John 14 No.1 My Father's House

Think of a world without any flowers, think of a world without any trees, think of a sky without any sunshine, think of the air without any breeze. We thank you, Lord, for flowers, trees and sunshine. We thank you, Lord, and praise your holy name.

Think of a world without any animals, think of a field without any heart, think of a stream without any fishes, think of a dawn without any part. We thank you, Lord, for all your living creatures. We thank you, Lord, and praise your holy name.

Think of a world without any people, think of a street with no one living there, think of a town without any houses, no one to love and nobody to care. We thank you, Lord, for families and friendships. We thank you, Lord, and praise your holy name.

In fact, because the break in the Bible is not inspired the chapter divisions, perhaps we would do better in getting the background for the opening verses of chapter 14 by looking at the tail end of the previous chapter. Here's our Saviour speaking to his disciples, verse 33 of chapter 13. My children, I will be with you only a little longer.

You will look for me. And just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, where I am going you cannot come. A new commandment I give you, love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.

Peter asked, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Then Jesus answered, will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the cock crows you will disown me three times. Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God. Trust also in me. In my Father's house there are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.

You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him. Amen.

Now let's turn to that passage, shall we, from John's Gospel in chapter 14. It seems to me to run on logically that we start to examine what's known as the Paschal discourse of our Lord Jesus. Don't let the word Paschal in any way puzzle you.

It really refers to Passover. You remember when our Lord was with His disciples, He had them for several hours of intensive teaching at the time when they had the last Passover meal with Him, which He turned into the Lord's Supper. It was a most unusual event.

Judas has left. The disciples are to be taught. He needs them to be in a right attitude to retain what He has to say.

And in the most magnificent fashion, He gets their attention because you remember He washed their feet with water and He had dried their feet Himself. And they are utterly amazed that this man should stoop so low as to perform the task of a servant. Now our Savior was not just setting up an example for them and for us to follow, but He was commandeering a listening.

They're not going to squabble anymore. They're not going to be disturbed anymore by anything else apart from hanging on to every word that this man is to say. Now that's the sort of hearing in the name of Jesus that I would like for this morning because it seems to me that one of the miracles of expanding the Word of God is that in a fashion the Lord climbs into that Word and applies it to all our hearts, and that's what we want, isn't it? So here is our Savior engaging on this Paschal discourse in which He's going to cover so many, many topics, give concentrated teaching for some hours, and the disciples are going to be held spellbound.

And what He teaches will be brought back to their minds later on in years to come by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now as I say, it's logical for us to come to this chapter because prior to this, on a Sunday morning excepting Easter Sunday, we've been looking at the doctrine of the fatherhood of God. And I introduced you to that topic, you recall, by taking you to those three parables of lost things, and especially the final parable, the parable of the prodigal son, in which standing out prominently in that parable is the character of the father, and I deduced from his character we can learn a great deal about the character of our Father God because the one is illustrative of the other.

So you see, I take you from Luke 15 into John 14 where our Savior is going to be teaching more and more about Father. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.

Trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you.

I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I'm going.

Now, those of you who are boffins for the NIV version of the Bible, which is helpful in some degree as the AV has its strengths, you will see that entitling those verses is the expression, Jesus comforts His disciples. Now, in one sense that's most surprising because you would think at the human level the person who required to be comforted was not so much the disciples as the Lord Jesus. Not so? What was round the corner, so to speak, for our Savior? Well, there was the horror of Calvary.

There was the experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. There was draining that bitter cup that He would have to consume so that you and I might be able to take water from the wells of salvation. Not distant by many hours would be the cry that would leave the parched lips of the Savior, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, there was nothing in the Lord Jesus' life that took Him by chance.

In this respect, there's a chasm of difference between you and me and Him. He is fully aware of the whole sequence of events through which His life shall pass, all its varying stages. Look into the first verses of the 13th chapter.

It nails the point. It was just before the Passover feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.

He knew. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love. Or as the A.V. beautifully puts it, better than the N.I.V., in my opinion, having loved His own, He loved them to the end.

But you see, before He returns to the Father, He's got all the horrors that I've just touched on to go through. So here is my problem. Well, it's not really a problem, but it's helpful for us to see something of the character of Jesus.

We're told that here Jesus comforts His disciples. And you would have thought that He needed the comfort. But you see, at this particular hour in His career, there's no one who can comfort Him.

He will tread the winepress alone. At fleeting moments, He might look on some to have pity on Him, but He knows in His heart of hearts that what He is going to go through is of such consequence, of such importance, so unusual that there is no son or daughter of Adam who can minister to Him. You'd think He'd be as agitated as the surface of the sea on Galilee when the wind comes down.

But there's nothing uncontrollable about Jesus Christ. He has His emotions fully in harness. And at this very moment, when at one level you think that He needs to be comforted, He assumes the role of a comforter and He speaks to His disciples and He says, Don't let your hearts be troubled.

He's got concern for other people. This is the character of God. He has you and me as He had the disciples yesteryear in mind.

Don't let your hearts be troubled. You see, the first thing you can deduce from these verses, and there are many, many more, because here we're in a passage that is so rich. It is a heart-melting address, says one old Puritan commentator.

The tenderness, the depth, and the comprehensiveness of this passage, says another, is unsurpassed. Well, the first thing that I want to place in front of you is this. The trouble He takes.

The trouble He takes. Don't let your hearts be troubled. The same word He uses as describes the condition of Herod, who was most put off when wise men said, Where is he who is born King of the Jews? You remember? Herod is incensed.

He's agitated. Now, Jesus depicts, or Jesus thinks of the disciples in that setting, so agitated. Of course, for completely different reasons.

Why were the disciples so alarmed? Well, you see, things had happened, had they not, in the previous chapter, that had disturbed them. Jesus had said one of them would deny Him. Now, the disciples left a lot in terms of understanding, in terms of fully appreciating the role and the significance of the Lord Jesus.

But one thing that really wasn't up for debate was their loyalty, their fidelity to Him. But Jesus has seen into the heart of one of their number, which they had not perceived, and He says, One of you will deny Me. And as a result, they're agitated.

And then He's alighted on Peter. Peter, who's such a lovely person. We identify ourselves with him, don't we? Because there's so much of Peter in us.

Impulsiveness. And Peter is told that he's going to deny the Lord Jesus. One will betray Him.

Another will deny Him. And as a result of this, you can understand the dilemma of the disciples, can't you? They're grieved at this point. They're troubled.

Somebody here like that? Are the permutations behind the context of your trouble, of course, they're different. But nonetheless, you arrive at the same point. And I want to say to you humbly and lovingly, in the name of God this morning, let not your heart be troubled.

You could be an 18-year-old and as troubled as some of the 80-year-olds. Because trouble has no age barrier. It can affect us across the whole of the width of life's experience.

These disciples were troubled and there was good reason so to be. But Jesus says, don't let your heart be troubled. Well, why not, Lord Jesus? Well, because you believe in God.

Or as the NIV puts it, trust in God. Trust also in me. Here he's not only just describing a condition, he is prescribing a remedy.

Trust in God. Now the reason for the agitation of the disciples was simply this. They didn't really appreciate that what the Lord Jesus was going to go through had already been predicted in Old Testament Scripture.

You know that, don't you? All this business of ultimately going to the cross and dying. It was there in the Old Testament. And also there was the anticipation of the resurrection.

Now if they'd really believed that, if they'd really believed in God, there would have been no need to have had any great amount of worry at this point in their experience. Now that's exactly the same with you and me. If we would only believe in God, in the sovereignty of God, in the way that God wishes to work out His purposes in our lives, then there would be no need for us to be in any way troubled.

The trouble our Lord Jesus Christ takes. Believe in God. Believe also in me.

You see, because what God is, so I am. The disciples are going to have to learn this more and more, aren't they? The Lord Jesus Christ is the illustration of God. Martin Luther says here that you can't read this verse without appreciating that the Lord Jesus is claiming to be the same in essence and authority as the Father.

As you trust in God, so trust in me. It would be utterly impossible, if primitarianism is wrong, for that verse to be in the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has the same essence of deity as does the Father. Now what does the Savior say to His disciples ultimately? I'll never leave you. I will never forsake you.

Look, you may not understand all that's going to happen in your life. But if you are dedicated to me in the very center of my will, then there is no reason at all for you to be troubled. Because you have my word on this, that I'll see you through the whole of life's journey.

The trouble the Lord Jesus wants to take away. You see, in one sense, the disciples were advantaged over us. In another sense, they were disadvantaged.

The former, because they saw Jesus. Ah, but Jesus is soon going to be taken away. This is what He said, hasn't He? In the hours leading up to this discourse, yet a little time I am with you.

In a little while, you won't see me anymore. Now how will you cope, Peter, Thomas? 1 Peter 1 and verse 8 has this to say. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.

And even though you do not see Him, now you believe in Him. And are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

You see, Peter, he is here dealing with what Jesus is anticipating. But believe in God, believe in me. Believe in me, even when I've been taken from you.

Now in this respect, we're advantaged over the disciples. Because nobody here has seen the Lord Jesus, not physically. And yet we can know His presence.

Some of you have difficulty, and I've never really resolved the problem myself. In as much as the disciples sometimes didn't recognize the Lord Jesus in the resurrection appearances. Now I'm quivering towards an answer in this area of my own thinking.

That maybe the reason was that the physical means of recognition now no longer obtain. You see, it's not so much the physical being of Jesus, but the spiritual presence of Jesus. Now don't you understand this? Here in the tabernacle, I've known varying responses to a morning's worship.

I've known some people who have so felt the presence of the Lord. That it's just as been as though they went through heaven itself. And others exactly the same service.

Yet they went away untouched, unmoved. You see, the problem is this. Some have this spiritual recognition of the presence of the Lord Jesus.

While others don't seem to have that ability. Now Jesus says, believe in me. Believe in me, even when I am taken away from you.

And know spiritually my presence as I make it manifest. The trouble the Lord Jesus takes. And then, you as hard as I am in this place.

The assertion he states. The assertion he states. In my Father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you. There are only three occasions in scripture where reference is made to the Father's house. The first is at the beginning of John's gospel.

When our Lord Jesus goes into Jerusalem. And he's incensed as to what is happening in the temple. And he dismisses the money changers.

And says, you've turned my Father's house into a house of thieves. Robbers. He doesn't appreciate that at all.

And then you recall our Lord Jesus. When he sets up the parable of the prodigal son. He has the son coming back into the Father's house.

And the older boy comes in from the field. And in the house, there is singing and music. And then the third reference is here.

Speaking of the permanence of the heavenly abode. In my Father's house are many rooms. You see, the temple in the Old Testament days was symbolic of the presence of God.

But it wasn't used properly. And ultimately the Lord Jesus denies that there is any relationship between the temple and God Almighty. Your house has been left desolate.

But what he does have in mind is to tell those who will listen to him. That Christian people are heading towards the Father's house. Day by day.

Month by month. Year by year. In my Father's house are many mansions.

Don't let your heart be troubled. Let me take away the trouble. By categorically asserting this.

That ultimately there lies in the future a heavenly destination where you and I will be together. It's a house of great capacity. Many mansions.

The temple had many rooms, you know. If you read the directions for the instructions of building the temple, you will discover that. And so has heaven itself.

Many rooms. Enough to take everyone here in quite comfortably. And millions of people as well.

And if you've got a right approach to life, although you're not copping out of your circumstances in the here and now. You have always one eye to the future. As to how ultimately you will pass your time eternally.

Matthew Henry says, Our duty as Christians is always to keep heaven in our eye and earth under our feet. There's capacity in heaven. In my Father's house are many mansions.

I've gone to prepare a place for you. Here's suitability. That's it.

I have a lot to do next Monday week in the morning. Because by then I shall have got my dear wife back from South Africa. And I shall have to have the place back in the same condition as it was when she left.

So when you people go to sleep next Sunday evening, you think of me doing a spring clean. I get it done remarkably quickly. It's how I clean the place.

I want it prepared. You loved one that had been away. Wouldn't you want the place prepared for his, her return? Or your close friend? You want the garden to look nice and the cats to behave themselves.

Which will make a change over this past ten days. Now joking aside. I use the aside to try and help you in your concentration with this intense heat.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has gone to prepare a place. There's capacity. There's suitability.

It's for you. It's for me. We shouldn't naturally, of course, be going there.

We weren't made for heaven. We were made for earth. But when the Son of God comes down on earth and redeems us, He allows us to enter into what is His privilege of being in heaven with the Father.

It's the Son's place. But you and I have been made sons of the Father through Jesus Christ. So our Savior said, What are you getting upset about down here on earth? After all, it's only a prelude to the book.

Even if it's not been a very easy chapter for you. How long you will be with me? Now that's not copping out. I have got no time for evangelicals who cop out of social responsibilities and political responsibilities in our world.

As I think I've demonstrated many a time from this pulpit in the emphases of my preaching. But I have in mind that this world is not my home. And I don't want to hang on grimly to every material thing I've got because I know that ultimately those material things will pass away in any case.

So there's this place that God has prepared for me. Listen to John Newton. When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders.

I've quoted this before, but I like this one. When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders. The first will be to see many people whom I did not expect to see.

The second will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see. And the greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there. Oh, my friend.

If heaven's your ultimate home, then why do you get so agitated here? Nobody knows the trouble I've known. Nobody knows but Jesus. Do you remember that Negro spiritual? Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down.

Glory, hallelujah. Like the other Negro spiritual, or not spiritual, theological comment from the lady who said that her favorite verse in the New Testament and Old Testament was, and it came to pass. Why, Missy, they said.

Why is that your best verse? Well, says Missy, whenever trouble comes, I think of it. It came to pass. The trouble he takes.

The assertion he states. Let's close up. The promise he makes.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. Do you remember how we say it in the Creed? I'm amazed at the bishops who can read the Creed and then preach something that's completely contradictory. He has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead. He will come again. He promised this.

Read Thessalonians about the trumpet sounding and the dead in Christ rising first. I will come again to receive you unto myself. And so shall you be ever with the Lord.

That's what Jesus said to the thief, in effect, wasn't it, on the cross. The one who confessed that Jesus was Savior. The one who read the placard, the Pilate.

Can you believe it? I mentioned this on Good Friday. Pilate has this placard put up on the cross, saying that the Lord Jesus is the King of the Jews. And he was being inspired as he wrote it.

And one of the thieves reads what Pilate has written and comes to a knowledge of Jesus as Savior. And he says, Lord, will you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And Jesus says, today you will be with me in paradise. The Lord will descend with a shout, with a trump of the archangel.

And then we who are in Christ shall be caught up to be with the Lord. And so shall we be ever with the Lord. This is what Jesus promises.

And he doesn't default on his words, does he? You see, this is his great desire. In John's Gospel, chapter 12, and the 26th verse, he gives some expression to this, that he wants to be with his disciples. Whoever serves me must follow me.

And where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. See, spiritually, he's still going to be around with the disciples, even though physically he won't be present.

But one day, both physically, so to speak, and spiritually, he will be with them. Thus his plea to the Father in the 17th chapter, same Gospel, 24th verse. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory.

The glory you've given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. Are you ready for that? See, he's not just going to send for you, he's going to come for you. Old John Newton says, I'm packed, sealed, and waiting for the post.

Isn't that nice? I'm packed, sealed, and waiting for the post. So here's our Savior. He comforts his disciples at a most unusual time because he would expect it to be the other way around.

And he tells them of the trouble that he takes. And in so doing, there's the assertion he makes. My Father's house, many mansions, I've gone to prepare a place.

And then the promise he makes, I will return. I will come again and take you to be with me. And you see, that's how he settles troubled hearts.

But I don't want anyone to go away from the tab this morning and think, well, you know, that's very nice. I do like that pastor because he's really reassured me. You know, everybody here is a Christian.

And ultimately, we're all destined for heaven. No, my friend, remember, Jesus directed these remarks to people who were troubled about him being taken from them. Now, the majority of people in wording couldn't care a fig.

That really is the case. It's most unfortunate, but it is true. And the people to whom the Lord Jesus makes these particular promises gives this teaching are folk who have a relationship with him.

It's that type of person whose troubles Jesus has come to remove. So I have to ask you, have you a faith relationship with him in the first instance? Do you have faith in the Lord? Because apart from that, these verses cannot apply. And secondly, going on from that, our Lord will assure you, because this is what he's saying, that having been troubled by him and by his ministry and the recognition of your sin and having ultimately come through to salvation, having expressed faith in the Lord, then you're assured that in the Father's house there's an apartment that's got your name on it.

They're waiting for you, but they're not quite ready. So they're keeping you down here a bit longer. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus is going to come, is doing everything to fit in, to fit the abode so that it's ready for you.

And fourthly, that he'll come again and conduct you personally into your permanent dwelling. Now, my friends, with what comfort we should console ourselves with these words. Thank you, Lord, for a heavenly Father who makes provision for me in such a fashion as this that I can go through my life and knowing that ultimately I'm bound to be with you.

Now help me. Help me as you help those disciples to live out the remaining time in such a valuable fashion that it will honor and please you. Thank you, heavenly Father, for who you are and for what you've done and for the disclosure of your great personality, love, and affection for me.

Let's bow our heads in prayer again. Just a moment for folks to latch on to what's being said and apply it to themselves. See, the problem with a large congregation is that you can get lost in the crowd.

In one sense, I'd have liked to have brought this message on an individual ticket to everyone on their own. I just receive it. If you're a dad in one of these balconies, you know that not everything's been right in your life.

You've got so agitated about certain things that have happened. I can't explain what's happened probably to you that would make sense, but I do know this, that Father knows what's happened. He wants you to respond to his love and to trust him even when you can't trace him and still to continue down the Christian pilgrimage as a good father, as a good husband, as a priest in your family.

That's what he's calling you to. Some of you here, you lost your loved ones years ago. They say that time heals, and you know very often that that's a lie.

The anniversary's come round, and it's hard to cope. But Jesus says, don't let your heart be troubled because in my Father's house are many mansions, and I've got a prescription just for you at this moment if you'll receive it. Somewhere in the sound of my voice are just kids at the beginning of life, and I use that word, the slang term affectionately, and you've been stewed up too.

Maybe the exams haven't gone how you want. Maybe relationships are skew. You don't get on at home.

They don't seem to understand you. You don't understand them. I'm not identifying who's responsible.

All I am saying is this, that Jesus has a concern for you to lift your troubles and to bring you in a right relationship with your parents. Let's just ask him to do that. Father, we just ask that for many people here, the trouble that perhaps has been befogging them during these last few weeks, months, maybe years, they may discover that like the Negro spiritual story, it came to pass.

Lift it, Lord, and help them to know as your disciples, our Lord Jesus' disciples on earth came to know that there's no need to be over-agitated when Jesus Christ makes his presence felt. So draw near to each one of us and send us out into this week to serve you in a better way than we have heretofore. For the Savior's sake, amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

We praise you. Prepare us for the Lord's table. Prepare us for the rest of this day.

Do us good. And bless anyone who came here troubled. May their troubles go within the context of the sovereign love of Father God.

And this we ask for his sake. Amen.