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Soon will the master.
I.
Remember.
Oh I know, I'm brave to the game and live water.
33.
Deuteronomy chapter 33.
Verse 3.
Yeah, he loves the people.
All his Saints are in thy hand, and they sat down at thy feet. Everyone shall receive of thy words.
Let's ask the Word help and blessing our God and Father. I know it's the reason why we're here today, and it is because we want to know more of Thy blessings. Beloved Son, our blessed Savior and our God, we thank you for the opportunity that has afforded us this day to come into this place and to sit at His feet.
To hear His word, we desire Lord Jesus, nothing more than to learn more from Thee and more about Thee. And so we ask thee that Thou would direct us to a chapter this morning that would be suited to instruction, building us up in the most holy faith, encouraging us and occupying us, our Lord Jesus, with Thyself and Thy purpose of embrace. And now we just ask our God and our Father that that would lead us by the Spirit is that which would be.
Suited for the needs committees to Thee, the young people as well as the older ones, that each could receive something from Thy precious Word. As we have read and the rejoicing in our hearts, we commit this to Thee. We ask Thy help. We ask it in the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
To him we sang this morning.
Each person The word home is one of the sweetest words in the English language.
We just sang again about the time when the Lord is going to come call us away and then reign in righteousness as the Son of righteousness. And I hesitate, brethren, because I know we take it up so very often. But I wonder if we could take up the 14th of John again. Our brethren in so many places and no doubt right here in this room are longing for home. And there's much instruction in the 14th chapter.
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In connection with his provision for us as we wait that time too like make that suggestion.
14th chapter of John.
First one.
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, and the truth, and the light. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If he had known me, he should have known my Father also. And from henceforth you 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. Believeth 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 you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter that you may have, that He may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither noreth 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, get a little while, and the world seeth me no more. But ye see me because I live, ye shall live also.
At that day ye shall know that I am in my father, and ye and me and I in you. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him not Ascarius. Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not under the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him.
And we will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you love me, you would rejoice.
Because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, you might believe thereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh and ask nothing in me.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do arise. Let us go hence.
Where we comment on these verses, people advocate the 13th chapter in the movie, the first verse of that chapter, because it's given the setting and reason why we have what we have just read together, chapter 13 and verse one. Now before the season of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he shipped his heart out of this world under the Father, having lost his own which were in the world. He loved the mind at the end.
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This introduces to us what we often refer to.
As the upper room ministry, and we realize that not all the ministry was given in the upper room. The 1St 2 Chapters 13 and 14 were spoken in the upper Room. Then they arrived and go hence as we head at the end of the reading. And then there's further instruction in ministry as they travel from the Upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane. But we sometimes refer to these chapters. That is 13141516. That's the upper Room ministry, the Lord's final instructions.
And encouragement to the disciples.
Before He left them to go away. And this first verse of the 13th chapter gives us the needs and the motive for what we have in these chapters. The need was first of all that the hour had come that He would depart out of the world under the Father. The disciples had walked with the Lord Jesus during His public ministry. He provided everything that was needed for for them. They could come and talk to Him at any time, commune with Him, but He wasn't going to be with them the way He had been during His public ministry here on earth.
He was going to return to the Father by way of the cross. But then there was the motive too. Having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved Him unto the end. And I thought of this when Bruce said to us the verse in Deuteronomy.
Because when Bruce led to us in Deuteronomy 33, we find that the confirmation of the Lord's love there was not on the banks of the of the Red Sea, not at the beginning of the wilderness journey, but at the end of it. There had been amongst all the failures and the sins that had come in, in those years in the wilderness, there had been a consistency of divine love towards His people.
My brother that often encouraged our partners. We sit here this morning. I have no doubt there's many a burden and troubled hearts here today, a situation with the rise in our personal lives, in the family and sometimes in the assembly. But aren't we thankful that he loves us just as much today, in spite of ourselves, as he did when he picked us up with all our need and saved our souls? He loved Israel just as much on the banks of the Jordan as he did on the banks of the Red Sea, just as much at the end of the wilderness journey as he did.
When they were assuming people in the joy of redemption and deliverance from the 15th of Exodus.
And so the disciples here, he loved them just as much as the ends of his pathway, and they're being with him. That's why he had called them each from their secular employment and other activities. So he loved them under the end. That was the motive. And so in the opening of our chapter, he comforts their hearts here, knowing that they were in deep trouble that they thought when leaving them.
So many different things.
He in from verse 21 you find He's betrayed and then you find the stripe amongst the disciples which one would be the greatest. And then you find that He accounts them as those that have continued with Him in His temptation, and how they had failed in that, but yet He accounted as their faithfulness to him. And then he predicts that Peter will deny him.
And then he speaks about his He brings before them his sufferings in the garden, and then the betrayal by Judas. So everything was against the Lord, but yet He in his constancy never changed.
As you say, the, uh, Lord undertook at this time of the comfort the hearts of The Who were troubled that they thought of him going away and leaving them. And it's interesting to see the way in which he comforts their hearts. He brings before them those things that they would gain by him going away and sending the Holy Spirit that they would not have if he remained among them. And there he takes their thoughts away from themselves and occupies them with those good things that are going to come as a result of him going away and sending the Spirit, which characterized Christianity by the way.
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Which we have each one. And so one by one through the chapter, he brings before us and before them, uh, these wonderful games that they're, that are ours and blessedly so the chapter has two parts to it. In one sense, you could look at it this way. The 1St 14 verses really bring before us the fact that the Lord was going to the Father. Then from the 15th verse on to the end of the chapter, we have the Holy Spirit coming from the Father.
And that is really the two great features that mark Christianity.
A man in the glory and the Spirit of God sent down to connect his people here on earth with him there in glory.
So we have a relationship and blessings that the disciples never had while they walked with the Lord here on earth. And I think that helps to see, as Brother Bruce has pointed out, when I was a young person, I used to think it'd be wonderful to have been here in the days of the Lord Jesus, to walk along and to have seen the miracles, to have counsel with the Lord Jesus as he drew the disciples, sometimes privately around himself, like in the desert place the rest of while, and so on.
But we have far more privileges and resources now, and a closer relationship with the man in the glory. And that's really what is in the opening verse of this chapter, isn't it? Because Christianity, brethren, sets us in relationship with Christ, but not in relationship with Christ as the disciples knew Him on earth. Nor is it in relationship with Christ like the His earthly people will yet know Him in a future day.
The apostle Paul said henceforth know we know man after the flesh. Though we knew Christ after the flesh, henceforth know we him no more, and so we are brought into relationship with Christ as the heavenly man.
We're connected to him by the Spirit of God and Christianity sets before us Christ, not where he was not walking as the lowly man of grace here, not asleep on a boat on a for a few moments rest, not sitting on sight cars well weary with his journey, but a glorified man at the right hand of God. If you just allow me to point out there are three things in these opening verses.
That and we can develop them that the Lord gives for the comfort of the disciples on this occasion. The first one is in verse one. You believe in God, believe also in me. In other words, he says you believed in God whom you've never seen. Now you're going to have to believe in me in the same way. I'm not going to be with you the way I have been and we know the moment came after he had remained on earth in resurrection long enough to.
Give confirmation to his own that he had bodily risen from the dead. The moment came when his feet left the Mount of Olives, and the cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more. And that's why Peter says, Whom not having seen ye love so, now you see him not yet believing. Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Then there's the Father's house, the the home that as a result of the work of Calvary and the Lord Jesus going back there.
Was He was, was going to be prepared for them, and then the promise to come and take them to that home. And those three things given to the disciples for their comfort. Brethren, if we get a hold of them this morning, they will be for our comfort as well.
Verse in John 12, when the Lord Jesus.
Says in verse 27, Now is my soul troubled? What shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came iron to this hour, that moment when he was going to the cross.
And there was something that really troubled him. Does he understand the troubled heart?
Yes, he does.
Do you and I have troubled hearts at times?
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Yes, like you mentioned, Jim, we do, but.
To see what he says here, and I think it's important brother, and that we address.
Troubles of the heart.
It's a matter of confidence, isn't it? What is your confidence is in and we need to know in whom we've trusted.
We need to address those troubled feelings that we all have. So he says, like you brought out, you believe in God, believe also in me.
Is there any change with him? And I must say, in the world that we live in, brethren, we live in a world that is characterized by humanism, confidence in yourself. You've gotta, you've got the ability, go ahead and do it.
And we're encouraged to have confidence in ourselves.
And sometimes, brother, and we need to be reminded that he that trusts in his own heart is a fool. We should be confident people, but not confident in ourselves, confident in the Lord. But I have to say for myself of times I've been troubled because without realizing that my confidence was in my own ability, sometimes the Lord has to allow us to break down so that we realize we cannot trust ourselves.
Peter had confidence in his own ability and his own love for the Lord.
And he broke down.
And the Lord allowed it so that he would realize he couldn't trust in himself. We do have someone we can trust in.
It says trust, uh, in him at all times, You people at all times.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thy own understanding.
Simple verses, but so important.
Starting in this chapter, it's been mentioned by others that we have a progression from chapters 12 Through 17, and I've enjoyed that. We might just go over that very quickly to see how our chapter fits into that. But in chapter 12, uh, we have the development of, uh, again, as we've been mentioning of the position that disciples would be in when the Lord Jesus went back to heaven.
First of all, in Chapter 12.
Uh, as I mentioned, it's a progression that's given to us in the Tabernacle. And uh, this is my own thought that others have brought it out and I appreciated it. Chapter 12, the Lord Jesus brings in his death. That's the basis of the new position, isn't it? He was no longer presenting himself to Israel as the Messiah, but rather this new position would be based on his death, his resurrection, and his ascension back to heaven. So chapter 12, in a sense, gives us the brazen altar in the Tabernacle.
That's the foundation of all of our blessings. Then as we go to Chapter 13, we have feet washing. And so in the Tabernacle, the progression is from the brazen altar to the labor. And that labor, of course, is where the, where the hands and the feet of the priest were washed before they went into the Tabernacle itself. And so that corresponds to the daily feet washing that we need. And then in our chapter 14, uh, in a sense.
They've entered into the Tabernacle themselves. Only the clean priests could go in to that place. It's a special place of privilege. And this chapter, it seems to me, is, uh, has to do with communion. The, the new relationship of communion there would be. And some others have suggested again that it's with the three persons of the Godhead versus one to three with the Lord. Jesus is the risen Son of man, ascended Son of man. And then verses 4 through 14.
With the Father and then the rest of the chapter with the Spirit of God. I think as we read through it, we'll see that that corresponds, it's been suggested, to the golden altar. That's where incense was offered up. It's a whole new relationship that were brought into and were brought into with all three persons of the Godhead, which was barely known in the Old Testament. They the great theme of the Old Testament was that Jehovah our God is one God, and thou shalt worship the Lord thy God with all thy heart.
But in the New Testament we learned that God is one, but he is 3 persons and were brought into that intimacy.
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And then in chapter 15, it's the collective testimony and, uh, when the Lord was going to leave, uh, what we have there in chapter 15 is the Christian company and fruit bearing. Well, that's represented by the table of showbread in the Tabernacle. Uh, bread often speaks of communion. We hear the expression breaking bread together. It's communion among the Lord's people.
And the blessing that comes, uh, from that communion. And then in chapter 16, it's the testimony as we see there, uh, in, in, in a, in a hostile world, they're going to be persecuted and so on, uh, they become the light of this world. When the Lord Jesus was in this world, he was the light, but going back to heaven, it's the Christians that have to become the light. Well, that's the golden Candlestick, isn't it?
Now gold speaks of that which is divine. The oil in the candlesticks, or in the cups, of course, is the Spirit of God.
And the part that the believers have, of course, is simply the Wicks. We need a lot of dressing, don't we, to be cut back. But there we have the testimony, and it's a testimony of God. But it's the disciples now that are going going to become the light of the world. And then finally, of course, in chapter 17, as we've often heard, it's the Lord's high priestly prayers as he enters, so to speak, into the holy of Holies and their addresses God.
And we got to listen in. So I think that's helpful to see that pattern again in our chapter. Then we're being brought for the comfort of our hearts in this new position. We're being brought into a special relationship with all three persons of the Godhead.
Just another little word on trust, too, because I think it's very important. So often we have heart trouble, as you say, and it's not the physical heart, the heart institute of this world. They do wonderful things today. And but there's heart trouble often in connection with what Brother Bob brought out. And I remember hearing about a sister who was lying on a convalescent bed. She hadn't been able to get up from that bed for long, long time.
Was questionable whether she ever would again or not.
And brother went to see her, and she said to the brother, she was feeling down that day. She said, You know, just nothing I can do here on this bed to get reward in a future day, nothing I can do for the Lord. Well, he turned her to Hebrews, and he quoted her that verse. Cast not away, therefore thy confidence, for of such is great recompense of reward. And he pointed out to her that just to lie there and trust the Lord as to the circumstances he had put her in, she would get a great reward in the coming day.
And rather than doesn't that show how much he values our trust and confidence even in difficult circumstances? You say, I just don't know why the Lord has allowed this in my life. I've got a lot of problems that we come to the meeting and they talk about these things from Scripture. But these brothers don't know what I'm going through. Well, perhaps we don't tell you a little another little story about two sisters who are having a chat one time and this one, one of the sisters said, you know, I found a wonderful verse in Scripture. I I cling to it all the time.
All the other sisters said, What is it? She said, at what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. All the other sisters said, I've got a far better verse than that. She said, what better verse can you have than that I will trust and not be afraid. Quite a difference, isn't it? Why are we afraid? Because we're not trusting. It's true. When we find ourselves in those times when we're afraid, we can turn to the Lord. Wonderful. But if we were trusting to begin with, there wouldn't be those fears and doubts.
That arise in our minds and in Hebrews 11. What is the sin that so easily besets us?
It's the sin of unbelief, isn't it? And we all have to, I have to hang my head and say often I have the sin of unbelief. I don't always trust. I don't always have that confidence. But what the Lord really desired for the disciples as they face the circumstances that were ahead and the Lord Jesus going back to heaven and leaving them in a hostile world, was that they would learn to trust more and more. That they might not be afraid, that they might not have heart trouble, that they might be comforted, and that they might go on in spite of the, the circumstances that they were going to face. And he wasn't promising them. It was going to be easy after he left.
In the world you shall have tribulation.
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But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Send verse three, what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee, and then in verse.
11 In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid. Someone has said that.
Verse 11 is first class trained to heaven. Verse three is second class. They both get to heaven but one has fear. I enjoyed that.
Think about that. What a privilege we have.
Living in this dispensation to have communion with divine persons, the Godhead.
There's new things that we find in this chapter.
You couldn't live.
In a time where there's more blessings than what we have as believers and I believe it's becau it's the the purpose of it. I was thinking of that before Jim suggested that 14 but the 8th chapter of the 15th chapter chapter herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit.
So shall you be my disciple. So that fruit really is what we get in Galatians, isn't it? Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control.
The Father is glorified when those things are manifest in our lives, and so there's a purpose to it in this communion with Divine Person.
Way than they had known him on the earth, as Jim has quoted, that verse in Second Corinthians chapter 5 shows that there did not know him now, would not know him now, with him going back to heaven as the Messiah of Israel, as the head of new creation, and then the head of the church.
Another thing he brings before them too is in verse two, and that is that he would prepare a place for them in the Father's house. This was something that they didn't know anything about, nor was it ever promised to any Jewish St. that would live for the time when the Messiah would set up his Kingdom. This is a new blessing, This is a new privilege altogether, a place in the Father's house.
Why doesn't he say Brother Bruce in my house? Why does he say in my father's house?
I'd like to hear what you haven't said.
The whole book of John.
The Lord Jesus introducing us to his father and so much as saying, if all, if you only knew my father and I'm here to manifest him. I remember, uh, a brother, I think Gordon, uh, saying that as he traveled among the Saints that they were so kind and nice to him. He, they come into the house and they'd say, you know, if you need anything to eat, just go in the refrigerator and get it then. And this is your room. Feel comfortable. We want you to feel like this is your home.
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And he said, But I never quite feel like this is my home.
Uh, you know, there's some reserve, but he said. There's a place in Canada where I go in, I kick off my shoes, I lean back. I feel like I'm at home. It's my father's house and that's the way we're going to be. We'll be flesh apart. We'll feel comfortable in the father's house.
It says there, uh, well, in his bosom knoweth all that in that bosom lies and came to earth to make it known that we might share his joys. The Father's house is the place of the Father and the enjoyment of the Father's love. That was his place from all eternity, brethren, and I think that's why the Lord Jesus lived as.
A homeless stranger down here. There's nothing wrong with having a home in itself, but the Lord Jesus never had a home. Said the boxes have holes, the birds of the air has have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Why didn't he have a home down here, brother? And he came from the Father's house. That was his eternal dwelling place.
And now he's introducing us to that. In my father's house are many abodes. I love to think of it. It's not here, the truth of the church as the body of Christ, but it is here, the family of God the Father, and we as children in that family. And a father may have many children.
I often say I enjoy sometimes when I meet a a father who has many children. Remember a brother in southern Mexico had seventeen children. I like to ask him sometimes Which is your favorite child?
And when there are proper relationships in the family.
They say they're all my favorites, but everyone is a little different. And I think that's the thought, brethren, of the many abodes in the Father's house. There is a place for each one that is special that nobody else can fill. That's your boat, and there's a place for you that nobody else can have. Isn't that wonderful?
It's true, it's a wonderful truth of the body of Christ and that we are united together as one body in Christ by 1 Spirit. But here it's the individuality of each one. Is there anybody here in this room just like the others? No, we're all different and He loves you just like you are and He has a place prepared specially.
For you, I think that is so exceedingly beautiful.
None of the things.
Or in the Father's house presently it is a future state, the departed or with Christ, which is far better in soul and spirit. But the Father's house awaits the coming of Christ, as it says here in that chapter, when we will be with him. Christ is with Christ with and like Christ in the very presence of the Father, to enjoy this tremendous thing that you've been Speaking of. And I think it's very interesting to find, as we will get later in this chapter, that he mentions a board again.
That's in verse 23. And Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. I think that's exceedingly precious. This is a result of the Spirit of God having come. This great privilege and blessing would be realized by the Lord's people. But it's as much as He is saying now. That's what lays ahead for you to these many bodes.
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But while you wait here on earth, I want you to have a foretaste of it even now, and we will come and make our abode with you as you walk here, while you wait for that time when I will come and take you home, so we can enjoy the Father's presence and the Father's love even now by the power of the Spirit. But it's conditional, he says.
A man love me and keep my words. So there's practical obedience necessary in our lives to walk in communion with him to realize this, uh, enjoyment of his presence. But nevertheless, it is a privilege that's been granted to us here in this world while we wait for that future day.
It's interesting in first Kings chapter.
UH-6.
And in connection with the building of the temple in the time of Solomon.
They made chambers round about the house and it's a picture of this, isn't it? It's, uh, it was for the priests that were doing the service of the temple.
But there were three stories of compartments around the house. You can read it in your own time in First Corinth, First Kings 6 and verse 5.
Down, but it is a picture of that, those compartments where they could live in the father's house.
There are two things that the Lord Jesus still is anticipating, that we are going to bring His heart eternal joy and satisfaction and that I'm sorry there. There were two things on this occasion that the Lord was anticipating. One is still future and one has taken place. The first one was that He Himself was going to return to the Father. He was looking forward to it with joy.
In fact, I really believe that the thrust of the verse in Hebrews that says who for the joy that was set before him?
Endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. What was the joy there? It was really the joy of returning to the Father, having accomplished the Father's will here on earth and the work of redemption. And he's had that joy. As we've been saying, he has gone back to the Father. But there's another joy that he's looking forward to, and that is having his own there. And the Father is looking forward to having his house filled with children.
Children who will all be with and like his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here the Lord Jesus speaks of it as the Father's house. I was thinking when Bob was speaking about the Lord's pathway here.
At the end of the 7th chapter, in the beginning of the 8th chapter, it says every man went to his own house. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Very few homes where the Lord Jesus was really welcome here on earth, but he's been welcomed back to the Father's house. God has said Amen to the work of Calvary, raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand as a glorified man. The Father has welcomed him back, but the Father's waiting too, to welcome his children home to.
The Lord Jesus is anticipating that moment, but I think it's important to understand before we move on from this second verse what it means when it says here I go to prepare a place for you. Sometimes people read this statement and think of it as the Lord up there now getting the place ready. And the reason he hasn't come yet is because the place isn't ready. You know, we had a call from some company we were expecting a while back and they said they were going to be delayed.
And actually, we were thankful they were going to be delayed because.
Things weren't quite ready. We got behind on certain things around the house and things weren't quite ready. And so we're a little relieved when they told us they were going to be an hour or so late. But that's not the thought here. Why is it here in the future tense? Why does He say, I go to prepare a place for you? Well, two things had not yet been accomplished at this time. One was the work of redemption. The Lord Jesus had not accomplished the work of Calvary, nor had He as a man returned.
To the Father. But the moment the Lord Jesus returned to the Father and sat down in the Father's house.
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Having accomplished the work of redemption, with the marks of atonement in his hands, and in his feet, and in his side, the minute he entered there and sat down the house, the poem has been as prepared as it ever will be. It's not that there's some preparation to the place that needs to take to happen. But why hasn't the Lord come yet? Because it's God's will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
He's long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, and there is still some work for the Spirit of God to do on earth.
The Spirit that was sent down at Pentecost, and he won't leave till we leave, because the Spirit and the Bride say come, and that is why the Lord hasn't come yet. But the place is prepared, if I can put it this way, on the cross.
He prepared the people for the place. His entrance into heaven immediately prepared the place for the people. So both have been accomplished and He and we are just waiting for that time when He'll get that word from the Father. He'll come and call us and we'll go to be with Him.
That we can understand.
And in our chapter, we have relationships. In the scriptures, we find that we're brought in as children.
To the Father.
Bride to the bridegroom. We understand these relationships, Brothers and sisters, children. Bridegroom, bride.
So he's going to bring us into the Father's house. There are many mansions. He prepares that place. We're going to be brought in as we already are, as children of God, as brothers and sisters. But it'll be fully manifested in that day when we're home with the Lord, when we say we're going home to be with the Lord.
My father's house are many mansions. It's a home who understand home, who understand bride and bridegroom. We understand brother and sister. It's a lovely thing. Relationships are the essence of life. It's not things.
It's not a fancy car, fancy house, but we enjoy a house and we enjoy transportation and we enjoy relationships. But the ultimate relationship is that we're brought into that relationship with God as his sons and daughters, as children and to the to the Lord Jesus, as the bride to the bridegroom's marvelous thing.
So I was staying in a home for a brother and sister and at first pointed out when they got when I got to the door.
At home, but when I got to the guest room where they put me up for the nights I was there, there was a motto on the wall over the bed that said so it's not home sweet home adjust.
And that's what we do down here. We adjust. And you know, even our homes, our earthly homes, our houses, there's always something we wish would be a little bit different, something we're always rearranging. We've got to bring in a Carpenter, a plumber from time to time. And maybe we build on or we scale down as we get older, whatever it might be, there's always some adjustment this side of heaven. You know, I was thinking too appalled when he was caught up temporarily to the 3rd heaven.
He said that it was a sphere of things so foreign to what he was used to on Earth. He didn't even know if he was in the body or out of the body, and it was only temporary. And he came back to Earth for the blessing of souls and the Saints. But when we're caught up there, we're going to be perfectly comfortable because we're going to have bodies of glory like unto his body of glory. John develops it a little bit for us in the third chapter of his epistle.
Tells us we're not only going to be with Christ, that's what we have here, but we're going to be like Christ when he shall appear, we shall be with Him, for we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as he is. We are going to sit down in the Father's house, perfectly comfortable in a way that we have never have, and really never. We really can't even think about it down here. Even in our own homes, not always comfortable. Sometimes there's something about our surroundings, something physical. There's always a worry, a care, a burden. I get home from a trip.
00:50:02
Yes, I'm as comfortable in my own home as it's possible to be on this side of glory, but there's always a burden and a care and something that needs to be taken care of. But think of it, brother. As God's children, we're gonna sit down in the Father's house perfectly comfortable. Nothing physical, nothing within to bother us, nothing about our surroundings, and best of all, to be physically and unhinderedly in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
To be occupied with Him and His glories for all eternity and to feel the sunshine and warmth of the Father's presence and the Father's love. We can't imagine what it's going to be like. That doesn't encourage us to go on for the Lord and live for His glory now. I don't know what will encourage us.
I suppose when the translators translated these verses, they thought that heaven must be a wonderful place, and so if it's a wonderful place, the abodes must be mansions. But as Bob, you mentioned, the new translation really says oppose, doesn't it? Doesn't give us the thought of mansions at all. And I think that's important. Think this is illustrated perhaps by the little story that little girl was coming home from Sunday school one day and a man met her. Who?
Knew the little girl and he wasn't a believer at all. He had no time for God. And so he said, well, where have you been? And she said, oh, I've been to Sunday school and what do you learn there? Well, I learned about the Lord Jesus, how he's going to take us home to be in heaven someday. And then he said, well, what if Jesus is in hell? Well then it would be heaven. That's really the secret, isn't? It's not the place so much, it's the person. That's what makes it home, doesn't it?
So the thought is of both. I know we have a hymn about about the mansions, but that's really not the thought, is it? As they say, the translators used had a little wrong thinking here. It's not so much the place, it's the person that makes the place. That's everything. And that little girl understood that.
I noticed in the Darby translation it says I am coming again.
I am coming again now. Why is that? Is it I asked. This is a question here. Is it that he's bringing before them the imminence of his coming? That he's almost like he's already on the way?
Or is there some other thought there? I like that.
I realized Paul near the end of his life knew he was going to suffer for Christ as a martyr. But early on in his ministry he wrote to the Thessalonians to explain to them the truth of the Lord's coming. And he said we which are alive and remain. Why did he say that? Because at that moment he expected to go to heaven through the coming of the Lord. He was expecting the Lord as being raid on the threshold of heaven.
Waiting to call his Saints. And when he says we which are alive and remain, he was referring to himself in the Thessalonian brethren. He was looking for the Lord to come at any moment, to call them home. And that is the way we ought. We ought to say today He's coming. Not just he's going to come, but he's coming. I've often told the story about a young man who had a little motto on his mirror in the bathroom. Perhaps today he wanted to be reminded every morning that when he got up and looked in the mirror that the Lord was coming.
And it might be today heard of another brother who when he closed up his desk at work every night, he made it the habit of his of his daily life to say audibly, Lord Jesus come. He wanted to be reminded that perhaps before he got to the office another morning, the Lord Jesus was coming. And so I think it's good for our souls. He's coming, brethren. He's coming again. Do we really believe that? Does that really affect our souls?
If it does, it'll have a practical effect on our lives. Every man that have this hope in and purifies himself even as he is pure, it's a purifying hope. It's a has a practical effect. Why do I settle down and play such value on things down here? I don't believe he's really coming. Let's have this hope. Let's look up every day and say Even so come Lord Jesus and in the meantime there's.
Two more coming. Uh, perhaps you could show us where those are 18th chapter, I mean eighteenth verse and the 23rd chapter verse.
There's three comings I believe in this chapter, aren't there?
00:55:10
23 yes, maybe you could.
Those are wonderful things, promises we can enjoy it right now, these things.
But in the meantime, the 18th verse says I will not leave you comfortless.
That's the present thing. Practical.
I am coming to you.
It's I will come, but it's I am coming, isn't it again? And then and the 23rd verse he said, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him. And we will come in a practical way in enjoyment of these things even before we get there.
Verse 18 says I am coming to you where you is plural.
Visitations of the Lord in the midst of His people.
It would be known by the power of the Spirit and these limits in connection with the coming of the Comforter.
And uh, we have enjoyed his coming in this way amongst us many times, gathered together His name there He is in the midst. Then also, as you mentioned in verse 23, in the individual, purely individual here it says, Amen, love me and keep my words and so on. There's a special enjoyment given to those who walk in obedience and in communion. It's known only to those who do it.
And that's a special privilege that we have and a special enjoyment of the Lord's company with us.
This morning as believer because the Spirit of God is here to make them good and they didn't understand even what he was saying in these chapters to them because they didn't have the Spirit of God yet. And I know we'll get to it later on. I just say this is summary to what Vernon said and several others have made comments that God always has done two things for his people in any age or dispensation. He always gives them an eye to the future because faith needs that.
We're made in such a way that there must be an object, there must be an eye to the future, and so that's what we have in the beginning of our chapter. But throughout these chapters too, He makes provision for their present situation and need. You have it illustrated with the children of Israel, don't you? When they came out of Egypt, He set before them the promised land. And when they were discouraged and they turned around and looked out over the wilderness, they saw the glory of the Lord in the cloud.
And as long as they kept that before them, they were encouraged to press on. And as long as we keep Christ in glory and glory before us, we're going to be encouraged to press on. As Paul said, he was pressing toward the mark for the prize. The prize in the Christian life is always Christ and glory at the end. But there is, as our brothers have been saying, that our present need and situation. And as we go on and look at these verses with the Lord's help during these next couple of days.
We're going to see that there's provision made for His people in their present situation. He was going to leave them in a hostile world, the coming of the Lord. He was going to come again, but there was going to be a gap. And there has been a gap, a good long gap between this promise and the fulfillment of it. Doesn't mean the promises failed, but there's been a gap of some 2000 years or so. But has the Lord failed in His promise? Has he failed to provide for his own?
All the promises of God in him are yeah, and in him. Amen to the glory of God by us. And so, brethren, to enjoy these two things in our souls and avail ourselves of these resources, the future, but that which is ahead, but to latch on to that which we have as our present resource from God in Christ, I believe is what's going to sustain it. We can't do it on ourselves. We can't get through one hour of the Christian pathway.
01:00:30
On ourselves, by ourselves. But no man goes to warfare at his own charges. It's all been provided. And in these chapters you have the seed sown of that which is later developed in the epistle as the provision for you and for me in the Christian pathway.
He waited for the Lord in his time, and that is always the proper hope of the believer. But now that he went to be with the Lord, there is no gap for him really, is there?
There's no gap there because anyone that passes from this life is really an eternity and there is no time measured there at all. In a certain sense you can say they're right at the coming of the Lord, although we measure and we think in relation to time, and so it's hard for us to imagine that.
They are waiting, however, for the same thing we are, in the sense that they don't have glorified bodies yet. Is is that right?
That without a sense of time. Very good.
Well, the Lord often sent God, often sent messengers, didn't He, For various reasons in the Old Testament. And angels were often sent to convey messages and so on. But isn't it wonderful to think, brethren, that when the shout is given, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. I will come again and receive you to heaven. Well, that's true to glory. Yes, it will be glory to the Father's house.
Yes, it will be the Father's house, but that's not what he says. I will come again and receive you unto myself, brethren. That's what he's waiting for as the man of patience. Now he's waiting, He's longing for the moment when he's going to have those. He died for His bride, His Church, there with himself. We think of our anticipation, and there ought to be that. But I think it's good to get the focus off ourselves sometimes.
Or all the time, really. But to realize that he's waiting. He's longing to have us just in the Father's house. No, he's longing to have us with himself. And so as we've been saying, 4 walls and fine furniture don't make a home. It's not all the wonderful things that no doubt will make up heaven that are going to be what heaven really is. No, He's going to look into our face. We're going to look into His.
And I think, brethren, when we get one look at himself, it's going to eclipse everything else. Are we going to have conversation one with another? Moses and Elias, they spoke together of the of his deceased that he would accomplish. They spoke of Christ. I have no doubt we're going to interact with one another in some way, but everything is going to be Christ centered in that day. And I say when we get one glimpse, his lovely face that was so mired more than any man.
Rather than that's gonna eclipse everything else, that's what's going to occupy us for all eternity. And when it says at the end of First Thessalonians 4, we're ever gonna, we're going to be ever with the Lord. Don't forget that. You know, when he's in the Father's house, we're gonna be with him. When he comes to reign over the earth, we're gonna be with him. We're never going to leave his side again. We're gonna be ever with the Lord. Oh, brethren, that ought to lift us above the horizons of this sad world and the circumstances of life.
To realize there's a day coming when we're gonna get a look at his face ever with him satisfied forever as we awaken his likeness. But more than that, even he's going to be satisfied. And who's going to lead the singing and rejoicing in that day? Who's going to raise the song in the Father's house? Some brother who has a good voice and can do it. We're thankful for brothers who can do it now the Lord Jesus himself is going to joy over I I know it's his earthly people back in the old test where it's perfect, but I believe it's.
01:05:11
True of us, too. It's gonna look.
House filled with God's children.
And I can hardly take it in to think that He himself is going to raise the singing, and then the redeemed are going to burst into the eternal song forever. What a day, brethren. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Just to comment on the word of vote, I know we've spoken of it a lot, but it connects with what Jim just said. Now I think it's not a word that we use in our common language and so perhaps some are thinking, well surely it's just another word for a house, a mansion maybe, but that's not really the sense of the word at all. The word and it's related book are used repeatedly by the Apostle John and his gospel and also his epistle. And so it's an interesting study and I can't say that I have done it.
So look at this word in the original from the beginning of this book through into his epistle. And so in John in in chapter one, we find it. I'm not saying this is the first occurrence of it, but it's the first one. I found John chapter one verse 32 Says John bare record saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him. Then the next verse it says upon whom when thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him. It's the same word.
And then umm, later in this chapter.
10 verse 39, come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day for it was about the 10th hour. And uh, you can keep looking for this wood. Sometimes this translator remains. Sometimes it's translated above. If it's a verb, it might be abide. But really that's the sense of it. It's something remaining, something staying. Some a permanency is not talking about the dwelling as it were at all. We have that.
In end of verse 2, where it speaks of a place, there is definitely a place that is spoken of, but it's only a place of interest to us because he is there. And I, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am that you may be also. So there's definitely a place, but it's only, as I said, of interest to us because he is there for this thought of abode and abiding. As I said, it's a it's a word like others. John loves certain words, light world.
Word no abode.
Umm, these are things that he repeats over and over and over again to, to, and, and there's very good reason for it because of the late date at which he was writing and the things he was countering. But just remember, the word abode is not talking about, uh, it's not just another word for a house, but it's really the sense of remaining, of staying where he is.
Why does it say many?
Because there's many of us.
What's your thought?
I didn't know you shall bear the sins of many.
That's every believer.
127.
Nsnoise.
35 in the Independence.
Nsnoise.
01:15:52
I know we're running late, but just in regards to the next.
Greeting meeting.
And I I understand that this would be a disorder and.
But I wonder if there would be an opportunity.
To read Hebrews 11.
The 1St 27 verses before we dig back into.
What we have in the Father's house there.
John 14 and not to deviate away from John 14, but more in regards as we would have the Father's house before us.
That there would be consequence we have there, and those verses in Hebrews 11.
Those that you saw the reflections in their life.
Of the hope they had before him. And they didn't even have the hope of the Father's house, at least not the Enlightenment of knowing the hope of the Father's house before them. I don't. I don't know. That could be something to pray about and be exercising with the brother and are are not for that.
I would completely understand that if there was any way that we could.
Just read those before we and then read the chapter, but as we would read those that we would be exercises to the reality that if the Father's house and being there with the Lord Jesus.
Really takes hold of our heart and our life. It's gonna it's gonna float down to our our walk. It won't just be the mental ascent of the joy of the Father's out house before us. I don't know to believe that.
Gracious Father, we would ask for direction.
This afternoon.
Lord Jesus, thou art the Head and.
There's something to consider in Hebrews 11. Guidance says to that as well. Father, we know that thou art well able. And so we ask that we might live in the reality of these things we've been talking about, Father. So easy to talk about them. And then just to live our lives as we always have, but help it to sink down into our hearts. We pray and give thanks, Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
N.