John's gospel chapter 14 John's gospel chapter 14 and if we can read the words that we have at the beginning let not your heart be troubled let not your heart be troubled One of the great glories if you like of the Gospel and of the Word of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ is that in the midst of the greatest troubles and trials you can have comfort. We have preached and I have preached on this text before and I don't intend to repeat what I have said before but you can always come back to a text like this Because there you find the Lord Jesus Christ with the disciples on the night prior to his going to Calvary, going to the cross, and they were obviously troubled. Now as we have said before, they didn't actually say to the Lord they were troubled, but the Lord knew their heart. He knew exactly what was in their heart. He knew what they were feeling. He knew exactly the depths to which they were going. And it's a wonderful thing, you know, to know that the Lord Jesus Christ knows when you have troubles, when your heart is troubled. He knows exactly the cause of your troubles. He knows what it is that's disturbing your heart. He knows what it is that's bringing you sorrow. He knows what it is that's getting you down. He knew with these disciples what it was and not only does he know exactly what it is that's wrong with them without them having to tell him, he actually knows the cure. He knows exactly what they need to hear from him in order for them to be taken out of their misery. he knows it and that's true, what's true of the disciples in John 14 is exactly true of you this evening the Lord Jesus Christ knows exactly what your trouble is but he knows exactly what the antidote is he knows exactly what you're needing to lift these spirits now I want to look first of all at the context in which these words because you discover that from verse 14 right through to verse 17 and to the end of the verse 17 there is a discourse that is given here and you discover that the Lord is giving comfort to his disciples right through you will discover that there is comfort for the believer going right through these verses and I think when you come to verses 14 to 16 There is a division. That's one block of discourse that the Lord is giving to the disciples to encourage them. And in chapter 17 as you know you have the Lord praying for them. The high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what an encouragement that is. The prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. His intercessory prayer. So chapter 17 you have the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus but from verses 14 to 17 you have words that give comfort to these disciples and they are words that ought to give us comfort this evening. He says that I will go and first there are six things in fact that he identifies that he is going to prepare a place for them. There is a place to which he is going and he is going to prepare it for them. That was to be their comfort. If they believe in God, they should believe in Him. That He was going to prepare a place for every one of His own. Every one of His disciples, He was going to prepare a place for them. Now that preparation would be beginning at the cross. What greater preparation of a place can you have than Him purchasing it and then him going in to lay claim to it and preparing it for them for when they arrive. So his very going and the means by which he was going was the preparation for that place to which he would take his people. But there's a second thing in that, that is not simply that he would prepare but he promises that he would come again and take them with him. that he would come and so that wherever, where he was, they would ultimately be there as well. That's the glory of heaven isn't it? That's the glory of heaven. It's the fact that when you go there, it's the place where the Lord Jesus Christ himself is. Stephen looked up and he saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God. and he's saying to these disciples, I will come and I'll take you with me and you will be with me where I am, in heaven, in glory, in the place that he is preparing for his people. And the third thing he encourages them is that while he's away, they will do wonderful works. They'll do even greater works than they've seen him do. you see he's going to leave them and it's all very well him leaving and saying well I'm going to heaven and I'm going to be there and one day you'll come with me but what happens while he's away all the wonderful things that they had witnessed him doing he says you will do even greater works than these while I'm away and that must have been encouragement to them that must have encouraged these disciples to know that the Lord going, he wasn't going to leave them without the power and the ability to do wonderful things. So that was the third thing he said to them. But even though they're doing, they're able to do wonderful things, to be without the Lord Jesus Christ was going to be a terrible thing. to be without the Lord Himself would have been a horrendous thought to them. But he says, don't worry, because I'll send you another Comforter. I'll send you another Comforter, and He will come, and He will comfort you, and He will bless you. So that you won't be left alone. Although I'm going away, I'm not going to leave you on your own. I will give you a paraclete, another Comforter, and He will bless you. That's a wonderful comfort, isn't it? That no matter what difficulties they were going to go through, they would do wonderful works and that they would have another comfort, that they had a promise that the Lord would give unto them the Holy Spirit and not only that, he goes on to tell them something else. That while he is away from them, they would still be intimately united to him. That although he is separated from them, in time and he goes to glory yet they are still intimately united to him and will never be separated from him. Truly. Isn't that wonderful? You think of what Jesus tells the disciples here and you begin to apply that to yourself and you begin to think on that for yourself. You think you should be saying to yourself, what a wonderful thing the Lord is saying to these disciples here. That the Lord Jesus was going to go to glory and that they would still be united to him. He's the head of the church, the only head of the church. And they are united to him. And not only that, This is even getting better, this is wonderful because this is comfort to them. They would be able to have access to Him by prayer. They would have access by prayer right into the presence of the Father through Him. So He must needs go that they would receive all these blessings. They could have prayer They were intimately united to him. They would have the paraclete. They would have the promise that they would do greater works than even he had done. And he is there preparing a place for them and he will come again and he will receive them to himself. It's like a person. Imagine a home. And the head of the home, the father, the picture I've got is maybe someone out in the prairie, they're away out in the middle of nowhere out in the prairie there. And the father has to leave the home and he's going away to another place. And he says to his family, now I'm going off and I'm going away, I'm going far away but don't you worry. Don't you worry. When I go, I'm going to prepare. I'm going to prepare a place for you that one day I'll call you and I'll bring you to myself. And there will be a place that will be far better than anything you've ever known before. In the meantime, you will have burdens. In the meantime, you'll have difficulties. But don't worry, because as I go to prepare and I go to prepare that place, as I go and look at that place, you can be assured that I'll come some day and I'll receive you to myself and one day I'll come back and you'll come with me and you'll come with me and when you come with me all the burdens all the tiles all the hardships that you have endured as you've gone through as you've lived in this place they'll be as nothing because I'll come and I'll take and in the meantime don't even worry because you will go through many hardships in this world but I'll provide for you and that must have been a great comfort to these disciples because these disciples were really down and troubled because Jesus was going to leave them but Jesus says let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God then believe also in me. Now my friend is it not true this evening that we need the comfort in this world? A Christian needs a comfort in this world. Where do you find your comfort? Where do you find your comfort? Where do you find the things that will really have substance in this world? Where do you find the things that will see you through the great difficulties of this world? Surely it's only in God and in Christ. But if you are in God and in Christ, then you have wonderful comfort. Jesus sits with these disciples on this dark night, a night where he himself was going to be crucified, where he was going to leave them, and he says, let not your heart be troubled. I'm leaving you, but I'm going to prepare a place for you. And I will come again, and I will call you to myself. And in the meantime, you will do mighty works. And in the meantime I will give you the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. In the meantime you will still be united to me and you will have access by prayer unto the Father. These are wonderful blessings that the Gospel gives to you. These are blessings that you'll not find anywhere else in the world. These are blessings that you won't find out in the pub this evening, you won't find it in the streets of Edinburgh, you won't find it in the pleasures of the world that are but fleeting, but you will find it when you believe in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ and you trust in Him and trust in Him alone. So the Lord here is saying to them, for the Christian really Sorrow and trouble and being downcast is unreasonable for the Christian of the world. The world has every reason to be downcast. The world has every reason to be down in the dumps. The world has every reason to have to be without hope and without Eden in the world. But the Christian has not. It's unreasonable he's saying. Because if you think on what you have in the Lord Jesus Christ, you just stop to think what you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. How often do you think in glory, in heaven? How often does it cross your mind that one day will be your last day in this world? How often does it cross your mind that there will come twelve o'clock midnight and one minute after twelve and that will be the last time you'll see one minute after twelve? And then you'll maybe see 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, whatever time it comes. But there will come a time in that 24 hour day where you will leave this world. What do you think can happen that day? Have you ever thought on it? What's going to happen when they carry your body out of your home and lay you in the grave? Well the Christian Jesus says, don't you worry. He not only ought you to think not to think upon that in terms of this is dreadful, you ought to think upon that. Because that's your comfort. There's the greatest comfort. You think of death and you think of glory. And the Christian is able to look past the things that are in this world and he's able to see and he's able to take comfort. Even when you're in the midst of a world where things seem to be falling apart, even when you're in the midst of this world where things don't seem to be going well, even when you're in the midst of this world and you're maybe even persecuted for your faith, you're reviled for what you believe, yet you rejoice. you rejoice, you've got a joy unspeakable, and what makes you think on that? It's when, let not your heart be troubled, believe in me, believe in God, believe in Jesus Christ, in my Father's house are many mansions. Now, when the soul gets a view of heaven when the soul, I think it was Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers one time and many of you will know Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers preaching one time and he said this Let heaven be loosed from its moorings and descend down into this world and enter into the soul such that you would have a view of glory that you would smell the fragrance of heaven and the flowers that are there a view of its inhabitants and how they are arrayed and how they are clothed in glory to hear the song of glory of heaven and of the Lamb for the soul to simply get a view of what heaven is like and you'll never again be satisfied with the things of this world. He'll never again be satisfied with the mere trifles of this world. The Apostle Paul had a sight of the heavenly glories and he says for me to live as Christ and to die as to be with the Lord, he says. It's far better. Has your soul ever been touched and ever been affected by the powers of the world to come? Has your soul ever been affected by the powers of the world to come? Well, Jesus says, here's your comfort. think of what I have prepared for you. What do we notice and what do we believe about? What does the Bible tell us about heaven? It tells us there is a place, isn't there? Heaven is a place. The soul and the body need somewhere to resist. Heaven is a place. Very often people have the idea that heaven is there. The Bible tells us that heaven is a place. It's a place that the Old Testament saints desired to see. They looked for a city which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. The true saint of the Old Testament was never satisfied merely with the things of this world and the true saints of the Old Testament were never satisfied with the earthly canon. They looked for a heavenly. They looked for a better country, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Abraham, by faith, was looking to heaven, to glory. Isaac and Jacob, they were all looking to glory. All the saints of the Old Testament, they had their eyes heavenward. Which way are you heading? Is it to heaven and to glory? Because that's what the Bible tells us. It's a heavenly place. Paul was a citizen of heaven. We're going to have a referendum in this country very soon. People will vote. Christians will vote. People will vote for the United Kingdom or for an independent Scotland. Whatever way a person votes, the Christian can always say, he's the citizen of glory. He's the citizen of heaven. There's no referendum for that, my friend. There's no voting whether you get in or out of there. If you're one of the Lord's people, then heaven is yours and you're a citizen and you're just passing through here, through this world and you're on your way to a better place. Paul, when he writes in 2nd Corinthians, when you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he speaks somewhat of this, he says, For we know that our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved. We have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. I want you to know, and I've said this before to those of you who have been here, Paul speaking about the earthly house of this tabernacle is talking about the body. And the body is like the house in which the soul resides. The soul is that unseen part of man. The thinking, the understanding, the will, the passions. These are all things that you don't see. There's a soul in here. And the soul resides in this body. But one day, this body is like a tabernacle. The pegs will begin to fall just like a tent. When you put the tent up, The poles are tight, the wires are tight, but the time comes when it gives like slack and one peg goes and eventually the tabernacle falls down. It will not last forever. But where does the soul go to? He says we have a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In other words, he has it. It's his already. It's not as if we'll get it. He says he already has it. He has the title ditched to glory in his faith in Jesus Christ. Do you have the title of Deity of Glory? You'll only have that, as we'll see in a minute, through Jesus Christ. Well he says here, the Apostle says here, he says, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God not mere, eternal in the heavens. Let me ask you this, is this body here eternal? Are you going to be in this world forever? Jesus knew that these disciples sitting there that night seeing everything that's going on and all that was in the darkness of that night their hearts were really troubled and you would have thought the last place he wants maybe to take them is to death but that's exactly where he takes them he says you won't live in this world but I go to a place and when you die you have an eternal home If you look there, an eternal hope. We have a building open, eternal in the heavens. God is eternal, isn't he? God is eternal. The Saviour Jesus Christ is eternal. The saints in glory are eternal, they have eternal life and no man will ever take that from them. All the saints that you've known, all the Christians that you've been acquainted with, all who have set their trust in Jesus Christ, they're eternal in that eternal home. The angels that are there, they're eternal. My friend, let me also tell you this. Hell is also eternal. Hell is eternal. Heaven is eternal. And there is that eternal home, the long rest into which the saints go, but hell is also eternal. It's not something that's only for a moment of time or for a period of time. There is an eternal hell, an eternal damnation to those who turn aside from the Lord and walk away from Him. But Jesus says to him, I'm going and I will prepare that place for you, an eternal home for you. That ought to be your comfort. That should be your comfort. Let's see what it says in chapter 5 that we've read from. If you go to the previous chapter 4 and look at chapter 4, you see something of the difficulties and the trials that the Apostle, verse 8, we are troubled on every side. This is a Christian. This is the Apostle Paul. The Christian life is not some kind of fairy tale. The Christian life, he says, we are troubled on every side, yet we are not distressed. We are perplexed, but we're not in despair. We are persecuted, but we're not forsaken. We're cast down, but we're not destroyed. always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. That made the difference you see. Here was a man who was troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, forsaken, cast down but yet at the same time in Jesus Christ he was able to walk through the midst of it. because his eyes were lifted looking to the Lord Jesus Christ his eyes were looking to the Lord his eyes were fixed upon the eternal glory that Christ is preparing for his people and you know when you come to John chapter 14 There are two things really that the Lord says to the disciples to encourage them. Because it's all very well us this evening talking about heaven and getting to know what heaven is like. It's eternal and it's a place where there are no more trials or tribulations. and all tears are removed and you're there in the presence of the Lord Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of Glory we can talk about that but there's an immediate question that comes to your mind there's an immediate question that ought to come to your mind there's an immediate question that came to the mind of one of the disciples there and that was how do we get there? Thomas says to him what's the way? how do you get to heaven? what is the way there he says Jesus says, you know, comfort your hearts with this, that I go to prepare a place, a house of many mansions, and if it were not so, I'm the very one that would have told you. Thomas says, but wait a minute, how do we get there? What is the way? And Jesus says, I am the way. Thomas, I'm the way. You want to know how to get to heaven, you want to know how to get to glory, Jesus says, Thomas, I'm the way. I'm the way. There's no other way. There's no other way to get to glory. There's no other way to get to heaven. There's no other way that you will enter into the celestial city. Like the Pilgrim's Progress in Bunyan. Pilgrim's Progress. He comes and he comes to the mountains. these celestial mountains and he looks on to these mountains in the distance and he sees the celestial city and he is making his way there. But how is he making his way there? Because he has already been to Calvary's Cross. He has been up to Calvary's Cross and he is now making his way to the celestial city. My friend, Jesus tells us in the most clearest terms that you can ever have set before you. It's not me, it's not a church, it's not my denomination, it's not anybody. Jesus himself says, when he's asked the specific question, how do you get to heaven? How are you going to get to heaven? And Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way? And he says to Thomas, Thomas, I am the way. the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me Jesus is the way and that ought to comfort our hearts this evening because you may think to yourself well get to heaven you've got to work mighty hard if you're going to work your way to heaven then you're going to have to work very very hard indeed It's going to be such a difficult road that you'll never get there. You can't work your way to heaven. All our righteousnesses are but filthy rags. There's not one of us in here this evening that will work his way to heaven. And you say to yourself, wow, that's terrible. The minister's telling us how we're going to get there. Here's the glory of the gospel. Jesus Christ is the way. I am the way, he says. He that believeth in me, if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him, and ye have seen him, because those who have seen thee have seen the Father. When we behold Jesus Christ by faith, when we behold Him as the only Saviour, when we come and we put our trust in Him, my friend, that's you on your way to heaven. You've got the title deeds. and they belong to you because the title deeds to glory belong to Him and He freely gives them to poor sinners who come to Him You may think to yourself, well I'm going to come to Jesus Christ I better tidy myself up a wee bit I better make myself a wee bit more presentable No you don't You come to Him as you are As a hell deserving sinner you come to Jesus Christ and you cry out to him. Now that then becomes a difficult thing doesn't it? Because in this way of salvation that God has set before us, that Jesus Christ has set before us, a great comfort in the fact that you have an advocate in heaven who is there and who prays and remembers his church and his church is there in heaven and presented before the Father. But there's a weak link isn't there? And that weak link is you. You're the weak link. Because it's one thing having Jesus Christ in heaven But what about down here on earth? Well, even that link is taken care of, isn't it? Because while you have an advocate in heaven, there's also an advocate in this world and the earth. And it's the Holy Spirit. He says, and I will give you the Holy Spirit. And He will teach you. And He will show you. You don't know what to pray for as you are. But the Holy Spirit, He'll teach you how to pray. He will show you and reveal things to you. You know we ought to get on our knees and pray that the Holy Spirit would open unto us the Word of Truth. Jesus Christ has promised to His church that He would give the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will reveal things that you could never see of yourself in the Scripture. But the Holy Spirit will open the Scriptures to you. And the Holy Spirit will show you the Lord Jesus Christ. So that there is an advocate in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is an advocate, the paraclete on earth, another comforter, the Holy Spirit. And he will witness to you, and he will bless you, and he will open up the scriptures to you. What wonderful words of encouragement the Lord Jesus Christ gave to these disciples. to comfort these disciples in the midst of a dark and dismal day where they would be saying to themselves, there's no hope. There's no hope. They could see that the Lord Jesus Christ himself was heavy. And he's now talking to them about his being put to death. He institutes a supper, a meal that represents his death. and they're sitting there and he talks about him going away from them and it's a miserable night that night and it's dark and everything is miserable maybe that's where you are maybe you're miserable in this world but remember what Jesus says, here's the answer the answer is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ himself Not in the church. Not in doing X, Y and Z. Not in going through some rituals. Not in nearly being baptised. Not in sitting at the Lord's Supper. Not trying to be good to live a decent life. If the Lord blesses you, that will take care of itself. but what Jesus says is that I am going to prepare a place for my people chapter 17 he says I pray not for the world but I pray for those who have given me of the world and I will bless my people and I will prepare glory for my people and they will do greater works than even I have done And you know that promise was fulfilled, wasn't it? Because think of all the mighty works that Jesus did. He went into a home and there was a man there that was lowered down through the roof and Jesus got him to rise up out of that bed. There was another man that came that was a leper and Jesus made him clean. That was a wonderful work, wasn't it? Wonderful, see a leopard cleansed. And we're told that the deaf they heard, the dumb spoke, the blind saw. All these individuals coming to the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus says you will do even greater works than that. What was greater works than that these disciples would do? What was the promise? Well you see it in the day of Pentecost, don't you? When the Holy Spirit is poured out on three thousand souls. are added to the church. Now is that not a wonderful thing? Wouldn't it be wonderful today to see in Scotland 3,000 souls being added to the church, being changed by the power of the gospel. 3,000 souls looking now to heaven and to glory. What a wonderful work that is, isn't it? But let me tell you something else. Even one soul that's brought into God's kingdom. Even one soul that's changed this evening by the grace of God. Even one soul that turns away from the mere things of this world and the vanities of this world to turn and to have their feet placed upon the narrow path that leads to glory. Now is that not a wonderful work? Is that not wonderful? When even one sinner is changed by the grace of God. May it be this evening that we will all look to the Lord Jesus Christ, trust in Him, so that the promises that He gave to the disciples that night would not be vain and vague promises that are given to someone else, but that they would be real, true promises that we receive by faith and that they become ours because we are Christ's and Christ is God's true and real comfort in the midst of a world where even the Lord's people where the Lord's people need comfort and encouragement may it be that we would know something of that comfort in our own lives. Let us pray. Gracious and our blessed Lord, we pray that this evening thou would bless us that we would know the power of the gospel in our own lives. We pray that, O Lord, thou would have mercy upon us. We thank thee that thou art a God that is merciful and longsuffering and slow to wrath. Thou art the God that invites sinners to come to thyself. Thou art the God that invites sinners to come and to repent of their sins, to confess their sins freely before thee, and to look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the application of the blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin. We pray this evening that our eyes would be looking heavenwards, that we would know the comfort in the midst of a dark world, that we would have the comfort that we are but sojourners and strangers in this world. and that the things of this world will soon pass away with the using but that we are on our way to that eternal place prepared by the Lord for those that love him. We pray this evening that we would be brought to know and to see that thou art God and to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is thine only begotten Son and that whomsoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Undertake for us in the rest of the day and pardon us all our sins, for Jesus' sake. Amen.