Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
93.
And I bought one of my accounts but I don't want to do it.
Nsnoise.
Regarding our folder.
Surely thou hast done.
Far, exceedingly far above all that we could ask or think.
And what do you think of those councils and the Godhead in the past? Eternity and life. Purpose. Settled purpose.
And my beloved Son, to glorify Thyself, and thou hast brought us in objects of mercy in life, and of Thy love, that thou widest have children, feeling glory above for the satisfaction of thine own heart.
And truly, objects of mercy we are.
For we were lost and undone in our sins, and we think of how Thou, in thy eternal purpose and thy Son, would send him into this world to redeem us. We're dead in trespasses and sins, that we might be brought in, in grace in all its fullness. And thy heart of love and mercy and grace might be told out as it never could have before. And so we thank the our God and our Father for all that house brought us into. And Lord Jesus, we thank Thee for going to that cross.
To bring it all to pass, to finish the work that was given me to do. Lord Jesus, we think of the as the eternal Son from a past eternity, looking onward and seeing the Church and redemption's light.
Help me for the ravished with the sight that was give all.
On Calvary's cross. And there we were.
John, what our minds can take in Thou was already rejoicing to share with us all that.
00:05:06
Roots of victory, the spoils of the cross. We thank thee, Lord Jesus, for the hope that is before us this morning. And so we look to these thou fill our hearts well thy precious word this morning that thou lead us to a portion that would, uh, need us in our needs without us know them. Lord Jesus and our God and our Father, we pray that by the power of the Spirit of God, our hearts might be.
Minister to this day, and that it might bear fruit in our lives for Thee and as worshippers in Thy presence, for Thou seekest such hearts illuminated with divine truth to worship Thee. And so we just commend this to the asking My help, my guides and direction by the Spirit of God and the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.
I realized that on an occasion like this, we usually take up a chapter or portion.
But I'd like to suggest a subject for these readings that the brethren Felix of the Lord, and that is the subject of the Lord's coming.
It's a subject that I believe is on the minds and hearts of many as we pass through the circumstances of life here in this world, as we see things changing on the world stage and developing for what is ahead. As many of the Lord's people are going through physical circumstances, circumstances in other countries with governments and the shake up of every level of society.
If we were going to do that, what I'd like to suggest for we begin in the 14th of John with those first.
6 verses and we might not get to it this morning, but then to read also.
In the fourth chapter of.
First Thessalonians.
From verse 13 to the end of that chapter, like give us a basis to at least begin with, and as the Lord leads, perhaps we can look at some other scriptures to bring before us this very precious truth and hope. I just put that out as a suggestion.
So I'll read the 1St 6 verses of John's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 13 to the end of First Thessalonians 4.
John 14 verse one.
Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
And 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.
4.
Verse 13.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that she sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so them also would sleep in. Jesus will God bring with him. For 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.
00:10:13
Well, I don't suppose there's ever been a day when the people of God desire to be comforted, like the day in which we live again. There are so many trials and difficulties in every level of society in the world around us, in Christian circles, often in the assembly amongst those gathered to the Lord's name, problems in the home, problems in the workplace, and so on. And it just seems like never before we desire to be comforted.
I have thought a lot recently of what, uh, the exhortation to Isaiah in the 40th of Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. And I believe we need to be comforted in the day in which we live. And there's nothing will comfort our hearts, brethren, like looking beyond the horizons of this sad world. Because if you and I didn't have something beyond this world, a whole beyond this life and beyond the betterment of society down here as people phrase it, what a sad people we'd be this morning.
There would be very little, if any joy or comfort in our souls as we sat here this morning if all we could do was to look for better days down here. Because even in men, men in high places today, if they're honest with themselves, realize that they are dealing with an interplay of economic, social and political forces that are beyond their control. And you talk to people in in places of authority, corporately and governmentally and so on.
And they realized that the elastic is being stretched further and further and that it's got to snap somewhere. And if there's ever been a proof that we're in the last days, it's that verse that says men's hearts failing them for fear and looking for those things that are coming on the earth. And look in people's faces today and read the fear in the faces of the unbeliever, as optimistic as they may try to make things sound.
There is a inner fear behind that facade that perhaps has never been there before. And so we find here in this portion where we began, the Lord comforts the hearts of the disciples.
The Lord Jesus was going to leave the disciples. He was going to leave them in a world that wasn't going to improve.
It was only going to get worse and in these chapters that we refer to as the Upper Room Ministry, chapters 131415 and 16, these final words of the Lord Jesus before he goes to the cross.
And then anticipates returning to the father. He prepares to show them that while he's going to leave them behind, things are not going to get better in this world, but that he's going to make full, full provision for them. And so in these chapters, he just covers everything. He he begins with his a confirmation of his love at the beginning of the 13th chapter, the truth of seat washing and the way communion and fellowship with himself can be maintained.
After he leaves them, he takes up in these chapters the subject of the Spirit of God, the power for their new life, the one that was going to minister Christ to them and confirm the truth to them, and and so on.
But one of the things he gives them for their comfort to in the midst of it all. And this is what I would have had particularly before me.
Is himself in glory and the truth that he's going to return and receive them to himself. He says to them in the beginning of this chapter. This is not the end of the story. And while I'm going to leave you in this world, it's not home.
If you're just going to be sojourners, you're just going to pass through and you say, how could the Lord comfort them? How could He say, let not your heart be troubled? One promised brethren, He was going to come again and receive them to himself. There was something far better waiting for them. And I don't know when the Lord is coming, but one thing we're sure of, we are closer this morning to the fulfillment of this promise that He made on this occasion.
Than we have ever been before and can't we take comfort and joy from that?
00:15:10
So just to get a little outline of these first three verses of John 14, there are, as has often been pointed out, really three things that the Lord Jesus gives for the comfort of the disciples on this occasion.
The first one in the first verse is you believe all. You believe in God, believe also in me.
Believe what he's really setting before them here is himself, but not himself in the way they had known and appreciated him here as they had walked with him during his public ministry.
Someone raised the question at a Bible conference just like this one time. What is Christianity?
And someone said, well, Christianity can be summed up in one word, Christ, But that needs explanation because it's not Christ in the way that the disciples knew him on earth. It's Christ as the man in the glory, Christianity as another, as said, begins the other side of the cloud. The cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more. And from that vantage, then he sent down the Spirit of God.
In the second chapter of Acts and there was a link and a connection that was closer.
To the Lord Jesus, and even what the disciples had known and enjoyed on earth with resources that, as these chapters explain, are greater resources than those disciples had known and appreciated when walking with the Lord Jesus here. So as the apostle Paul said, henceforth no, we know man after the flesh. For though we knew Christ after the flesh, henceforth know we him no more. And so Christianity is Christ.
But it's Christ as the glorified man in glory at the right hand of God.
That is what is unique to Christianity, a relationship with a glorified man. So the Lord says to the disciples here, you've believed in God whom you've never seen. Now you're going to have to believe on me in the same way.
You're not going to see me with the physical eye. So as Peter later on says in his epistle, whom not having seen ye love, though now ye see him not yet rejoicing, ye, we yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. So we've never seen Christ with the physical eye, but we do see Him. We see Jesus, but we see Him with the eye of faith, and we're associated with Him.
As the man who is beyond this world now, beyond its circumstances, and who is seated at the right hand of power. So that's the first thing He gives them for their comfort. Then, and we can develop this in the second verse, He sets before them the new home. The many mansions are many of both the new home. What a wonderful comfort for the disciples. And then the third thing is in the third verse.
The promise that He's going to come again and receive them to himself. So I think just for a few moments this morning, it's good to just develop this and meditate on these three things that are given to the disciples for their comfort and for you and for me who are still in this world of woe and difficulty. We're not there yet to realize we have Christ as the man in the glory for our resource, the home at the end, and the promise that He's going to come and receive us to himself.
The believer's heart can be troubled.
As he looks around in the world.
It can also be troubled as he looks inside.
The Lord in the last chapter, the chapter before he speaks to Peter.
To him denying the Lord three times.
I would think this would have been troubling to Peter.
So.
The sinner's heart gets troubled when he's convicted of sin.
And he believes in the Lord Jesus as his Savior.
And the believer's heart is troubled when he falls into sin.
I need to be stored by the Lord Jesus as Advocate and my priest.
00:20:01
And the believers heart is troubled when he sees those thoughts coming up in his natural heart and say, Lord, how could you love someone like me?
Well, because we believe in imminent character and His love and His grace, then our hearts can be rushed because we have a wonderful Lord and Savior.
He really is a beautiful example of that, isn't he in in chapter 12 and verse 27 is he reflected on what was before him? He said now is my sole trouble.
What shall I say? And so on.
Then in chapter 13.
Verse 21. Excuse me then when Jesus had thus said he was troubled with spirit.
Testify so to think of him, what he was passing through his own soul, and yet he could turn to his disciples.
With their blessing and their their hearts and view and say, let not your heart be troubled.
I was thinking of that too, brother running just to back up in the 13th chapter because even though he was troubled in spirit as he anticipated the cross and two, as he understood the hearts of the disciples and that there was a betrayer amongst them that Peter was going to deny him. They were all going to forsake him and play. It's interesting what it says about the Lord Jesus at the beginning of the Upper Room ministry, verse three of the 13th chapter.
Let me read verse 2 to get the setting and suffer being end of the devil, having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.
And the Lord knew what was in Judah's heart and how it must have impinged the heart of the Lord Jesus.
To realize that here was a man who had walked with him and with the other disciples, and had remained unregenerate to the end, and now his heart was hardened to such a point that he was about to betray the one that he dared to call his Master. But what does the next verse say? Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he would come from God, and went to God. He rises from supper, and so on.
How could the Lord Jesus do such a thing? How could He calmly rise from supper, lay His garment aside, wash the disciples feet and go on then and continue to comfort their hearts and give them this precious upper room ministry? He knew that there was One in full control. He knew that everything was in the Father's hand. And He also knew the end of the story, that He had come from God and He must return to God.
And again, brethren, I believe that those two things are what are going to give us comfort and confidence to go on amidst the turmoils and difficulties of life again, first of all, to realize there's one in full control.
I remember one time we were going through some real turmoil in the local assembly and I went to see an older brother and my heart was pretty in pretty much turmoil. And I sat down in this brother's living room and he made one statement to me with all he had to say. He said, remember this, Jim, sometimes things seem out of hand, but they're never out of the Lord's hands. And I believe if we can just keep that in, in view in our souls, that.
It's going to give us comfort and confidence. And then, as we find with the Lord Jesus, He had the end in view. He knew that though He was going to go to the cross, yet there was the hour of His deepest sorrow and suffering was still ahead.
Yes, there was an end. Knowing the import of that verse that says weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. He looked beyond the long dark night. He hailed that coming day when He would return to the Father with the joy of having accomplished.
The Father's will so he could comfort them. And if I can just say this too, and Ron alluded to it, sometimes what troubles our hearts is not necessarily the condition of things in the secular world, but right amongst believers. And often to write amongst those we are in fellowship with us, gathered to the Lord's name. I know you've experienced it, and I certainly have, but I've appreciated what Paul said to Timothy. Not in First Timothy where things were in order.
00:25:05
But in Second Timothy, where things were in disorder, and there was much wanting amongst the Christian testimony in the last days in perilous times, what does he say to Timothy near the beginning of his exhortation?
He says he's not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. If we're afraid this morning, we didn't get that from the Lord. We got that from somewhere else. The enemy wants to make us afraid.
But if we are truly trusting in our God, occupied with a glorified Christ, and have the hope and the end before us, we are not going to be afraid, concerned, exercise burden. Yes, but He hasn't given us the spirit of fear.
Isaiah 5311 The Lord Jesus prophecy said we shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. She's looking ahead to when that work was accomplished on the cross that those who the Father had given him could enter into His rest.
And there's something that we have before us, the heavenly rest, that when we go to meet with the Lord, when He comes to get us, we'll feel instantly at home.
In His presence and the Lord's given us a privilege of being in His presence collectively.
For the various meetings, you think of the breaking of bread and the prayer meeting and the reading meeting.
But it had the work on Calvary had to be accomplished in order for that comfort that the Lord Jesus was giving us to His disciples to be fulfilled.
How His heart was straightened until it was accomplished what He had to complete on Calvary for us. And this He did and went through in the midst of all this without His disciples understanding the work He was about to accomplish.
There was no one he could turn to around and that he goes with surrounded him.
These things, and yet He was going to accomplish that work for us at such a great expense that when He sees with the travail of his soul, he will be satisfied. And then, as we have, I believe in the psalms of progress, we shall be satisfied when we're with Him.
Just say this too before we pass on that if we ever in our souls begin to doubt.
The thoughts that we are going to be there, safe in the Father's house with the Lord Jesus. What we need to do is look up by faith and see where the Lord Jesus is now. Because the fact that the Lord Jesus is there, having accomplished the work of redemption is the assurance that we are going to be there.
In the end, it might be helpful just to take a moment and go to Hebrews chapter 6, because I believe there's a little incident there, a little illustration there that brings this out and gives us, as I say, that confidence. Because I've talked to those who I really feel are true believers and they are looking for the Lord's coming, But there are times in their lives when their hearts have been full of doubt.
Are we really going to be there? Is it really the way it it? It says, am I really going to make heaven in the end? But I believe this little incident that their illustration at the end of Hebrews six really gives us the assurance to faith. Just read from verse 18.
That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge.
To lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus.
Made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Our hope in connection with the Lord's coming is referred to in different ways in different portions of the New Testament. It's a blessed hope in Titus. It's a Good Hope in Thessalonians. It's a living hope in Peter. But here it's a sure and steadfast hope. This is the only hope that we can speak of in that way. All hope connected with this life in the first man is uncertainty at best.
00:30:22
We hope to do many things, but how many things have we hoped to do in our lives that have never come to fruition?
But the hope of the Lord's return is only hope in the sense that it hasn't happened yet.
We're not in the full reality of it yet. It's only hoping that sense. But what I want to point out here is he uses this little illustration of the forerunner. The Lord Jesus is the forerunner. It's an illusion back to that which took place in the days, Bible times in the days of sailing in and around the Greek harbors because history tells us that the Greek harbors in those day early days were many of them were only accessible.
At high tide, because of the rocks and Shoals at the mouth of those harbors. And so when a large sailing vessel approached a harbor that it desired to enter if it was low tide, what they would do is they had a little boat attached firmly to the to the Bo, to the large sailing vessel. And what they would with an anchor attached firmly to the sailing vessel. And what they would do is they would put the anchor in the small boat actually called the forerunner.
And the Forerunner would be rode across the mouth of the harbor and the anchor dropped safe inside the harbor. So if you and I had stepped up to the deck of one of those sailing vessels that was waiting to enter the harbor and said to the captain of the crew, Are you sure you're going to make the harbor? Oh, they would have said, you see that rope attached to the bow of the boat? On the other end of that rope is an anchor. And the Forerunner has already rode across the bar.
And drop the anchor safe inside the harbor. And that's our assurance that when the right moment comes, we too are going to make it safe within the harbor. And brethren, our forerunner, the Lord Jesus.
Is already there now as a glorified man. God has received him back now.
And I want to speak ever so carefully, but if God were to refuse me entrance now.
At the right moment into the Father's house, he would have to banish his own dear Son for eternity. And that is impossible. That is the security in which you and I have this sure and steadfast hope. And if you ever doubt your hope for your salvation, just look up and realize that God has received the forerunners there. And if it if there's a forerunner, it necessitates after runners.
Christ is there now where the after runners we're going to make it when the right moment come.
So the place being prepared isn't the thought of the Lord up there that we're making room for us, physical room for us. He dispels that thought was saying there's many of those. It's not a question of is there room?
But as our brother brought out, it's himself being there, so he's prepared a place. The moment he stepped into the glory of the man, that place for you and I was prepared. There's a man there will be there as men and women too.
And the place that he is prepared, has been brought out, is his own place. We're accepted in the beloved, and that's 100% acceptance.
We have a place of sun and glory already prepared for us, but the cross that He was going to has prepared us ourselves for the place that He has prepared for us in the glory.
His heart comes out in verse three. I will come again and receive you unto myself. The thing of the Lord Jesus back there is a man in the glory. He's the only man.
00:35:04
In the glory, in that way there are the spirits of those departed.
To be with Christ, which is far better. But as the man's spirit, soul and body glorified, there's only one and the glory. When the eternal Son of God took manhood into union with himself, it was what we call the incarnation. It, uh, was a step that was never going to be revoked.
When the eternal Son of God became a man, it was never going to change. It was not going to be something he would lay aside.
The mystery of that union is beyond us, but it's never going to be laid aside. What if he had gone back without the cross? He'd be a man in the glory alone forever. And what a prospect would that be for you and I to think of being alone for all eternity.
You know, God hasn't made us that way to be alone, has he? And so when Adam was in the garden, all the animals were brought before him. There was none to help me found for him. There wasn't his like. And God said it's not good for the man to be alone. And it's when we think of the Son of God becoming a man that can be said of him. It's not good for him to be alone and to have gone back without the cross. To be a man alone for all eternity, uh, is beyond what we'd be able to take in in our thoughts.
But he says I'm gonna come back because my heart is towards you and I want you with myself. I'm not gonna be a man alone in the glory for all eternity. I'm gonna have you with me. And so it's himself, in the glory that he sets before us is the object for our own hearts affections to be with him. And he's opening up his heart. He's saying, this is my heart towards you. I want you with me.
It's interesting to see in scripture sometimes a combination of words that are sequential and in verse three we have one set.
We have the word where and then we have the word there.
And if we go back to Genesis chapter 19, we see two other words that are sequential. And I'm sure that we could find other examples of this in connection with Lot.
In verse 15 of chapter 19 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened a lot. So we have when and then and then down verse 22 The Lord says, I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Then verse 24, then the Lord reigned upon Sodom.
So it's interesting to see these short sequential words that are used and what a a nice combination we have in verse 3.
Where I am, there you may be also.
This is the Lord coming for us collectively too.
For most of the church's history, I believe these scriptures after the apostles passed off the scene, the real meaning of them was lost.
And the believers, uh, before a recovery of, of, uh, dispensational truth felt that these verses indicated that at the time of death, the Lord would come and receive that dying person as they passed into death and out of this scene would receive that person to himself. And so that every believer, uh, had the expectation that when I die, the Lord is going to come and, and take me to heaven.
And that's how these verses were understood. But that made the believers hope then to be a hope and death.
And that was a whole But we don't have a hope in debt. We have an assurance that should we die, to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. But those that have departed to be with Christ have not changed their hope. They are still looking forward to what the Lord is saying here, His return for us collectively. The apostle Paul has been departed from this scene to be with Christ, which is far better for many hundreds of years.
00:40:06
He's still waiting for the Lord's coming. He's in a better waiting place, but.
There are many believers that still today that look at these verses and say, well, that's my hope, that when I die I'll go to be with the Lord. But that's not the believer's hope as we'll get to it in First Thessalonians 4 as well. Our hope is in the Lord's coming for us and his personal return for us all together at once collectively. And that's why we need the epistles, because if John 14 was all we had to go on.
We wouldn't really be able to speak the way we've been speaking this morning because the Lord didn't develop it here.
He just gave them for their comfort these things that we've been Speaking of, his return to the glory, his the the house, the home that was going to be prepared as a result and the truth that he was going to come again. But he just says, I'll come again and receive you unto myself. He doesn't develop it. And that's why we need the epistles. I remember a brother I knew quite well and he said to me one time He said, well, I only read the Gospels because that's to me is the most important.
Well, we certainly need the Gospels, and we need the pattern that was laid down, the example of Christ's life. Here we have much of the truth that is later developed in the epistle sown in the Gospels by the Lord Jesus himself.
Such as in these chapters in John's Gospel, but you'll never get the development of it and the full understanding of Christian position and what our true hope is unless you go to the epistles. And I'll just say in that regard to that, will never really fully understand the truth of the hope of the Lord's coming without Paul's ministry.
I realize that other of the apostles, other of the writers later on, bring in various aspects of the Lord's coming.
Like John develops it a little bit in first, John three and Peter talks about a little bit and James a little bit. But again, to have the real meat of it and to understand how it's all going to unfold, you must go to Paul's ministry. So it's important, isn't it, to have that full scope, just to, again, put it concisely and to summarize a little bit. It's already been said, but I think it's helpful to realize that on the cross.
The work of Calvary prepared the people for the place.
And So what has prepared you and me for the to be in heaven in the Father's house is the work of Calvary. And if we've availed ourselves of the finished work of Calvary, we're as prepared this morning as we will ever be.
By one offering He had perfected forever them that are sanctified but His presence in heaven. Glory in the Father's house, as Stephen said, is what has prepared the place for the people.
You know, sometimes we might invite company over and there's a lot of preparation goes into getting the house ready for the company. And sometimes things aren't quite ready and we say, well, I hope they got stuck in traffic a little bit or I hope they were a little bit late leaving and maybe we'll have a little extra time to get things prepared. But that, as you say, Steve, is not the thought when it comes to the preparation of the Father's house. The only reason that we're the Lord Jesus has not come yet.
And called us collectively to the Father's house is because there is still a work for the Spirit of God to do here on earth.
There are still some to be gathered in as part of the Church of God. When that work is completed, then the Word is going to be given and we're going to be raptured home. And as long as we're here, the Spirit of God will be here. That's why at the end of the Bible it says the Spirit and the Bride say, come. He doesn't leave till we leave because there's a work for him to do right up until the rapture. And another thing that's unique to the age of Christianity is the abiding presence of the Spirit of God.
Working here on a in a very unique way on planet Earth and that work will be done.
I realize the Lord will still work by His Spirit as He has in every dispensation after we're gone, but there's a unique work going on now. So it's not that the place isn't prepared. As Steve said, His presence in the heaven has prepared the place for the people, but it's the work of the Spirit of God that isn't completed yet. And there's something for each believer to do in the power of the Spirit here on earth as long as we're left here and when that work is done.
00:45:09
The Lord Jesus will come.
Sports desire.
We have it in John 1724.
Father I will, and they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.
The Lord wants us not only in the same places He is, but He wants us with Himself. I will receive you unto.
Austin and White.
Not just people who live in the same home.
They're enjoying each other's company.
And so the Lord is looking forward as we should.
Joining our company, I think up there in His presence to behold His glory to to worship and loving life.
John's ministry brings us into relationship with the Father, doesn't it?
And that's why it's called the Father's house here in John's Gospel. It's not heaven.
It will be heaven, but it's not referred to in that way. It will be glory, but he doesn't refer to it in that way. He refers to it as the Father's house because in the sixth verse he says, I, I don't want to miss what's in between, but he says I am the way, the truth and the life. Now we often take up this verse in the gospel, and that's OK. But in its context here, what the Lord is saying is that He is the way to the Father.
He's the truth about the Father, and he's the life that enjoys the Father.
Because again, that's the whole subject of John's ministry. It's bringing us into relationship with the father through through the son. And so it's the father's house. Not only that, but it's home, isn't it? We think of the father's house as home. And with the prodigal, I know it's a little different, but when he came back as a repentant young man, the father didn't just receive him onto the estate and give him a bunk out with the work, with the with the servants.
No, he was brought right into the father's house to sit down and enjoy fellowship and relationship with the father.
And that's we have that privilege now, we're in relationship now, and we can enjoy that fellowship. Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. But there's a day coming when the full fruition of this is that we sit down as God's children, not just in heaven, but in the Father's house. And I suggest that while it's true no man hath seen God at any time, God is a spirit.
Yet we will see the Father in this way. We will see the Father fully reflected in the Son.
We will be conscious of the father's presence in the father's house and we will see the father in the son because he was the express image of his person. And he says later on, have I been so long time with you?
And hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hast seen me, hast seen the Father. We're gonna see, not just by faith, but we're going to see face to face the Lord Jesus in the coming day. Are we going to be conscious of the Father? Are we going to see the Father? I believe we will see the Father in that way. And so as God's children, we're going to be home, and home is the place where we're most comfortable, isn't it?
You know, I, I'm very comfortable in many of the homes of my brethren and they come out and they try to do everything to make you comfortable.
But I saw a little motto in a guest room I was staying in one time on the guest room wall it said. So it's not home sweet home adjust. And isn't that what we have to do down here? And even our own homes, as comfortable as they are, there's always adjustments. But brethren, think about it. When we get to the Father's house, as God's children, we're gonna sit down perfectly comfortable, nothing to bother us from within.
00:50:03
Nothing about our surroundings. Everything is going to be fullness of joy in every aspect. Can you imagine what it's going to be like not to have something physical or emotional or circumstantially to bother you or annoy you? You can't. I don't think any of us can enter in because there's always something. Even the young people here. It might not be something physical, but there's burdens and cares and concerns, and this isn't that.
But in that day, perfect comfort.
Enjoyment of the of the Lord Jesus and perfect rest in the Father as we see Him reflected in the Son.
I'd just like to give an illustration for the children and perhaps some young people.
In the illustration that we were invited here from our vegetable brethren.
It's like an invitation to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Now our brethren here have worked very hard and are continuing to work very hard to accommodate us.
And we sank some fork, but also we've got the invitation to come and stay at the hotel.
I picture that as going to say we're going through a journey.
We've been invited to several artists of Christ as our Savior.
We've been asked to come to him, be invited to come to him now.
He's coming to the end of the journey in this scene, but he's prepared to place for us. I didn't have to worry when I came here where I was going to stay. It was already arranged. It's like our salvation is in Christ, our home is in heaven, and it is already reserved.
I didn't have to worry about where I'm going to sleep. It was already prepared.
We are preparing here a meeting together over the Word of God, and I picture that as being with Christ. We're at home here, are we not? We sure should be. If we love the Word of God and love the Saints, we are at home. A lot of brethren and sisters here that I don't know and they don't know me, but that doesn't matter. We all have one object and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we know that there is a phone waiting for us. We don't have to worry. We don't have to fret. We just know that our pathway is guided just like our journey is here to this conference. I I know it's a very few about illustration, but I think it sort of gives us a picture of our pathway of our invitation, not worrying where we're going to spend eternity and knowing that we will be in Christ presence.
Perhaps this may have been of help to some of the younger ones.
Just like to read 2 verses in Psalm.
That word that is used in our chapter.
Verse 24 of Psalm 23.
Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after receiving me to glory. A slightly different thought here. It's being received to glory the Father's house that we have in John 14.
But let's notice what the Psalmist says in verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And so it's the person of Christ.
That makes heaven.
Uh, home to us it says, there is none upon earth that I desire, uh, beside thee. So it's nice to see that there is a person connected with the place as in our chapter.
That was Psalm 73, verses 24 and 25.
00:55:02
Another misconstrued thought that some have in reading it the way it appears in our Bible is the thought of mansions. Now, I've had opportunity to drive through some very upscale districts of this continent and other parts of the world, and you see St. after St. of these beautiful homes that you would refer to as mansions. But that's not the thought here. Is it really the thought of many abodes? It's really the thought that there's room for all.
There will be none, and the Father's house is going to be filled, but there is going to be room for all. Not only that, but again, you think of many mansions or even many abodes, many rooms perhaps.
You think of some who perhaps are out there or over there and a distance away and so on. But let's remember, brethren, when we arrived at the Father's house, we are all going to enjoy a special place of nearness and relationship to the Lord Jesus for eternity. You know, you come to a conference like this or a large gathering, everybody can't be up front. It isn't physically possible.
But there's a day coming when we there's going to be myriads in the Father's house, myriads of redeemed, but everyone is going to be able to enjoy a place of nearness to the Lord.
And so it's not like there's going to be those out on the fringes or trying to get a look or trying to hear.
Whatever it it might be, no, everyone will be close to the Lord.
And you notice too, that he's not going to send a messenger for us. You know, we might prepare a house, our house, for visitors, but those visitors are responsible to get there on their own. Our brethren prepared for us this weekend, but we had a responsibility to get here on our own. Nobody came from Vestal and escorted Faye and I down here yesterday. No, we were very happy to drive down on our own and find our own way and so on. But the Lord Jesus says.
I've gone to prepare, I'm going to prepare a place for you and I'm going to come again and receive you unto myself. The Lord Jesus is going to come again. And so when we go on, it's in another meeting this afternoon, take up First Thessalonians. We're going to see that spelled out so very beautifully. He's not sending Gabriel. He's not sending an Angel or messengers as he sent another occasion to different ones, even to to lot. No, he's going to come again.
And receive us to heaven, yes. Receive us to glory, yes. Receive us to the Father's house, yes. But as Brother Bruce and others have said, that's not what he says here. And receive you unto myself, Why? So that we can share in the glory, yes. So we can share the Father's house, yes. But that's again not what he says here. That where I am, there ye may be also. And I don't believe the heart of the Lord Jesus will be ever fully satisfied.
Till He has all the redeemed physically gathered around himself in the Father's house to be with Him for all eternity, His heart will never be satisfied till we're all there.
He's looking forward to it. He's waiting as the man of patience now, and his desire is that we would have that hope and be waiting for the same thing that really he is waiting for. And we don't always think about, do we?
We think of our waiting, but there's one who's waiting, and perhaps with greater anticipation than we could even have. By the grace of God, He's waiting for His bride, He's waiting for His redeem, and He's waited a long time.
But he will have the fulfillment of the joy of his heart at that moment when he comes and receives us to himself.
There's no second generation in God's family. It's a, it's a very happy thing on this earth with a family and children are little and you sit down at the table and everyone's there. But as they grow older, you know, seats, uh, get empty and there's a certain, uh, sense of loss of, uh, someone missing as time goes on in that way and grandchildren coming in the picture and another generation comes in and so on.
01:00:03
But when we're in the glory.
There's no grandchildren. We're all children of God. There's no second generation, and we're all gonna sit down together with the Lord there and the Father's house. And there's not going to be the sense that anyone's missing either. Brother Don Rule brought that out so nicely earlier this year at Saint Thomas Conference. Not going to be a sense that anyone in God's family is missing. We're all going to sit down. Every seat is going to be occupied, and there's going to be a supreme satisfaction.
In all of our hearts that we're all brethren.
That we're all God's children and not one of us is missing. Everyone's around the table, so to speak. And what a wonderful feeling that is going. What a wonderful thrill it's going to be in our hearts to be there with the Lord and all of our brothers. There may be someone we longed over here that didn't get saved. We're not going to sit down, say, oh, they're seated. No, we will have the sense that.
Everyone is there and the family connections that we've had here and that are precious and, and God comes in and blesses and families here, they're gonna be gone. There's gonna be one family in heaven. There's not gonna be this family and that family and the other family in the sense of Christians, he is, God is, uh, uh, we find in Ephesians after whom every family in heaven and earth is named. There are others outside the Christian company.
I'm Speaking of the Christian company.
Not one other family name in this room is going to matter. That's all gone. There's only one family that's going to matter, and you and I are part of that for all eternity. And what a wonderful sense of satisfaction in our hearts to sit down and that day and say we're all here. We're all here.
So our time is gone, but just so we can move on in the next reading, just to sum up at the end here we find we've already mentioned the six verse, but we find with Thomas, you know, when the Lord was here, there were certain places on earth where the Lord resorted to. There was a place He resorted thither with His disciples in Luke 11. He was in a certain place praying and so on. And Thomas found it hard to get beyond a material or physical place on earth.
And that's why he raises this question. And so he says, Thomas says unto him, Lord, verse five, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Well then we've mentioned it, but that's why the Lord Jesus gave him the.
Answer that he gave him, and again the Lord Jesus was showing that in connection with the Father.
There he was, the way to the Father, the truth about the Father and the life that enjoys the Father, and that what he had been Speaking of previously in connection with the Father's house was not a material place in the sense of a place here on earth, or something that could be discerned and enjoyed in a natural way. But this was something that was beyond anything that Thomas or any other could imagine.
And it's interesting that when the Apostle Paul later was caught up to the 3rd heaven, temporarily the eternal dwelling place of God, he didn't even talk about it for 14 years because there just wasn't any way to describe.
What he had seen or what he had heard there in the in the eternal dwelling place of God. But brethren, that's the place we're going to. We're going to an unspeakable place, and it might be before the next meeting.
140.
Wednesday 2025 and now.
01:05:02
Nsnoise.
And walking to the.
Light.
Nsnoise.
5/3.
UH23I don't wanna ever have like that.
No more ever, Quinnipiac.
Bella Thoroughbred, 000000100004 Shallow tea.
We, we're together.
Beloved God and our Father, we thank Thee for the time that we've been able to spend here, thinking and meditating upon.
Portion that is designed in the coming days and that will come and receive our Son to thyself, blessed Lord Jesus, and we thank thee for the hope that we have that, Fossura said back. We thank people for the hope that we have that we can look forward to something beyond this world with this trial difficulty and sorrow and pain. And so we just thank thee that we have such an object.
For our hearts, the Lord Jesus and the future that is before us, we pray to blast our time together. Our fellowship too, and I thought it's leave us here For the blessing and the rest of the conference, we pray give thanks for our dear brethren. Aaron, thank you, Lord, provide goodness to us. It'll be great. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.