Let us turn in our Bibles today
to John chapter 14. As many of you know, for the
last five weeks, I believe, we've been looking at different promises
that the Lord has given us in his word The first one that we
looked at is his promise of eternal life. God promised eternal life
before the world began. And then we looked at our Lord's
promise to send the Holy Spirit, and we saw especially his work
in coming and guiding and leading the writers of the New Testament. We looked also at our Lord's
promise to answer our prayers that we offer in his name. And
this morning we're going to look at another promise. The one we
looked at last Sunday morning was his promise to build his
church. Remember he said, upon this rock,
upon this foundation, I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. But this morning I want us
to consider His promise in verse 3, here in John chapter 14. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, and here's the promise, I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. Now, the
first thing that I want us to think about is this. Where is Christ? His promise
to his people is that he would come and receive us and take
us to be where he is. But where is he? Where is the
Lord Jesus Christ? When he gave this promise, he
was in the midst of his eleven disciples, and their hearts were
filled with trouble. And one thing that caused them
trouble was that he had told them that he would only be with
them for a little while, and that he would go away. And where
he went, they could not come. You notice that back in chapter
13. John 13, verse 13. Little children, yet a little
while I am with you. You shall seek me, and as I said
unto the Jews, whither I go, You cannot come. So now I say
to you, their hearts were filled with trouble because he had told
them he was leaving them. But now he promises that he will
come again for his people, that we might be where he is. Well, where was he going? We
have to consider that first before we answer the question, where
is he? We know he's not still upon the
earth as he was when he gave this promise, not physically
upon the earth with his 11 disciples. But where was he going? Where
was he going where they could not come? He was going to the
cross. That's a simple answer, isn't
it? He was going to the cross for his work upon the cross and
in this. Now hear me now. In this work,
he had to be alone. He had to be alone. Remember that prophecy in the
scripture in Isaiah? He said, I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. In the winepress of God's wrath,
the blessed son of God, in saving his people, he had to be alone. He had to do his work alone. And I thought about this type
in the Old Testament, a beautiful type. We all love this. When Abraham was commanded by
God to take his son that he loved, that is Isaac, and offer him
as a burnt offering. And so the scripture tells us
that the next day Abraham left to do, to obey God. And as they
traveled, he had some young men with him, servants. But when
they came to that place where he was to offer his son Isaac,
Abraham said to the young lads, you stay here. You stay here
and I and Isaac will go and worship and we will return again. And the point is that type shows
us that in this work of redemption, in this work of salvation that
Christ came to do to save his people from our sins. He was
given a people. You know that. He said that in
John chapter 6. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. He came here on purpose to save
a particular people, a people that He was given in that everlasting
covenant by the Father from before the foundation of the world.
And in this work of fulfilling the will of the Father, He had
to do this work alone. You say, why? Why was it so important
that he had to be alone? Well, think about this. In Exodus
chapter 20, let me read you this verse of scripture. God commanded
the Israelites, in Exodus chapter 20, verse 25, And if thou wilt
make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. Now listen. For if thou wilt
lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Let me say
that again. God told the Israelites, if you
build me an altar of stone, of hewn stone, if you lift up your
hammer and chisel, whatever you use to square the stones to make
them all fit and make a beautiful altar, He said the moment you
lift your hand, you've polluted it. And if man in any way was
involved in Christ's work of redemption, I'm talking about
other men other than Christ the man, it would have been polluted. Because anything and everything
that we do is polluted. Why? Because we, by nature, are
polluted. And look with me, if you will,
in Romans chapter 5. Why was it so important that
Christ be alone? Well, you know there's a parallel
in the scripture between the first Adam and the last Adam. You say, well, who's the last
Adam? Christ. The word Adam means man. The
first man, Adam. The last man, the second man,
Christ. There's this parallel that is
run in the scriptures between these two men. First of all,
in verse 14, I want you to notice at the end of that verse, the
apostle, inspired of God as he was, tells us who that is Adam. Who is the figure, a picture,
a pattern, a type, who is the figure of Him that was to come? Adam serves as a type, as a figure,
a picture of Him who was to come. Now look in verse 18. Therefore
as by the offense of one, now who is this one? This is Adam,
isn't it? This is Adam. By the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, who is this? This is Christ. The free gift
came upon all men under justification of life. For as by one man's
disobedience, Many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Now Adam was alone in his disobedience. Now he wasn't physically alone. Satan was there. We know that
in the form of a serpent tempting. His wife Eve was there. She had
already eaten the forbidden fruit. But Adam acted alone when he
ate the fruit. And it was through his one offense,
his disobedience of God, that all of his posterity, all of
the men and women and boys and girls, everyone that he represented,
it was by his work alone that we all became sinners. So do
you see why it's necessary that Christ be alone in this work? Adam was a head and representative
of all men, so Christ is the second Adam, the head and representative
of all of the men that God gave unto him. The scripture says,
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now, our Lord had to be alone. When he told his disciples, where
I'm going, you cannot come now, he had to be alone, because he
was going to the cross, and he had to be alone in his substitution,
just like Adam was alone in his deed. So Christ is alone in His
work, His deed. Aren't you thankful today that
salvation is of the Lord? Pastor Friend called me the other
day and he told me this, he said, you know, he said, I'm so glad
salvation is of the Lord. He said, you know, everything
we do, we mess up. Now that's just so, isn't it?
I mean, everything we do, everything we try to do, everything we want
to do, everything we've done, somehow we've messed it up at
some time or the other. well we can't mess salvation
up because salvation is Christ and his work and he had to be
alone but still preacher that doesn't answer the question where
is he now well he had to go to the cross first but where is
he now we know that his body was laid in that tomb And on
the third day, the day of his resurrection, he told Mary Magdalene,
I send to my father and your father, and to my God and your
God. That's where he is today. He
ascended to his God, his Father, and to our God and our Father. You know there was a period of
40 days from his resurrection until his ascension that he appeared
to his disciples, not to everyone, Scripture says, by many infallible
proofs he showed himself alive to chosen men who would be witnesses
of his resurrection. You can read about the list,
you can read the list rather in 1st Corinthians chapter 15.
You know he was seen of over 500 brethren at one time after
his resurrection. It's just a proven reality that
Christ died. Yes, but he conquered death.
He didn't do that just for himself. He did that for all of his people. He conquered death. He's the
victor. He vanquished death for his people. Now, but still, where is he now? Well, on that 40th day, he ascended
back to the Father. The disciples went out there
with him on the Mount of Olives, and they were speaking, and he
began to rise. And he was enveloped in a cloud
and taken up into heaven, and the angels spoke to them, saying,
Why stand you here gazing up into heaven? Now where is he
now? He's on the right hand of the
majesty on high. I noticed in the letter of Hebrews
four times in this letter The apostle tells us where Christ
is now. He has sat down on the right
hand of God. Now the right hand, of course,
is a place of authority, it's a place of preeminence, and we
know in heaven when John saw his vision of heaven, there was
a throne, and then he saw the Lamb upon the throne. And from
that time on in the book of Revelation, the throne of God is always spoken
of as the throne of God and of the Lamb. Where is he now? He's upon the Father's throne.
He's upon God's throne. And in that vision, John saw
that he was worthy, the lamb that was slain was worthy to
take the book, the book of God's providence, and open the seals. He's the only one worthy to reign. That's where he is now. He's
upon the throne of God, and he's ruling and reigning over all
things. There's nothing that is not under
His authority under His power. Now as God, He's always reigned
over all things. But as a God-man, He is exalted
because of His obedience even unto death. He's exalted to this
place of honor and given the reigns over all creation. We serve a living Savior today,
and we serve a reigning Savior, a ruling Savior. He is the Lord
Jesus Christ. A man this past week told me
he'd been talking to the big man upstairs. I thought to myself,
you need to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, and when you do, you'll
never refer to Him again as the big man upstairs. That's what religion teaches
people, right? To think of Christ like some
doormat. No, He's the King of Kings. We
sang that hymn just a few minutes ago. Crown Him with many crowns. The Lamb upon His throne. He's
reigning today. He's upon the throne. Now listen to this. This is one
of the promises that the Lord Jesus gives to his church. To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his
throne. Now think about that. Where is
he now? He's upon the throne. And for
all of his children, all of his children overcome. Don't think
just some of them overcome and some don't. No, all of his children,
all of his chosen, all of his elect, all of his redeemed, all
that he has called, we all overcome and we all overcome by the blood
of the Lamb. That's where he is. He's on the
throne, on the throne of his Father and upon his throne. Now second, in this promise,
I felt like we need to answer that first of all. The promise
is, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I
am there you may be also. We needed to know where he is.
And we know, don't we? We know. I mentioned this in
the message yesterday, but let me repeat it. Aren't you thankful
for the Word of God that tells us and we can say, we know. We
don't have to stand up here in the pulpit and say, well, I hope
it's this way or I think it's this way. I sure wish it was
this way. No! No! We know. We know. We know where he is. Now the
second, how should we understand his promise to come for his people? He tells us, I will come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. Well, I believe this morning
we should look at this in two ways. First of all, he comes
for his people in what we call death. Actually, we know that
according to his word, and again I say we know, a believer doesn't
die. A believer doesn't die. A believer
is someone who has eternal life. Eternal life doesn't begin when
we breathe our last in this world. Eternal life begins when Christ
calls us unto himself. This is life eternal, to know
thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
In reality, there is no death for the believer. Our Lord told
Martha, Whosoever liveth, whosoever liveth, do you live today? You
say, well, yeah, I have physical life. I know that. But do you
have spiritual life? Do you have eternal life? Do
you know Christ as your Lord and Savior? Then you live. And that's what he says. Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Shall never die. Another translation of that verse
is, everyone who is living and is a believer in me shall never
die. You say, well, preacher, are
you saying that a believer's body doesn't die? Of course not. I'm not saying that. But I am
saying this, that that new creation, that new person that's created
in righteousness and true holiness doesn't die. A believer doesn't
die, he just changes his address. I've moved several times in my
life and we always changed our address. That didn't mean I'd
cease to be. When we leave this world, when
we breathe our last breath in this world, we just change addresses. But we don't die. Our Lord, speaking
in Luke chapter 16, He told the Jews of that day of a man by
the name of Lazarus. And he described him as a beggar.
A beggar. That's what I am. Thank God that's
what I've been since he came to me. I've been a mercy beggar. I've been begging for mercy every
day. And I imagine to continue. Lazarus was a beggar. And he
was laid at the gate of that rich man, remember? But when
he died, the scripture says that the angels carried him into Abraham's
bosom. Now, to the Jews, when I say
that to us this morning, when we read of Abraham's bosom, it
doesn't mean that much, maybe. But to the Jews, Abraham's bosom
refers to paradise, the same place to which our Lord went.
And you remember he told that thief on the cross that day who
looked to him and said, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Our Lord said, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. Each time, now our Lord's promise
is, I will come. I will come again and receive
you unto myself. Each time the body of one of
God's saints breathes its last breath in this world, the person,
the person himself, herself, is transported into the presence
of God. And over the years, I've read
a number of what I consider to be reliable testimonies of people
who were at the bedside of believers who died. And not all of them,
but many of them cried out, He's come, He's come. And many of them were able to
see angels in the room. And I know that's true. I know
that's true because I know there's angels here today. We can't see
them, but there's always angels. The angel of the Lord encampeth
around about them that fear Him. There's always angels about God's
people. And it was the angels that carried
Lazarus into the bosom of Abraham. Now Elijah was carried up in
a fiery chariot into heaven. But my friends, every child of
God, when this body ceases to breathe, that soul, that person
is escorted by the angels into the presence of God. That's Christ
coming for his people. He's come. He's come. And then this, of course, refers
to the time when He will come again. Secondly, it refers to
the time when He will come again for His people in what Paul calls
that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. This will be his second coming. His first coming, he came to
redeem his people. When he comes again, he comes
to redeem the bodies of his people. Our bodies shall be redeemed
from the grave. They shall be resurrected. This
is his glorious appearance. When he comes again with a shout
of the archangel and the trump of God, we know that he will
bring with him those believers who are with him now in glory. And as their bodies are raised,
and it is a resurrection, it's not a creation. It's this same
body, this same, what Job say, the worms destroy this flesh,
yet I know in my flesh I shall see God. It's this body. You say, that can't be. It cannot
be if God is not God. But He is. He is. And yes, it not only can be,
it will be. You say, well, I just don't understand
that. Well, there's a whole lot I don't
understand. But I do know that God is able. There's nothing too hard for
Him. And this body lays and smothers
in the dust and is the food for worms. Some of the bodies of God's people
have been taken out of their tombs and burned, their bones
burned and their ashes thrown in the river and taken out to
wherever. How's that going to happen? How's
there going to be a resurrection? Christ is going to speak. just
like he did outside the tomb of Lazarus, right? He said, come
forth. Lazarus, come forth. And what
happened? Lazarus came forth. And when
Christ comes again with a shout of the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God, his people, their bodies shall be raised
and their souls shall be reunited with them And at the same time,
those who are alive and remain, I used to think, I hope I'm alive
when Christ comes again. I'm not so sure that I necessarily
want that. I know whatever happens is going
to be right. It's going to be good. But our
Lord died. His body lay in the tomb. Why
should we not want to experience the same thing? What is going
to be so special about being changed in a moment in the twinkling
of an eye? That has nothing above dying and going
to be with the Lord and our bodies being raised and all of us together
being caught up to meet the Lord in the air together. We shouldn't fear death, child
of God. We should not fear death. If
we did not have Christ as our Savior, yes, absolutely. But
with Christ as our Savior, we have no cause to fear death.
No more than we have cause today to walk through the door when
we leave this building. We're not afraid to walk through
that door, are we? And that's what death is. It's
just a door that we walk through. And how quickly, we can't even
describe, will we be in the presence of the Lord. Now this opens up
another promise, and I want us to look at it, if you will, in
2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 3, knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust,
and saying, where's the promise of his coming? That's what we've
been looking at, isn't it? His promise, the promise of His
coming. I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. Well,
in the last days there will be some who will be scoffers and
mockers and they will say, where is the promise of His coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of. that by the word of God the heavens
were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water
whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise." According to his promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Three things about
the fulfillment of our Lord's promise are given to us in those
verses that we just read. First, the scoffing of unbelievers
is foretold. Second, it really hasn't been
that long since he made that promise. Not really. You say, it's been 2,000 years. Well, that's two days with the
Lord, right? The grandbaby at the funeral
home the other day said, Nana's sleeping, but it'll only be for
20 minutes. And I thought, that's true in
a sense. It'll only be for a few minutes.
Our way of thinking A year is a long time, but not with God. He's not slack concerning His
promise. No, it'll just be a short time.
One day with Him is as a thousand years. And that's the third thing. God is not slack concerning His
promise, but is long-suffering. Now, he's long-suffering, the
scripture says, to us-ward. And if you'll follow that back,
all the way back to the first few verses in this epistle, you
will see who the us are. They are the chosen of God, the
elect of God. There are a people in this world
that God has chosen, Christ has redeemed, and until the last
one of them is called, the Lord is not going to come. But when
that last one is brought to the Savior in saving faith, then
we know, and you know that last stone the scripture says it shall
be brought forth with shoutings of what? Grace. Grace. The first stone in the
church, the first living stone to the last stone. Everyone is
brought in, brought forth with the shoutings of grace Grace
unto the Lord. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Now John
in the book of Revelation saw this, this new heaven and this
new earth. He said, I saw a new heaven and
a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I heard a loud voice from heaven say, Behold, the tabernacle of
God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their
God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall
be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there shall be
no more pain, for the former things are passed away. Thank
God for His promise to come again for His people. It could be today,
we don't know. But I know this, I want to tell
everyone here, one more time, if you've never looked to Christ,
you need to look now. You need to run to Christ. You
say, how do you do that? By faith. By faith. Look to Christ. Trust Him. And know that when
He comes again, He'll be coming for you. be coming for his people. Let us sing a few verses of a
hymn.