Okay, let's open our Bibles up to the Book of John, Gospel of John, chapter number 14. In your Bible, it will go Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John. John 14 is roughly 85% of the way through your Bible. Also, as you're turning there, just a reminder that in your bulletin, there is a green half sheet of paper, which is a brief outline of this morning's message. So if you use that, I hope that that will be helpful to you. Also, just a heads up that there'll be a few places in scripture that we're turning to, so please be ready to turn in your Bibles. John chapter 14 will be in verses one, two, and three of John 14. Let's read this now. Here's what the Word of God says. This is the Lord Jesus, and he's speaking to his disciples, and 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 to myself. that where I am, there you may be also. The animal with the strongest bite force on planet Earth is the Nile crocodile. The Nile crocodile has a bite force of 5,000 PSI. Now, I don't exactly know how PSI is calculated, but what I do know is that 5,000 PSI, that is a lot of PSI, for reference sake. That 5,000 psi bite of a Nile crocodile is four and a half times the force of a bite from a polar bear or from a gorilla. It's three times the force of a bite from a jaguar. To give you another reference, the average human has a bite force of 162 psi. I have an 11-month-old daughter, and sometimes she doesn't always know when to bite and when not to bite. So sometimes I'll be holding her, and what she'll end up doing is she'll bite my shoulder. And you know what? It hurts. Like, it hurts a lot. And if I had to guess, that's, I don't know, 80, 100 PSI. So I could only imagine the pain of being bitten. by a Nile crocodile. Suffice to say that once that Nile crocodile gets you in his grip, there isn't much that you can do. Your chances of getting away are slim to none. Few things grip like the class jaw of a Nile crocodile. Well, in many ways, fear is just like that Nile crocodile. Few things exist out there. Few things are out there that are as gripping as fear. We currently, right now, live in a fearful world. And this is something that as society grows more and more wicked, this is something that's only going to continue to increase. For example, I would venture to guess that every single person in here over the age of 30, you remember that time growing up when your parents let you go outside and they just let you go and they said, hey, make sure you check in at 1 or 2 o'clock. So you went out and you checked in at 1 or 2 o'clock. But let's say there was one day that you forgot to check in. You just forgot to check in because you were just doing something. What was it that your parents concluded? Well, your parents concluded and said, oh, my son or my daughter, they must have just forgotten to check in. But that's not the case today if something like that were to happen. If a parent today were to send his or her child out and say, hey, make sure you check in at 1 or 2 o'clock, what would the parent do? Well, the parent would immediately think that something horrible has happened to my child. The parent would immediately think, that oh no, my child has been kidnapped or something like that. Adults in here who grew up in the 50s and 60s, perhaps you remember those duck and cover drills that you had to do in school. If you don't remember or if you don't know what I'm talking about, essentially it was the students in school, they would hide underneath their desks because there was fear that a nuclear bomb would go off. So you could just think of a kid, a 12-year-old kid at school and just constantly having this on his mind, that at any given second, there could be a nuclear bomb that drops and it will destroy me and destroy my friends and destroy my family as well. Growing up, I had an irrational fear because of two movies. I've mentioned this once before, but the two movies growing up that I was so fearful about, that I was so scared about, were the movies Deep Impact and Armageddon. And one movie was about a comet hitting the earth, the other was about an asteroid hitting the earth. So I watched these movies as an eight and nine-year-old, and I was very afraid. This would keep me up at night, thinking that a comet or an asteroid would hit the earth. I would actually pray before bed, and I would say, God, please don't let a comet hit the earth. Please don't let an asteroid hit the earth. You know what was happening to me? I was gripped by that fear. We've seen fear gripping our nation recently. You just go back a few years to coronavirus and you saw what happened there as the nation was gripped by the fear of coronavirus. Even more recently, think back to maybe like a month and a half ago and all of the drones that were there over New Jersey. And what did it do? Well, it caused people to be fearful and the government certainly didn't help to quench people's fears because the government just said, oh, we have no idea what the drones are, but we do know that you don't have to be afraid of them, which didn't make any sense whatsoever. That did nothing to quench people's fears. Fear is indeed a crippling thing. And I would love to say that Christians are immune to being fearful, but of course we know that that isn't true. Even though we are constantly exhorted throughout the Word of God to not be afraid. All over the place we see this. It is all throughout God's Word. It's not just in one book. It's all over the place. It's in, say, Genesis chapter number 15 where Pastor Doug, he preached an excellent message for us last week on Genesis chapter 15. And right at the beginning of Genesis 15, you have God, and specifically God the Son, speaking to Abraham, and he says, Abraham, do not be afraid. You see it all over the place. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus numbers, all over the place, we are told by God, do not be afraid. It's because God knows just how prone we are to becoming afraid. And it's a great reminder for us. that in times of fear, in times of trouble, we must rely on the Lord, who is the only one who can make the fear go away, and he is the one that we ought to trust in wholeheartedly. And that is a good introduction for what is before us today in the first three verses of John chapter 1. Number 14, because we are going to see Jesus comforting his disciples who are terribly afraid of what the future holds. We have here in our passage of scripture, we have our good shepherd comforting his scared sheep. What's happening here as we move into John chapter 14? Well, we're picking up right where we left off in John chapter 13. It's still one night before the cross. And the Lord Jesus, he's there in the upper room with his disciples. And what's already happened is Jesus has already identified his betrayer. His betrayer, of course, is Judas Iscariot. Jesus has identified him. And then Judas, he left. And then more than likely what happened was right away as Judas left, Jesus then instituted the Lord's Supper. And then John 13 verse 31, it starts the section of scripture that's referred to as Jesus's upper room discourse proper. Or Jesus's farewell discourse proper. And that's because since the traitor has left, Since Judas Iscariot is now no longer there, Jesus is there with his true disciples. He's with those who love him. He's with those who are trusting in him. And Jesus, he told them many things. He told them that he has now given them a new commandment, that they ought to love one another just how he has loved them. And Jesus, he's also made it very clear to them that where he is going, they cannot follow after him. Look with me. In John 13, verse 33, you'll see what Jesus says to them. He says, John 13, verse 33, he says, 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. So now I say to you, Jesus is going to the cross. And you know what? The disciples, they cannot follow him. They aren't able to follow him. And that's because Jesus is the only one who could go to the cross. He is the only one worthy enough, you could say, to go to the cross and to bear and to satisfy and to propitiate the wrath of God for his people. Now, as we think about this, we know that we know that, because we know how this story plays out. We know that the Lord Jesus is going to the cross to die for the sins of his people. But the disciples, they don't know that. They have no idea that that's what's gonna happen. They don't even know that Judas is the betrayer. They don't even know that Judas is a traitor. They don't even know that right now. Even how it's all played out, where Jesus said, one of you will betray me, and then he handed to Judas He gave him that piece of bread and then Judas left. Well, the disciples, they're not able to make the connection. They still don't even know that Judas is the traitor. So they don't know that. But what they do know is what Jesus has just told them. And what has it or what is it that he has just told them? He has just told them that where he is going, they cannot follow after him. And that is rightly. from their perspective. That is cause for concern. Now, why would they be so concerned about that? Well, it's obvious. They're concerned about it because they love Jesus. They love Jesus so much and they wanna be with Jesus. He's the one that they're trusting in and they want him to be there. Of course, they're going to be disappointed and of course, They're going to be sad. And of course, they're going to be afraid because Jesus is leaving them. And that's why, even as you look at the end of verse 13, that's why Peter, he goes to Jesus in verse 37, and he says to him, he says, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for your sake. The disciples are devastated. They are absolutely devastated at hearing that they won't be able to follow after Jesus and that Jesus is going to depart from them. And thus, what is it that Jesus, knowing that the disciples are thinking this, knowing full well that they're sad and that they're nervous and that they're anxious and that they're scared and that they're afraid, knowing full well the vast range of emotions that they're feeling and that they're going through. What is it that Jesus does? Well, we are going to see in our passage these incredible words of comfort that Jesus gives. Let's look here. In John 14, we'll read verse one to start. The Lord Jesus, he says to his disciples, he says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. This verse breaks up very nicely into three separate clauses. So we'll take it clause by clause. Clause number one, let's look at what Jesus says. He says, let not your heart be troubled. Now, why would their hearts be troubled and frightened? Well, it's because of what we were just mentioning. Jesus is going away and so therefore they are afraid. But also, think about the other things that are going on here. He has just told them that one of them would betray him. So they are afraid, they're nervous because of that. Remember, I just mentioned it, but I'll mention it again. They don't know that Judas is a betrayer. And do you recall how it went down when Jesus told them, one of you will betray me? What is it that the disciples did? Well, they all, according to Matthew's gospel, they all said, Lord, is it I? Is it I? So this is another reason as to why they would be troubled. Also, not to mention that at the end of John chapter 13, the Lord Jesus had just said that Peter would deny him. So you can think of it like this, from the other disciples' perspective, they look and they see Peter who is the one who is the most courageous Peter who is the bravest out of all of them and How do you think they're reacting to that? They look and they say, wow, well, if this is what Peter is going to do, then what is it gonna be for us? This is rightly cause for them being fearful. Now you may be wondering, how is it that Jesus knew that they were distressed? Well, Jesus knows because he knows. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ God in the flesh and he knows absolutely everything, Jesus is just able to tell. Perhaps it was maybe their countenance, or perhaps maybe it was the tone in which things were happening, the tone in which they were speaking. But Jesus, he just knows. He knows how they are, and he knows when they are afraid over something. Just like how a husband knows when his wife is upset, the husband may go to his wife and the husband may say, honey, are you upset? And the wife, of course, she responds by saying, no, I'm not upset. Well, the husband, nonetheless, the husband knows that his wife is upset. Why? Because the husband knows his wife. Well, how much more so is it that the Lord Jesus knows his sheep? He knows the sheep too well to not know when they are afraid and to not know when they are scared. He knows with a perfect knowledge. all of the emotions that they're going through. Not to mention here, not to mention the other things that the disciples would have been afraid about, the other things that the disciples would have been troubled about that aren't explicitly in the text, but things that are logical deductions when you consider what is happening here. And what I mean by that is I mean that here in this moment, the disciples' hopes and dreams earthly hopes and dreams are being vanquished. Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19. So you'll turn to the left a little bit. Matthew 19. We'll look at verses 27 through 31. Consider the disciples. The disciples, they are fully expecting the Lord Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom. That's what they are expecting. That's what they want. Their hope is in Jesus setting up an earthly kingdom. Matthew 19, verse 27, a little before this, you had the rich young ruler coming to the Lord Jesus, and then that rich young ruler, he hears what Jesus says, and he concludes that following after Jesus isn't worth it. But look, in verse 27 of Matthew 19, It says, then Peter answered and said to him, said to Jesus, he said, see, we have left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have? Now, this is certainly the case. The disciples, they left everything behind to follow after Jesus, to follow him for three slash three and a half years. Look at Jesus's response in verse 28. Well, starting in verse 28. We'll also read verse 29. Jesus responds and he says, Surely I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my namesake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life So even though Jesus says there, and inherit eternal life, the things that they're focusing on, the things that the disciples are focusing on, are the earthly things, that Jesus is going to set up this earthly kingdom. He'll overthrow the Romans, and he will set it up. So from their thinking, it's kind of going like this. Jesus is the Messiah. He's going to set up an earthly kingdom, and we know he's going to be an excellent king. We know that because we know who he is. We know his character, he's going to be an excellent king, and we are those who love him, we're those who are closest to him. Most definitely, he is going to reward us, and he is going to reward us in an earthly sense. But now as you head back to John chapter 14, now this is what's happening. Now it's starting to set in. It's starting to set in that the earthly kingdom that they were waiting for seems, in this moment at least, very unlikely to happen. And thus, their hopes and their dreams are being vanquished. Furthermore, perhaps also that they're dismayed and troubled and frightened because Jesus is the one who has been their protector. Jesus is the one who's been protecting them all along. If you just think back to John chapter six, Right after Jesus, he feeds around roughly 20,000 people, feeds them miraculously. And then the disciples, they get on a boat, and they travel over the Sea of Galilee. And then you remember what happens. There's this great storm that arises up. And they're three or four miles off the shore, and they're afraid. They're very, very afraid. And then what happens, Jesus, he walks on the water, and then he says to them, do not be afraid. He was there to protect them. Not to mention all of the other times that the disciples, they've seen what's been going on. The disciples, they're not oblivious to what's happening. The disciples, they know that the Jewish authorities hate Jesus. They know that. They know that the Jewish authorities, they want Jesus to be dead. So just logically, as you think about this, if Jesus leaves and If they can't follow him, well that means the Jewish authorities wouldn't be able to follow him either. So therefore, since the Jewish authorities hate Jesus so much, logically, you just conclude that that means that the Jewish authorities are gonna come after us. They're gonna come after the disciples. So there's so much wrapped up into their hearts being troubled. So much wrapped up into them being dismayed and sad and discouraged and afraid. And it's in the midst of that. that the Lord Jesus, he says to them, let not your heart be troubled. How is it that we are to take this? How do you suppose Jesus said this to the disciples? Did he said it or did he say it kind of like being annoyed? Like, don't let your hearts be troubled. Come on, is that how he said it? That's obviously not how he said it. How is it that Jesus said this? He said this with tenderness and with the utmost gentleness that anybody could possibly say anything. He gently and tenderly exhorts his disciples. Notice what he says next in the next two clauses. He says, upon saying, let not your heart be troubled, he says, you believe in God, believe also in me. There are two commands here. The commands are this, believe in God, and believe also in me. Here are the two commands that Jesus gives to his disciples. Now, there is some debate about this as to whether or not this is a command or commands from Jesus to his disciples, and the debate kind of goes like this. You'll see in the text that the translators of the New King James, they haven't taken it to be a command because they put the word you before believe. And the reason for this is because in Greek, an indicative and an imperative, well, they have the same endings. So sometimes you have to decide, well, is this an indicative or is this a command? Is this an imperative? And the translators of the New King James, they take it to be an indicative. However, the translators of really every other good translation that's out there, they all take it to be an imperative. They all take this to be command, or to be commands, I should say. Two commands here. Believe in God, believe also in me. By the way, as we're thinking about this, Jesus's commands, they are for our benefit. And they are so much for our benefit. And here, this is super obvious given what he has just said. Christian, is it for your benefit to believe in God? And is it for your benefit to to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer to that is yes. It is most definitely for my benefit to do that. In the ancient world, it wouldn't be uncommon for someone's enemies to poison them. That wouldn't be uncommon. And I'm sure we all know that. If you've ever watched a movie or watched a show about the ancient world, inevitably, some point in the movie or at some point in the show, somebody is going to be poisoned. And once they're poisoned, What is it that they need to get? Well, once poisoned, they need to get the antidote. If they do not get the antidote, well then they will perish. Well, believer, herein lies the antidote. The antidote. to a fearful and anxious spirit is to believe in God and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Allow me to illustrate a little bit further. Let's say that for some reason you just decided, maybe because the bottle looked appealing to you, which I guess is somewhat understandable. Let's say you just decided to drink a 64-ounce bottle of Listerine. You looked at it and you said, you know, the color here is pretty appealing. It's like a bright blue. I've never seen this type of bright blue before, so I'm just going to drink this whole bottle. And if somebody comes to you and says you shouldn't have done that, You should not have drank that 64-ounce bottle of glycerin. Now you have to go to the hospital, and you say, all right, thanks for the advice, but then you don't heed the advice. You don't go to the hospital. It would be very, very foolish. That would be so foolish, and yet, how foolish we become, believer, when you and I don't go to Jesus for comfort, and when we don't go to him to ease our fears. How absolutely foolish. And instead of going to him, we go elsewhere. It makes absolutely zero sense. I'll go back to using Listerine as an example. Let's say I were to drink this 64-ounce bottle of Listerine, and you were to say to me, you need to go to the hospital. And I rush out the door, and you would naturally think that I'm going to the hospital. But instead, I don't go to the hospital. Instead, I go hiking. Or instead, I go to the mall to just walk around and kill time. Or instead I just go to hit some golf balls at the golfing range. What would you say? You would say you are a fool. This is the most foolish thing of all time. Absolutely 100% foolish. Think about this just generally speaking. Where is it that foolish man goes to when he is in need of comfort? Well, for some, they go to food and indulge extensively in food consumption. For others, they go to laziness, where they just sit on the couch all day. and mindlessly consume entertainment, mindlessly put on something on the TV and just sit there all day. For others, they go to drugs and to alcohol. For others, they go to sexual immorality. They'll go and they'll consume things like pornography, and they'll say, this will bring me comfort. All of those things, by the way, are obviously very, very sinful. Obviously, it's very sinful to consume pornography. Obviously, it's sinful to abuse drugs, it's sinful to abuse alcohol as well. It's also sinful to be lazy. It's also sinful to just consume food non-stop and to be a glutton, which by the way, those who are capable of being gluttons, it's not just people that like a doctor would look at and say, hey, you know what, you should lose some weight. No, Any single person is capable of being a glutton. Even the person who is in the best possible shape in the entire world, even that person can fall into the sin of gluttony. All of those things, here's the thing about this, all of those things, not only are they sinful, but none of those things can provide any comfort whatsoever. Not one of those things can provide comfort. No one is happier, no one is comforted after indulging in all of those things. And I'll use gluttony once again just as an example. Nobody wakes up the next day after consuming 12 to 15,000 calories of food And nobody says, wow, I feel great. I'm so comforted right now. That has never, ever happened. And it's because none of those things that exist out there, and there's a lot of other things on that list that I mentioned, but none of those things that exist that we are so prone to go to in our own sinfulness, none of those things can bring true comfort. Because only Jesus can bring it. Only Jesus can bring true, unending comfort. And we know this. Believer, you know this. I'm not telling you anything that you have not heard ever before. And yet, what is it that we do? What is it that we do? We still go elsewhere. We still look for all of these other things. You know, as we think about what's happening here in John 14, I can't help but to think about the disciples and what they would have thought right after this took place. Imagine what they would have thought after Jesus was crucified. Jesus is going to be crucified just a few hours after this. He's going to be crucified, I don't know, 12, 16, 18, 20 hours. after this. He's going to be crucified and you can just picture what's going on in their minds. They're thinking and saying, what is it Jesus just told us? Let not your heart be troubled. But how am I not going to be troubled? He's there hanging on a cross and he would have died on that cross. But then you could just imagine upon realizing that Jesus has risen physically from the dead that they would have been like, wow, this is amazing, wow, it makes perfect sense what Jesus said to us when he said, let not your heart be troubled. Notice here as well, notice how this is connected. Notice how it's connected when Jesus says, believe in God, believe also in me. It's connected, and this is a great reminder for us that true belief in God is also true belief in God the Son. And that's something that as we continue in John 14 specifically, In verse seven, that we'll get into a little bit more, but true belief in God means true belief in God the Son. Someone who has true faith in God will have true faith in Christ. And even in statements like this, when Jesus says, believe in God, believe also in me, even in a statement like that, you know what Jesus is doing? He's making it clear that he is equal with God, which of course makes sense because he is equal with God and he is also with God. The last point here on verse number one, there's also something here that we don't want to miss. In that, we don't want to miss the deity of the Lord Jesus in providing comfort. And what I mean by that is all throughout the Old Testament, we see God doing this. We see God comforting his people. And I think about what we read in our call to worship in Jeremiah chapter 46. You could turn there if you'd like. Jeremiah 46. I'll briefly and very generally explain to you what's going on in Jeremiah 46. In Jeremiah 46, what God is doing is He is pronouncing judgment on the nations. And specifically in Jeremiah 46, the judgment that He's pronouncing is judgment on the nation of Egypt. At the time, Egypt was the world superpower. They were the best military. They were the military that all the other militaries looked to and said, we want our military to be like Egypt's military. But Egypt was very arrogant. Egypt was very, very proud. And God says that he's going to bring judgment on Egypt. And what God would end up doing is he would end up using the Babylonians as his judgment force to go and absolutely decimate the Egyptians. And so, the people of Israel, they look at what has just happened and they are afraid. They conclude, well if God is able to just decimate the Egyptians, if the Egyptian army, that's the most powerful army in the entire world, if it's able to just be decimated just like that, well then what hope do we have? The same thing can happen just to us and even worse. And then, it's with that in mind that God says, in Jeremiah 46, verse 27, and in the beginning of verse 28, he says, but do not fear, O my servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest, and be at ease. No one shall make him afraid. And then verse 28, do not fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord. for I am with you. This is what God does all throughout the Old Testament. And we have, back in John chapter 14, we have God the Son, the Lord Jesus, doing the same thing. God in the Old Testament, he comforts his people. God the Son, we see him here in John 14, comforting his people. Let's continue in John 14. Let's read verses two and three. Jesus, he says this in verse two and three. 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. Two things we see here, two things that are to bring immense comfort to the Christian. First thing is this, disciple, believer, Christian, person in here who has been born again by the grace of God, be comforted with the thought of heaven. comforted with the thought of heaven. This is the place that Jesus is talking about here in verse 2. He is speaking about heaven and this is the place that every single Christian longs for. We all long for for heaven. In that place in heaven, you know what is not there? There's no fear there. There's no anxiety there. There's no sin there. There's just perfect joy. Perfect joy there in heaven. Christian, have you thought about this place? Have you thought about heaven? Do you ever think about it? Do you think about just how awesome and how incredible it must be. You know there are of course sometimes where we do think about this. Hopefully if we're Christians we're thinking about heaven and we think well what will heaven be like? And it's an interesting question because you would think that the Bible would speak a lot about exactly what heaven is like but there's not too much information about all that heaven is like. But here we have, in John 14 verse 2, we have Jesus giving us some information about heaven. And he tells us, he tells us that there are many mansions there. Or many dwelling places there. as your footnote says, there is more than enough space available there in heaven for us. More than enough space available despite the number of the elect being a vast number that none of us can even number. You think back to Pastor Doug's sermon last week where God says to Abraham, that his descendants, his spiritual descendants, those who are believers, more than the stars in the sky. There's so many people in heaven right now, and that number's just gonna keep going up until the Lord Jesus comes back. We may hear that, and we say, well, you know what? I don't like overcrowded places. I really get nervous in overcrowded places. Well, you don't have to worry about that. Because there is more than enough space for us believers. Jesus says there, he says, in my Father's house are many mansions. And you and I, Christian, we cannot wait to get there. We can't wait to get there. Now, in one sense, we hear that or we say that, but then we also say, we'll say something like, yes, I want to go there, I want to go to heaven, but I also want to be here too. Yes, I wanna go there, I wanna go to heaven, but I wanna be here too. I love my family, I love my church family, I love working for the Lord here. And in some way, that's obviously understandable, right? There's no issue with being, to quote the Apostle Paul, no issue with being hard pressed between the two. So the tension is indeed understandable. But consider this, consider what has never ever happened ever before. And I'm gonna say this, you'll say, well can you really say that? The answer is yes. This has never ever happened. No Christian upon arriving in heaven, the millisecond after they have died, no Christian says, you know what, I wish that I wasn't here. That has never happened and that will never ever happen. Now the opposite happens. There's a dear brother, dear sister in the Lord that we love so much and they left, they've gone to be with the Lord. And we say to one another, we say, I wish they were still here. I miss them so much. I wish he or she was still here. But you know what? They're not saying the same thing back. And it's not because they don't really like you and they just wanted to get away from you. No, they're not saying that because they're with Jesus. They're in the best possible place anybody can be. Of course they don't want to come back here. They're with Jesus. There is no better place to be. And they are able to behold him in the fullness of his glory. And it is indeed, no doubt, absolutely Awesome. You see there are certainly things that we're looking forward to in heaven. We're certainly looking forward to getting be able to See one another when we get there when we get to heaven We're also looking forward to being able to see all of the dear brothers and sisters who have gone before us Maybe some of these giants in the faith men like John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon it's gonna be great to get to meet them which by the way, we will get to meet them because we'll be there for a ever and ever, so there will be enough time. So we're looking forward to that. But ultimately, you know what it is that we're looking forward to? We're looking forward to being with Jesus. We're looking forward to being with Him. That's what makes heaven so awesome. And by the way, as we're talking about this, you have to know this, you have to know that there are no bad seats, no bad views in heaven. No bad seats, no bad views. Sometimes we'll go to like a special event, you might go to like a concert or sporting event, and somebody is going to ask you, hey, how was it? You may respond by saying, it was good, but our seats weren't the best. There were some things that we missed because of our seats. Or maybe you'll go away on vacation and somebody inevitably asks, hey, how was your vacation? You say, it was good, we had a lot of fun. How was the hotel? You say, the hotel was great, but you know what? I wish that we had paid a little bit more. I wish we would have paid for a premium view. It would have made it just so much better. But guess what? There's no bad seats and no bad views in heaven. Every single believer there has a front row, perfect view, beholding the incredible glory and majesty of Jesus. And they're worshiping Jesus. And I'll tell you what the unbeliever does. The unbeliever hears that and the unbeliever says something like this in his or her mind. The unbeliever says, okay, but what is there to do in heaven for fun? Like you're saying all these things, but what is there to do there for fun? And of course, we know how the believer responds. The believer responds to that unbeliever by saying, did you not just hear all of the things that we were talking about? Jesus is there. All of my brothers and sisters in Christ are there. What are you talking about fun? That is fun for the Christian, being with Jesus, being with my brothers and sisters in Christ. There's nothing more joyous that I could possibly think of. What is it that Jesus does here in verse 2? Jesus comforts the disciples and he comforts us with thoughts of heaven. And believer, you and I, we ought to comfort one another with thoughts of heaven as well. We ought to remind ourselves and encourage one another with these thoughts of heaven that this is where we are headed. Look in verse three, look at what Jesus says next. So he just told us a reason as to why we should be comforted. We should be comforted because we're going to heaven. And then look at what he says in verse three. He says in verse three, 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." I like how the NIV renders verse 3. Here's what it says in the NIV. It says that the Lord Jesus speaking to them, he says, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." What is it that Jesus is talking about here? Jesus here in verse 3 is talking about his second coming. That's what he's talking about. The fact that he will come back and that he will come back victoriously and he will come back triumphantly. And this, dear believer, this is cause for comfort. Christian, we are going to glory one way or the other, either via death, where we'll be received into heaven in the millisecond after we die, or via Christ bringing heaven with him here when he breaks open the sky, physically and bodily comes back and therefore then ushers in the new heavens and the new earth. The Bible is so clear about this, that this is what will happen, that Jesus will break open the sky and he will come back physically and he will come back bodily. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts, Acts chapter number one. Acts 1, let's look at verses 9 through 11. It says, now when he, that is Jesus, had spoken these things, while they watched, he, again Jesus, was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by in white apparel. who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. Now, how is it? that Jesus ascended up into heaven. Well, Jesus ascended up physically and bodily. We know that for certain because Jesus physically and bodily was raised from the dead. That's why he says at the end of the Gospel of Luke, he says a spirit does not have flesh and bone like I have. That's why also at the end of the Gospel of John, when he goes to meet with the disciples and Thomas isn't there, And then Jesus, he goes back eight days later on the following Sunday, on the following Lord's Day, he goes back and Thomas is there. And what does Jesus say to him? He says, put your hand in my side. He had an actual, and still has right now, a physical body. And when he breaks open the sky, he will physically and bodily come back here. You know what else the Bible says about this? The Bible says in Revelation 1 verse 7, it says that every single eye will see. We will physically, if we're still here when Jesus comes back, we will see with our own physical eyes, we will see Jesus physically in his body coming back. We will see it. Bible says every single eye will indeed see it. Now perhaps you hear that and you say, all right, Every eye, but how about this? How about if there was some guy at the Grand Canyon, and he works for the Grand Canyon, and he's down all the way at the bottom of the Grand Canyon doing something there, and there's just rocks all around. How will he be able to see this? How will he be able to see it with his own eyes? Or maybe you think, well, OK, how about those guys in the military? How about those guys in the Navy? You know, they're on a submarine. How are they going to be able to see this? Well, I don't know all of the details, but what I do know is that the Bible says, every single eye will see it. Every single eye will see the Lord Jesus Christ. as He physically comes back here. Here's how it'll go down. The Lord Jesus will break open the sky. He will come back. Every eye will see Him. Jesus, He will raise everybody physically from the dead. And then it'll be the final judgment. And the Lord Jesus will separate people into two categories. The sheep on His right, the goats on His left. and he will take the goat, those who do not believe in him, he will take them and he will take Satan and his minions as well and he will throw all of them into the lake of fire forever and ever. And you know what he'll do after that? He will usher in the new heavens and usher in the new earth. I just mentioned before how there are no bad seats, no bad views in heaven. Well, you know what? There are no bad seats. No bad views in the new heavens and in the new earth either. There's just perfect views there. The best views ever are there in a New Jerusalem. And the best views ever are there in a New Jerusalem, not because the New Jerusalem is so incredible. We've read it earlier in our first scripture reading in Revelation chapter 21. You heard and you saw all of these precious stones that are there, jasper, and amethysts and all these other stones that I don't even really know what they look like, but all of these precious and no doubt beautiful stones, the streets are gonna be gold and everything's just so incredible. But that's not what's gonna make the new Jerusalem so incredible. What's gonna make the new Jerusalem so incredible is that Jesus is there and we will be there with the Lord Jesus Christ and we ought to long for that place, just like how we long for heaven, we ought to long for the new heavens and the new earth. We ought to long for the new Jerusalem. What is Jesus doing in John chapter 14? He is comforting us, specifically in verses two and three, with thoughts of heaven and thoughts of his second coming. Listen here to the Heidelberg Catechism. This is what's in your bulletin. In the green half sheet of paper, listen to the question. This is question number 52 in the Heidelberg Catechism. The question is asked, how does Christ return to judge the living and the dead comfort you? Listen to the answer. It's a great answer. In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and remove the whole curse from me." Believer, you do know that this is what Jesus did for us. That's what he did. He is the one who is the judge and what did he do? Well, he offered himself to the judgment of God in our place. That's what he did, and then he removed the whole curse from us. That's what he did, but then look at what it says. It says, Christ will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven, or into the joy and glory of the new heavens and the new earth. This is so comforting. This is to be the most comforting thing that we think about. We're to be comforted as we think about heaven. We're to be comforted as we think about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. What it says in 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter, he says to Christians, he says, put all your hope in the return of Christ. Wait for it, put your hope in it, and find great comfort into it. You know, as we end here, There's one last thing that I want to bring out about John chapter 14 verses 1, 2, and 3. And I want to bring out this. I want to bring out the fact that our passage of scripture, John 14 verses 1, 2, and 3, is a great example of something. And I really shouldn't say great example. It's more so a perfect example. And it's a perfect example of Jesus putting his disciples before himself. He ministers to the disciples, to those who are his, in the most difficult situation that's ever about to happen. The cross is just looming right around the corner. And yet, what is Jesus doing? Well, he's putting his disciples first. Imagine if something like this were to happen. Imagine if there was a man, and this man was going to go in for brain surgery. He had a 10 centimeter, brain tumor, which is a really big brain tumor. He had that brain tumor and he's going in for surgery. The doctors have already said, listen, it's like a 50-50 shot. 50-50 shot that you'll get out of this alive. So a few hours before the surgery, that man's friends and family members, they come to see him in the hospital. And there's one friend or one family member who's there and he won't stop complaining about a cuticle. He won't stop complaining. He says things like, you guys have no idea how much this cuticle hurts. This is a pain that you just can't imagine. Eventually, That man who's going for brain surgery, eventually he's going to say, like, you know what? I don't want to hear about your cuticle. I don't want to hear about it. I'm sure it hurts maybe a little bit, but not really. Like, whatever. I don't want to hear about that. I'm about to go into brain surgery. How about we focus on me? How about we focus on me? But Jesus, He doesn't do that. Even though He's going to the cross, even though the worst thing ever, the worst thing that's ever happened to anybody is about to happen to Jesus. Even though that's the case, and He knows that that's going to happen, what does He do? He puts aside His own needs, and He puts those who are His before Himself. That's what He does. Christian. You and I, we are exhorted to follow after Jesus in this way. This is what the Apostle Paul is getting at in Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 4. The Apostle Paul, I'll just read there what he says in Philippians 2 verses 1 through 4. You don't necessarily have to turn there. But Philippians 2, 1 through 4, Paul writes, he says, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being of like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. How is it that the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, how is it that he could write that? How is it that he could say that? Well, he could say it and he could write it because he looked to Christ and he was able to say that we should be doing this because our Savior has shown us what it's like to put others before himself. And our passage in John 14 is a perfect example of that. Alexander McLaren, the excellent Scottish Baptist pastor from the 1800s, he said this about John 14 verses 1, 2, and 3. He said, what we have here is Jesus forgetting his own burden and turning to comfort and encourage those who are his. He puts his own needs aside and he ministers and cares for the disciples in order to comfort them. You would never know, if you didn't know the story, if you didn't know how it played out, you would never know that the cross is looming right around the corner because Jesus is putting his disciples before himself. Believer, let's let you and I follow after Christ in this way. Let's follow after Jesus in this way. Let's put one another before ourselves and let us look to comfort one another. And let us look specifically to comfort one another with thoughts of heaven and with thoughts of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we praise you for how good you are to us. God, we thank you for the comfort that you give to us, to those who are yours. God, we're so grateful that we could always go to you for comfort. God, would you forgive us for the fact that despite the fact that we know this, despite the fact that we know that we can and should go to you for comfort, we so often go to all of these other places for no good reason whatsoever. God, we ask that you would forgive us of that for when we do that. God, we also thank you for the fact that we could have tremendous comfort in the fact that when we die, we go immediately to be with you, oh God. And we thank you, God, as well, that we could have tremendous comfort about what the future holds. We know, Lord God, that in the future, your son, Father, the Lord Jesus, he'll break open the sky, he'll come back here, we will see him. And we know, God, what awaits us, the new heavens and a new earth, the new Jerusalem. God, we long for that. We long for that day, Father, when your son breaks open the sky and comes back, and when we see him. And God, we just, we pray that we would continue to comfort one another with these words. Father, lastly, I'd like to pray for anybody in here who has not yet been born again, who has not yet come to saving faith in Jesus. God, I pray that you would do a mighty work in their hearts. I pray, Lord, that you would please, by your grace, save sinners today. God, we know that you could do that. We know it's so easy for you to do. So we pray, Lord God, that you would do that. We thank you, God, for your word, and we pray all this in Jesus' precious name, amen.