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[0:00] Good morning, everyone. That is a good morning for a nice, cold, squamish morning, isn't it? Praise the Lord for an extra hour of sleep.

[0:13] Gave us more warmth under the blankets, right? My only issue is the dogs didn't catch on to the whole hour falling back. So that's just the way it works sometimes. So it's good to have you here.

[0:25] Good to be here. A couple of quick announcements for, in case you didn't know, there is a youth event today. Apparently it's going to be a big extravaganza.

[0:35] They're actually bringing in a special guest for this event. So if your kids don't like going to youth, force them, okay? This is going to be it. Invite your friends, family, fly in, your cousins.

[0:45] It doesn't matter. It's going to be a big night. Second thing, if you remember a couple of weeks ago, we had sent out a memo about the trip to Israel. Just about the desire in the body and just overwhelmed with the number.

[1:01] So we're at that number where we can actually get a trip on our own and start planning. So my request, is my microphone working? All right, good. My request is that I would love someone to be able to come partner with me to kind of take care of the logistics as we go forward doing that planning.

[1:20] So if you have some extra time and want to interact with me a little bit, we can start setting that in action and getting that type of trip planned. It'll probably be over a year, but I believe I'm just thankful for the reception towards that end.

[1:36] So I think it would be very worthwhile, especially as we've been now, just looking at the life of Christ and getting that sense of being in there physically is such an added dynamic to it.

[1:50] So please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John. More importantly, John chapter 13.

[2:02] John chapter 13. As you know, we've been taking this time to study the life of Jesus Christ, more specifically looking at his response.

[2:17] His human... How do I say this? We haven't been focused so much on his deity, although we've been looking at those areas of his deity where he did healings, but also his humanity and how human he was as he interacted with his people, how he reacted to the events that surrounded him, even the geopolitical nature of everything that was going on.

[2:45] And we've been looking at the four Gospels and kind of constructing this chronological... How do I say this? It's almost this gradual march, which will obviously end with the cross.

[3:00] And a couple things that I've really stressed. One, this is a drama. It's presented to us as a drama.

[3:11] And we're meant to understand it as a drama. And a drama has real people. It's a part of real history. These are real people with real concerns, real feelings.

[3:24] There's real emotions that come up. And there's obviously real concerns. So, as you know, I haven't been kind of so much digging down into the specific teachings of Jesus.

[3:39] I've been explaining why he taught that at a certain time. However, for the next several Sundays, I want to do exactly what I haven't been doing, is that I want to dig down into the specific text, into the specific teachings of Jesus over the next several weeks.

[4:03] Because I believe the text that we are going to be reading between John chapter 14 and John 18 are the most dramatic, intense teachings that Jesus gives.

[4:19] And it's all done in the light of this human responses. It's almost the teachings are magnified by the context of the events that are going on around him.

[4:39] And I want you to see for yourself and understand what is going on in what Jesus says.

[4:50] And I want you to understand why he says the things that he says. Because quite frankly, it reveals an incredible side of his heart.

[5:01] The depth of passion, the depth of love that he has for us is seen just as he loves his disciples in ways that perhaps you've never considered or thought about.

[5:20] So, just to back up a bit, by the time we come to John chapter 13, and in the timeline, remember I gave you a, there's a week.

[5:31] This is the Passion Week. This is the last week that he will have before he gets crucified. The day of the week we are now in is Passover Thursday.

[5:44] If you remember last time, I believe we talked about it, we were back on this, was Communion Sunday. And we talked about how he instituted that communion. In just several hours away, Jesus will be arrested.

[6:03] Judas, the man who walked with him for three years, will come and kiss him on the cheek and betray him to allow the Romans know who is the man that they are supposed to arrest.

[6:16] Jesus will be brought before these courts. And I will further show to you how they conducted their courts was so against the legal precedent of the time, both in the Jewish sense of the courts, in the Roman sense of the courts.

[6:35] We will see that he will be falsely accused. He will be lied about, which means there will be false witnesses brought against him.

[6:45] The Roman soldiers that are meant to guard him will torture him. They will mock him. They will spit on him. They will craft a rudimentary crown of thorns and jam it into his head.

[7:02] He will eventually have nails driven into his hands and his feet and he will be crucified. This will all happen within the next 12 hours.

[7:18] And he will die. And he will be separated for the first time in his existence from his father. John 12, 27 says that he was troubled in heart at the prospect of this event happening.

[7:38] John 13, 21 tells us that he will be troubled in spirit at the event of this happening. But what's really interesting is that although he should be absolutely consumed by what is coming, and he's constructed the actions to make these things happen against him.

[8:07] Remember, we've gone through. He's agitated the religious rulers enough to the point that their only recourse is to kill him.

[8:21] But yet, instead of being consumed for himself, he's consumed with the care of his apostles.

[8:34] And that's what we are going to look at today. The absolute love that he has and the care that he demonstrates for his apostles in a time when most of us would have expected the care and the support of the apostles to be lifting Jesus up.

[8:59] Jesus continues to give more of himself. Let's pray. Dear Holy Heavenly Father, Lord, there is deep, dramatic impact for us in this story.

[9:12] There are eternal truths that are going to be taught to us. Father, I pray that we make right application of these truths.

[9:25] Father, there's truths of this scripture that exposes our heart to our own hurt, our own pain, our own past. But Father, I pray that we do not dwell on those things, but we would focus our minds on you this morning and understanding, greater understanding of the kind of God that you are that hears and sees and teaches and reminds us of just who you are.

[9:53] We are going to see that you have been doing these things since the very beginning for us. Father, we will definitely see ourselves in these men, the apostles, these disciples as they struggled with the truths.

[10:14] But as we cover these next couple of chapters over, if it's not the next several weeks, the next several months, may you give us a more clear and vibrant understanding of these texts and just the deeper truths and power that derive from them, which exposes you just because of this context.

[10:38] It's incredible. And we ask you these things in your name. So just to give you guys a quick recap of the events that's happening, it is the Passover Thursday.

[10:54] Not much happened on the Passover Wednesday, but the apostles knew that they were going to be having this Passover dinner with Jesus Christ. In fact, he sends two of his men out to prepare this meal.

[11:09] And one of the things that's quite unique is that Jesus doesn't tell them the location of the upper room until he leads them there. How did they think about this?

[11:21] We believe that Judas would have been frustrated by this event because he is scheming with the religious leaders to have Jesus arrested in private.

[11:33] But what was everybody else thinking? Perhaps Jesus had a special announcement for them, some sort of surprise.

[11:44] Perhaps this was going to be the time that Jesus would tell them what tribes they would be leading as the kingdom was coming.

[11:58] The text tells us that this was on their mind constantly in the final weeks of Jesus' life. Who was the greater among them?

[12:09] Who would it be? Who would be given the greatest amount of responsibility? I wonder what they thought when they showed up at this room, what they saw.

[12:29] But before I get there, would it have been wrong for the disciples to think this way? When Jesus spoke about his death, maybe it just meant a parable.

[12:41] Who knows? He's been teaching in parables a lot. And why wouldn't they think that these things might happen? They understood the Abrahamic covenant.

[12:52] They understood the Davidic covenant, which clearly taught that God was going to sit on the throne of Jerusalem and they would rule over the world.

[13:04] Prophecies tells them that deals would be made with other nations, that Israel would be this great central place. So for these men to be thinking, hey, we could be governors in this kingdom alongside of Jesus.

[13:18] I understand. Like just several days ago on the triumphal entry, they heard people cry out, behold, your king is coming to you.

[13:32] Did they not hear out people say, Hosanna, the son of David. Did they not hear the cries that said, blessed is the kingdom of God of our father, David, that comes in the name of the Lord.

[13:47] With their own eyes, they saw their people take off their jackets. They ripped off leaves on the palm trees and put it before the kingdom.

[13:58] Is this not the king? The people want him to be king. So here we are on this Thursday night. Jesus has got to be telling us when this kingdom is coming now, it's got to be soon.

[14:13] He's got to be telling us how he's going to overthrow Rome. When are the angels coming? Did they not hear Jesus answer every question put to him in the temple?

[14:29] Did they not see Jesus exercise his miraculous powers of healing of all who were brought to him? Did they not see how Jesus overthrew the false religious leaders and threw them out of the temple and the hundreds of thousands of people that swarmed around Jesus worshiping him?

[14:53] The kingdom, the kingdom must be coming soon. And soon we will be given our allotments.

[15:03] So these 12 men arrived at this upper room with much anticipation of what would happen on this Thursday evening. What would be the first thing that Jesus would say?

[15:16] Would he tell us when, how he's going to overthrow Rome? Or maybe he's just going to tell us which legion of angels we will command. No, they did not arrive at a coronation.

[15:31] They entered a room to see Jesus pouring water into these basins so he could wash their feet.

[15:43] How uncomfortable that night would have began. That was the role of the servant to wash the feet. Yet the one who was supposed to be declared king, who was supposed to usher in this kingdom, who was supposed to allot us our position in this great capital, is now scrubbing my feet.

[16:12] I wonder if they squirmed or felt shame for them not thinking first to do this for the king, right?

[16:22] They were supposed to be the servants of the king. This was on their mind of the kingdom come. We know we wash our feet before this time, but we're so trapped up in what we want.

[16:37] We missed what Jesus was doing. Then, of course, the meal is served. It starts out like any other Passover meal. Jesus reads the text of the Passover and what Jesus did in, or God did in Exodus, how he rescued his people.

[16:56] What a perfect segue to show how he's going to overthrow Rome as Moses overthrew Egypt. But instead, Jesus made kind of an unusual announcement.

[17:10] He announces that one of them will betray him. How could that be? Why would someone betray Jesus, especially now, when the kingdom is so soon to be given to us?

[17:29] And they rivaled. They continued to fight. Luke 22, 24 says, But you are those who have continued with me in my trials, and I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my Father bestowed upon me.

[17:57] Finally, he's talking about the kingdom and we're going to get it. And it says, That you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit at the thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

[18:12] Woo! We're here! Then finally, Jesus simply says, I'm leaving you.

[18:25] And where I go, you cannot come. Wait, what? Peter, the leader of the group, asked the question, Lord, where are you going? Jesus responds, Where I am going, you cannot follow me now.

[18:40] But you shall follow me afterward. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lord! Why can I not follow you now? Jesus gives this type of response.

[18:58] He says, Because Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I prayed for you. And your faith shall not fail.

[19:12] Peter, I am willing to go to prison and to death for your sake. Peter, would you lay down your life for my sake?

[19:23] Most assuredly, I would. I tell you, Peter, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny me three times that you know me.

[19:43] If Peter, the leader of this group, the one who is lucked up to, the one who dared to walk on water with Jesus, if Peter could not follow, if Peter would deny Jesus, what hope would the rest have?

[20:04] And after making this announcement, Jesus Christ institutes this communion. And in this communion, he says, I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

[20:30] So what you're telling me, it's not now, is it? Please look at your text of John 4, chapter 1. What I did is summed up the events from John 13.

[20:47] And I need you to grasp all of the drama that is going around this event when we read this statement.

[21:00] Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God.

[21:12] Believe also in me. I want you to pay attention to two words that are made in that verse. The first word is heart.

[21:24] And the second word will be troubled. Now I've talked about this in the past. When we use that word heart in our culture, we're talking about our seed of emotions, how someone feels.

[21:38] But in a Jewish understanding, the word heart is your inner self. It is your being. It is the center of your thought, the center of your feelings, and the center of your will.

[21:53] It is when you are engaged, you're engaged. So it's like a computer chip. It's your control processing unit. It is everything that drives you.

[22:06] So when he is saying, when he makes that statement, let your heart be troubled, he's not saying, don't be sad. Don't be downcast.

[22:21] He's talking about, don't let the core of your being be disturbed. And that word troubled, synonyms would be to be disturbed, to be stirred up, to be unsettled, to be thrown into confusion, to be frightened, to be terrified, to be caused great mental distress.

[22:51] And what the text is saying, what Jesus Christ has just revealed to them in that moment is shaking them to the core of their being.

[23:02] You with me? They are absolutely frightened. It's like, all of a sudden, upside down is downside up. Left is right. What are you saying?

[23:13] We can't come with you. You've been teaching us for these three years. We've been up to this point. You've been talking about this kingdom. We gave up our whole lives to follow you.

[23:25] You said, all will make you fishermen. You don't have to be fisher of fish anymore. And they put their nets aside and followed Jesus. So three years we've been doing this.

[23:39] And now you're telling us you're leaving us. We can't come. Not only that, you're telling us Peter, our leader, is going to deny you.

[23:52] If he denies you, how could we not deny you? That word agitated, the root word of troubled, it's to be agitated so much to think about you're like a world is thrown out of, it's like the moon being thrown out of orbit around the earth.

[24:20] Everything's going to look different now. Everything's going to feel different now. because Jesus is telling them that he is leaving them and they cannot come.

[24:32] They're just still dealing with the hurt that one of them that walked with them for three years that they loved has gone to betray them. And the kingdom apparently is not coming right now.

[24:49] Everything they believed that was right and true doesn't seem so right and true right now. So Jesus needs to deal with this.

[25:04] Imagine what would happen if Jesus, if you cut out these chapters of Jesus preparing, how are they going to respond when Jesus is going to be crucified in less than 12 hours?

[25:18] Right? They're gone. They're out of there. They're going to fall apart. There is no way that they are going to make it. So the context of this chapter begins with these 11 men with their faith holding on by a thread.

[25:42] Anybody been there? right? The consequences of life were so great that you just felt like you were holding on by a thread.

[26:02] This is what this chapter is about. It is about how Jesus responds to people who are holding on by a thread.

[26:17] Let's be honest. Sometimes there are life events that are so traumatizing we do not know if we will survive them. We know what they are.

[26:29] Could be facing the death of a dearly loved one, the loss of a home, a job, a diagnosis of a life threatening illness to either us or someone that we love, an event that causes to rethink who we are.

[26:46] Perhaps it's the absolute breakdown of a marriage, of you being with someone that you thought you'd be with forever. I don't have to go through all the details.

[26:59] And if you haven't faced such events, you know some who have. it's like all the rules of the universe that you so trusted in don't work anymore.

[27:18] It's like when you throw a ball and you hope it's going to come up, it just keeps going. And you don't know what to do with that.

[27:30] What you thought was good and true and was going to last forever is no longer there. The person that you thought that you would always be able to depend on is no longer there.

[27:42] And then you begin to ask yourself big questions. And I'm sure in fact some of you have asked these questions yourself. Why is life worth even living?

[27:57] What's the point of it all? Well, let me tell you. you're not alone in asking those questions and nor should you be ashamed in asking those questions.

[28:12] Job 14.1 says, man who was born of woman is few of days and full of trouble. The prophet Jeremiah 20.18 says, why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame?

[28:33] And even in the psalm that David read for us this morning, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

[28:45] What I'm talking about are real events to real people, right? This isn't a hypothetical. Life ever feel that way?

[28:56] Life ever feel like the valley of the shadow of deaths? Well, this is where the disciples are right now. They are in the depths of this valley.

[29:08] They have been given the most horrific news, and it is shaking them to the core of their being. Now, what's interesting is I thought that I was going to tell you here about five ways Jesus identifies with those who are in pain, and promise you that he understands you through these things.

[29:32] But I feel that I would be doing this passage in injustice if I made this more about us than about Jesus. This is a drama.

[29:44] This is a real life event. And I believe we are meant to feel all the emotions, thoughts, and concerns of this drama. So for this sermon, I want to continue placing the focus on Jesus and these disciples.

[30:02] And my prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit would make the direct application you need in your life. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to let the Holy Spirit do it. But I have no doubt that you will learn how to handle adversity just by watching and understanding Jesus in the most wonderful way possible.

[30:27] the first place that we see that Jesus points them to is God. Notice John 14 1. Believe in me.

[30:40] Believe also in me. You see, this is who Jesus is. He is God. You have trusted God before. Now it's time to continue trusting him.

[30:53] Now what's interesting is that this verse isn't the only verse that talks about this. We can go all the way back to Exodus when God over 1400 years previous to this event, Moses struggling whether he could be the one to lead his people out of the land of slavery in Egypt.

[31:18] He doubted as well. And Jesus spoke to him. It says, the Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

[31:41] He used that word Yahweh, which is the personal God that knows you by name. So the first thing that Jesus wants them to know when he says, believe in God, believe in me, this is the same God.

[31:59] Remember what we're here, we're here on Passover, remember? We're talking about Passover and we're looking how good, how faithful God was to rescue his people from the dominion of slavery.

[32:12] Guess what? Same God. The same God. And why? It's because who he is, he has not changed.

[32:24] Now, continuing on the theme of Passover, if you guys want to look at with me, and it might be a little bit hard to find, the book of Nehemiah. Book of Nehemiah. And I want you to see this and feel no shame looking at the table of contents.

[32:38] This isn't a sword drill who can win first, but I give a cookie to anybody who can put their arm out first when they find it. Nehemiah 9. Nehemiah 9. And just to remind you, Nehemiah is a servant of the Persian court.

[32:55] So Israel has already been judged unfaithful. God has brought in Babylon, he's wiped them out, they've lost their temple, they've lost their city.

[33:08] Remember that? That's where Daniel appears. And then while Daniel is still alive, Babylon is overthrown, and the Medo-Persian Empire begins.

[33:19] And the Medo-Persian Empire had a different philosophy in how to deal with prison nations, or I don't know whatever you're going to call it. Babylon takes them all, turns them into slaves, Persians send them back to their home country, slightly reduced of power, well by a lot, but he gives them the means to make money so they can send that money back to their capital.

[33:44] So that's kind of how they work. So if you look at Nehemiah 17, so this is about a thousand years after Moses. So for a thousand years, the Jews have still been celebrating Passover, right?

[33:58] Where Jesus went in, or the God went in, did the seven plagues, rescued his people. Now look at verse 16, it says, but they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.

[34:16] So that's the Jewish people are now in the wilderness. They've been rescued by God from slavery. And while in the wilderness, they started to get stiff neck, which means stubborn, unteachable.

[34:33] It says, verse 17, they refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them. But they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.

[34:48] Do you get this? They're out in the wilderness and it's like, it's horrible. We got dust in everything. We're not there. You know what? We don't know what's before us, but I'll tell you what, we did know what was in Egypt, right?

[35:03] Yeah, there was a few beatings and stuff, but we had food, we had water from the Nile, and yes, we had an overlord that hated us and killed us at times, but it's better than not knowing what's coming.

[35:31] Now let's continue on verse 17. Their hearts were so fear of rebellion, they wanted to go back, but you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

[35:54] Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and says, this is your God who brought you out of Egypt and had committed great blasphemies, you and your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness.

[36:11] The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.

[36:23] You gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness and they lacked nothing.

[36:41] Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. So even if in the middle of the rebellion, and let's be honest, the disciples aren't in a form of rebellion, they're in a sense of fear of what's coming without Jesus, even with people that created the golden calf, the words are still true, which are echoed in Lamentations 3.22.

[37:16] The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. ceases. His mercies never come to an end. You see, the message of the Old Testament is that God had always given his people three things.

[37:36] He gave them forgiveness, he gave them salvation, and he gave them comfort. Right?

[37:47] Isaiah 12.1 says, You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

[38:02] Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

[38:15] You see, the Jesus that is before him as he is God, the same God, has been the same God forevermore. Isn't that what we need to remind ourselves often?

[38:28] The God that we worship? And that is who we need to cry out to. He is the God who forgives. He is the God who saves. He is the God who brings comfort.

[38:42] Why suddenly would we think God would act so differently? Now as he has always acted. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

[39:02] Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. So just Jesus gives these men this simple command, and it is a command.

[39:14] Believe in me. Believe in God. Believe also in me. Jesus knows that the root of their issue is a lack of trust.

[39:27] And what he's saying is, hey, you know me. You've heard my teachings. You've seen my miracles. You know everything about me. You know that I am God. I am the God of Noah, the God of Enoch, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Joseph, the God of Moses, the God of Gideon, the God of David, the God of Samuel, and all the prophets.

[39:51] That's me. Right? I am the God who conquered kingdoms for my people. I am the God who enforced justice against those who came against my people.

[40:03] I am the God who obtained promises for you. I am the God who stopped the mouths of lions. I am the God who quenched the power of fire. I am the God who helped the saints who escaped the edge of the sword.

[40:19] I am the God who makes weak saints strong. I am the God who made the saints mighty in war. I am the God who put foreign armies to flight.

[40:35] Yeah. I did those things. Why would you suddenly believe that I am not me? Has God not always been there to comfort those that cry out to him?

[40:54] How do we know that God is consistent? Well, we know that he's been there from the start. And here's another truth. God's people have always been fearful.

[41:05] You know that? God's people has always been fearful. Genesis 15, 1. When God calls Abraham out, he says, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in its vision.

[41:19] Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. To Moses, said to the people, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.

[41:38] For the Egyptians who you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you. And you have only to be silent.

[41:51] Joshua 1, 9. Joshua was a great man of faith, right? He went in to the land and he believed God could give him that land when all the other spies said otherwise.

[42:03] But Joshua 1, 9 says, here, have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed.

[42:14] For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. There are things in life that are frightening, but we have a God who comes beside us and always tells us, be not afraid, I go with you.

[42:35] Now let's take a look at verse 2. So that's the first thing we see is that God has always been God. The second thing we need to understand is that Jesus here explains where he is going and what he must do.

[42:54] Verse 2, in my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

[43:16] And you know the way to where I am going. So the first point is trust in God. Now trust that I am going to prepare this place for you.

[43:30] Now this is a wonderful passage of Jesus' wonderful comfort to the disciples. He's letting them know that he needs to go and prepare this place for them.

[43:42] Now we often get very confused about what this text means. Some versions have dwellings, mansion, right?

[43:55] You guys remember the mansion? And a lot of people have come to believe, and I'm not saying it's wrong, that when God goes to heaven he's going to prepare a mansion for us to live in and everything's going to be really fine and we're all going to live in Squamish again in the new earth but with a bigger house on the hill with a better view, you know.

[44:13] Something like that, right? And we get really excited about just that. But this isn't what Jesus is talking about.

[44:25] And remember when I spoke to you guys earlier about the betrothal period between Joseph and Mary and I explained what a Jewish wedding was.

[44:36] A Jewish wedding, right? Remember, I'm going to promise to marry you, we're married, but we don't consummate that wedding marriage right away. What I do as the man is I go to where my father lives and my father hopefully by this time, because he's been able to have me sustain me, he's had some kind of business operating which I have now, woodworker with them or whatever, and I build a section on that house, right?

[45:02] So a lot of these Jewish homes, and you see even Romans used to do that, it's like a courtyard in the middle and if he's got like six, if he's had six sons, there'll be six attachments that are built on.

[45:17] Sadly, if he had a daughter, she would go and live with her husband's family and be a part of that tribe. Now, what he's talking about is that it was really awesome to live in that dwelling because it meant you had a relationship.

[45:36] You were loved, you were cared for, you were known by becoming a part of that family. And what Jesus is telling them is I'm not going to go build, I'm not making your mansion really nice.

[45:54] I want you to have this relationship with my father. And the only way that you can come to have this relationship with my father is that I have to die tomorrow.

[46:09] That even though you guys have been really good at following me, you are still sinful, you are tainted with Adam's sin, you've had sin in your life, and my God who sits in heaven is holy, and he's wonderful, and he's just, and no sin can come into his sight.

[46:26] So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to the cross tomorrow, and I'm going to die the death that you should have died. And my father is going to treat me like you.

[46:43] He's going to pour out all his wrath on me, and for the first time in my existence, I will be separated from the one I've been eternally in a love relationship my whole life with.

[46:57] And the reason why I am doing that is so all my righteousness can be given to all of you, and you can now wear that righteousness, and the love that my father has for me, which is perfect by the way, you get to have two.

[47:20] So guys, this place that I'm going to, I'm going to prepare the way so that you can come, and guess what? I'm going to come back and get you when it's time for you to come.

[47:34] Right? And he's talking about the second coming. I'm going to come back for you who are my own, who are in that relationship with my father because you've accepted the death that I died for you.

[47:53] So this is what Jesus Christ is communicating to his disciples. It's not this physical, and it may be a physical mansion, but more importantly, and this is the thing that we've got to get around our heads sometimes when we think about heaven.

[48:08] John Piper makes this question. If you know John, he's just got this way of kind of getting into you, and what he says is, if you knew in heaven you could be with your most cherished loved ones and friends, would you still be happy there if Jesus wasn't there?

[48:31] See, this is how sometimes we think about heaven, and I've been guilty of thinking this and communicating this, so sometimes when we're at a funeral, we communicate, well, you know, when we die, we get to be with them because we know their love.

[48:45] No, no, no, no. We get to be with Jesus together. We get to be in a perfect place experiencing the worship, the perfect worship and perfect love of the Father together.

[48:58] together. That's what we rejoice over, that I can be in with my loved ones worshiping Jesus together. It's not that I get to go and play ball with them or take my dog and go for a walk, because dogs are going to heaven, by the way, but anyway.

[49:15] You know, when we think about these things, this is what's happening, and this is what Jesus is. Jesus is. Communicate them.

[49:28] This is the pearl. This is the jewel. This is the gold. This is the Bitcoin of the whole gospel.

[49:43] Right here, that we get to go to a place because Jesus died for us where we can have a perfect relationship with the Father. No more tears.

[49:57] No more shame. No more sin. But it can never happen unless Jesus leaves the disciples.

[50:14] God's justice must be met. God's justice. And we cannot survive without God's justice.

[50:26] And our hope is I will come again and I will take you to myself. When he's communicating to the disciples, hey, I'm going to come back for you.

[50:40] Me coming back. So, you guys understand it perfectly? Right?

[50:52] Well, it's okay that you don't because this whole chapter is made up of questions the disciples will have. Thomas' question, Lord, we do not know where you're going.

[51:07] How can we know the way? Hey, later on, Philip will say, Lord, show us God. And it is enough for us.

[51:19] So, even in the moment, Philip, still going through this thought, is Jesus really God? And then in verse 22, Judas Iscariot, which, well, Judas, not Iscariot's question, is, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?

[51:42] And these are the questions we're going to answer next week. Let's pray. Dear Lord, wonderful Father, we just give you thanks for just this really brief picture into who you are in your heart and what you are communicating to these men that love you and are following you.

[52:02] And Father, you don't worry that our faith is holding on by a thread.

[52:15] You're more concerned that that thread is attached to you and nothing else. So even a thread's worth of faith is enough faith to save because you are the object of our salvation, that our hope must be placed in you.

[52:34] Father, we thank you for the God who understands. We just see that so clearly and how you knew where the disciples were. And you encouraged them.

[52:47] You understood that they were, in a sense, falling apart and you give them such wonderful hope that you are God, the same God who has loved God's people from the very beginning.

[52:59] Father, I pray that we come to that same understanding, that we would accept this love. May you call us to an understanding of you.

[53:13] You're very, in the Old Testament, you built monuments of faith. And sometimes we need to do that, take a picture of a time when you were faithful that stands out among other times.

[53:24] And we're a forgetful people. We forget these things. Even Old Testament saints forgot your eternal truths. We are no different. We need to remind ourselves the wonderful things you did.

[53:40] And that's why we read our Bibles. That's why we come before you in prayer and we meditate on your eternal truths because we need to believe them. Even when our hearts are weak, even when our hearts are hurt and they're broken.

[53:57] We also must believe the truth that God goes before us to this cross. Ephesians tells us it's not because we were anything special. The reason is because you had this great, incredible love for us.

[54:13] And that it was because of your love for us that you died for us. So, Father, as we come to this communion table this morning, I pray we take it with the right spirit.

[54:32] It's okay to take it in hesitation or perhaps even with a little bit of unbelief of you're asking yourself, where is God?

[54:42] It's not a salvific thing, but it's how do I carry on given my circumstances? The message from God is, hey, I got it.

[54:53] I am with you over and over and over as our Bibles testify to. Father, we acknowledge that there's nothing special and magical about the drink or the bread, but we do this in remembrance of why you died.

[55:12] You died so that we could have this eternal fellowship with the Father. So, Father, we give you thanks for this time together and I ask that if anyone is not right with you, may they take the time to confess their sins before you this morning.

[55:35] And if there is any who have broken relationships that they need mended before they come to this table, I pray that they would refrain from taking of this table this morning.

[55:47] There is no shame in not taking this bread or this wine. There is shame in not doing anything about it. There's shame in taking the elements when we are not right with you and we're not right with the body of Christ.

[56:03] So, Father, as we come to these emblems this morning, we ask for your blessing and of course we know your presence is here as your Holy Spirit sustains us.

[56:17]  We ask these things in most glorious and powerful name. Amen.