man please remain standing and take take the take a bible together with me and open it to psalm 27 verse 13 and 14 for our old testament reading this morning Psalm 27, verses 13 and 14. If you are using the church Bible, you will find it on page 584. Psalm 27, verses 13 and 14. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, And let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Amen. Now turn your Bibles to the Gospel of John. As we continue making our way through the Gospel of John, by God's providence this morning, we find ourselves in chapter 14, verse 1 to 7. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Amen. This is the word of our God. It is living. It is eternal. It is infallible and inerrant. Let's pray together. Our gracious and heavenly Father, your word is truth. And now we ask you through the preaching of your word, to sanctify each and every one of us by the truth of your word. Lord, through the proclamation of your word, bring heaven down to us. Feed us on Christ your son. In his name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Today is the last Sunday of the year 2024. By God's grace, we are about to welcome another new year into our life. And interestingly enough, as we prepare ourselves to enter into a new year, God's providence has brought us to John chapter 14, the widely known and beloved chapter in the Gospel of John, where our Lord Jesus Christ tells his disciples at the time, and all of us who will believe in him after them, at the time that They were troubled in their hearts. And He tells them and all of us not to let our hearts be troubled. Instead, to believe in God and in Him also. Beloved, what an appropriate message and words from our Lord Jesus Christ. as we think of entering to a new year on Wednesday. Before I decided to continue with this sermon series this morning, I wrestled with myself. In fact, I thought of preparing a new sermon, a new message on new year. But then the moment I start reading and reflecting on the first verses of chapter 14, it dawned on me that if there is any time during which God's people need instruction and encouragement, it is when they face an unknown future. Like receiving, welcoming a new year. How many of you right now, as you think of the new year 2025, how many of you are anxious? How many of you are worried? Worried about what the year 2025 might bring into your life? How many of you are asking different what if questions right now? Questions like, What is going to happen to me and to my family if something happens to me next year? What if God doesn't answer my prayers and don't give the desire of my heart? What is going to happen to me? What if I die? What is going to happen to my wife and my children? What if the Lord doesn't answer my prayers and give me the wish of my heart next year? What if this describes the condition of your heart right now as you face another new year? Is that where you are spiritually, my brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you anxious about How the year 2025 will turn out for you and those whom you love and care for? How we as a church, Christ's church, make it through this new year? Are all these ifs troubling your heart right now? I'm sure they do. And you know why? Because you and I definitely are not different and stronger than the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. We too, being under a lot of pressures, we, uncertain future, can let our hearts be troubled, as the disciples did, being under a lot of pressures. Then we need the words of Christ. These words, do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. Here our Lord Jesus Christ is teaching His disciples and those who will come after them by faith in Him, you and I. What is the antidote, remedy for the troubled hearts is? The remedy, brothers and sisters in Christ, for troubled hearts is to trust in God and to trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, because He is God. Let me ask you this. Where is our Lord Jesus Christ right now? The scripture tells us our Lord Jesus Christ right now is in heaven, sitting at the right hand of His Father. What is He doing? He's doing three things. Listen carefully. He's ruling over the earth. He's praying for you. He's also preparing a room for you. So the Scripture teaches us, as God's children, the Lord Jesus Christ has gone before us to heaven to prepare a place for us, to prepare a room for us, and He will come back again to take us to that room so that you and I would live with Him forever. Why are you troubled right now, having this precious and glorious promise from your Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. It was based on this promise that Jesus told his disciples, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me. And I want us to unfold this truth, this promise, precious and glorious promise for believers. Not to let our hearts be troubled. The remedy, the medicine that Christ gives us here in our text this morning. Under three points. First, I want us to consider the command not to be troubled, but trust in God in verse one. Secondly, the promise in verse two and three. And then the provision explain it, verse 4 to 7. He talks about his provision for us, and Thomas and the other disciples couldn't understand, and he explains to them. So first, the command, not to let our hearts be troubled, but trust in God. Listen to Jesus, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. What we have here is a command from our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. And what is the command? Not to let their hearts be troubled. You know, when people read this, And hear this, it's always possible for people to ask, what? Why is Jesus commanding his disciples not to be troubled? Doesn't the Bible teach in Job 5-7, for example, that man was born for trouble? Didn't Jesus Christ tell us in the Scripture, John 16, 33, you will have trouble in this world? Is He contradicting with His own Word? Is He contradicting with the truth of the Scripture? Why is He commanding His disciples not to be troubled? How come? He tells his disciples not to be troubled in their hearts. Why is that the case here? What is the reason, brothers and sisters in Christ? Well, here Jesus is not talking about a Christian in trouble. But he's talking about the trouble in the Christian. That's not supposed to happen in the Christian life. The Christian in trouble? Yes. We were born for trouble, but not the trouble in our hearts controlling us, controlling our faith, taking us away from our trust in God. That's why you see Jesus is commanding his disciples, do not let your hearts be troubled. What it means is stop worrying. Stop being anxious no more, no longer. Jesus is saying, do not let worry, anxiety into your heart and take control of you and your faith in Jesus Christ. Now what caused the disciples to let their hearts be troubled? Let me refresh your mind what happened to them. Because that was the condition of the heart of the disciples in the upper room. And Jesus knew that because he knew what was in man's heart. He was God. He knew what was going on in the hearts of his disciples. They were troubled deeply. Why? Well, Jesus just told them that one of them will betray him, Judas. He just told them, the strongest among them, the main leader, Peter, will deny Him three times. And to make the matter worse, Jesus just informed them, I will believe in you, and you cannot come to the place where I am going. Now picture the life of the disciples after hearing those things. Their world was turned upside down. Their faith was shattered. They were troubled. They were saying to themselves, if they kill him, they will also kill us. There is no hope for us. We're done. We're finished. And our Lord Jesus Christ gave them this command. Do not let your hearts be troubled. And this is what is amazing, beloved. This is what's amazing about our Lord Jesus Christ. His love for us, His compassion for His disciples. Do you know in the Gospel of John chapter 13 and 14, two times the scripture tells us Jesus thinking about the agony of the cross, thinking about Judas betraying Him, Peter denied him three times, thinking about the interruption of his eternal communion with the Father for the first time in his life. Thinking about all those things, the Bible tells us Jesus was deeply troubled in his spirit. But at the same time, He was concerned about his disciples. He was concerned about the troubled hearts of his disciples. This is love, this is compassion. He had his own agony, facing death, not because of his sin, because of our sin. The disciples being scattered, leaving him because of fear. No one stood for him. No one tried to help him and to comfort him. Everyone left him except John, who was with him till the cross, where Jesus said, John, here is your mother, take her with you. And to Mary said, here is your son, take him with you. But all left him. But we see him caring for them. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this command is a command that was accompanied. was compassion. It was a command, but it was a gentle command. He was saying to his disciples, remember who I am. Remember what is yours in the kingdom of God. Do not let your hearts be troubled. The writer of the Hebrews in Hebrews 4 15 tells us, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect, has been tempted as we are, yet without sin he sympathizes with us. He knows when we are weak, he knows when our hearts are troubled. And he tells us not to be troubled. So what is the full command here? Do not let your hearts be troubled. But instead, Jesus said, in the place of letting your heart be troubled, trust, believe in God, and believe also in me. That's the remedy. That's your medicine. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Instead, believe in God, in my Father, believe also in me. He started with, them believing in God. Easy for, you know, this Jewish man who knew the Old Testament, who believed in the existence of God. Easy for them. He started with the idea of comfort in God, with God, who is all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful, all-caring, all-sufficient. You know, this man, they know all these attributes of God. They know the Old Testament. They know that God is all-powerful. They know that God is all-sufficient. Believe in God. In Psalm 56 3, the psalmist said, when I am afraid, he said, I put my trust in you. Now Jesus is saying, why don't you do that? You know this verse. You know what David said. You recite this every day in your life. What's wrong with you now? Do it. Psalm 42, 5, why are you cast down on my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God. Jesus is telling them, you know these verses. Do it now. Believe in God. What about Psalm 27? I believe that I look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. You see, Jesus was saying, don't you know all these promises in the Old Testament? You are from the covenant. You are in the covenant. You believe in God. And you believe in God without seeing Him. You believe in the invisible God. But I'm here. You see me. God in the flesh. So you believe in God who is invisible, who is spirit, whom you haven't seen. Believe in me, whom you see. With your naked eyes, you see me, I'm here. Believe in me also, because I'm also God. Jesus said in John 10, 30, I and the Father are one. In John 5, 17, Jesus said, my Father is working until now, and I'm working. I'm God. Believe in God. Believe also in me. You see, Jesus is claiming deity. He's claiming to be God. Now maybe some of you are asking, okay, that's for the disciples because they were seeing Jesus. He was just there before their eyes. What about us? How does this apply to us? This applies to us in a way that Peter exhorts us in 1 Peter 1.8. Listen to Peter. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see Him, yet you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. That's you and I. We don't see Jesus, but we love Him without seeing Him. We don't see Jesus, but we believe in Him without seeing Him. So do not let your hearts be troubled. Whatever you are facing right now, whatever you are thinking about next year, you're thinking about all the unanswered prayers, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. will provide. God is the God of provision. Believe in God, believe also in me. That brings us to the promise. The promise, you see, if Jesus would tell them, hey, do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me, and then he stops there, his comfort, his instruction will not be complete. but he brings them to the promise. Listen to the promise. Now think about this. In the upper room, when Jesus told them he was going to depart, He was going to leave them and the place where he was heading, the cross, they cannot go with him. Now, after seeing their hearts being troubled, you see what Jesus is doing? He's now taking them beyond crucifixion, beyond resurrection, beyond ascension. He brought them right to heaven. And he's telling them, listen, this is who you are. This is not your home. And you will not be perished here on earth. Whatever happens, your place is heaven. I will go to my father and prepare for you a room, a special room. It will be your room. You will be there. So he took them beyond off the cross. Don't worry about the cross. I will die, but I will rise up again on the third day. I will ascend to heaven. I will sit at the right hand of my father. I will rule. I'll prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you there so that you will live with me forever. Beloved, let's think about What Jesus is saying here, many rooms, he said. Many rooms in heaven. How do you understand this? See what Jesus is saying here? There is one house in heaven, our Father's house. He's not talking about the temple in Jerusalem. It was destroyed by the Romans. He's talking about heaven. He's talking about heaven. If you look on your bulletin in Hebrews 11, 16, This is heaven in the scripture. Heaven is called a country because of its immensity. Heaven is called a city because of its inhabitants, the community of believers. It's also called a house in the scripture because of the family who stays there, who lives there, the family of God. But it is one house, and in this one house are many, many rooms. In the ancient times, the fathers in Israel would build a house, one house. Every family member lives in that house. When the children get married, They build their own house in the house. So the father's house gets bigger and bigger and bigger. When the son is engaged, he first prepares a room for his bride and goes to the house of the bride and bring the bride to the room. That's the picture here. Jesus is saying, you are my bride. I'm preparing this room for you. The time is coming. I will come to get my bride, you, and bring you to your room. Enough for everyone. No one is going to live outside of heaven, but in heaven. inside our Father's house, where many, many rooms are. Jesus said, I will come. If I prepare this room for you, I'll make sure that I will come back to you and bring you to this room. Now listen to this carefully. These rooms in heaven belong to believers. They belong to the disciples. Unbelievers will not get any room in heaven. But the redeemed will be in these rooms that Jesus is preparing for them. Listen to the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning from verse 15. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the cry of a command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord, Therefore, encourage one another with these words, those of you who have lost your beloved ones. Isn't this your comfort? That you will see them in heaven? That you will meet them in heaven? If that was not true, if that was not the case, I would never stand in this pulpit and preach the word of God to you this morning. because I long to see my son in heaven. It is true. We will see them. We will live with Christ forever. This is true, beloved. This is where we belong. This is our home. So do not let your heart be troubled by Not finding a job that you are looking for, you know, being shortage of money, or anything that you lack in this life. Believe in God. Believe also in Christ. If He prepares this room for you, what is employment for Him? If He prepares this room for you, what is good health for Him? He does all things according to His will and for His own glory. And everything that He does is for our good. It is perfect because God is righteous in everything He does. Rest in who God is for you, in who Jesus is for you. This room, beloved, is reserved for you. Now, when Jesus told his disciples, listen, I want you to look beyond the cross, beyond resurrection, beyond ascension, I want you to look to heaven. And he said to them this, and you know the way to where I'm going. He's testing his disciples now. You know the way. And Thomas said, one of the disciples, Thomas said, actually, we don't know. We have no clue what you're talking about. You see, often you and I become so hard on Thomas. Don't be hard on Thomas. In fact, we should appreciate Thomas. He's one of the students in classroom where you sit and listen to a professor, and you are lost. You're not getting anything from your professor. You're lost. You're just staring at your professor. And one of the students raises his hand, and he says, Professor, would you clarify that for us? And I'm sure you say, praise God, I like this student. Thomas is like that. Teacher? We don't know. We don't know the way. Help us. We don't know the way. We don't understand what you're talking about. There's nothing wrong with, you see, asking the Lord, help me to understand even in your prayer. There is nothing wrong with you coming to your elders, to your pastor, and asking them, help me to understand this. And Jesus told them this. You see, he didn't rebuke him. We would rebuke Thomas, yes? Jesus didn't rebuke him. Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. Now, I'll be short. It's huge. But Jesus was saying, Thomas, I'm the way, and this is what it means. I am the only access to the Father. There is only one way, and this way is not a road, it's a person. If you want to get to heaven, if you want to get to that room, you first deal with me. You first believe in me. I am the only access to the Father. There are no multiple ways to heaven. There are no multiple ways to the Father. There's only one way, and I am the way. I am the way. And you will not get to the Father except through me. Only one way, the God-man, Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus is declaring the exclusivity of the Son of God. There is no other way to the Father except His Son. Secondly, I am the truth. If you want to know the Father, you need me. I am the truth about the Father. I am the truth concerning the Father. In fact, in John chapter 8, you remember Jesus telling his disciples, believe in me, know the truth, and the truth will set you free. The truth will set you free. And in John chapter 1, John tells us the law came to us through Moses. Grace and truth came to us through Christ. Grace, free gift of salvation, and truth about God came to us through Jesus. If you want to know the Father, you need to know the Son. You need to believe in the Son. John 1.18, no one has seen God, but the one who was with Him forever, eternally, His Son made Him known to us. He also said, I am the life. Which means, beloved, I am the life means I am the only source and the giver of eternal life. What you have in this life will not guarantee eternal life for you? I am the only source, the only giver of eternal life. John 1.4, in him was life, and the life was the light of man. And then listen to the Apostle John in 1 John. Chapter 1, 1 and 2, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify it and proclaim to you the eternal life. But this is a person. This is Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. And as we now prepare our hearts and our own life as Christians to welcome this new year, I want all of us to think about the Great Commission in relation to what Jesus claims about himself. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Do you know this is why the church was given the Great Commission by Jesus Christ? So that unbelievers would know that Christ is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. That's why we exist as a church. That's why we will continue as a church in the year 2025. to fulfill the great commission, so that people outside of us, outside of Christ, people who are living in darkness, without the knowledge of God, can you imagine your family member, your friend, anyone outside of Christ, not getting one of these rooms in heaven, but they will go to hell to be condemned forever. Imagine that. You're in heaven, and your beloved one in hell. So what do we do? We proclaim the way, the truth, and the life. And we leave it to the Holy Spirit to do his work, to transform people's life. so that they too will be in heaven with us. Live with Christ forever. So let me encourage all of you. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe in Christ. He is God. And Jesus is preparing for you a room in heaven. So let me ask you this, are you his? Are you his disciple? Are you ready for this room? Are you in Christ? And you also know him as the only way to the Father. Amen, let's pray. Our gracious and heavenly Father, Lord, we also from time to time let our hearts be troubled. So help us not to let our hearts be troubled, but instead to believe in you and to believe in your Son, Jesus Christ, to believe in heaven, to believe in the rooms that you have prepared for us, where we will see all our beloved ones who have gone before us. Comfort the hearts of your people this morning. Encourage our hearts by this glorious promise that your son Jesus Christ is indeed the way, the truth, and the life. And we pray in His name. Amen.