Go open your Bibles to page 1241. We'll be reading John 14, verses one through six. We now come before the Lord to hear his holy and errant and inspired word. 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 to myself. That where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Thus says the word of the Lord. John 14 begins and we're in the upper room, the Last Supper. Jesus has been ministering to 12 men ministering to them to strengthen them, reassure them, prepare them for what is about to take place, preparing them for the trial they would soon endure, and preparing them for a lifetime of ministry. After supper, Jesus washes the 12 men's feet. Jesus tells them, one of you will betray me. We are told they looked at one another and were perplexed. Jesus sees that their hearts are becoming troubled. Jesus dismisses Judah, saying, what you do, do quickly. And then Jesus tells the remaining 11 men, little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. Peter, probably the oldest, maybe the strongest, Peter in his usual manner, speaks up, telling Jesus, I will lay down my life for your sake. Some may have heard this as a rally cry from the oldest, the strongest, a leader amongst them. Some may have become frightened at the prospect of a fight brewing. Oh, how those 11, their hearts must have sunk even further upon hearing Jesus tell the oldest, the strongest, no, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the morning comes. Now we come to our text today. Jesus, knowing the 11 were becoming more and more troubled, by what he was telling them turns now to words of comfort. The central message of our text today, John 14, one through six, Jesus comforts the troubled hearts of his people. And Jesus does this as we will see in our text today in three ways. First, Jesus comforts us when he tells us. We must believe in him. Second, Jesus comforts us when he promises, I am going in order to prepare a place for you. And third, Jesus comforts us when he promises, I will return for you. So first, Jesus comforts the 11 men who remained in the upper room that evening. that Jesus comforts us today. When Jesus proclaims, the basis for our comfort is very simple. You know, don't we all like simple? We must believe in Him. And this is not a call to saving faith. This is a call for ongoing trust. As we heard in Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 95, Putting our trust in anything else is idolatry. The 11 had already demonstrated they believed. Peter, as a spokesman, has already declared they believed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God. But during that time period, their idea of a Messiah, their understanding of what the Messiah was coming to do, Jesus, the Messiah, was to conquer the world, set his people free, and set himself over all as ruler and king. They believed Jesus, their Messiah, was there to usher in an everlasting kingdom with himself as king. And now remember, remember what Jesus had just proclaimed just moments before. Jesus spoke to the eleven, telling them what I said to the Jews I meant. I am going away and where I'm going, you cannot come. And just a few days before that, when Jesus had entered Jerusalem for the final time, his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus proclaimed that he was about to die. Jesus proclaimed he would be lifted up from the earth. But those things were too difficult for them to believe. They were perplexed, they were troubled. What did this mean that Jesus would die, that Jesus was leaving them? Certainly not what they expected of a Messiah. These men had given up everything to follow Jesus, and now he was going to leave them? He was going to leave them in the midst of a people that hated Jesus and therefore hated them? If Jesus went away, if Jesus died, what did that mean for them? If Jesus, the one they believed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, was going to be betrayed and killed, would they as well be hunted down and killed as well? Did they start to consider, or did it cross their mind, what good was a Messiah that was going to be killed? They depended on Jesus. Who would conquer the Roman government? Where would their supplies come from? Where would their food come from? Where would their king come from, their savior? They had nothing. They had given it all up to follow Jesus. They believed. They believed Jesus was the Messiah. They believed he was the Son of God. Yet everything they believed seemed to be unraveling. They expected life to go one direction, victory over Roman rule. Jesus is the new ruler, the king. And with them being so close to Jesus, all the kingly comforts would be theirs and their families. But now Jesus was telling them, no. Jesus tells them, things are going a different way. I'm leaving you, and where I go, you cannot come. One of you will betray me, and I will be killed. So when Jesus says, believe in me, this is not a call to saving faith. They believed Jesus was the Messiah. Notice how in our text, Jesus puts himself on an even plane with God. You believe in God. Believe also in me. And this is not a mere proclamation. Believe in me, trust in me. The original language, this is a command. Believe also in me, trust me. Jesus was commanding the 11. He was commanding them, saying, I'm leaving you, but trust me. When I say where I go, you cannot follow, trust me. When I say I must die, trust me. Trust me when I tell you 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. Imagine, imagine now how they felt as Jesus comforts them when he tells them their hope of eternity in heaven with him is not a vain hope. Jesus tells them, even though I'm leaving you now, even though I tell you where I go, you cannot come. My impending death and departure does not change your expectation of eternity in the everlasting kingdom with me. In the everlasting kingdom, there is ample room for all my people. Imagine how they felt when Jesus tells them, Tells him why he was going away. To prepare a place for you. Jesus tells the 11 to believe in him, to trust him, to trust his word, to trust his promises. And now Jesus comforts his people with this promise. Our second point found in our text today. Jesus comforts his people with his promise. I'm going to prepare a place for you. As Jesus speaks to those men in that upper room, the last supper, it's just a few short hours before Jesus would be arrested, beaten, falsely accused, tortured, and nailed to a cross. Jesus is just hours away from suffering and dying in our place in order to satisfy for our sin. And when Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you, I believe a lot of people miss this. I believe a lot of people jump ahead and consider what Jesus is saying about heaven and miss Jesus' greatest work of preparation. Jesus preparing our justification, preparing to make sinners worthy to be allowed entrance into his everlasting kingdom by his atoning work on the cross. Our sins imputed to Jesus, Jesus' righteousness imputed to us. The absolute greatest work of preparation by Christ is the atonement. Christ suffered the wrath of the Father for the sins of his people in their place. Beloved of Jesus, we can never put aside the atonement. Never skip over the atonement. Christ's betrayal, Christ's arrest, his suffering, his torture, his horrible death upon a cross was not by chance, was not an accident. The atonement. Christ suffered upon the cross in our place, was foreordained by the eternal counsel of God. Infinite wisdom planned redemption. Infinite wisdom brought Jesus to the cross in due time. Beloved of Jesus, never forget, Jesus was crucified by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Jesus prepares the way when he bears the eternal wrath of the Father upon himself in our place. This was the one and only payment for our debt that God would accept. No mere man can satisfy the eternal punishment due sin. When Jesus proclaims I am going away and you cannot follow, one thing is certain. If a sinner were to follow, if a sinner enters eternal punishment due for their own sin, there's no returning. It's eternal punishment. No mere man can follow where Christ was going in order to secure salvation. The Savior, the Messiah had to be a true and righteous man. He was born of a virgin, born without sin. because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should make satisfaction for sin. And the Savior, the Messiah, had also be true God, because by the power of his Godhead, he might bear in his manhood the burden of God's wrath, and so obtain for and restore to us righteousness, and life. When Jesus promises, I go to prepare a place for you, our comfort is knowing we cannot follow. Jesus will not allow his people to follow. Why? Because Jesus satisfies once for all his people. It's finished. The greatest preparation of all time. Jesus prepares the way for his people by the cross. Don't miss the atonement, the death of Christ on the cross, to make atonement for sinners. This is the central truth of the whole Bible. This is the truth we begin with in Genesis. The seed of the woman bruising the serpent's head. This is the veiled truth that shines all through the law of Moses and the history of the Jews. the daily sacrifices, the Passover lamb, the shedding of blood in the tabernacle and temple, all these were the representation of Christ crucified. Atonement is the truth being honored in the vision of heaven as we close out the Canada of Scripture with Revelation. Beware of the religion that bypasses the atonement and only flaunts a list of benefits for life and after death. Beware of an empty religion, a Christless religion, a religion that skips over the atonement without Christ and the cross at the very center. Jesus comforts his people with Jesus commands, trust me, trust what I'm saying, trust what I'm about to do, trust my promises, trust that I'm going to prepare a place for you. And now Jesus comforts with another promise. Our third point found in our text today, Jesus comforts us with another promise. I not only prepare a place for you, I will return for you. What good would it be for Jesus to prepare the way but never come for us? But notice, carefully listen to what Jesus is saying. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. Jesus does not say what we expect. Notice Jesus not saying I will come again and take you to a place. No. What Jesus says is far more comforting. How comforting are Jesus' words to those who love him? I will receive you to myself. I will take you to be face to face with me. I will welcome you to myself. Christ is not satisfied to just take his people to a place, to heaven. No, Jesus wants to embrace his people, be with his people, enjoy his people. With this short statement, I will come again and receive you to myself. We may understand Jesus is not in some remote location in heaven. ruling over his everlasting kingdom, simply observing his people? No, we will be with Jesus in his presence. As Jesus further states, that where I am, there you may be also. And take comfort. Consider all who love Jesus, all who have gone before us. They are with Jesus. They have departed this life, a fallen, sinful, difficult life, but have been welcomed to Jesus. And take comfort when Jesus said, and where I go you know, and the way you know. Jesus is saying, you know me, I am the way. The 11 who remained in the upper room, they knew the way to be brought to the father's mansion, but they needed the gift of faith to be mixed with their knowledge to form the truth, true understanding. This was made apparent when Thomas spoke up. Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus answers. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Another of the great I ams of John's gospel. I am the way. Jesus did not merely show the way. Jesus himself is the way. I am the truth. Jesus himself is the very embodiment of the truth, the truth in person. I am the life. Jesus himself is life, as opposed to eternal death or sin. Jesus is the source and the giver of life for his people. And Jesus, the Messiah, came into the world that his people may have life, an abundance of life. Beloved congregation, in Christ, find comfort in Christ's words to those 11 in the upper room that night. The night before Jesus was betrayed, arrested, beaten, tortured, hung on a cross to take our sin and give us his righteousness, Take comfort in Jesus' command to trust in him. I am the way. Take comfort in Jesus knowing his promises, knowing he has prepared for you to be made worthy to enter the everlasting kingdom. I'm the way. I am the truth. Take comfort in Jesus knowing his promises that he will come back and bring us to himself, not just a place, but will bring all who love him out of the realm of death to himself. I am true life. Jesus commanded all his people at all times because he knows and we need to know true and everlasting comfort may only be found when we trust Him, when we trust our Lord and Savior. Even when life unravels, even when life goes in a different direction than we are expecting or one that we want, even when we hear His word and His word seems completely contrary to what our understanding, completely contrary to what we want, We are commanded to trust Him. Simple, right? Jesus simply puts it, trust me. Not easy, but simple. There was a time when many who followed Jesus turned from Him and followed Him no more. Jesus asked the 12 at that time, do you also want to go away? Find your only comfort in Christ. Listen to what Peter said in answer to Jesus's question. Do you also want to go away? Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Let us take comfort in these words today. Let us pray. Almighty God, graciously grant that your word which we have heard may be inscribed inwardly on our hearts. Fill our hearts with faith, true saving faith that will guide and keep us for your plans and purpose you have for our lives. Make your word we have heard here today to be our comfort. You alone, Lord, are our only comfort in life and in death. Lord, create in us by your word trust in you. Lord, give us comfort knowing you have prepared us to be made worthy. You have prepared us when you look upon yourself, when you took upon yourself. the punishment due us for our sin. You have prepared us for new birth, for the gift of faith so that we will believe that we will trust you and you alone. As we have received your word, make our comfort complete. Make our hearts to be filled with love for you and may we glorify you in all that we do. Cause us to bear the fruit of the spirit and to live in holiness, diligently following your commandments and may it please you to use us Lord, use us to lead those who are lost, wandering and confused into the way of truth and to love you. All this we pray for the honor and praise of your name through Jesus Christ our Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. And now let us join our hearts and voices together to offer up our prayer to God in the words our Lord has given us, our Father. in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.