beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I was talking with one of our sisters this week, and it's interesting that when you start reading from John 13 right up to John 16, all of that happened in probably 15 minutes, 20 minutes maybe, and we go week by week by week, and it's like, oh yeah, and then you get this, and you get this passage, and it sort of drags out. So then we lose some of the sense of, The urgency and some of the sense of the emotional power that's in that room. Jesus knows that within 24 hours he's going to die. Jesus has already called out the traitor. Jesus knows that the devil's in the room. Jesus knows that he is going to have to withstand something that no decent human being should ever have to go through, especially one who lived a perfectly obedient life, the one who kept the law to love God with his heart, soul, mind, and strength, who loves his neighbor as himself, who does all things for the good of everyone else. And yet now he will suffer, vexed in his spirit, troubled in his soul. And as Judas goes out into the night, and the night is beginning to fall, he says to Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows. Yes, you, my man. Yep, you're the leader, and I know you want to die, and you want to take your place with me. Yeah, I know you don't want me to wash your feet, and you want me to wash all of you. Peter, it's time to be quiet. And in that moment, you're going to really need to be quiet. But I tell you, Satan wants your soul. Satan wants to sift your soul. But I have prayed for you, Peter, as we read in Luke, that Satan will not sift your soul. But you can imagine the disciples, the 11 there are in the room, including Peter himself, must be just troubled now. What is going on? They're getting that sense that Jesus is going to die. Jesus is going to leave them. He's going to leave them. I mean, if there is a man who is friendless in the world, it's Jesus. And they're the friends of the friendless one. Nobody in Jerusalem wants anything to do with Jesus Christ at this point, except them. And He's going to leave them to them, to Jerusalem, to the temple, to this hostility. And they love Jesus. At least they love Jesus in the form they've created Him. They love Jesus in terms of what they think He is, and He's their friend, and He's powerful, and He's done amazing things, and He's been nothing but decent to them. And on so many levels horizontally, well just like all of you, if someone you deeply love dies, and you know they're going to die, And you're not quite sure how that death is going to happen. You just have that lousy feeling in your heart. You're anxious. You're filled with trepidation. And into all of that darkness, what does the shepherd do? He takes care of the flock. Because I think it is almost impossible for any of us to be as loving as Christ is in that moment. Like I look at the men here, the elders here, good men, men who love you, men who want to do their best, and yet all of us would have to stand in front of you and say, we could never really do what Jesus did, because in the moment of trial, in the moment of our own trial, all of us men are self-centered. All of us would be going, why is this happening? Or, why is this going on to me? And what we would need to do is to take care of the wife, take care of the family, take care of you. And that's what Jesus does. Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus says to you this morning, fear no evil, for I am with you. My rod and my staff, they comfort you. Or as a song that Grace picked this morning, it was so fitting, fear not, I am with you. And I will be with you, even when I call you to go through the deep waters and through the fiery difficulties of earth, I am with you. Don't let your hearts be troubled. And it's an interesting thing, right? Because we see Jesus who's troubled, and yet he says to his men, but don't you be troubled, let me be troubled for you. What a king. What a Savior! And as we talked about last time, remember children, that Jesus is like the Father in that Passover room, and He's taking care of His sons. In congregation we've been talking about that Jesus is giving His last will and testament, and He's getting them ready for His imminent departure, not just through the cross, but through His ascension, looking forward now to the end of time. And in that, then Jesus comforts His disciples in the upper room. He takes care of them. First of all, he gives them the command to trust God. So remember that command? Love one another, for by this they will know that you belong to me. But you can't love one another when you're filled with anxiety. You can't love one another when you're not at peace with me. Trust me. Trust God. Trust God because you know me. Because I go to prepare a place for you. Trust me because I will give you hope. So for the disciples, things are not the way they're supposed to be. Judas Iscariot, we figure, has understood it. He's gone. He's going to go get his money. He's going to get his. He's a tool of the devil. There's no doubt about it. He's a tool of his own ambitions. He's going to leave. He's the one who at least who gets it. He seems to be listening to Jesus. Jesus keeps saying, I'm going to die. He doesn't hear three days, I'll rise again. And the disciples too are going, what is happening? This is supposed to be the Messiah. This is supposed to be the son of David. Remember when all of those people were leaving Jesus when he started preaching in the parables? And then Jesus said to his disciples, what about you? What about you now? And then Peter stood up and he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and we know that you are the Holy One of God. But now the rubber's hitting the road. Well, where are we gonna go? But the one that we're going to is leading us down the road to nothing, to trouble, to trial, and he's gonna die. And then what? What of these three years of training? What of all the miracles? What of all the wonder that we saw? What of all the messianic promise? And Jesus says, look, I'm trouble in my heart, we're going through a difficult time, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Is it that easy, beloved? Is it really that easy? Yes, it's really that easy. Why is it so difficult? It's difficult because deep down, the struggle between us wanting to be God and having control over our lives is always going to come up against God in control of our lives. You see, the words are obviously for the moment. I know you men are going through a difficult time. I'm talking about people trading. I'm talking about you denying me. I'm talking about I'm leaving you. But He giving them those words so that they will remember them right to the end of their callings and of their careers. Do not let your heart be troubled. Things are going to happen. You live in a world of sin. I am the light shining in the darkness. The darkness is going to try to snuff out the light. When they can't snuff out me, they're going to try to snuff out you. Life is going to be difficult. And it would be nice to say to you, you know, once you receive Jesus Christ, life is gonna be awesome. Life is gonna be wonderful. You're gonna have fantastic marriages, and you're gonna have the best kids ever, and you're gonna have the best house. And there's people who preach that, and it's nonsense, it's a lie. Why else would Jesus say, let not your hearts be troubled? They're troubled because they live in a world of sin, and they're wrestling and struggling within themselves, and then to really trust that the things of God are the right things. We wrestle. We struggle right now when we look at a world that seems to be run by the wicked. It seems like there's no depth of wickedness that Hollywood or Toronto or the government isn't willing to tread. We're frustrated. How can this be? We're angry. We're living our lives, we're trying our best, and we're not getting along with our husband or wife. And I keep struggling with that sinner. Things are not going right at work. What's going on? Why are things not going the way that I want them to? And we become trouble. And if you really get down to the root of that, it's fear. It's fear that things are out of your control. It's fear that you can't get them back under your control. It's fear that the worst thing is going to happen. And the worst thing that's gonna happen, it's one of the new buzzwords in counseling right now, catastrophization. It's a good word. We catastrophize everything. Oh no, oh no, like if I lose my job, then what's gonna happen? Well, you might lose your house. Oh, what if I lose my house? What'll happen? Well, I might be on the street. Well, what if I lose my street? God will still be with you. God will still love you. Everything is happening for the good of those who love you. God is not having bad days, nothing is going against his plans. God is not making mistakes. What's happening in Canada, what's happening in your personal, individual life is so that you can have personal faith. And by the way, that's important there. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in me, believe also in me. You're talking here to men who grew up in the covenant community. I believe because I'm an Israelite. I believe because I belong to the people of God. That's not what Jesus is saying. Head for head, every one of you in this place right now need to believe in Jesus. You need to trust him, not as part of the group, but personally, individually, moving just beyond that I believe that there is a Jesus. and I believe that there is a God, to I believe in Jesus and I believe in God, and that I accept Him. Because too often we are the ten spies who say the world's too big, the world's too strong, and we get uptight, and we get nervous, and then we lose our courage. Don't be afraid. Don't let your heart be troubled. It's like God, the angel of the Lord, speaking to Joshua. And he says, be strong and be very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it, from the right to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and be courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. And God kept his word to Joshua. He had to Moses there by the burning bush. But what will I say? I will be with you Jeremiah. I'm too young. Don't worry. I will be with you who will go for me Isaiah says I will go I will be with you says the Lord and now Jesus as he goes Towards his place in glory says I'm going to leave you men on earth Don't be afraid and he says to all of you do not be troubled. It's connected to that. Don't worry. I What's worrying gonna do anyways? Don't be scared of those who can harm the body. Be scared of those who can harm the soul. But Jesus had already said, I am the good shepherd. And no one can snatch you out of my father's hand because no one can snatch you out of my hand because I and the father are one. I will take care of you. Do you believe? And in God's providence, for any of you who are struggling, and let's be honest, aren't we all Is there anybody who can stand up in this room and say, I have never been scared a day of my life about my faith. I have always trusted Jesus. I have never had a doubt. Of course we have. Go to any funeral. Talk to any widow or widower. Talk to someone who's buried their children. They're trying to, what happened? How can this be? Talk to someone who's gone through addiction. Talk to someone who just can't get out of an addiction. And you know what Jesus says? I am with you. There is my body. There is my blood. So I know it's not always easy for you to hear me, but now I want you to see it. I want you to smell it. I want you to taste it. I want you to take it. I want you to eat of it. I want you to drink of it. I want you to remember and believe. Do not be anxious. I am with you. You've seen what I can do. You saw that I am God. You saw me walk on the water. You saw me still the storm. You saw me feed 4,000 and 5,000 people. You saw me heal the man born blind. You saw me raise Lazarus all about that. And I'm going to leave the discussions about what a revival is and what it isn't. But what's really interesting is there's this understanding that somehow unless you have this almost supernatural experience of the voice of God or something in your life, revival cannot happen. That's to miss it. God speaks to us every day through the creation. He speaks to us every day through his word. He speaks to us every day through the beauty of his people. He speaks to us through the presence of his people. And we hear him. But do we really want to accept that what we think is a bad thing is actually a good thing for us? That when we finally say, Father in heaven, I turn my life over to you, and I will respond in whatever situation you give to me and I will trust you. You remember when we were little kids, you're standing on a ladder and you're stuck, you can't get down, you're scared? Maybe you children know that, you're up in the tree and you're stuck and there's no way down and you're scared and then your dad or your mom just stands there and says, jump. What do we do when we're little kids? We jump. Why do we jump? Do we really think that dad's got great hands? You know, he's gonna catch us for sure? Yeah, we do. That mom will get us down? Absolutely. Yeah, we do. Now switch it. If I get stuck in a tree and you ask me to jump, you think I'm gonna jump? No, because I don't trust you. I feel like I'm gonna flatten you, which is probably what's gonna happen. I don't trust you. And remember what Jesus says, I need to have faith like a little one. I need to believe he will catch me always. If Jesus has me up in the tree, he's gonna get me down. How do I know? He says, well, I go to prepare a place for you. In my father's house are many mansions. Mostly King James is excellent. But on this, this is weak, and that's because they went with the King James Version, and if you have your Bibles open, you can see there that it has verse 14.2 on the bottom of the page, literally dwellings. So that would be a better way to understand it. So children, you ever been on holidays with your mom and dad, and then you stay at a hotel? There's one building with lots of rooms. That's what Jesus is saying. In my father's hotel, there's many rooms, and those rooms, The word monastery comes from that, as opposed to mansions, but that's okay. Actually, if you walk down Highway 8, as you go through all the little villages, the idea was that in every little village in the old days before cars, you had someplace to rest. There was somebody who had a room for you. Someplace where you could have breakfast the next morning, that you could rest and get ready to go. That's what we're talking about. That Jesus says, you go, And understand that I'm gonna come back for you, and I've got a place for you. Now I think we do need to understand that the dwelling that God is speaking of, or Jesus is speaking of, has direct representation in the temple. So remember that Jesus talked about that in the early part of John, John chapter three, in the cleaning of the temple? He called it my father's house. You've turned my father's house into a den of thieves. That's the language. the place where my father dwells, I am going to go there, and I'm going to prepare a place for you to rest till we get to the new heavens and the new earth, because that's where the pilgrimage ends. How beautiful is that? Trust me, that that's what I'm doing for you. So a couple things. First of all, it means that the disciples are not gonna die just yet. That if Jesus dies and the persecution comes, God the Father and the Son are gonna keep these men alive through the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the gospel. There's work to do. Oh, they're gonna get beat up. They're gonna be left for dead. They're gonna be thrown into prisons. They're gonna be whipped. They're gonna go through terrible, terrible times. But, but, God's gonna take them from this life and now Jesus says, I'm going to translate death so that it's for us no longer a horrible thing, but a glorious thing. I'm sanctifying the grave for you so that our death now becomes a translation into the place of resting, the place of heaven. So if I would ask you, where is God? Then generally we tell the children, we point up and we say God is in heaven. And that when people die, we say they are in heaven. Well, what is heaven? It's the place where God is, the dwelling place of man. But if you were going to find heaven, how would you find it? And you know, the ancients, the early church fathers thought a lot about this, and they talk about it this way. Heaven is not so much the place where God is, heaven is where God is. If you wanted to find heaven, you've got to find God, because when you find God, you'll find heaven, because God is heaven. And I know, we get sentimental. My family has just been through that too. Mom passed away, dad passed away. Oh, maybe dad will die and then he'll see mom and they'll have a picnic together. That's not why we long to be in heaven. As the old song goes, soon I will be done with the trouble of the Lord, going home to live with my father? No. My mother? No. My sister? No. My brother? No. Going home to live with God. You are going to go to a place and see Jesus. Nothing else will matter after that. You're going to go to the place where you'll be in the throne room of God. Read Revelation and then read Revelation and then keep reading Revelation. Revelation chapter 1, Revelation 4 and 5 and then 7. And we read those beautiful words. And I looked and therefore before me was a great multitude that no one can count from every nation, tribe and people and language standing before the throne. and in front of the lamb and they were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands they cried in a loud voice salvation belongs to God who sits on the throne and to the lamb don't you long to go to be there and Jesus says I'm going to prepare a place for you a room an apartment just for you to rest after all of your hard work When you die and Paul says, I hope that he says to Paul and to all of us, well done, oh good and faithful servant, trust me. That's why I have to leave to prepare a place for you because where I am, Jesus says, you are going to go. Peter, remember, why can't we go and follow you now? Not now, but you will. You will suffer, you will die, you will go through the things of death unless Jesus Christ comes again. But don't be afraid. I go to prepare a place for you. Moses, don't be afraid. I go to prepare a place for you. Joshua, don't be afraid. The promised land is coming to you. Jeremiah, I will be with you. Isaiah, I will be with you. The Messiah is coming. Disciples, I will be with you. I'm going to bring you through this life as you walk to the valley of the shadow of death. Fear no evil, for your cup will overflow, your head will be anointed in the presence of your enemies, and you will surely dwell in the house of the Lord. Forever Drink the wine and remember and believe you're gonna go to heaven eat of the bread Remember and believe you're gonna go to heaven. Jesus has died for you. I He's gone to the grave for you. He's translated death for you. Don't be afraid. Hope in God. Faith, hope, and love. Abide these three. But as you pour out your love for the living God, and you remember that when Jesus Christ comes again, what does He say? I will eat and drink with you of this supper anew. and what rapture, what glory, what amazement that will be. Disciples, be strong. Be of good courage. Hang in there. Do the work. It will be worth it. Don't be afraid. Don't be anxious. Trust God. Trust in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. One last thing, R.C. Spruill talks about this, I thought that was kind of interesting, where he had gone to a speaking engagement and traveled all day, and then when he got to the hotel, oh, we're booked, we didn't get your reservation. And he says, then what do you do? That will never happen when we stand before Almighty God. He's making a room especially for you. It's not like you're gonna get there and he's gonna say, oh no, you're too wicked. Or you're to this, or you're to that, or you didn't own a home, or you never got married. Whatever it is you think is keeping you out of heaven. No. No. If he's made the promise, the room is booked. And when Jesus Christ is your travel agent, you can be sure because he's there already. Where he is, you will be. Take and eat. Take and drink. Remember and believe. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we pray now that you'd open our hearts to you. And Father in heaven, we give our lives to you. God, we're sorry that we don't trust you. We're sorry that we complain so much. We're sorry that we don't see it your way often enough. But now, Father in heaven, we give our hearts and lives to you and we promise that we will serve you to the end. Feed us now by your food and drink of Christ and bless us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.