke something else. Look
all the way over here in the 14th chapter. He told them something. These words spake Jesus unto
them. He spake these words in chapter
14 to dispel the troubled hearts. Look here what he says in chapter
14. 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."
The first thing He tells them here to dispel their troubled
hearts, He describes heaven to them. Now coming from somebody
that came down from heaven, that knew what that place was about,
this means something, doesn't it? And He describes heaven to
them in one of the most appealing ways. He calls it here, My Father's
house. Isn't that an appealing way to
talk about heaven? You don't have to be afraid of
the Father's house. You can go to the Father's house
always. You're always welcome in the
Father's house. And the Lord Jesus who came down
from that high place, that holy place, He said, this is my Father's
house. He calls it the Father's house
because the Father's there. That's where His throne is. That's
where the triune God dwells. Holy angels are there. But you
know something? It's made for the habitation
of redeemed sinners. The Father's house. Let not your
heart be troubled. In my Father's house are many
mansions. That word mansions is dwelling
places. Dwelling places. It's fit for
humanity. He's made it for humanity to
dwell there. And there's no one of anything
there. There is no need of anything
there and there is plenty of room there. In my Father's house
are many mansions, many mansions. He told him this, in this world
you shall have tribulation. But you know the comfort in that
this world was not their dwelling place. This world is a place
of trials, isn't it? In this world you shall have
tribulation. This world is a place to suffer.
This world is a wilderness that you and I are passing through.
This world is not my home. I am just a passing through.
This is the comfort. There is our dwelling place.
when the trials are over, after we got through the wilderness
journey. We must, through much tribulation,
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Tribulation is in this lifetime. Don't you thank God, brothers
and sisters, that our dwelling is not here in this low life.
Our eternal dwelling is in our Father's house. What a comfort
that is. And when we've been out working
all night or we've traveled all night and we've worked hard all
day, what's the most comforting place you can think of? The Father's
house. The Father's house. Let not your
heart be troubled. In my Father's house are many
mansions. And notice this. This is very
assuring. I love this. He said, If it were
not so, I would have told you. I tell you, the Lord's not going
to give anybody comfort by lying to them, is He? He's not going
to make a promise to anybody that He can't keep. You know,
sometimes we fear to tell somebody the truth, don't we? Sometimes
the doctor sees someone and they're so sick, or someone's had an
accident, and we think, boy, if we tell them that, it's going
to devastate them. So we just don't tell them, do we? We try
to glaze everything over. The Lord Jesus is not that way. He won't lie to us. He cannot
lie to us. He refuses to deceive us. I tell
you, if there wasn't a heaven for redeemed sinners, if everything
was reserved for everybody in hell, He'd have told you that. He won't hide the truth from
us. But here's what He says. I'm telling you this, He says,
and I won't lie to you. In my Father's house are many
matches. If it were not so, I would have
told you. These words speak Jesus. These
words speak Jesus. And he tells them here of a place.
Look in the next verse. The last part of verse 2. I go to prepare a place for you. Now that's not mansions, is it?
That's not dwelling place. He's already spoke of the dwelling
place. But here he talks about a place that he's going to prepare
for them. Now He's not up there building
places. He's not up there preparing rooms for the saints to dwell
in. This is another kind of place. And this place is the same word
that He spoke in verse 6 when He says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. This place and the way is the
same thing. Jesus Christ is the place, and
He's the way back to the Father in heaven. We read in other places
of this way and this place, and it's called the access. This
place is that access. Jesus Christ going to the cross,
going to the tomb, raising and ascended at the right hand of
God, He is the way. He's the access. Listen to what
He said in Ephesians 2.18. Through Him, through Him who
atoned for our sins, through Him who made reconciliation for
iniquity, through Him who reconciled us to God, through Him who was
our substitute, through Him who has died and buried and rose
and ascended, through Him we both, Jews and Gentiles, have
access to God, to the Father, through one Spirit. Access to
the Father. Let that sink in your ears. that
we have access to the Father through Him. Poor, sinful, fallen
creatures as we are, we have access to the Father. You know why the Father is not
repulsed when He sees such as we are approaching unto Him?
You know why He doesn't turn His face away? Because our access
is not through our worthiness. Our access is through His Son,
Jesus Christ, who prepared a way for us that the Father is glorified
with. He's satisfied with. All the
court of heaven is satisfied with. When the angels see a poor
sinner approaching unto God through Christ, the angels are satisfied
with that. Jesus Christ has did everything
on God's part that God required. And He's did everything that
you and I need to be done to approach unto the Father when
we come by Him. Let not your heart be troubled.
I go to prepare a place for you. The Scripture says this, and
if you're in trouble this morning, maybe you're here and you have
heart trouble. Maybe you're here and you're lost. Maybe you're troubled over your
sin. Maybe you're troubled over your guilt. Well, this is just
the Savior you need. This is just the Word you need
to hear. The Word spake Jesus. And here's
what He said in Hebrews 7, verse 24. This man, because he continueth
forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able
also to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him. sin he ever lives to make intercessions
for them. A poor lost sinner can come to
God through this mediator who has prepared this place and this
way and God will show him mercy. Now isn't that wonderful? God
will forgive his sins when he approaches through the Lord Jesus
Christ. He will wash him and will justify
him. These words speak Jesus. These words speak Jesus. Listen
to Romans chapter 5 and verse 2. He's talking about this place,
this access. In whom, in whom the Lord Jesus
Christ, in Him, we have access by faith unto this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We have
access unto this grace. The Bible calls God the God of
all grace. The God of electing grace, redeeming
grace, calling grace, regenerating grace, keeping grace, glorifying
grace. He's the God of all grace. And
through Jesus Christ, we have access unto this all kinds of
grace that's in the Father's heart. He's called the God of
all grace. He's called the Father of mercy.
Come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy."
What is it that you and I need, brothers and sisters, to get
through this life? Is it not mercy? Is it not grace? Isn't this a word of encouragement
and comfort then? The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
go to prepare a place. I go to prepare an access for
you into my Father's grace. Therefore, come boldly to this
throne. Listen to one more place in Ephesians
chapter 3 verse 12. In Him in whom we have boldness,
we have courage, we have a sense of joyful freedom, one says,
and we have access, freedom to enter, and confidence by the
faith of Him. Isn't that encouraging? Somebody
will say, oh, Bruce, but you don't know me. You don't know
how I've failed. Oh, you don't know how I've sinned.
You don't know how discouraged and disgusted I am with myself. I'm so troubled. You just don't
know how much trouble is in my heart. Sort of like Peter, are
you? Something like old Peter? The Lord just told him right
here in this very context, Peter, before the cock crows, you're
going to deny me three times. And then he turns right around
and said, let not your heart be troubled. Isn't that amazing? On what grounds, Lord? I've denied
you three times and I've cussed too. And I've put an oath to
it. I don't even know the man. Let
not your heart be troubled. Be of good cheer. On what grounds? I've overcome the world. I've
overcome it in myself. And I've ascended yonder to the
Father's right hand, and I'm in access for you. Peter, what's
use for a man to carry his guilt around with him? Do we think
there's some kind of virtue in that? If we carry our guilt long
enough, and we feel sorry enough long enough, then surely that
we can atone for our sin. Don't we get to thinking that
sometimes? Let not your heart be troubled, Peter. I am the
way to the Father's grace. I am the way to forgiveness and
washing of your guilty conscience. Let not your heart be troubled.
John said it like this, didn't he? Boy, he remembered this access.
He said, My little children, these things are written to you
that you sin not. Don't sin. It's an awful thing
against God. Aren't you glad he didn't stop
there? If any man sinned, we had an advocate with a father.
Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the perpetuation for
our sin. He is. Not just that He was. He is. At the Father's right
hand, every time some poor soul comes and confesses their sin
to Him, you know it's just like a fresh fountain that's open
there for sin. He is the perpetuation for our
sin. His blood never gets old. His
sacrifice in the eyes of the Father never gets old. When John
saw Him in heaven, he saw Him as a lamb as it had been slain,
just been slain. And He is the propitiation for
our sins. Let not your heart be troubled.
You don't have to carry your guilt one more instant. There
is access to the God that you have sinned against and forgiveness. Therefore, if we confess our
sins, He is faithful and He is just to forgive us of our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you know something? He said
here, this is the ground where you can be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I
have overcome the world. In this world you shall have
tribulations. Be of good cheer. Be of good
cheer. In the midst of this world, in
the midst of tribulation, you can be of good cheer? How? I have overcome the world. And
how do we overcome the world but simply believe Him? This
is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Our faith in who? A lot of people
talk about faith, don't they? A lot of people talk about faith
in their faith and how strong their faith are. Faith is not
in itself, is it? Faith is in Him. Faith in Him. Who is He that overcometh this
world but He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? who has overcome a world of sin. He's overcome a world of devils. He's overcome a world of guilt.
He's overcome death. He's overcome the wrath of God.
He has overcome it all, all temptations. He has overcome it all. And doesn't
it give you strength just to believe where He is this morning?
Don't that bring a measure of cheer to your poor troubled heart?
Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. These things, He said, I speak
unto you. If you'll believe what I'm telling you, He said, you'll
have some cheer in this world of trials. Something else the
Lord tells them that gave them peace. And look how He does it. Chapter
14 and verse 16 and 17. Look in chapter 14 and verse 16 and
17. Even the Spirit of truth. He
said in verse 16, I will pray the Father and He will give you
another comforter that He may abide with you forever, even
the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because
it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. But you know Him. Well,
He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And He goes on here
in verse 28. And He reminds them that He is
going to send the Spirit again. You have heard how I said unto
you, I go away and come again. If you loved Me, you would rejoice,
because I said, I go to My Father. And My Father is greater than
I. And now, look in verse 29. And
now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is
come to pass, you might believe." He knew that his death and the
things that he had been telling them about their forsaking him
would grieve them. But he tells them here something
that would confirm their faith after it happened. And that was
Him predicting these things. Did you notice that? I have told
you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass, you
might believe. Now, what was it about His foretelling
about the coming of the Spirit? Them forsaking Him? What was
it about foretelling all of these things that would confirm them
in the faith of Him? Matthew Henry says these two
things about this. He said this, first of all, that
he who foretold these things must be divine. He foretold them
what was going to happen before it ever happened. Only a divine
person can do that. He knew beforehand what the day
would bring forth. No mere man knows that. Even
the Apostle Paul said, I'm going up to Jerusalem. I have no idea
what's going to befall me there. But the Lord Jesus said, I'm
telling you all of these things. So when it comes to pass, you're
going to be convinced who I am. Nobody can tell the future but
Him. And Matthew Henry said this, The things foretold them would
confirm their faith because the things foretold them was God's
will and divine purpose. Things that had already been
settled, He was telling them. Ain't that amazing? Things that
they didn't know anything about. Things that was in the heart
of God. The purpose of God. The Lord Jesus was telling them.
And he said, after this has come to pass, you're going to realize
who I am, my divinity, and you're going to realize I know and I'm
fulfilling the very will and purpose of God. That's why he
foretold them these things. He did this three times. Look
here back in chapter 13. He did this three times. He did
it here in this text that I just read to you. And look back in
chapter 13. He did it here. Look in verse
18. I speak not of you all. I know
whom I have chosen, but that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against
me. Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to
pass, you may believe that I am he. He foretold. what Judas was
going to do to him. And one of the reasons he foretold
them so they could look back and say he knew who it was all
along. We see people fall in the congregation
and sometimes it grieves us to death. It surprises us. But brothers and sisters, you
know something? It doesn't surprise him. It doesn't surprise him. He knew the heart all along,
didn't he? He foretold. And look in chapter 16. He does
it again. Look in verse 4. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told
you of them. He does it again. And what's
he talking about this time? Well, look him back in chapter
15 and verse 18. Look here what he foretold. He
foretold them how the world was going to hate them. The tribulation
they were going to have in this world. How they were going to
be cast out. Look what he says in chapter 15 verse 18. If the
world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But
because you are not of the world, but I have chose you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I
said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they
have kept my sins, they will also keep your sins. And look
at chapter 16 verse 1. These things have I spoken unto
you, that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogue, yea, the time come that whosoever killed you will
think that he doeth God's service, and these things will they do
unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." Do you believe Jesus Christ is
divine? Do you believe He knows the will
of God and the purpose of God? Do you believe what He's telling
His disciples here? Do you believe in this world
you're going to have tribulation? Do you believe that? Do you believe
you're going to be hated by this world? Then why are you so shocked
when it comes to pass? We don't have to believe Him,
do we? They didn't believe Him either. He said, I'm going to
tell you something that will take off this offense. And you're
going to remember it when it happens. When they take you in
a back room in the synagogue and whip you until the blood
runs from your flesh, you're going to remember, I told you,
they hate you. They hate you. And yet we get
surprised, don't we? Brothers and sisters, the world
is supposed to hate the Christian. They're supposed to persecute
the Christian. If they don't, It may be owing
to just a little bit of our unfaithfulness, reckon? I tell you these things beforehand
that the world is going to hate you. That's God's purpose. That's
God's purpose. And the same One who foretold
of our tribulation has given us this word of comfort to be
of good cheer. because He foretold us something
else. I have overcome the world. Do you believe in this world
you're going to have tribulation? That's what He said. Do you believe
He's overcome the world? Do you believe that? When it comes to the end of these
apostles' life, do you think they wanted to change anything
that Christ told them about? You think if they could, they'd
have went back and changed anything? What would they have changed,
reckon? Reckon they'd have changed Judas' betrayal? Man, that's awful. Surely they
wouldn't have changed that. I bet they wouldn't have. I bet
they wouldn't have. You think they'd change Christ's
sufferings and His death? You know they wouldn't have changed
that. But they would have right here. They complained that he
was going away. You think Peter would have changed
his denial? I bet he wouldn't. Surely he
would have changed that. I bet he wouldn't have changed
a thing. I bet they wouldn't have changed their forsaken him. I bet they wouldn't have changed
the whippings that they got for his namesake and the hatred of
this world against them. I bet they wouldn't have changed
a thing. Why? It was all foretold. It was all
in the will and plan and purpose of God. As horrible as some of
these things might be, the Lord Jesus foretold them. And what
He foretells, who would want to change it? You think your
life has been marked out? I bet it has. You're just finding
out about it. It's just being manifest to you
as you go through this life, but it's already been planned
and purposed and marked out. You and I live in this world
as poor fallen sinners, subject to all kinds of uncertainty and
doubts and vexations that's taken place in our life. But if the
Lord come to you this morning and He said, I'm going to refer
it to you, how to guide your life and rule
your life, I'm going to refer it to you the next step that
you take, what would you do? I'll tell you what you better
do, refer it right back to Him again. And I just got a feeling, That
as we go through this life, falling and failing and vexation of spirit,
I bet you when we get to the end and look back, we say, Lord,
I wouldn't change a thing. Even the things that I've wept
over, the times that I've denied you, I wouldn't change a thing.
If I could change anything, I'd mess it up worse. I just know that He knows. Here
is the secret, I think, brothers and sisters, of this. These things
I've spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. That's the secret, isn't it?
In me you might have peace. There's all kinds of sin around
us and in us. Doubts and fears. We're living
in a fallen society. We're so doubtful and so uncertain
about so many things. But here's the secret of it.
Are we in Christ? That's it, isn't it? Being in
Christ. In me. In the world, you're going
to have trials. You can't escape it. Don't try
to escape it. You can't escape it. It's already
been purposed for you. Your faith is tried. Your soul
is tried. Your body is tried. God tries
you. His Word tries you. Neighbors
try you. Your family tries you. Devils
try you. This is a world of trials. But
are you in Christ? That's the secret. If you're
in Him, then be of good cheer. He has overcome the world for
you already. Just keep your faith in Him.
Keep looking unto Him. And by that, you will overcome
the world. It's that simple. In Me, you
shall have peace. These words speak Jesus. Let's pray. O gracious Lord Jesus,
Our great and mighty God, our Savior. You're such a mystery
to us. If You didn't give us grace to
believe what You said and what You told us, and to cleave to
Your Word, oh Lord, we could not even believe it. To think that You come not only
to redeem us at a great cost to Yourself, but You came to
reveal the purpose of God concerning our lives here below. And just as you predicted that
this is a world of tribulations, we found it to be so. We cannot
escape it. Just when we think we've secured
ourselves, we run into a host of afflictions and trials. Oh, but blessed Lord Jesus, You've
given us the remedy for peace. And it's to remember that we're
in You who has overcome this world of sin and the curse and
wrath and death and devils. And blessed Savior, we find no
greater peace than just remembering that You've overcome it for us. Help us today. Give us grace
to believe you. Grace to take these things to
our hearts. Grace to apply them as we read
these things to understand them. And have the peace of God that
passeth all understanding to rule in our hearts and our minds
through Christ Jesus. Thank you for this Lord's Day.
Thank you for letting us gather to worship you. Thank you for
the food that your ladies have prepared. Bless us, Lord, we
pray, with a few minutes of fellowship as we receive our food. And let
us come back this afternoon and worship you again. For Christ's
sake we pray. Amen.