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[0:00] Thanks, Glenn. Glenn was really jealous that I got this set of scriptures. He was talking about it this morning. He said, man, if I'd have known, I would have wanted that one.

[0:13] So I'm Steve Taberski. Those of you who are visiting with us, we've got a fair crowd, but we've got a lot of people that are on vacation or sick or just out today.

[0:26] I'm glad you're here, though. But Jesus had four major discourses in the Bible.

[0:39] They are one of them being the Sermon on the Mount. That's perhaps the most famous one. That's in Matthew five, six and seven. And then there's the the kingdom parables discourse.

[0:53] That's in Matthew chapter 13. So that's two of them. And then there's the well, in the kingdom parables, they also had this one's about the sower and the seed and the wheat and the tares.

[1:07] Those of you who know what I'm talking about know what. Then there's the the Olivet Discourse. That was when Jesus was on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem.

[1:17] He gave a discourse or a communication, basically, of the the last days and things that were going to the end of all things.

[1:30] And then there was the upper room discourse. That's what we are in right now is when Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples.

[1:40] And this was going to be his last Passover with the disciples. Mr. Mark started that last week. It goes from John 13 through 16.

[1:54] This is the longest of all the discourses that Jesus gave. And it's the most intimate one because it's it wasn't with the public.

[2:06] It was a private meeting with his closest friends, his disciples. And it was his last time that he could have them together and give them some instructions.

[2:19] Jesus, public ministry is over. At this point in time, his public ministry is done. He's not going to be talking to the people anymore. Because it's over with.

[2:33] In matter of fact, John 13, one says now. Now before the peace, the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

[2:50] And so this was it. His last time with his disciples together. And during this time, the first thing he did was he showed them about servanthood by getting up and washing the disciples' feet.

[3:10] And then he told them some things that were pretty heavy. Number one, he told them that somebody was going in their group was a traitor. And he was going to be betrayed by that person.

[3:25] And he also told them that he was going away and that they couldn't come. So they'd spent three years with him. And they were expecting big things.

[3:36] But now you're going away and we can't come? You know what's going on? And then Peter, being one of the big leaders of the group, was told, you know, Peter, you're going to deny me not once but three times.

[3:51] This very night, you're going to deny me three times before the cock crows. So this was all very troubling stuff that Jesus had put on them.

[4:03] So they were troubled. They were, it was bad. You know, this shouldn't be. And that brings us to today's passage of John 14, which is I have, what I have.

[4:18] So let's pray before we get into it. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you especially for this passage, Lord, that you gave to us. It's not only is it comforting, but, Lord, it's controversial to a lot of people.

[4:37] And, Lord, I just pray that as I open your word now, Lord, that the words of my mouth and any thoughts that I have will be pleasing to you.

[4:47] And that, Lord, people will see you in a new light. And that, Lord, you will be glorified in all that's said and done today.

[4:57] In Jesus' name, amen. So, John 14 is something that I memorized as a kid.

[5:08] It, you know, those, it starts out in, let not your heart be troubled. And I memorized it in the King James Version. Let not your heart be troubled.

[5:19] 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, I will, to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.

[5:35] Jesus started out, let not your heart be troubled. He could see that they were troubled. Now, the verbs that were used in this, from what I understand is, it's the present tense verb is, it's not the saying, you know, in the future, don't be troubled about anything.

[5:56] It's, he could see that they were troubled. And he's basically saying, stop being troubled. Because they were obviously in bad shape, you know, with all the news that he had given.

[6:10] So he's basically telling them in today's, today's language would be, hey guys, chill out. It's okay, chill out. And then he gives them some reasons why.

[6:20] And since this, this, all of this message and this whole discourse is to his disciples, which most of us, hopefully all of us in here are his disciples.

[6:33] This message is to us as well. So this is something that we can take to heart as well. So, one of the reasons, he was saying, there are several reasons in his next words, let not your heart be troubled.

[6:52] You believe in God, believe also in me. So, you and I shouldn't be troubled, and they shouldn't be troubled because of who we know. We know who God, they know who God is.

[7:03] And Jesus is basically saying, if you believe in God, well then believe in me. And this is another time where Jesus is letting them know, I am God.

[7:15] A lot of times, people have a hard time understanding that. And the disciples, even today, we have a hard time. You know, that Jesus and God are the same, and the Holy Spirit and all that.

[7:27] But, so he's saying, so it's who you know. And the God that we know, this is the God that spoke this world into existence. He's the one true God that, Mr. Phil was talking to my children this morning about Baal, you know, and the prophets of Baal praying that, you know, send down fire to consume this offering we give you.

[7:56] 450 of them, I mean, circling around this altar, cutting themselves, dancing around, screaming, you know.

[8:06] He said, scream louder. He's probably, you know, asleep, or maybe he's on vacation or something, you know. So, Elijah was standing there watching these prophets.

[8:18] tried to get Baal to shoot down fire to consume, and, of course, he didn't because Baal is a false God.

[8:30] But when Elijah prayed, fire came down from heaven because we have the one true God. God spoke everything in the being. He's the same God that came down here to earth in the form of a man, Jesus, to die for your sins.

[8:49] This is the God that we have, that we know. He's promised that I'll never leave you or forsake you. He's promised in his word that all things are going to work together for good.

[9:02] He said, it's going to be okay. Just remember who he is. That's a good reason to not let your heart be troubled over anything because of who we know.

[9:15] He's got it. He's in control. He said that in my father's house are many mansions.

[9:27] The King James says mansions. The real word is really like a dwelling place or a room. Back in the Far East, back in Abraham's day, they traveled around a lot and used tents.

[9:47] And when a son got married, they would just add another section to the tent for the new family that's coming. And any time a new family member came, they would just add more sections to the tent.

[10:02] So these are more dwelling places. In my father's house are many dwelling places. And the King James says, if it were not so, I would have told you.

[10:14] And really, the translation is if this weren't so, I wouldn't be telling you this. Why would I tell you some silly stuff?

[10:25] But my father's house are many dwelling places. So he's gone to prepare a place for us. And knowing that I have Jesus as my Savior.

[10:40] He is my God. And knowing that I have a home in heaven. I've got a home in glory land that outshines the sun. Why do I need to worry about anything?

[10:53] Why should I be troubled over it? But, you know, we live in a troubled world, right? We get troubled. We're going to get troubled. But if we just remember the word, remember that God is our God.

[11:10] We don't need to trouble ourselves because we know him. We know that he's gone to prepare a place for us. And then he says, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I'll come again.

[11:25] We know he's coming back. He's promised he's coming back. And when he comes back, he's going to take us to be where he is so that we can always be with him.

[11:38] So why worry over anything? Don't let your heart be troubled. Just keep in mind who he is, what he's promised, what he's done, and that he's coming back for us.

[11:51] And he's going to take us to be where he is, to live forever. And then the King James says, and whither I go, you know, in the way you know.

[12:05] And Thomas said unto him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We don't know whether thou goest. And how can we know the way? You got to love Thomas.

[12:17] You know, Thomas is the guy, you know, I was an instructor with Duke Energy. And you can look at people's faces and know if they're really getting what you're talking about.

[12:29] And you can get a sense that, okay, maybe I'm mistaken because they're not asking any questions. They must know what I'm saying.

[12:43] And Thomas is one of those, if he was in school and as a student, he would raise his hand and say, I don't know what you just said. I don't understand it. And most of the time, I'll venture to say the vast majority of the time, the rest of the disciples were in the same boat as Thomas.

[13:05] But they didn't want to speak up and say anything. So God, we thank God for Thomas that he spoke up and asked. Because the next words that came out of Jesus' mouth are very important words.

[13:20] When Thomas said, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way? That's when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[13:32] No man comes to the Father except through me. Notice Jesus didn't say, I am a way. Or I know the way.

[13:43] Or anything that could be interpreted that this is one way.

[13:55] There is one way to get to heaven. One way. And that's through Jesus. It's really one of the things that was really neat.

[14:08] And if you guys, I hope everyone who's taken the book and reading along, these were the best chapters to me that we've had so far.

[14:20] And I really liked it in there. We was talking about, you know, it makes sense that you're not going to bring somebody home. There's not, that you don't know.

[14:32] So, if we are the bride of Christ and, you know, we only have access to the Father's house because of the groom.

[14:44] The groom is Jesus. And we are his bride. He's going to take us to be into his house. The Father's house. So, that was really neat.

[14:58] That was one of the things that I, and the other thing that I really liked in the book this week was the chapter where the, his aunt or something talked to herself all the time.

[15:11] And he, in his, in his writing there, he was talking about, you know, he understood some of the stuff that she was saying. She was, she was talking to herself about her life and different things that was going on.

[15:28] And he said, I really grew to feel for her because there were some things in their lives that wasn't that good. But she would also talk to herself like, okay, I got to remember, I got to remember to go do this.

[15:43] I got to remember to do that. I got to remember this and remember that. And it's the same way with us if we would take God's word and hide it in our hearts and then talk to ourselves back about that.

[15:59] I don't have to worry about this. And it'll help us live our life. The Bible says, you know, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I hide God's word in my heart that I might not sin against God.

[16:13] And if we would just commit to memory verses that are meaningful, that can help us in our lives and we can talk them back to ourselves.

[16:29] When you get in a bad trouble, you know, I know it's going to work out. All right. God's never going to leave me or forsake me. I know this time right now is really bad, but it's going to be okay because God's coming back for me.

[16:43] I've got a home in heaven for sure. It's just something that I want to challenge you. And I have gotten away from it.

[16:55] I memorized a lot of scripture when I was a kid, but I've kind of quit. Memorize being a deliberate thing. And I was thinking about it this week.

[17:07] I've got grandchildren that I don't think we're memorizing scripture. So I'm saying this in front of people so that I can be held accountable for it.

[17:22] I'm going to start paying my grandchildren money for memorizing scripture. They need a way to make some money.

[17:33] And if I can get some script, if I can pay a little bit now, that can help them in the future to remember God's word. So I challenge you other grandparents or parents.

[17:49] Incentivize, you know, learning scripture by paying them some cash to learn scripture. And one day it'll pay off. So the rest of, I'm all the way through chapter, I mean, yeah, chapter 16.

[18:08] I mean, chapter 14 through verse 11. And after Jesus had told them that he's the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father.

[18:20] And that makes it pretty exclusive. That means anybody who thinks that sincerity is a way to get to heaven, they're wrong.

[18:34] I worked with a guy. His name was Chase Thomas. He was an engineer. I think I've told this story maybe to some of you. He, Mountain Dew had a big promotion going on where you could win a Bronco.

[18:53] You win a Ford Bronco. After you finished your can of Mountain Dew, if you looked down in the hole and you saw the emblem of the Bronco on the bottom of the can, then you were the winner.

[19:05] Well, he was drinking over a 12-pack of Mountain Dews every day. Because he said, I'm going to win. You know, everybody at work knew it. And he was one of the engineers at the power plant.

[19:17] And he drank a 12-pack every day to win that Bronco. And some of the engineers, you know how young engineers can be.

[19:31] They got a lot of brains. They made a little emblem somehow. And they got him, caught him away from his desk.

[19:44] Actually, one of them called him over to a, I need you to come and take a look at this drawing with me. So he left his drink there. And they went, well, they took his drink and they fixed it up to where that emblem was on the bottom of his can.

[19:57] And, you know, then everything, then they just waited. And this was up in, those of you who know, they call it Blue Heaven.

[20:08] It's a huge open area with all the cubicles in there. And they were all sitting there waiting. And then after a while they heard, woo-hoo! And he's jumping up and dancing around and taking his can and showing it to everybody.

[20:24] He said, I told you I was going to win. I told you I was going to win. And they really felt bad over this thing. Because of his reaction, they were like, oh, my goodness.

[20:35] And they finally had to let him in on it. Man, this is a joke. We joked on it. And he took it all right. But after a while, he talked to them about it.

[20:52] He said, you know, I got something that you guys will never have. And he said, what? He said, I know how it feels to win a Bronco. It was so real to him.

[21:04] He was so sincere about it. But it was all a lie. Our friends of the Mormon church, I've got a cousin who said, you know, you'll feel a burning feeling inside.

[21:22] You know, that that's how you know that it's real. It's a burning feeling inside. You can't go by feelings. You can't go by feelings. Because you can hype yourself up to have feelings.

[21:38] It's all a lie. The truth of the matter is that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There's no other way.

[21:48] And all our Muslim friends, all our, you know, you name it. The Hindus, the Buddhists, all these people, they're sincere.

[22:02] But they're sincerely wrong. It's not going to end well for them. So we just need to pray for them that they understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

[22:15] And no one, no one is going to get to the Father except through him. All right, then we go on down when he's talking. Jesus, in verse 7, it says, After he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.

[22:37] And he said, if you had known me, you should have known my Father also. And from henceforth you know him and have seen him. And that's when another disciple chimed in.

[22:49] I guess he had a little bit of courage from watching Thomas ask a question. Philip, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father. And it sufficeth us.

[23:00] We'll be satisfied. And 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.

[23:12] And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself but of the Father that dwells in me.

[23:27] He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me. Or else believe me for the very works sake. That's Jesus. All the works that he did, all the miracles that he did was proof that he was who he said he was.

[23:43] I watched a lot of videos of, I forget the guy's name. He goes to a lot of campuses.

[23:55] And it wasn't Charlie Kirk. It was this, I forget his name. But he talks to a lot of Muslim people. And that's one of the things that they really are stuck on.

[24:06] How can Jesus be God when Jesus says the Father's greater than me and Jesus was just a man?

[24:19] And then there's the Holy Spirit. How can there be a trinity? How can all those be God? And it's just, it's mind-boggling.

[24:31] And they don't, they can't get past it. Well, I'll tell you, I heard an illustration recently.

[24:43] A guy had a little Dixie cup. He said, I want you to go put the ocean in this Dixie cup. So, you know, you can dip, dip the water. So, here it is. He said, no, no. I want the whole ocean in this Dixie cup.

[24:58] Well, it's impossible. Well, that's how it is with us in trying to understand God. The infinite God, how can we with our little finite, you know, feeble minds understand and explain that infinite God?

[25:23] I don't understand it, 100% sure. But God said it in His Word and I believe it and that's good enough for me, right? If you're going to not be a believer because you don't understand everything there is to understand, you may never become a believer.

[25:45] But as you spend more time with God, then God will reveal more stuff to you. As you can handle it, you'll understand more and more. God has given us enough information for us to know how to get to heaven.

[26:04] We know that we've all been sinners. Christ died for us. Whoever believes in Him will have life. The verse that I, when I was a little boy of seven years old, I was sitting in a church pew listening.

[26:25] No one had prompted me. I was actually listening to the service. And the preacher was preaching out of 1 John 5, 11 and 12.

[26:36] It says, and this is the record that God has given to us, the eternal life. And this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life. And he that has not the Son of God has not life.

[26:48] It says it's as simple as that. Either you have the Son, you have life, or you don't have the Son, you don't have life. It doesn't matter how much money you give to the church.

[26:58] It doesn't matter if you're a member of the church. It doesn't matter if you are there every time the doors are open. It doesn't matter how many good deeds you do. If your good deeds outweigh your bad.

[27:09] It doesn't matter who your parents are or how much money they give. You got to have the Son. The Bible says in Galatians 4, 6.

[27:24] Well, in John it says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God. And then in Galatians 4, 6, and it says, and because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son to dwell in your heart.

[27:43] See, there's again, now the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of His Son, of God's Son, Jesus. What's mind-boggling?

[27:54] But that's how you have the Son. When you become a follower of Christ, when you become a Son of God because you believe in Jesus, then the Spirit of Jesus comes and dwells in your heart.

[28:12] Then you have the Son. I pray that all of us in here have the Son. There's no other way to get to heaven except through Jesus.

[28:26] And there's nothing to worry about. One more story I was going to talk about. There's a comedian. He's a black comedian.

[28:38] And he was talking about worrying about stuff. And he was saying, you know, you get sick. Well, you got two things to worry about. You're going to get better. You're going to get worse.

[28:50] You're going to get better. You ain't got nothing to worry about. If you're going to get worse, you got two things to worry about. Am I going to live? Am I going to die?

[29:02] So if you're going to live, you ain't got nothing to worry about. But if you're going to die, you got two things to worry about. Am I going to go to heaven?

[29:14] Or am I going to go to hell? If you're going to go to heaven, you ain't got nothing to worry about. But if you're going to go to hell, you've got two things to worry about.

[29:27] And he says, is it going to be original recipe or extra crispy? Anyway, thanks for listening to me.

[29:42] I plead with you, if you don't know Christ as your Savior, that you don't think you're going to get there any other way.

[29:56] There's only one way, through having the Son. Have the Son or you don't. Cut and dry. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word again, and I just thank you for these people, Lord.

[30:10] I pray a special prayer for those who are not here because of vacations or sickness or other appointments. I pray, Father, that you're protecting them and bring them back to us safely.

[30:23] Thank you for our visitors, and I pray your special blessing on them. I thank you for this passage, Lord, this reasons, Lord, you give us to don't be troubled.

[30:38] Lord, we know who you are. We know how great you are. We know that you're preparing a place for us. We know that you're coming back again, and, Lord, that we're going to be with you forever. There's nothing more comforting than that, Lord.

[30:53] Help us in these times of trouble that we have, Lord, to remember, Lord, that if it doesn't change the plan of salvation, then it's not important. I pray, Father, now that you bless the rest of our day.

[31:11] Help us, Father, to serve you with all our might and to be kind and generous and helpful to those people who don't know you, Lord.

[31:23] And I pray, Father, that our people will have a commitment, Lord, to memorize your scripture.

[31:34]  Lord, help us to meditate on it all the time. And if we just did that, then our troubles would melt away. In Jesus' name, amen.