fear not, and see the salvation of the Lord, the three commands that Moses gave there at the banks of the Red Sea. Go ahead and open your Bibles, please, to the book of John this morning. We're going to be in the 14th chapter of the book of John, John chapter 14 this morning. I'm a little high on the monitors, if we could turn just the monitors down. I'm not a monitor person. I know what I sound like, and I don't like it. I pity you having to listen to me. John chapter 14, we'll be there in just a moment. As you look at your Bible this morning, there are two things in your Bible that when the words were originally written, I'm not talking about the translation process, there are two things in your Bible that when it was originally written were not in the word of God. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, the book of Ephesians, he did not stop every two or three sentences and change verses. And he didn't stop every two or three paragraphs and change chapters. Those two things, the chapter and verse divisions, were added when a man by the name of Stephanas in 1552 included them in what is known as the Edito Regio, that's Latin for the royal edition. And that's where the chapter and verse divisions came into play. And we've used the exact same chapter and verse divisions now for over 550 years. And we like them, don't we? They make it easier to find your place in the Word of God. If I'm to stand up and say, turn in the Bible to the book of John and find where I'm going to read, Everybody would be looking and looking, trying to go from verse to verse, word to word, trying to find where I was going to read here in just a moment. It makes our Bibles easier to study, makes them easier to read, makes them easier to memorize those chapter and verse divisions. So I'm not being critical of them at all, please understand. But there are a few times that the chapter and verse division causes us to misinterpret a passage of Scripture. And our text this morning is one of those times in the Word of God. because we treat each chapter like it's a separate entity instead of the fact that it's a continuing story. Let me explain. When you get to John chapter 13, Jesus is seated in the upper room and he's just observed the last supper with the disciples and has just washed their feet. And by the way, how interesting is it that he washed the feet of Judas Iscariot right before he betrayed him. Now, after the meal is over, Jesus begins to speak to the twelve disciples. In this secluded setting, this small little group are going to sit down and talk for a few moments, and everything that Jesus says, from where we're going to start here in just a moment, is all bad news for the disciples. None of it is good news. I want you to notice what happens. Look at John chapter 13 in verse 21. The Bible says this, When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." Now had Jesus finished feeding 5,000 men plus women and children with those five loaves and two fishes, most likely well over 10,000 people, had he cupped his hands together and yelled to the top of his lungs to this crowd of over 10,000 and said, one of you shall betray me! That would have been a significant announcement, wouldn't it? That would have been an earth-shattering announcement, wouldn't it? Or if Jesus, after the crowds had gotten a little bit smaller, when he began to preach and to follow him, you had to deny yourself daily and take up your cross and follow him, and the crowds kept getting smaller and smaller, until Jesus actually looked at the disciples and said, will ye also go? And Simon Peter answering said, Lord, where will we go? For we are convinced and assured that the Christ is the Son of the living God. If Jesus had said to that smaller crowd, listen, everybody, One of you shall betray me. That again would have been a significant announcement. But imagine now in this setting with just the 13 men in the room, Jesus and these 12 disciples. In this setting with these men that have followed Him for three years, that have seen the miracles and witnessed the majestic power of Almighty God. And now He says to this group, one of you, shall betray me." Now you and I are so smart, aren't we? I mean every Christian in this room thinks that we would have had this thing figured out. We've got the advantage of 2,000 years of hindsight, and so we're all under the impression that when Jesus said, one of you shall betray me, we would have all gone like this. And we would have pointed over to Judas Iscariot because we would have had it figured out. The important thing to realize is the disciples didn't have it figured out. And by the way, neither would we have at the time. I want you to notice that nobody in that room suspected Judas Iscariot. The four gospel accounts... Tell us that all 11 of the other disciples asked the Lord, Lord is it I? And Simon Peter not only asked, but then asked John, the beloved, who had his head on the breast of Christ, to ask a second time if it was Simon Peter. But nobody suspected it was Judas. Look at verse 26. Jesus answered. He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it." And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. So as Judas leaves the room, please understand, nobody at the table said, oh good, the betrayer's gone. Nobody at the room said, well, I knew it was him. The simple fact is Judas has left. Nobody suspects Judas. So do you know what you have in this room now? You have Jesus and 11 men, each of which are afraid they're the betrayer. Each of which think that they could be the one that's going to kiss Jesus on his cheek and sell him out to the Romans. Imagine what's going through their hearts at that exact moment now. And the news continues to get worse. Look what happens, please, in verse 31. Jesus says this, little children, yet a little while I am with you. That's more bad news, isn't it? Jesus says, listen, I'm leaving you. I'm not going to be with you very much longer. They've become accustomed to having him there, haven't they? I mean, if he taught a parable they couldn't understand, they would ask him and he would explain it. If there was a demon they couldn't cast out, they would bring him to Jesus and Jesus would cast him out. If there was a question that the Sanhedrin or the Sadducees or the Pharisees asked that they couldn't answer, they would take him to Jesus and he would answer the question. They'd become accustomed to having Jesus there. And now Jesus says, listen, I'm not going to be with you very much longer. By the way, isn't it a wonderful thing that the disciples heard that, but you and I will never have to hear him say, I'm not going to be with you very much longer. Notice the news keeps getting worse though. If that weren't bad enough, I want you to notice what he says next. You shall seek me, and as I said to the Jews, whither I go. I want you to look at that two-letter word, the word go, right there in that passage of scripture. Jesus says to the disciples after the Last Supper, whither I go, you cannot come. Where is he talking about going? Every Christian in this room, and even lost people in this room, would understand that Jesus is telling his disciples that I'm going to calvary, I'm going to a cross, I'm going to suffer, I'm going to bleed, and I'm going to die, just like he's been telling them now for three years. When Jesus says, I'm going, I want you to understand he's saying he's going to the cross. He's not talking about any place else. He says, with I go, you cannot come. Now understand this, they have been apart for brief times over the last three years. Remember after Jesus fed the 5,000, the Bible says that he went up into a high mountain apart and when the evening was come he was there alone and he sent the disciples going across the Sea of Galilee and that storm breaks out in the fourth watch of the night and it's so dark and the waves are crashing along the boat and there they were in the boat without Jesus. But remember what happened? He came walking up and said, be of good cheer at his eye, be not afraid. They were apart when they went into the city of Samaria and they were hungry, and actually so was Jesus. And the disciples went on into town to get something to eat, and Jesus sat down at that well, because he must needs go through Samaria. And he began to talk to that little Samaritan woman who had all those husbands and was living in adultery. He told her all things, what she had done, and she had gotten saved, and the whole town came out to hear Jesus. When the disciples came back, because they were reunited again, when they came back they said, Lord, aren't you hungry? I have meat to eat that you know not of." They've been apart before, but this is different. He says, this time when I leave, you can't follow me. Simon Peter seems to understand. Look, and he's talking about his death on the cross. Look at verse 27, please. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I would lay down my life for thy sake. Simon Peter seems to be acknowledging that he would in fact die in the place of Jesus if Jesus wanted him to. Now watch Jesus' response because you and I again have the benefit of 2,000 years of hindsight. We know if I were to ask the question, how many disciples actually verbally denied Christ, everyone in this room would say it was just Simon Peter. But notice what happens, please. Verse 38, Jesus answered him, Jesus looks at the ringleader. That inner circle of Peter, James, and John, you'll notice Peter's name is always mentioned first. Peter is this loudmouth, the first person outside of his brother when he first met Jesus, to proclaim publicly that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and the Son of God. This one that just stood up and said, I'll die for you if you want me to. And Jesus says, you're going to deny me three times. Now notice, Jesus does not say, Simon Peter, you're going to deny me three times, and you're the only one at this table that's going to deny me. If you're sitting there and you hear that Simon Peter is going to deny the Lord, the loudmouth, the ringleader is going to deny the Lord three times, and your name is Thomas, and you have a tendency to doubt anyway, how many times are you going to deny him? How many times is Bartholomew going to deny him? How many times is Thaddeus going to deny that he knows Jesus? If it's going to be so bad that Simon Peter himself is going to deny three times, how many times are the rest of the disciples going to deny him? Now you have a room full of people, every one of them thinking they might deny the Lord just like Simon Peter. All of them afraid that they might be the betrayer. But even if they're not a denier, and even if they're not a betrayer, their Savior is leaving them and they can't follow. Imagine what's going through their hearts. You don't have to be the son of God. You don't have to know the end from the beginning to know what weight they're carrying. You don't have to be omniscient to understand how heavy their heart is. You can see it on their face. You can see the furrow in their brow, the concern on their countenance. And at that moment, after all of this bad news, After looking around the table at these disciples who are obviously afraid, obviously concerned, Jesus says some of the sweetest words that have ever been uttered in the history of humanity. He says, 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 saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me. I'm going to preach a message this morning entitled simply this, If I Go. It doesn't mean what we think it means or what we always preach that it means. What it means is actually something so much better. Let's have a word of prayer before we begin. Every Christian in this room, I promise you this message will be an encouragement. These words by our Savior were uttered to encourage Christians. They're also uttered, so that lost people will come face-to-face with one of the most bold statements that Jesus ever made. Father, we thank you for this morning. Lord, we thank you for our time in your house. Thank you for the beautiful music, the uplifting congregational singing, the wonderful job by the choir, the ladies ensemble that did such an amazing job. Thank you for a church concerned about the lost souls of this area of Florida to work so hard and so diligently to prepare for this journey through Christmas. Lord, we just pray that you'll bless abundantly as you have so many other times. not just the creativity, not just the beauty of the sets, but the hard work of your people willing to sacrifice their weekends and many, many hours just to prepare so the gospel can be given out. Lord, we thank you for their diligence and we pray that you'll reward their faithfulness in their service. But now, as we turn our attention from everything, from all the construction outside, from the children's meeting that's going on, just this one service, this one few moments of time, as we turn our attention toward the Word of God, Father, help us. Father, help us as Christians to be encouraged. and help lost people to see their need of a savior this morning. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. I want you to know this. First, we see the purpose of his going. Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, someday when I'm finished doing the construction project, there will be many mansions. That's what it says in your Bible, isn't it? Isn't that how we preach that? I had a fellow tell me just a few weeks ago up in Dover, Pennsylvania. He said, you know, Brother Harper, he said, God created the heavens and the earth in six literal 24-hour periods, and he's been working on my mansion now for 2,000 years. It's going to be amazing. It is going to be amazing, and by the way, it's a mansion, not a room. It is going to be amazing, but God hasn't been working on it for 2,000 years. I heard a preacher one time at a camp meeting that described Jesus this way. He said that he was wearing a gold tool belt with a gold Stanley hammer hanging from it, looking at blueprints as he's building mansions. That's not what it says. He doesn't say, in my father's house, after I get up there and put on a tool belt and get some plans out, I'm going to build you a mansion. That is not what the Bible says. It says, in my father's house are many mansions. Do you know how long your mansion's been in heaven? In the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. You've had a mansion there for 6,000 plus years already. It's beautiful. It's going to be great. But he's not building it now. It's already there. But Brother Harper, he says, I go to prepare a place for you. But where is he talking about going? When Jesus is in this upper room with the disciples, he says, where I'm going, you can't follow me now. Where I'm going is to suffer and bleed and die. I'm going to be separated from you shortly. He's going to prepare a place for us. And the place he's talking about going is none other than Calvary. See, He prepared a place for us on Calvary. That's what we fail to look at when we misinterpret this passage of Scripture. The purpose of His going was to prepare a place for us, number one, of relation. Do you realize in the Old Testament God had a chosen people? If you were born into the nation of Israel, you were born as one of God's chosen people. The Hittites were not born as God's chosen people. The Jebusites were not born as God's chosen people. God had a people. But do you know that all changed in the New Testament? Remember John chapter 1, verses 11 and 12? He came into his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Listen, I'm not born a Christian when I'm born in a quote-unquote Christian nation. I'm not going to Heaven because my dad trusted Christ as his personal Savior. I'm not going to Heaven because I come from a Christian family, and you're not either. If every single member of your family, your parents, your grandparents, all your brothers, all your sisters, all your aunts and uncles are all Christians, it doesn't mean you're going to heaven. It's a personal decision because we're not part of a nation anymore. You know what we're part of now? We're part of a family. He becomes our Father. And we can say to him, Abba, Father. The fact of the matter is on that cross he prepared a place of relation. Before that he had a nation and a people. After that he had a family. Not only did he prepare a place of relation, he prepared a place of approximation. You know in the Old Testament, you would take your lamb and you would go to the temple or the tabernacle, depending on what era it was. You would give your lamb to the priest. He would take it inside and offer it in the holy place, and come back and tell you that your sins were forgiven. Or once a year he would take a lamb for the entire nation and go into a place called the Holy of Holies and offer up a sacrifice for the whole nation. You didn't do that. You know what you did? You stayed outside. When it was the tabernacle you stayed out of the courtyard. When it was the temple you stayed outside of the temple. And you waited for the priest to go inside and talk to God for you and plead for you. Understand this, that all changed on the old rugged cross. I don't wait outside anymore. I'm not outside of the courtyard. I'm not outside of the temple. I can come boldly before the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16. See, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. I don't wait outside anymore. I come straight into the presence of Almighty God and I talk to him personally, one-on-one, with no intermediary at all. just me talking to God. When did that change? The Bible tells us the exact moment that that changed. Remember on that cross? The Bible says that he cried with a loud voice and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom. And from that moment on we have never been locked out again. Notice on that cross he prepared a place of relation. On the cross he prepared a place of approximation. But also on the cross he prepared a place of justification. Think about this for a moment. Once a year, that high priest would go into the Holy of Holies. He would offer up a sacrifice. Let's say he offered up the sacrifice for the whole auditorium at Volusia County Baptist Church. Let's say he offered it up, this is the 10th of November, right? He offered it up on the 10th of November at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. And from that moment on, if his sacrifice was done the way God said, every sin that everybody in this auditorium had committed since last November the 10th at 1215, until this November the 10th at 1215 was all forgiven. But if you told a lie at 1216, you're stuck with that thing. That sacrifice that He offered at 1215 didn't cover a lie at 1216, didn't cover a bad attitude at 1217, didn't cover disobedience to God at 1218. See, every Old Testament sacrifice was for past sins. And almost all things were by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood is no remittance. Only sins covered for a time. But that all changed, didn't it? On that old rugged cross, there was a sacrifice offered that did not just cover past sins, it covered future sins. As a matter of fact, it covered every sin. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12, but this man, talking about Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, forever. sat down at the right hand of God. Romans chapter 8 and verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation of them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Then Paul wraps into those series of questions that he asks later in that same chapter. When he asks this question, who is he, I'm sorry, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Then he answers it, it is God that justifieth. Then he asks another question, who is he that condemneth? Then he answers it, it is Christ that died. Yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of the Father, who also make intercession for us. The simple fact is, when he died on that cross, it wasn't just good enough for past sins, it was good enough for future sins. It was good enough for every sin, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. When did that happen? Colossians chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 says this, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances which was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, listen carefully, nailing it to his cross. See when he said, I go to prepare a place for you, he was talking about preparing a place of relation. No longer am I part of a tribe, now I'm part of a family, a place of approximation. No longer do I stay outside of the courtyard. I come straight into the holy of holies. He prepared a place of justification, not just a sacrifice for past sins, but a sacrifice for every sin that would ever be committed anywhere in the world. I want you to understand, number one, the purpose of his going. Then there's a promise of his going. Remember, he just told his disciples, I'm leaving you and you can't come. So now what does he say? I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, which he did 2,000 years ago, he says this, I will come again. He doesn't say, I might come again, I should come again, it's possible I'm going to come again. He said, I will come again. It's just that simple. Several years ago I was reading on the CNN website. I don't go there anymore, but I used to visit there. On the CNN website, and I saw an article, and the title of the article caught my attention. And I noticed that it was written by the CNN religion editor. Now I don't know about you, and I'm not going to talk politics, but I never associate CNN and religion together. I'm sorry. And when I found out that the religion editor of CNN at that time was a female Episcopalian priest, it kind of made better sense to me. But the article was entitled this, Why Paul Made Up the Rapture. Now certainly the Apostle Paul talked more about the rapture than anybody else in the New Testament. Remember what he said in First Thessalonians chapter four, beginning in verse 13, down through verse 18. He said, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. He certainly talked about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse 51, when he said, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, at the twink of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. And this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, so that when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Paul certainly talked about it a lot, but he didn't make it up. Jesus talks about it right here. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That's not the second coming when he comes back with us to rule and to reign and to set up his millennial kingdom. It's talking about when Jesus comes back with a shout and the trumpet to call home all who are dead in Christ. It's talking about the rapture. Paul didn't make it up. Jesus promised it. Notice, number one, there's the purpose of his going to prepare a place for you. Notice number two, there's the promise of his going, I will come again and receive him to myself. Number three, though, there's the peace of his going. What if I were to say this? What if you were to get to heaven and find out that the walls of Jasper, they're just painted green? The gates of pearl are antique white. The street of gold is just like a regular old road. What would you think if you got there and found out that all those descriptions of heaven were just allegorical? Wouldn't you be disappointed? Don't answer the question. Wouldn't you be disappointed? Let me give you an illustration. Several years ago, I was going up to Camp YES. Y-E-S stands for Youth Excited About Salvation. It's in Ontario, Canada, in the town of Rodney, Ontario. The week before I got there, they've had this camp there at this place now for twenty-five years. And before that, it was actually, believe it or not, a hippie commune all the way back in the 60s. So people have been living in this place for decades. But the new fire marshal of Rodney, Ontario, decided that the camp was a tinderbox. That we were lucky that we'd ever lived through one camp because it was such a fire hazard. He was a little overzealous in his position. But he came and inspected the camp and told them, I'm going to shut you down. They begged him. They said, listen, we have four weeks of camp, then we'll shut down for 48 weeks, and we won't do anything here until you inspect the camp. You give us a list of what you want us to do. We'll do everything. We will make this the most fire-retardant camp in the history of Canada if you'll just give us time to do it. Give us these four weeks. He said, I'll think about it. He said, one thing though you have to do immediately, I won't let you stay open for one more day if you use the second floor of any building on the camp. Now that didn't cause us a problem with the boys. The boys' dormitory space was on the ground floor in a basement, but the girls' space was on the ground floor in the second floor. So immediately, we lost half of our girls' space. Now, that wasn't a problem. For the first week, we had 68 campers, 15 through 18 years old. But the second week, we were going to have the 12 through the 14-year-olds that were coming, or the 12 through the 15-year-olds were coming the next week, and we had 115 campers, and 65 of them were girls. We didn't have near enough space for these girls to stay. So what they did over the weekend before the girls got there is they set up tents for the girls to sleep in. Now, having just married off my daughter, she's 22, so she's been a teenager recently, I can tell you this with great authority about teenage girls. They need electricity. Electricity and technology are their love languages. That's all there is to it. They have to have those two things. They use things that baffle the mind of every man in this room. No man in this room understands a couple of things, maybe even that your wife uses, but certainly that your daughters or granddaughters use. They will use a curling iron to curl their straight hair. That makes sense. If you've got straight hair and you want to curl it, then use a curling iron. My daughter had a curling iron, but she also had a straightener, which straightens your curly hair. Now why would you have both? It doesn't make sense. Do you have half of your hair straight, the other half is curly, and so half of it you have to curl, the other half you have to straighten? It doesn't make any sense to me. Just use one of them. Straighten the curly side and have all straight hair, or curl the straight side and have all curly hair. Why would you need both? It doesn't make sense. Never added up to me. And so when the girls all got there for camp, these 13 through 15-year-old girls, and they realized they were sleeping outside, a few of them, the youngest ones, were excited. It was adventure sleeping, sleeping outside. But most of the girls were very disappointed. because they had no electricity. What if you get to heaven and find out instead of a mansion, it's a tent? What if you get there and find it's a Motel 6 and they left the light on for you? Would you be disappointed? And if the answer is yes, this is why I told you not to answer, then you really don't understand what heaven is. See, heaven isn't heaven because of what is there. Heaven's heaven because of who is there. And if it's a tent in the middle of a field with potholes in the roads and green painted walls and antique white painted gates, it's still going to be heaven because that's where Jesus is. But let me make sure you understand something just since I know this is going out over the internet and all that kind of stuff. And I don't want someone to misquote me. It's not allegorical. He didn't say the street is kind of, sort of like gold. He said the street of it is of purest gold. He said the walls are jasper. Every several gate is a pearl. Pearl so big an entire gate is made out of one single pearl. Please understand that God uses the most precious things that humanity ever considered, and he uses them as sheet rock, asphalt, and metal gate keepings. That's how wonderful heaven is going to be. But you want the definition of heaven? It's right here in this passage. 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. That is the definition of heaven. Everything else is just the trappings. I honestly believe that we are going to be there for millennia before we actually start looking around at gates and the streets and the walls and the crystal sea. I think we are going to sit there at the throne of our Savior and just thank Him for the first 10,000 years for saving our souls where I am. There you may be also. That's the peace of his going. Listen, whatever trial or tribulation you're facing, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled. Why? Because you've been justified, because you can come straight to the throne of grace, because you're part of his family. If that's not enough for you, every trial and tribulation that you're facing, you can make it through because you know, before you even face your next chemo treatment, Jesus may come again. Before you bury that loved one that hospice is sitting beside right now, Jesus may come again, and they might not ever face death. And even if they do, and even if you succumb to whatever illness or whatever problem you've got in your life, the simple fact is, after this life is over, which is but a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes away, we have eternity in heaven with Him. Jesus said, listen, let not your heart be troubled. But then he speaks for the lost person. All of that's for the Christian, isn't it? Thomas doesn't understand. Thomas says, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. Now please, with his reputation, I want you to understand, Thomas isn't doubting here. He's just asking the question that the rest of the disciples would love to ask. We know the not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? How are we supposed to follow you if you're not going to lead us? If you're going to leave us, how are we supposed to know where we're going? And that Jesus' answer is perhaps the most dogmatic statement that he ever made in his earthly ministry. When you read verse 6 of this chapter, I want you to understand something. It cannot be misinterpreted. There are only two explanations for verse 6 of John chapter 14. One, that Jesus is telling the truth. Two, that Jesus is lying. It is such a dogmatic statement. There's no way to confuse it. There's no way to explain it away. And if you don't know Christ as your personal Savior, you have to come face to face with John chapter 14 and verse 6. What did Jesus say? I am sort of, kind of, part of the way. No. I You hear people talking about, well there's lots of paths to God. No there are not. There is one path to God. It's not through works. It's not through religion. It's not through commandment keeping. It's not through good deeds. It's not through any of those things. Jesus said, I am the way. But Brother Harper, it stands to reason that I should be able to do good deeds and get to Heaven. No, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, Titus chapter 3 and verse 5. For by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. No, your works, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, your works won't get you to heaven. Brother Harper, wait a minute, I'll keep the Ten Commandments. No, therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, Romans chapter 3 and verse 20. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. None of that will get you to heaven. You know what gets you to heaven? The free gift of salvation that God holds out to you and says, here, take it. Say, Brother Hopper, wait a minute. That sounds too easy. Remember when you went to grade school and you had that one teacher that taught science when you were in sixth grade and you hated science? You couldn't stand it. You came home every day and complained about it. And your teacher had all these degrees in science and knew everything about science, but she just couldn't put it down on your level. Then the next year you had a teacher, every bit as good as the first teacher, as smart as the first teacher. But they took that science class and they brought it right down to you so that you could understand it. And you walked away and for the first time in your life you said, I kind of like science. You realize that's what God does? God could speak so far above us, because as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. And yet God, who would have all men to be saved, brought it down to such a level that every one of those little kids over in the class could understand it. He brought it down to such a level that even people with learning disabilities can understand it. And only the intellectuals say, well, it must be much more difficult than that. And we act like we don't even understand what a gift is. Do you realize in every single other area of our life we know what to do with a gift? People will hand you a little gift card, and they'll say, here, this is for you, Brother Harper. And I'll say, oh, you didn't have to do that. The fact is, in every area of our life, we know what a gift is. But when God says, here, here's salvation. It's a free gift. Take it. We go, I better get to work. That's not how it works, is it? He is the way. He is the truth. There is no truth outside of Him. When I first started telling this illustration, I tried to not mention the woman's name. But there is no way to tell this illustration without giving this woman's name. How many of you have ever heard of a lady by the name of Oprah Winfrey? Raise your hand. I kind of thought that would be about everybody. Several years ago when she was on television, I didn't watch her show. My wife watched it on occasion, but I never watched her show. But she had that thing called the Oprah Book of the Month Club. Do you remember that? And if you were an author and your book was on the Oprah Book of the Month Club, it went straight to the top of the charts every single time. She had a guy on there one time that had written a book, something about broken glass, I don't remember the title. But in the book, he described it was his autobiography about his struggles with drugs and how many laws he'd broken and how many people he'd beaten up and how many stores he'd robbed just to satisfy his drug habit. And it was a powerful book, went straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Only problem was a few reporters started investigating his story and found out that the whole book was a lie. You know how egotistical you have to be to make up your own autobiography? The way they caught him I thought was very interesting. He told a story, and he gave a date and a time in the book that he was in Cincinnati, Ohio, and he had beaten up six police officers that came to arrest him because he was on such a drug high. Now, at that date and time, he did in fact get in trouble in the city of Cincinnati. What he had done is pulled his car off the side of the road, put a quarter in the meter, leaned his seat back to take a nap. and forgot to put a second quarter in the meter. So at the exact time, according to his book, that he was beating up six police officers, he was asleep in the front of his car getting a parking ticket. You have to have a vivid imagination to go from one to the other, don't you? So all of a sudden, all over the media, they're talking about this book, and they're kind of picking on Oprah for making it the Oprah Book of the Month. And so Oprah issues a public statement. I'll never forget reading it. What it said was, I understand that many of the statements made in the book have been proven to be untrue. And then she said this, but the emotional truth of the book is still there. Pastor, I'd had enough. And I did what every single red-blooded American does these days when they have had enough. I wrote an email. I sat down at my computer and I wrote this to Oprah Winfrey. I said, Dear Miss Winfrey, I am very disappointed in you. There is no such thing as emotional truth. Everything is either true or it's false. It's right or it's wrong. It's white or it's black. There is no middle ground. There's no such thing as emotional truth. Sincerely, Richard Harper. And I sent it. And you know what? As soon as I sent it, I felt so much better. I can picture Oprah reading it with tears flowing down her cheeks. Weeks went on and finally this man was going to be back on the Oprah Winfrey show. All the media was talking about it, wondering how Oprah would handle it, etc. I'm out in Salisbury, North Carolina with a pastor named Wayne Seacrest. We're walking up to the first tee to play a round of golf. As I'm walking up, my cell phone rings and I notice the area code is from Chicago. I answered the phone. And the lady said, is this Richard Harper? I said, yes, ma'am, it is. Who wants to know? And she said, well, I'm so-and-so, and gave me her name. And she said, I am one of the executive producers of the Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, I had forgotten all about the email, so I'm wondering if the next words are going to be, we're doing an expose on evangelists, would you like to be on the show? So I'm kind of excited. But that's not what she says. She says, as you know, so-and-so is going to be back on the show on Monday, and we've got your email here. And she said, I was wondering, would it be all right with you if we use your email on the Oprah Winfrey show on Monday? Now, because I had not said anything that I wouldn't have said publicly, I said, okay. By the way, we say a lot of things in electronic communication that we would never say to someone's face, and it's just as wrong to type it as it is to say it. I said, yes, ma'am, you have my permission. She said, thank you very much. She was very pleasant. Asked me if I watched the show, and I said, no, I don't watch the show. My wife has watched it on occasion. So she was very pleasant. We hung up, and that was it. So on Monday, I was watching Oprah Winfrey. Wouldn't you have been? I'm sitting there beside my wife, she's sitting on the couch, I'm standing, I often stand when I watch television, and I'm standing there, and Oprah comes out and sits down, she says, this is our guest, he's coming out, it's been in the news, and he comes walking out, she's sitting in one chair, he's sitting facing her, and she said, okay. Half the crowd cheered, half the crowd booed, and finally she looked at him after the ruckus calmed down, she looked at him and said, no. Tell me what happened." And he looked at her. I thought it was so smart. He used her words against her. He said, now, Oprah, while I admit that many of the things in the book have been proven to be untrue, the emotional truth of the book is still there. And Oprah Winfrey looked him in the eye and said, I am very disappointed in you. There is no such thing as emotional truth. Everything is either true or it's false. It's right or it's wrong. It's white or it's black. There is no middle ground. I'm disappointed in you. There's no emotional truth. And I'm standing there beside my wife, my hands on her shoulder. I'm shaking her like I said, I said that. That's me. I said that. You know, she did not even quote me. That made me so mad, but I'm over it now. But we divide different things up and say, well, that's sort of true. That's a white lie. That's a partial truth. That's a half truth. That's an exaggerated truth. No, no, no. There's one truth, and it's Jesus Christ. He is the truth, not a truth, not some truth, not part of the truth. He's the truth. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. In other words, there is absolutely no way to experience eternal life without Jesus Christ. There's no way without asking Him to save you that you're going to live forever. As a matter of fact, it's so simple and so easy that the Lord said it three times. Did you know that? Joel chapter 2 and verse 32, Acts chapter 2 and verse 21, and Romans chapter 10 and verse 13 all say the same thing. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Brother Harper, that sounds too easy. If you're a holy God and you want all men to be saved, Wouldn't you make it easy? Get your own pride out of the way and realize how dogmatic the Savior is. The way, the truth, the life. And just in case you missed all of that, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Four, absolute dogmatic truths out of the mouth of the Savior. So here's your dilemma if you're a lost person. Either Jesus is telling us the truth there, and you better trust Him as your Savior if you want to go to heaven, or He is a bald-faced liar. And you know, the truth of the matter is, I've never met a lost person. I've never met an atheist that would look me in the eye and tell me that Jesus was a bald-faced liar. I've never met a practicing Satan worshiper. that would say that Jesus is nothing but a liar. So, if you're to doubt John chapter 14 and verse 6, you're to go farther than Satanists and atheists go. But if Jesus is telling the truth, you better trust Him before it's everlastingly too late. The way, the truth, the life, no man. If you're a Christian this morning, I don't know what you're going through. But I do know this, the Savior, when He wanted to calm the hearts of His servants, said, let not your heart be troubled. I'm going to prepare a place for you, then I'm coming back to get you, and then we'll be together forever. And there is not a problem that any of us have, not a heartbreak, not a sickness, not a family emergency that any of us have that isn't forgotten when we're with Him forever and ever. Don't let your heart be troubled. Where I am, there ye may be also. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. No one looking around, please, just for a moment. The instrumentalists are going to come to their instruments, and they're going to find their page in their book, and then they're going to bow their head and close their eyes as well. The only people looking will be the deaf who are looking at the interpreter, but they're not looking back at you. The invitation time is between me and you and God. That's it. All week long, it'll be between me and you and God. I'm not going to point you out. I'm not going to come back and get you. I'm not going to send anybody back to get you. If we shake hands at the back door, at the table, I will not bring up this invitation unless you bring it up first. I want you to be completely comfortable and honest with me. Question, as you're sitting here this morning, could you say, Brother Harper, I am certain, as sure as I know my own name, as sure as I am of anything in life, I know that if I were to die today, that I have trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and if I die today, I would go to heaven. Heaven is my home. Jesus is my Savior, and I don't have a doubt about it. If that's you this morning, would you slip your hand up, please, and hold it high in the air. Hold it high in the air as a testimony. Think, you may put your hands down. Now you're here this morning and you couldn't raise your hand, or you raised your hand because you peeked and saw a lot of people raise their hand. Once, as I told you at the beginning, if every person in this auditorium is going to heaven, it has no bearing on where you're spending eternity. But there are some in the room you didn't raise your hand. So let me ask you this, if they're away this morning, that you could know that. Without being embarrassed, without joining a church, without signing up, without committing to anything, there's no fine print. If there were a way that without being embarrassed, you could leave here and know that Jesus is your Savior and heaven is your home, wouldn't you like to know that? Now, before you raise your hand, let me remind you, I already know who you are. Nobody else in this room does but me. I know who raised their hand and who didn't. I told you I'm not going to embarrass you. If I wanted to embarrass you, I could. Right now I could have everybody else in the auditorium look up and stare at you, but I would never do that. So right now, if there were a way, without being embarrassed, that you could leave here knowing Jesus Christ is your personal Savior, without joining anything, without signing up for anything, without any fine print, How many would say, yes, Brother Harper, I would like to know that. Would you slip your hand up, please? I'm the only one looking, and I know who you are. Slip your hand up right now. Hold it up high enough for me to acknowledge it, and then put it right back down. You're here this morning, then, as a Christian. Since no hands went up, we'll still pray for those that didn't raise their hand. But I'm not going to make you respond to an invitation. You're sitting here this morning and you say, Brother Harper, I'm going through a trial and tribulation. Right now my heart is troubled. And I sure needed to hear from the Lord this morning from John chapter 14. Maybe everybody knows what I'm going through. Maybe nobody in the room knows what I'm going through. Maybe just my family. But I'm going through something right now and I sure needed to hear the Lord say, let not your heart be troubled. Would you slip your hand up, please, all over the auditorium? Thank you. Hands going up everywhere, front to back. Thank you. In just a moment, we'll have an invitation. If you raise your hand, we're going to invite you to step out of your seat. We're going to invite you to come down to these brand new mourner's benches, if you will. Spend a few moments just thanking the Lord. The Bible is filled with verses about people repenting at an altar because of sin. But the Bible is equally filled almost with verses of people going to an altar just out of thanksgiving. And I'm here to tell you something. If you can't be thankful for John 14, 1 through 6, I think your thinker's broke. So in just a moment, we'll pray, then we'll stand. After we stand, I'll give a signal to the pianist and they'll begin to play. Won't sing on the first verse. And when you hear that first note of the piano, why don't you step out? Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Don't look around and see who else moves. Just step out on the first note. If you step out on the first note, two things are true. No one can accuse you of following someone and you won't give the devil two notes to talk you out of it. So you step out on the first note if the Lord spoke to your heart. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the blessing that it is. Lord, have your will and your way in our hearts in this invitation. For those, Father, who could not raise their hand and say that they know that they're saved, maybe they didn't hear the question, or maybe they just didn't respond quick enough. But if they're truly here and do not know your Son as their Savior, Father, I pray that today's the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Father, I pray that you'll bless the invitation. Thank you for comforting hearts of Christians all over the auditorium. Help us to forever be grateful to the God who takes care of our troubled hearts. In Jesus' name.