Thanks for joining us for our study tonight in the Gospel of John. Let's bow for prayer. Dear Father, we come before you at this time and want to ask for your guidance and your wisdom and the instruction that comes from your Holy Spirit here as we're diving into the Gospel of John, chapter 14, in which the Lord Jesus is instructing the disciples to let not their heart be troubled. in light of everything that's about to come upon them. So Father, I pray that you will show us an understanding of what's happening here and also give us an understanding of how we can apply these truths in our own life and our personal walk with you, that we might be faithful in serving you. So we ask your blessing now and we pray in Jesus's name, amen. Well, let's go there to the Gospel of John chapter 14, Gospel of John chapter 14. And I'd like to just read through this passage first, and then we'll go back and take a look at it. The Gospel of John chapter 14, verses one through 14. 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 unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know." Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither 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 he had known me, he should have known my father also. And from henceforth, he 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 work's 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. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it. Well, what's going on here? What's going on here? What's the context of what the Lord is talking about here? What's happening is that the Lord is preparing the disciples for his death. The Lord is preparing the disciples for his death. They've come to take the Passover meal together. And in chapter 13, the first few verses there, it explains to us that after the supper, verse two, the supper being ended, The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him, Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and he was come from God and went to God, he rises from supper and he washes the disciples' feet. So they've had the Passover meal and now the Lord is washing their feet and he told them that he's giving them an example that they should do as he has done. They call him Lord, And it's good that they call him that because that's what he is. But he has given them an example that they should do as he has done. And then he tells them that one of them is going to betray him. And they ask, who is it, Lord? Who's going to betray you? And so he talks with them about the fact that he's going to be betrayed. It doesn't say exactly what form this betrayal is going to take, but the fact is he's going to be betrayed and he sins. sends Judas Iscariot out to do the business of betraying him. And then Simon Peter, Simon Peter says, Lord, where are you going? And the Lord says, whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but shalt follow me afterward. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. The Lord's told them there's going to be a a very distressful, difficult situation. And he's going to be betrayed. And what he's doing now, he has had the Passover meal with them. He's given them an example. He's told them that betrayal is at hand. And now what he's going to do starting right here is he is preparing them for the fact that he's going to die. And he's telling them what he's going to be doing. And of course, the disciples there are confused. They're nonplussed. They haven't read the New Testament yet. They don't know what's going to happen. They just know that there they are with him. And they were expecting him to reestablish the nation of Israel and bring the nation of Israel to a place of authority and a place of primacy. Come with me to Luke chapter 24, verse 21. Remember here, after his resurrection, the Lord met two men on the road to Emmaus. And the name of one of them was Cleopas. And he says here, excuse me, let me get the verse here, verse 21. And he says, The chief priest and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And so that's what these guys are thinking about. They're still expecting the Lord to establish his kingdom. And again, in Acts chapter one, just go a few pages past where we are in John, the book of Acts chapter one and verse 6 and 7 tell us, when they therefore come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father hath put in his own power. So they were expecting that at this time the Lord was going to restore the kingdom to Israel, but the Lord wasn't going to do that. He was going to die. He was going to die and he was going to be gone for a long time, going to be gone for a long time. Now, see what we have here in John chapter 14 in this particular passage, he's talking about his death and then how he's going to return a long time later. Come with me again here. Let's look at verses one through four. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Okay, let's just pause right there. That's a significant statement, isn't it? That's telling them in the same way that you believe in God, I want you to believe in me. Wow, he's putting himself on the same level with God, isn't he? And he's he's telling them in the same way that they believe in God, they need to believe in him. That's a major statement because they are about to see him betrayed, put on trial, scourged, crucified, put to death and laid in the tomb. And he's telling them, you believe in God, believe also in me. And the idea, of course, is that everything that's going to happen to him over the next few days is all in accordance with God's plan. Therefore, they should not let their heart be troubled. They shouldn't be in anxiety. They shouldn't be in fear. They should should not be in chaos and distress. OK. on a human plane and in a natural human set of events, people would. They would be distressed. They would throw up their hands and say, give up. What's happening to me? What's happening around here? And they would do all kinds of things to get away because they'd be in fear that we're next. The Romans are coming after us. But the Lord here is telling them there are some things that are about to happen. Don't worry. Don't don't worry. Don't don't give up. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. That's an interesting word, mansion, isn't it? In my father's house are many mansions. Actually, it's an interesting English word. The word mansion actually traces its lineage back to a Greek word, meno. And the Greek word meno means abide. It means I stay or this is where I stay. This is where I, this is where I abide. In fact, it's usually translated abide. And if it were translated in that same way here, it would say in my father's house are many abodes, many abodes. So the idea is not mansions in the sense that we think of mansions. When we think of mansions here in the 21st century, we think of a humongous house with big empty rooms. with a few people rattling around in it. But that was not even the meaning of mansion back in the 1600s when the word was translated here. It simply meant a place where people live. A mansion was a place where people live. But in the meantime, in the intervening 400 years, we've come to apply it just to palaces where people stay. But whenever the Lord says in my father's house are many mansions, he's saying in my father's house, there are many places to stay. There are many abodes. So we might tend to think of them as apartments. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. But that does beg the question. The father's house. What is the father's house? In my father's house are many mansions. Well, I remember Psalm number 23 and the Lord wants us to think of things in reference to what the scripture says. I did read something where someone was talking about this passage and they said, well, the whole universe is God's house. And so just think of all the places in the universe that the Lord might let you live throughout eternity. Well, that's an interesting thought. And the man that said it was a preacher who actually has a radio program, but that doesn't really fit the scriptural framework, does it? The scriptural idea of the father's house comes from Psalm 23, doesn't it? Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And Second Chronicles, chapter six, if you all would come with me there to Second Chronicles 26, we're just getting a biblical idea of what is the father's house. 2 Chronicles 26, I'm sorry, 2 Chronicles 6. And what's happening here is that they have built the temple. They have built the temple seven years in building the temple. And now Solomon has the children of Israel all gathered together there around the temple as he is dedicating the temple to God. And in the course of that dedication, he's he is going to offer up a lengthy prayer. And here in verse 21, Second Chronicles, chapter six. Second Chronicles, chapter six. Let's see. Let's just go ahead and put in a verse 18, verses 18 through 21. Will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house which I have built. Have respect, therefore, to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee, that thine eyes may be opened upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there, to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. Hearken, therefore, unto the supplication of thy servant and of thy people, Israel, which they shall make toward this place. Hear thou from heaven, hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven, when thou hearest forgive. What is God's dwelling place, according to this? Hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place. Right now. Now go back. Go back just a bit. Whenever he said in verse 18, but will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven, that is the sky. the sky, the firmament. Genesis chapter 1 refers to the sky as the firmament. Heaven and the heaven of heavens. Well, the heaven of heavens is what we would call outer space. Once you get up above the sky, above the atmosphere around the earth, then you're in the heaven of heavens, that which is above the heaven. Outer space cannot contain thee. But the place where God dwells is called heaven. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 tells how he was caught up into the third heaven, paradise, and heard things that are not lawful to talk about. So we're talking about God's dwelling place, God's house is heaven. And there are many mansions there. And Jesus is telling the apostles here, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also. With Riko, you know, and the way you know. Let's stop and consider what he's talking about there. I go and prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you unto myself. All right. Got that? I'm going to go away, prepare a place and then come again and receive you to myself. All right. I want to ask you to keep your finger there and turn over a page to the Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 19. And let's begin in verse 17. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, what is this that he sayeth a little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me because I go to the father? They said, therefore, what is this that he sayeth a little while we cannot tell what he sayeth. Now Jesus knew what they were desirous to ask him and said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of that? I said a little while and you shall not see me. And again, a little while you shall see me. Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now say, therefore, excuse me, and ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice in your joy. No man take it from you. OK. So here he's talking about a time that he's going to be gone for a little while and then they'll see him again and rejoice. Okay, are y'all with me? So that's one. But here in chapter 14, he says, I'm gonna go and prepare a place for you and receive you unto myself. All right, well, obviously, in Chapter 16, he's talking about his death and resurrection, isn't he? He's talking about the fact that he's going to be gone for a little while and they're going to weep and lament. The world's going to rejoice. But in just a little while, they're going to see him again and then they're going to rejoice. That's clearly talking about the resurrection. At the resurrection, they saw him for they saw him for 40 days after after he was raised and then he went up to heaven without them. So they saw him, they rejoiced, and he was with them, and then he went back to heaven. But here in chapter 14, he says, I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you unto myself. So here he's talking about a different time. Here he's talking about how he's going to be gone. for a while, but then whenever he comes back, he's going to receive them to himself. Let's go to First Thessalonians chapter four. First Thessalonians four. Verse 14, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you, verse 15, First Thessalonians 4, 15. This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. See, this is what the Lord is talking about there in chapter 14. He's going to go prepare a place for us, and then he's going to come and receive us. We're going to meet him in the air and be with him forever. Do you see? So that's what's going on here in chapter 14. But later on in chapter 16, he's talking about his death and resurrection. Let's go ahead now and take a look at verses five through eleven, five through eleven, and the idea here in verses five through eleven is ultimately is this. Is it the Lord's going to go away and while he's gone, we're going to continue the work. The Lord's going to go away, but we're going to remain here and we're going to continue the work which he began. Whither I go, you know in the way you know. Verse five, Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither 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 he had known me, he should have known my father also, and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. All right, so the Lord's gonna be gone, He's going to be gone. He's going to be he's going to be with the father. And we're going to have the responsibility to share that that truth, that he is the way, the truth and the life. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the father, and it suffices us. Wow, what a remarkable thing for Philip to say. But you can see these guys obviously haven't read the New Testament, have they? They have a lot of questions. They have a lot of questions. They need some clarification here. And the Lord is explaining to them. Whenever Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father, but by me, he's answering Thomas's question. Whenever Thomas says to him, we know not whither thou goest, the Lord is telling him he's going to the father. And the only the only way anyone else can get to the father is through him. And then Philip says, Lord, show us the father and it suffices us. Suffice it. That's an interesting word, isn't it? It's related to the word sufficient and which is related to the word satisfy. It will satisfy us if you will show us the father. So the Lord is telling us, telling the apostles, I'm going to be gone. I'm going to be with the father. And Philip says, well, show us the father and that will be sufficient for us. In other words, we will feel a lot better if we if we can see the father, if we know who the father is and that will then we'll know where you are and that'll make us feel a lot better. And then the Lord says, 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 has seen the Father. How sayest thou then, Show us the Father? This is one of those passages that that people look at and say, oh, the Trinity is beyond comprehension. Well, this passage is not beyond comprehension. Philip said, Lord, show us the father. Have I been so long time and yet you have not known me. He that has seen me has seen the father. And of course, what the Lord does here is let's go ahead and read the next two verses to go with this. 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 work's sakes." Well, Jesus says, no man is going to come to the Father but by me. And of course, that lines up with the book of Acts chapter 4, verse 12. where Peter told Sanhedrin that there is none other name. under heaven, given among men, whereby you must be saved. Whenever Philip says, Lord, show us the father and that will be sufficient for us. Hey, Philip was the one just two chapters before in Chapter 12, verses 20 and 21. There were some Greek proselytes that came to the came to the temple for the Passover feast. And they came to Philip and they said, sir, we would see Jesus. And now here's Philip telling Jesus, sir, we would see the father. We want to see the father. And the idea, the Lord's answer to him is that he has shown the father to them the whole time he's been with them. If you've seen Jesus, you have seen the father. Now, what does that mean? Let's go to the gospel of John chapter one and verse 18. Here in John 1, 18, as John is introducing us to this biography of Christ, he tells us what we're going to see as we're looking at the life of Jesus Christ. And he says this. Let's just go ahead and go to verse 15. John bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he that is he bear witness of Jesus. This was he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. So Christ has manifested, he has revealed, he has made known God to us. That's what he came to do. Also, in reference to that, come with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter one, verses one, two, and three. Hebrews 1, verses 1, 2 and 3. And what we're seeing here, of course, is the idea that that Jesus was not the same person as the father, but that Jesus was an identical representation of the father. Hebrews 1, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who, okay, his son, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Again, verse three, His son being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. Express image is the exact representation of the person of God. Jesus Christ looked exactly like the father and the father looks exactly like him. And we're not talking about just in a physical way, we're talking about in the kind of a person he is, the kind of being, He is in his goals, perspectives, attitudes, kinds of actions. Christ is the exact representation of the Father. Come with me also to John chapter 17. So Jesus is not the same being as the Father. He is a different being from the father. He's exactly the same kind of being that the father is. And if you've seen Jesus, you have seen the father because they are exactly alike. We use that kind of language quite frequently, don't we? Have you ever had a situation in which you have said to someone, oh, yeah, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Right, so there are times whenever we say that maybe if you've seen a particular house or if you've seen a particular kind of animal or something like that, if you've seen one, you've seen them all, which simply means that they are all alike. They are all alike. And if you've seen Jesus, you have seen the father because they are exactly alike. But to see that Jesus and the father are not the same being and they're not the same person. Notice what the Lord says here in John 17. And let's just go straight to verse five. This is his prayer. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." So before the world existed, before Genesis chapter one, verse one, Christ existed, He was with the Father, and He shared the glory of the Father. Let's continue on here where Jesus said, verse 10. 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." When Christ speaks, he's not speaking on his own accord. He's not speaking of his own will. He's not speaking his own individual thoughts. He is speaking in complete unity. completely as a representative, an agent of the Father. So whenever he speaks, he's just saying what the Father told him to speak. So here he is. in human form, God in human form, but as God in human form, he's not doing his own human will. He has yielded himself to the father to say and think and do and act exactly as the father does. And that's why he says in John chapter 10, verse 30, I and my father are one. You can't put a razor blade in between them. They are together. They're in perfect unity together, operating in unity together in such a way that Jesus could say, the Father is in me and I am in the Father. They are within the circle of one another's will, one another's plan, one another's attitudes. They are completely unified. Let's take a quick look here at the last two verses, our last three verses 12 through 14. Barely, barely I say unto you, he that believeth on me, The works that I do shall he do and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my father. Let's let's stop right there. The Lord did some wonderful, magnificent works and he calmed the sea. He fed the multitudes with five loaves and a few fishes. He raised the dead. He did. He did a lot of things. Pause. What happened on the Day of Pentecost? The Holy Spirit came down. How many people were saved that day? 3,000, there's not any account of that kind of an impact in the lives of so many people while Jesus was on the earth. The impact and the great things that the apostles, the disciples, and those that believe on him are going to do is the impact of changing people's lives. That's a greater work than passing out bread, stopping a storm, right, or even raising a dead person from back to life. The most powerful thing is the saving of a soul. The most powerful thing, the greatest work that can be done, the greatest miracle, and many of us have said and thought this, the greatest miracle that happened in my life is when the Lord saved me. whenever he took me as a spiritually dead individual, a spiritually dead person in the likeness of the first Adam. And I trusted him and he made me spiritually alive and made me a new creature in Christ. Well, those that believe in Christ don't don't do that changing, do they? But we share the message that God uses to bring about that change. So in other words, Christ came and he started the work. He started the work of bringing the gospel into the world. And that's legitimate to say the gospel of Mark begins with the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So he came with that, with the specific message as to who the Messiah was going to be, how he was going to die to pay for sins and be raised from the dead. And so he did that, but then those that believe in him carry on that message all throughout the whole world. And in that sense, they're doing greater works than what he did. Sometimes when people read that and think, wow, Jesus raised somebody from the dead. Hmm, I wonder how many people I can raise from the dead. You know, he did the miracle of giving sight to the blind. Well, I'm going to have a big meeting here and have all the blind people come and I'm going to put my hands on them and they're all going to receive sight. He healed one person, I'll heal ten. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about greater works in the sense of the impact upon millions and millions of people by those who believe in him. But how is that accomplished? How is that impact accomplished? Is it accomplished just by the will of those that believe? No, it's accomplished through Christ answering prayer. And that's why he goes on to say, 13, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name. And we've got to connect these two together. The works that I do, shall he do also? He's going to do the same things that I do. Whenever the one person is doing exactly the same thing on behalf of someone else, than that person who is acting in behalf of someone else is doing it in the name of the person that they're acting for. Does that make sense? Well, let's see here. Miles Standish and John Alden. Does anybody remember that story? Priscilla Mullen. Okay, so here we are. We're going back to 1620. The pilgrims have landed. They've established their place there at Plymouth. And Miles Standish, the soldier that was on the Mayflower, well, he would like to marry Priscilla Mullen, but he's too busy to go and try to woo her. So he sends his friend, John Alden, OK, so John Alden goes to see Priscilla Mullen and he's gone there to ask Priscilla Mullen if she'll marry Miles Standish. OK, does anybody know that story? Well, now you know. So John Alden has gone there to ask Priscilla Mullen if she would marry Miles Standish. OK, so what's happening there? What's happening is John Alden was the agent of Miles Standish, and he is there talking to Priscilla in the name of Miles Standish. He is Miles's representative. He's Miles' representative. He is there doing what he's doing in the name of Miles Standish. Now, he doesn't have to say, now I'm here in the name of Miles Standish, and in the name of Miles Standish, I'm asking you if you'll consider marrying Miles Standish in the name of Miles Standish. He doesn't have to keep repeating in the name of Miles Standish. It's what he's doing that's in the name of Miles Standish. Okay. Those who believe in Christ that are going to serve him and do the works that he wants them to do, they are doing those works in his name. They're doing them as his representative. So whenever they ask Jesus for something in his name, that's not talking about, be sure to say in Jesus' name at the end of your prayer, it's not talking about that. It's talking about whatever you do, you're doing as a representative of Christ. And when you ask the Lord for something in order to fulfill the work that he has sent you to do, you're asking him for that to enable you to do the work. that he has sent you to do, then you're asking it in his name. You're not asking it for your own purposes. You're asking it for his purposes to fulfill his work. So whenever we ask something in his name, that's saying that we are asking him for something in order to accomplish his will. And the things that we ask him to give us so that we can accomplish his will He'll do that. But if we just ask something to consume it on our own lust, he's not obligated to answer that prayer. But he did obligate himself to answer the prayers that we ask on behalf of doing his work. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son. And if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Well, dear Father, we come before you now and thank you for for this passage of scripture. Father, I pray that you will help each one of us as those that believe in Christ to. have our lives engaged in doing the will of Christ, in bringing others to the Lord Jesus, and seeing how you make provision for us, to provide for us as we go about to do your will, and also to ask you for things, to accomplish your will, to see other people come to know Christ as their Savior, and to see how you accomplish that. Well, Lord, I pray, Father, that while we're here in this world at this time and Christ is not here among us in the same way that he was at this time, but Father, I pray that we will trust in him, trust in his plan, trust in the fact that he's going to return. And regardless of the circumstances, let not our hearts be troubled. but instead to fully rely on him and on his word and to allow the peace of God to rule in our hearts. So we thank you, Father, and ask your blessing now on your word. And we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.