Our scripture reading this evening is from the gospel according to John chapter 14. And we'll read the first 19 verses of that chapter, John 14 verses 1 through 19. Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whether I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, "'Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.' "'Jesus saith unto him, "'Have I been so long time with you, "'and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? "'He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. "'And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? "'Believest thou not that I am in the Father, "'and the Father in me? "'The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you, yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. We read the word of God thus far and now direct our attention especially to verses two and three. The words of our text on this Ascension night. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, spoke the words of our text to his disciples just prior to his capture, his trial, and his death on the cross. And when he said to the disciples here in verse two, I go, and when he pointed out where he would be going, I go unto my father, then Christ had in mind at this time his ascension into heaven. that ascension would be his permanent departure from the disciples. And our Lord Jesus Christ knew that that would be troubling to them. And that would be troubling to them in addition to the fact that they were already troubled by what he had said concerning the end of his earthly life, namely that he would be captured and he would be killed. And even that he had mentioned in the previous chapter here that he would be betrayed by one of his disciples. And then to Peter, he said that he would be denied by one of his disciples. The hearts of the disciples were troubled. And so Christ said to them, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. And believe this, when you believe in me, believe that I will ascend to prepare a place for you in heaven, and I will come back again to take you to myself. And the point that Christ was making to the disciples, wanted him to remain with them was this, that it would be far better for them that he go away to heaven than that he stay with them. And it would be far better for them because he would prepare a place for them. And he would prepare a place for all who are his That truth settled, by the grace of God, the hearts of the disciples. And that ascension truth is also what Christ uses by His Spirit to settle our troubled hearts. We often have troubled hearts in this life. Hearts that are overwhelmed and troubled because of life's afflictions and hearts that have been in recent years and still now perhaps troubled because of what has been our experience as believers and as churches. Hearts that can be filled with turmoil and worry and fear. Hearts that can be filled with sadness and confusion. But Christ has ascended. And he has ascended with purpose. And he has ascended in order to do important work for our eternal future. There is no hope for us in this world, nor is there hope for us in life beyond this earthly life unless Christ has ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us in glory. Consider then this word of God under the theme, Christ ascending to prepare a place for us and notice three things concerning that, the place, the preparation, and the purpose. I'm sure, beloved, you have often asked the question, what is heaven like? That's understandable. We're interested in knowing about heaven. After all, we're going to spend eternity there, and obviously if we're going to spend eternity in heaven, we like to know and want to know what heaven is like. But besides that, we have a longing to be in heaven, and that longing that the child of God, that desire that we have to be in heaven, is connected to our knowledge of heaven and our knowledge of what heaven is like and what life in heaven is like. And that knowledge and interest that we have in heaven and in going to heaven and being there and experiencing whatever heaven is grows for the child of God as we get older and as we are brought closer to the reality of death. And perhaps we think especially of heaven when there is a death in our families, when God takes a loved one. We think of the fact that they are in an instant gone from this earth and in heavenly glory, and we wonder sometimes, what are they experiencing? What is heaven like for them right now? In answer to that question, we understand that we cannot fully answer it. And we cannot fully answer the question of what heaven is like because human language and earthly words cannot adequately describe heaven. Besides which, our human minds are limited and our human minds cannot comprehend what is heavenly. Our human minds are limited to understanding things in terms of what is earthly and what is part of our common earthly experience here. The Bible, too, is not that detailed in describing heaven because of these things. and mostly when the word of God, when scripture describes heaven for us, it describes heaven in terms of what heaven is not, the things that will not be part of heavenly life, the things that will not be part of our heavenly experience, namely the things that we experience now that will come to an end when we are taken to heaven. Think of that, for example, in Revelation 21 verse four. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Heaven will not be any of those things anymore. But even though the Scripture doesn't give us detailed descriptions of heaven, the Bible is not silent about heaven and about heavenly glory and beauty and life either. And what God's Word especially does in describing heaven to us and telling us what heaven is like is that it tells us what life in heaven will be like. What will life in heaven be like? This, Revelation 21 verse three again, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And there, the description of heaven is that covenant fellowship of heaven. And that's what our text gives us too. And that's what Christ is describing for us in our text and does so in these words. Heaven means this. Heaven means living in your father's house of many mansions. That's heaven. That's life. in glory. Heaven is our Father's house, our Father's home. A home, as you know, is first of all a place where you have a father, and by implication for us, also a mother. A person may live in a huge mansion, but that mansion is not a home without a father and a mother to make it a home. But on the other hand, someone may live in a tiny hovel, a shack, a falling down cottage, And that place is a home because there is a father who makes it a home. And there in that home where there is a father and by implication a mother, there is love and there is fellowship amongst the members of the family. There in that home there is family joy that is experienced by those who belong to the family. And there is a closeness with each other that they experience nowhere else in life and nowhere else in society and nowhere else in the world. The home, the closest possible fellowship. Our sin in our homes and our sin in our lives disrupts that kind of fellowship frequently in our homes and families. But that's the idea of a home, a place of blessed fellowship. And that's what heaven will be, a home to us. and it will be our Father's home, our Heavenly Father's home, a home that is filled with love, a home that is filled with a tender love of our Father for us who are His children, a tender love that will be experienced by us like never before because now our experience of that tender love of God is always tainted by sin. and by weakness of faith. But in heaven we will experience that tender love of God in perfection. And in heaven we will be living with our Lord Jesus Christ and seeing Him face to face in that home as our older brother in that home and family, and living with each other as fellow believers in perfect love, unity, and peace. Because not only in heaven will there be no more tears, and no more pain, and no more sorrow, but also no more sin. And the text says, concerning that home, that there is in that home in heaven many mansions. Literally, as you know, that word mansions is resting places. Resting places. You think of a bed. You come home from work, and you lay down your weary body on a bed after a long, hard day of physical labor, and you rest. Heaven will be, heaven is a place of rest. Eternal rest for the weary people of God. When we get to heaven, our tiresome and difficult pilgrimage here on this earth as we live in a hostile and unfriendly world will be finished, over, done. Finally, we'll be able to rest from all the weariness especially the spiritual weariness of life here below. What a wonderful rest that will be. It will be the eternal rest of our souls from sin itself, the rest that will mean we will no longer struggle with temptation and we will no longer struggle with sin. We will no longer be guilty of hating others and being We will no longer be hated by others. We will no longer experience hurting others and being hurt by others. be delivered and there will be rest, there will be an end to all of the terrible consequences of our sin in this life, including the consequences that we currently live with and the troubled mind and the burdened soul that we live with till our dying day because of our own sin. rest from sin. And then rest also from all of the effects of sin. Rest from sickness and pain and diseases and aches. rest from the sadness and tears and sorrows of earthly life. Rest from death and loneliness that results from death. Rest from broken homes and from ungodly rulers and from corruption in society, rest from the natural catastrophes that God sends upon this world and into our lives, and rest from trouble in the church, too. There is trouble and unrest in the church because we are part of the church militant. A church that is far from perfect, a church that is tainted with sin. But we will have rest in heaven from all of that, too, because we will be part of the church triumphant in glory. And Christ says, that's what I'm preparing. Christ says to the disciples and Christ says to us, I am ascending to heaven. And I am ascending to heaven for this purpose, to prepare a place for you where you will experience forever and ever rest. Blessed, eternal rest. You probably know, beloved, what you and I will say. when we get to heaven. This is what we will say. Now I am home. For a while, when I was living on earth, I was away from home. I was on a journey. I was in the world. I was a pilgrim. and a stranger there. And life may have seemed to be okay at times, but deep down in my life in the world, I had no rest, no perfect rest. There was constant turmoil, constant turmoil because of troubles and constant turmoil in my soul and heart and life because of set. But now that I am in heaven, the child of God will say, here in my father's house, I'm home, I'm home again. with God and with all of his family. This is where I belong. Finally, I have and finally I experience perfect rest and joy and peace. You will say when you get to heaven, now I'm high. Well, Jesus Christ departed from his disciples to prepare this place. It says that in verse two, if it were not so, I would have told you, and then this, I go to prepare a place for you. And the question is, how does Christ prepare this place for us? What is he doing and what does he need to do in order to prepare this place of rest? Well, first of all, beloved, you have to remember that when the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to his disciples at this time, he was speaking to them prior to his death on the cross. And he does say to them, I am going home. He repeats that in the chapter that we read. I am going home to my father to my God and to your God, but for Him to go home to His Father in heaven, there was only one way, and that way for Him was the way of the cross. And Christ, therefore, when He says to the disciples, I am going to prepare a way for and I am going to prepare heaven for you, he has in mind the fact that he is going to the cross, first of all, to prepare heaven. He is going to the cross in order to suffer the accursed death. He was going to go to the cross to face the eternal wrath of God. He was going to the cross to lay down his life for them, to shed his blood for them, and to endure the eternal torments hell for them. And that was the only way for him to go back to his father in heaven. And so that was the main way in which he prepares heaven for us. A crucial work for us as those who belong to him. Sinners cannot live with God. Sinners have no right to go to heaven. It would only be and can only be through the atoning death of Christ that the way is open for us to go into God's home in glory. And therefore for Christ to say to his disciples, And for Christ to say to us, I go to prepare a place for you, was for Christ to say to them and to us, I'm going to the cross. I'm going to the cross in order to earn for you the right to go to heaven. I am going to the cross in order to deliver you from the clutches of Satan and death and hell. And I'm going to the cross in order to earn new robes of righteousness for you so that you have the proper spiritual clothing in order to enter heaven. Christ has done that. The way is fully prepared for us to go to heaven in that regard. But that's not all. There are other things that Christ does, that Christ is doing in order to prepare heaven for us. And one of the things that Christ is doing to prepare heaven for us is that from God's right hand, where he was exalted to be king of kings and lord of lords, to have all authority and power over all things in the heavens and upon the earth, from God's right hand, he gathers the church and brings that church to glory. He has all power. He has all dominion in all of the universe. He received all authority in heaven and upon earth. He was given sovereignty over all things when he was exalted to God's right hand, and he now rules over all things. We confess Jesus is king. But there is one thing that he is focused upon and that he is accomplishing through his power and rule. And it's not to improve earthly life for us. It's not to keep the USA as a safe country in which we can live. It's not to eradicate all sin in society and in the church, but it is his work of bringing the elect to salvation and then bringing those who have been saved by him to heaven. And when any saved child of God is taken by Christ to heaven, that makes heaven more prepared, more ready than it was before. More ready because another member of the family of God has been taken home, and one by one, More and more of God's saints are going to glory, going to heaven. The family of God in heaven is becoming more and more complete every time a child of God is taken through death to glory. Every death of a believer, therefore, brings us closer to when all of the elect of God will be in heaven. and this promise of Christ will be fulfilled. And that gives us a way by faith to view the death of a child of God, no matter who that child of God is. And a way even to look at our own upcoming death. part of Christ's preparation of heaven. But then thirdly, Christ prepares heaven in this way. He prepares heaven by preparing us, each of us, for heaven. There's a spiritual preparation that every one of us needs. That spiritual preparation that we need for heaven is the preparation of our souls. Our souls must be saved, and our souls must be preserved, and our souls must be strengthened in faith. and our souls must be sanctified, made holy. That's very necessary because only those who are holy will live with the Lord. As Hebrews 12 verse 14 says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Heaven is for saints. And so we must, by the work of our sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, from the right hand of God in glory, we must be sanctified, we must be made holy, and by that be prepared for glory. And of course the chief way in which Christ sanctifies us, makes us holy, and thus prepares us for glory is by means of the faithful preaching of the gospel to us, and the Spirit applying that word to our hearts, the preaching as the chief means of grace, the preaching that converts the souls of sinners. the preaching that works true saving faith in the child of God, the faithful preaching that is a means of grace for the sanctification of the people of God. Christ is at work in that, preparing us for heaven. It makes us thankful, it ought to, for faithful preaching of the word. The goal is preparation for heaven. But Christ also accomplishes that preparation of each of us for heaven through his use of the troubles, afflictions, and chastisements that we experience in our life on this earth. He does that because he has in view the fact that each of us will occupy a unique place in heaven. Each of us will occupy a unique place in God's home, in God's family. Even, that's even how it is in our earthly families. Every member occupies a unique place. And if one of the members of the family is missing, then that place is empty and no one else can fill that place. No one else can replace the one who is no longer there. The same in glory. Christ knows that we will each occupy a unique place in glory. Each of us is special to him. Each of us is unique as a child of God. We may not feel that way now. But to Christ, that is true. And that being true, Christ is now preparing each of us for our unique places in glory. Using all of life's circumstances and using all of life's experiences for us to prepare us and to shape us for that special place that only you can occupy in the family of God and in the glories of heaven. No one else can take your place. No one else can occupy your seat around the eternal feast of fellowship with God that we will enjoy. In that place, each of us will praise God in a unique way, for the unique way in which Christ has prepared us for heaven through a life of much suffering. As Job confessed in Job 23 verse 10, but he knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. That's what Christ is doing too, and a very integral and necessary part of that work of Christ as he prepares each of us for our unique place in glory, even through suffering, affliction, chastisement, consequences for sin even, is this, that those things increase our longing for glory. When all is well, your desire for heaven is probably quite low. You don't think much about it, you don't have a strong desire for it to happen, you don't have an urgent prayer for Christ to come or for God to deliver you from this life. As a young person, you might say, yes, I want to go to heaven one day, but not yet. Come, Lord Jesus, come, not too quickly, because there is all kinds of things in this life that I want to accomplish, do, experience, enjoy, before this life is over. But it's very different when our lives are filled with trouble, a great longing, and even a jealousy of those whom God has already taken to heaven. Christ is preparing us through affliction. So we can be thankful not only for the faithful preaching of the word of God that prepares us, but also for affliction that prepares us. And then Christ gives this blessed promise. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. This is an expression of yet another purpose of Christ in his ascension. A twofold purpose. He has ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us, and he has ascended heaven to prepare a place for us with a further purpose of coming back again to take us to himself. That's what he says. I go to prepare a place for you in order to come back again. You mustn't think, he said to his disciples, you mustn't think I am departing and that's it. You mustn't think I am going to leave you and you will never ever see me again. You mustn't think that I will return to heaven and return to my Father and forget about my church and my people in this world. No, the purpose of my departure and the purpose of my preparing a place for you in heaven is so that I can return again and take you to be with myself. And what a wonderful promise that is, that where I am, Christ said, There ye may be also. Christ did not stay on earth as even the disciples wished he would in order to establish an earthly kingdom and take them to himself in such an earthly kingdom, but Christ said, I am going to heaven so that I will take you to myself in heaven. in glory. He's coming back. He's coming back again so that we may be with Him forever. He is coming back again so that we may be with God our Father through Jesus Christ our Savior. He is coming back again so that we may rest. Rest forever from all our toils and sorrows, our labors and our sins. He's coming back again so that we may live gloriously and blessedly in the family of God. One day. He will return on the clouds of glory. He will bring to their heavenly home the few who will still be living upon this earth, who have not yet been taken to glory, for whom he has not yet returned as he does when a believer dies now. And that will be the most significant day that has yet to take place in all of history. The day when our salvation will be fully realized. The day when our salvation will be fully experienced forever and forever. The eternal rest will begin for us. how blessed we are that Christ has ascended to heaven. This is the comfort for us of his ascension. And so may God strengthen our faith by this word, too, so that we say, I believe in Christ, and I believe this promise, this sure word. And not only do I believe it, but I am eager for its fulfillment. Return, Lord Jesus, return quickly. Come soon to take us to be with Thee forever. May Christ come quickly. Amen. O God and our Heavenly Father, we are thankful for our Savior, thankful for His rule over all things with a view to His return and His taking us to Himself and to Thee in glory. May He come quickly for us. and we know he does not delay his coming. We are eager for it, and we pray that it may be very, very soon. In Jesus' name, amen. For our final Psalter number, we turn to 188. Psalter 188, that's a versification of Psalm 70. Make haste, O my God, to deliver, I pray, O Lord, to my rescue. Make haste, let those who would harm me be filled with dismay and in their own folly disgraced. We'll sing all four stanzas of 188. ♪ O my God, to Thee ever I pray ♪ ♪ O Lord, to Thy rescue make haste ♪ ♪ Like those who would hardly be held with dismay ♪ ♪ And in their own wildest praise ♪ And the bitter path in confusion o'er, Who in my destruction would join, Ashamed and defeated, their only reward, Whose fears and eagerness now deplore, ♪ To seek thee and make thee their choice ♪ ♪ Great gladness and blessed blessing ♪ ♪ May all those who love thy salvation rejoice ♪ ♪ And constantly magnify thee ♪ Try indeed me, and I now I implore. Engage to the rescue, I pray. Thy Savior, thou art, and thy strength evermore. ♪ No longer I run in the rain ♪ Alleluia, alleluia. Earth and heav'n is sweet accord. Joy to sound Jehovah's praises. Tell the glory of the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.