Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me back there, Warren? OK, it is coming through. Good.
All right. Well, good morning. And welcome to summer, which somebody asked me to turn on more air conditioning. So maybe I'll do that while we're talking here.
So summer started yesterday, officially. So that's nice. As of today, the days are getting shorter. I only heard one groan.
So my father-in-law always made a point to tell us on the day after the first day of summer, all the days are getting shorter, the days are getting shorter. And just really cheered up my summer. So I thought I'd do the same with you, and there was no reaction. So anyway, I'm going to sit down now, and we'll sing a few more songs.
All right, if you turn in your Bibles, please, to John chapter 13, please, John chapter 13. First, let's take a moment and look to the Lord and for our Father. Thank you for bringing us here this morning. And we thank you for your great loving kindness that we've been singing of today and thinking about.
We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our wonderful Savior, the hope and the life we have in Him. I pray, Lord, that you would die this morning as we look into your words and that we would find hope in Him. For those who don't know Him, that they would come to know Him as the Savior of the world and the living hope that He is. For those of us who do, Lord, may we be encouraged to follow Him wholeheartedly.
And we ask for help in this in Jesus' name. Amen. So to set the scene here, Jesus is in the upper room with His disciples. And He has just alerted them that one of them will betray Him.
And they're wondering, who is it? And He indicates it's Judas. And then tells Judas what you're going to do, and do it quickly. But He says at the end of that, He said that He is with them now, but He is going to be going away.
And that's where we pick up in verse 36 of chapter 13. Jesus, Simon, Peter said to Him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered, where I am going? You cannot follow me for now.
But you will follow me afterward. Peter said to Him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me?
Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times. Chapter 14, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms.
If we're not so, what I've 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 I will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.
Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
As I was studying through Genesis, and I am taking a little bit of a break in the life of Abraham, I felt as I was going through this. And I met that passage on Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah and the judgment of God. And I studied it and pondered it. And I went through it again and actually made my notes.
And I was hoping to do that a few weeks ago. And I just wasn't going to work. It just was not going into my heart. It just was not working.
And I thought, what do I do here? So in a conversation with Clyde told him I'm struggling here. And he said, do you want me to take that Sunday for you? And he did.
So kindly took that Sunday. So there's an answer. But then there's another Sunday coming. So what am I going to do?
And I thought, you know what? I really need some encouragement from the Scriptures. And when I need encouragement from the Scriptures, sometimes I like to go to where the letters are read. Because he will always encourage me.
So I went to this passage. Because I realized that at that point in time, part of what was wrong with me trying to study my way through the life of Abraham and Genesis chapter 19 and Lot and Sodom, Gomorrah, and all of that stuff, was that I felt that my own heart was intermual. I felt like I was just boiling inside, just like in a turmoil. And what's going to settle me down?
And I came across these words as I was reading. I know them by heart. I could close my eyes and quote this. But there's something about living words coming off a page.
And these words really spoke to me. And I thought, I really feel like this is what I want to spend some time getting into. You see, our world is in a mess. This is yesterday's headlines, ripped from a number of newspapers, four missing after aromatic helicopter crash in Northeastern Quebec, guilty as charged, extreme heat, faster resigns, and mid scrutiny.
Update, just an update for you on the Iran thing. The US is now involved and they sent bunker busters in and obliterated Iran's nuclear program, we hope. And all of these things, grocery prices are on the rise. All of this stuff, this is yesterday.
Yesterday. I changed overnight. So I thought, if I let my heart go there, if I let my mind go there, if I am guided by CNN, the CTV, CBC, Fox News, National Post, Globe and Mail, my heart's not going to get any better. It's going to just keep in more and more trouble, because this world is in trouble, big time trouble.
And it's not getting better. It won't be better tomorrow than it is today. It won't be better next month than it is this month. I'm just telling you, it won't.
We have not seen it improve. And we're not going to in this short period of time. Our world's in a mess. There's wars, disasters, geopolitical angst, economic fears.
Life could be troubling. But in that day, for the disciples, it was very troubling. And they hear, I followed this teacher for the last three and a half years. And he says he's going to go away.
What? No, no, no, no, no. Like last week, they put out leaves. And he rode in on a donkey.
And he was like, the king. He's going away. No, no, he's supposed to be the king. And they're thinking, what is this?
What have we done? We left our fishing boats. We've left our tax collecting boat, where I used to skim off the top. And all that stuff to follow this man.
And he's going to go away. Their hopes had risen. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem. He's the king.
He just saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. This is not just an ordinary man. And then all of a sudden, he says these words in their hopes fell. In John chapter 12, you bear with me.
I'd like to look as much scripture as possible this morning as we go through this. John chapter 12, a little earlier, Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. And the crowd that stood there and heard it said of thunder.
Others said, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, the voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world cast out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. And he said this by the kind of death he was going to die. When he said those words, when I am lifted up, that meant nothing else but crucifixion in that day, in that context where these men were. He told them right there and then, I am going to be crucified.
I am going to be tortured on a Roman cross and die. They knew exactly what he was saying. They didn't really get it, but they knew what he was saying. So all of a sudden, this one who is the king, this one whom they put all of their trust, and they followed him around for the last three and a half years.
I watch him do all of these wonderful things, is saying, I am going to die. Whoa, he spoke of one of them betraying them. He spoke of his impending death, and we see from verse 27 on this passage right here, he says that he had trouble of soul. Now is my soul troubled.
So I started thinking about that. I thought, okay, yeah, my soul was troubled, but you know what, I have great company. The Lord Jesus Christ, he had trouble of soul as well. He said his soul was troubled.
If you read the account of God's how many, his soul was vexed to the point of sweating blood. Agony. This is what it did for the disciples. They're probably sitting there thinking, what if Jesus does die?
What if this is the end all that we've come to know and believe these last three and a half years? What if this is it? And we're just going to be handed over to the Romans, or we're going right back to what we were doing before. What if, what if for us, maybe I'm going through the same kind of thing, and I'm asking myself, what if, what if I lose my job?
What if I can't afford my home anymore? What if the grocery prices keep going up? What if I get sick? I have a doctor's appointment in two weeks.
What if that's a bad one? What if the economy just gets worse? What if there's another world war? We can put ourselves into that state and get ourselves into a turmoil.
And when we get into these things, and when we start looking at these headlines, we have to ask ourselves, am I going to be taken in by this? Am I going to let this guide my heart? Am I going to get my soul consumed with these things? No, I need the truth of God.
That's what I need, some truth from God to help me in troubled times. First thing that Jesus says here is that we need control for a troubled heart. Control. Get a grip.
Get your heart under control here. We're not going to just say, okay, yeah, it's good. I'm going to get a grip. You know, yesterday I was down on the waterfront and I'm walking and I said, oh, what's going on here?
I remember back in the days when they were opening up nuclear reactors and in the States, you'd see people doing dions where they go and they lie around all over the place and just pretend that they're dead. That was a protest. I thought, oh, am I walking into some kind of, there's so many protests down down now these days. It doesn't matter whether it's the war, bike lanes, whatever it might be.
You're stepping over protesters all day long. Trees on Robies Street, you know, it's all that stuff. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm out for a walk and so let's go up this way and I'm going, oh, why are all those people lying down on the, on the ground? Well, they were, they were dealing with their troubled hearts because they had somebody sitting at the front saying, okay, go down, go down to your base, go down to your base, ding, go down, down to your base, further to your base, ding.
And I'm taking, are these guys fools? They're baking themselves in the hot blazing sun and they're getting nothing, nothing. They're, they're going down to the base, all right? They're like, they're frying themselves to death.
And I thought, is that the answer? Is that what I do when I'm finding myself in trouble? No, I have to, I have to let not my heart be troubled. It says, Jesus is saying this, he never wanted us to have a life without trouble.
He promised us that there would be trouble. But he promised that we could have an untroubled heart in a troubled life. Life is trouble, it just is. And I always thought that when I get older and I get close someday there's going to be a retirement age and I'll sit by and kick my feet up and just kind of relax and all the troubles will be gone.
That is gonna happen. Not with eight grandkids. But trouble is all around us. It's always going to be all around us.
But do we let it get my heart troubled? How does it impact me? You see, Jesus made this statement. Now, those who like to tear apart the scriptures a little more, it's in the present passive imperative.
It doesn't imply, just don't ever worry about things. Just, you know, stop being troubled, just stop. Keep on going. It's, what he's saying here is I know you're already troubled.
I know life is messy. Stop being troubled. Let not your heart continue to be agitated is what it is in the least translation. Do let not your heart continue to be agitated.
Somebody use that word in the breaking of bread. Agitated this morning. And I thought it was, or turmoil. I forget who it was.
Somebody read a passage and they made that comment and I thought, oh, there you go. The word is teraso means stirred up, agitated, like roiling waters. Two other places in scripture you read it. An angel went down to a certain time in the pool.
Remember the pool where the man was laying on the side? And it says that an angel came down and stirred the pool. It agitated the water. The water's kind of boiled up.
It's probably a hot spring of some type that boiled up. Jesus himself said in John 1227, my soul is troubled. It's agitated. My soul is agitated by what was ahead for him.
So since it's a command, our response can be controlled. Whenever God gives us a command, he gives us the capability through the Holy Spirit to obey that command and to keep that command. You see, God doesn't give us commands to do stuff that we can't do. He doesn't say, well, jump over the moon or lift that mountain out of the way yourself.
He doesn't tell us to do things that he knows we can't do. But when he says, don't let your heart be troubled, he knows that we can not let our heart be troubled. But he's going to tell us how and how we're going to do it. If Jesus says, stop being troubled, we can stop being troubled.
You see, as a Christian, you have a power, have the power to control your thought life, your heart, not to be overwhelmed by the things that you see around you. That's the problem. When we're overwhelmed by the things that we see around us all the time and we let them take over our lives and let those troubling things be the things that lead us every day, that's when we get into trouble. Some verses that help along this, it says in 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5, it says, bring every thought into captivity and to obedience.
In other words, every thought that comes, no, you know what, I'm filtering that out. I'm not thinking upon those things. I'm not going to dwell upon that bad news. But I'm going to take it into captivity.
I'm going to think on Christ. I'm going to think on the Word of God. I'm going to go for a walk. I'm going to put my earbuds in.
I'm going to listen to the Scriptures. I'm going to sit down in my room and get to a quiet place. I'm going to open up my Bible. And I'm going to fill my soul with the thoughts of Christ, rather than be agitated by the things that are going on around me.
In Romans chapter 12 verse 2, it says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We renew our minds by filling our minds and filling our hearts with the Scriptures. With thoughts of Christ, I like how we come on Sunday mornings for about an hour and a half. And we fill our thoughts, all of us, in this room, with the Lord Jesus Christ, with what He has done.
We fill our thoughts with Him. It's a great benefit to us, to think upon Him, and to take it away from here when you're home. Do the same thing when you're driving in your car. We all have the capability to listen to the Scriptures.
We all have the capability to read the Scriptures, renewing our minds. Now here's a good one. In the King James, New King James, it says, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. And I read that and I thought, OK, William Shakespeare, how do I do that?
I've got to gird up the loins of my mind. So I had to go to a couple of other translations. The ESV says, therefore, preparing your mind for action. That's a good one.
I can do that. I understand what that means. First Peter, 113 in the NLT. So think clearly, and exercise self-control.
I can do that. That's what the Scriptures teach us to do. You see, the problem with getting consumed with the troubles is it brings on anxiety. Anxiety, millions of people, millions, many millions of people in North America are consumed with anxiety.
It's been the better part of their day feeling anxious. I have friends and family members, and when I talk to them, they're always anxious about, not just something about everything. Today, it's too warm. Yesterday, it's too rainy.
It's just consumed with anxiety all the time. I mean, I'm not much wonder if you're watching the news. It can put you to an anxious state. But you see, the thing is, if I'm in an anxious state, I'm not managing the trouble.
The trouble is managing me. And we can get ourselves into that state. If I'm just going to just live in a state of agitation all the time, because I'm allowing my heart to be troubled. Remember, I'm going back to what Jesus said, a command.
Do not let your heart be troubled, a command. He's telling you to do that. Do not let your heart be troubled. If I do, the troubles are managing me.
You see, Christians, we need to be realists, not idealists or pessimists. An idealist, they see the world through kind of rose-collar glasses, everything is just great. What news? What are you talking about?
The world's a great place. I just want to live here forever. But I'm seeing it realistically. It doesn't seem that way.
And then you get the pessimists. They're always negative. Everything's bad. Satan is everywhere.
He's under every rock. He's behind every tree. He's in every pulpit. And sometimes I get a pessimist drives me crazy.
Sometimes when you're listening to somebody that's, a pessimist hears what a pessimist is. Best definition for a pessimist. You go to Tim Hortons with a pessimist, and you walk in, you say, oh, man, look at all those donuts. And they say, oh, look at all those holes.
That's what a pessimist is. They just see the holes. They don't see the donuts. But a realist, they see that this world is fallen, that is scarred with sin.
This world is filled with troubles. But they know that there is a God who has the answers and the resources to deal with this world. A realist sees the world as it is, but also knows that there is a God who sees it as it is, too. And he knows that there are many reasons to be troubled in this world.
But he also knows that he has provided many reasons for it not to be troubled. He can encourage you. He can strengthen you in spite of all the troubles that are around you. I'll leave that illustration for another day.
If you're for troubled hearts. Remember that song that we actually, just about everything has happened at Northbrook that I've known. But we actually had a funeral for a lady one time. And her dying request was that we sing the song.
We play it, actually. We weren't going to sing it. Don't worry. Be happy.
Does anybody remember that day that we were here? And it was the piano. And at the end of the funeral, we walked out to the song that Bobby McFaren's song, don't worry. Be happy.
And I thought, that can only take place here. I mean, I don't know of any other place in the world that they would have a funeral. And saying, don't worry. Be happy at the end of the funeral.
But we did it here. But you see, that's not what Jesus is saying. He's not saying, don't worry. Be happy.
Just, hey, everything's cool. Just don't worry. Be happy. He knows that we have a mess around us.
He knows that life is trouble. He knows that this world is stained and scarred and in turmoil and in sin. But what he's telling us here is that it's a cure for troubled hearts. If your heart is troubled, my heart has been troubled.
I've had, I've had referred to many friends and family and close people pass away since January this year. Far too many. It's troubling. It is very, it's hard on your heart.
In fact, I'm going from here today when I leave here at one o'clock I have to be at a memorial service for a person who I was very close to at work. It's just one more. And it's very, very difficult. So yeah, is there heart trouble?
Yes, there is. But Christ is saying here that what you believe will affect your life in this mess. You see, if I wasn't a believer, if I didn't see the world as God sees the world, if I didn't see the world as the Scriptures, teach us and point us, then I would say there's just no hope, it's just going to get worse. And then in the end, we're all just going to fall off this thing.
But realistically, that's not what he's saying here. Your faith really does matter. What you believe really does matter. What you believe actually comes to the surface when times are really bad.
If you face that diagnosis, if you face that death in the family, if you lose that friend, if you lose your job, how you react will demonstrate where your faith is. The difference, this is what A.W. Tozer says, the difference between a great Christian life and any other kind lies in the quality of our spiritual concepts. In other words, what we think of God and what we believe about him.
Jesus said here, don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. Now there's debate over how that is actually said.
He said, believe in God, believe also in me. You believe in God as in that's a state of facts, but also believe in me. What he's saying is, you need to believe in God, but you also need to believe in me. And I am putting myself equal with God in this whole situation.
He's sitting there. Now remember, he's saying this, looking eye to eye with his disciples, reclining around the table. It's not just a letter that they're reading. He's there in the room with them saying this.
You believe in God? And they're all saying, yes. Well believe in me. Also, the same way, in exactly the same way.
Jesus knew his disciples were in for the trial of their lives. The very one they're sitting with is going to be crucified, tortured, whipped, and put in a tomb. That's coming. That's coming in the hours ahead.
They have no reason not to trust them. They saw him multiply fish and bread. They watched him calm a storm on the sea. They watched them raise Lazarus from the dead.
They had seen him. They have many reasons to believe him. In the upper room, the disciples, though they didn't have the big picture. See, here's the thing.
We look back on it and we think, well, why didn't these guys get it? Well, part of it is we have this. The whole thing, right to the end. They didn't know at that moment in time that death on that cross that's coming in a few hours is payment for all of my sins.
And I will be forgiven because of what he's going to do. They didn't know the three days later. He's going to burst out of that grave. An earthquake is going to come.
An angel is going to remove the rock and Christ himself is going to walk out of that grave never to die again. They didn't know that at that time. We do. So we have much more reason to not just believe in God, to believe in him.
We know so much more. We have so much more information, so much more of the picture than they had. We have much more reason to trust him than the disciples did. Think today in our own lives that we don't have the big picture either.
We don't know what to head. There could be a world war. There could be your own war. There could be a battle with cancer.
There could be a heart attack. There could be all kinds of things. There may be a loss of a dear loved one. There may be a loss of a child.
There may be a loss of a child. All of those things. We don't have the big picture of what those things are. But here's Jesus' point.
Do not let your heart be troubled and agitated by all of these things. You believe in God. I won't ask you to stick your hand up if you believe in God. But I assume if I did, most hands will go up here.
That's why you're here. You're in a church. So you're probably here because you believe in God. But you also believe in him.
Jesus Christ. That's when we come to verses like Romans chapter 8 and verse 28 it says, and we know that God causes everything, everything to work together for the good, for those who love God who are called according to his purpose for them. Trust stops the tensions. Faith stops the fear and worship brings, pushes back the worry.
So here's the two things he tells us we need to do. Here's the two things that are the cure for troubled hearts. One, think of where you'll go. Think about where you'll go.
I remember when it was the 15th of March 2020 and it was at the top of the stairs where we're understanding and I was talking to Brother Clyde and there was something that was totally unknown to us had been happening right there at that point in time when people were dying called COVID-19. And Clyde looked at me and he said, well, hopefully I don't get it but I might. Hopefully I don't die from it but I might. And then I'll go to heaven.
That's a pretty good deal. Think of where you'll go. Think of where you are going. Jesus says, in my father's house are many rooms.
If we're not so, I would have told you or if we're not so, what I have told you that I go to a prepare a place for you. The father's house, heaven. The Bible speaks of heaven 532 times. It speaks of it as a country in Hebrews, chapter 11, a heavenly country speaking of its vastness.
It speaks of it as a city also in Hebrews, chapter 11 and Hebrews, chapter 12, speaking of its innumerable people. It speaks of it as a kingdom. God is king and he's reigning overall. It speaks of paradise, indescribable beauty.
It speaks of it as a place of rest, an end of toil, tribulation, temptation and troubles. But here Jesus calls it my father's house. Heaven is a place that is real. Jesus speaks of this place.
It's not a metaphor. It's not just a state of mind. It's a real physical place. Now, mentioned is an unfortunate translation that you see in the King James and the King James.
In back then, it's a Greek word. It's a monet, which is a lodging or a dwelling place or a room. In Latin, it's a mancio, which is a stopping place, a resting place or a room. So we have to scrap all the songs that say I haven't mentioned, you know, not a cottage below or whatever it is.
In the Middle East, families grew by adding rooms to their house so that there was always room for everyone. They just added rooms. Jesus' point is there's plenty of room for everyone. There is plenty of room for everyone, everyone who will believe.
There is room. We will die. We will go to heaven and eventually come back to earth or we will be taken to heaven in the rapture. Back to earth for a millennial kingdom for a thousand years.
And then after that, a new heaven, a new earth, a new Jerusalem will come down. Now, this is not that that's a science fiction-y looking picture, but it's all science, no fiction. Okay, this is real. Heaven is going to be a real place.
In Revelation 21, verse 10 to 17, he says, and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. In the glory of God, its radiance, like the most rare jewel like Jasper, Claire as crystal, down to verse 15, and says, and the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod, this was an angel who spoke with him, had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies four square. It's length the same as its width.
And he measured the city with its rod, 12,000 stadia, which is 2,300 kilometers. Its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall 144 cubits, which is 66 meters thick by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. The New Jerusalem will be a cube.
It will be 15,000 times the size of the city of London. According to Dr. Henry Morris, 20 billion people could easily inhabit only 35% of this great and they would also have 75 acres on each face of this cube. So you have a property of the 75 acres this way and that way.
Okay, and you're only going to take up 35% of the space if there's 20 billion people there. It'll be an amazing place. Heaven is a place also, not just a physical place, it's a personal place. It's a personal place.
John chapter 14 verse 3, and I go and prepare a place for you. I am going to prepare a place for you. I will come again, I will take you to be myself. But where I am, there you may be also.
You see, often look at it and think I'm going to prepare a place for you and he's been there 2,000 years working and Jesus was carbon-drawn earth, man, this must be some place. But he's not up there doing his carbon-dear skills. I thought about this the other day. And it kind of came to me.
I go to prepare a place for you. I'm not so sure he was talking about going to heaven. I think he was talking about going to the cross. I'm going to prepare a place for you.
So if he did not go to the cross, there is no way for you to go to that place. I am going to prepare a place for you. If you're here this morning and you've never come to Jesus Christ, he has prepared a way for you to go to heaven, to be with him forever. He went to a cross and he died and on that cross he took all of your sins that you may be forgiven of all of your sins.
He took them all. He paid the price for your sins. When he died on the cross, that sacrifice was the preparation that gets us to heaven. If Jesus can do what it takes to get you to heaven, I believe he can help you with the troubles of today.
Heaven is a place of relationship. My father's house, home. We never talked about going to my father's house. We always said we were going home.
I had a home. I had a place that I lived in here. But when I went to visit my parents in Cape Breton, I was going where? Home.
Clyde, when you were going down to Aragal, you were going where? Home. Your father's house. Home.
There's just something about going home. It's a place of relationship. Now, sometimes you think, oh, that was never a happy place to go. Sometimes that is sadly the way it is.
But what makes a home? A home is not made of the bricks and mortar and the wood and the asphalt shingles and all of that stuff. It's the people who are there. The Father, the Lord Jesus, every believer you've ever known that has died and gone before you.
Clyde, your mom and dad, my dad, uncles, my grandfather, my grandmother, all of these loved ones, some of the ones that have passed away this past year. Where are they? There is this place that's going to be home. It's about the people that will be there.
So heaven is about the place. We need to think about what's ahead. The one chapter 14 verse 3 says, if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to be with myself. Where I am there, you may be also.
Some will die through the valley of the shadow of death. It says in Psalm 23, the rapture of the church will take place in the twinkling of an eye, 1 Corinthians 5, 52, but we're all headed to the same home. Those of us who are believers. We are all going to the same place.
Heaven is a place. It is personal. It's a place of relationship. And it's a very physical place.
So then we come to this statement here. Where I go, Jesus says, where I go, you know and the way you know. Jesus had shared these truths in the upper room. He had told them plainly that they should have known it.
And then Thomas says, huh, I have to be honest with you, Lord. I don't know. We don't know the way. We don't know what you're talking about here.
See sometimes when we're a mess in a mess, we get preoccupied and we don't hear the Lord speaking to us. And we're so taken up with what's going on around us that we miss what he's saying. Perhaps he missed what the Lord has said about the cross. Perhaps he missed about I will come and take you where I am going.
But when we get into a mess, we get preoccupied and distracted. But Thomas was honest. He said, I don't know what you're talking about here. Can you tell me?
Jesus answered with, I believe one of the greatest statements he made while he was on this earth. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now this might sound like it's really narrow and exclusive and dogmatic.
It is. It is. You see, there is no other person who could stand up and say, I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me other than Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the only one who could make that statement.
I felt very, very sad. I mean, as much as I kind of mocked the idea that folks baking themselves in the sun yesterday down on the waterfront, they're trying a way. There's no truth and there's no life, but it's a way that they're trying. There's all kinds of religions.
There's all kinds of people walking around that are trying a way to get right with God, to get to a utopia or something. Something that's better than what the troubles are around us. But they'll never find it unless they find Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, the life.
No one, no one comes to the Father except through me. It's exclusive. It's the only way. He is the only way.
The, what, what, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, who's, translation says, I alone in contra distinction to all others and the road and the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. In Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14, and I do have those verses up there, it says, enter by the narrow gate for why does the gate and brought us away that leads to destruction and there are many that go by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficulties away which leads to life and there are few that find it.
Peter says in Acts in that great sermon in Acts chapter 4 he says, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There is no other way. Works, ceremony, religion, you cannot buy your way to heaven. That might sound really dogmatic to you.
But it is. That is the only way. In fact, my math teacher from the very beginning was quite dogmatic when she said the two plus two equals four. I could not change her mind on that at all.
She was dogmatic about that. That's the only truth in that. If I owe the bank money and they could show it to me on a statement, they are pretty dogmatic about that. I can't do anything to change their mind on that.
Those things are dogmatic. Jesus Christ himself said, I am the way of the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but through me. Heaven is an exclusive place. And I hope today that you know the one who prepared it for you.
He went to the cross to prepare a place for you. If you know him and you know where you were going, that helps you manage life with all its troubles. That helps your troubled heart because you know him. But if you refuse to know him, the troubles will only get worse.
I pray that this morning that you, this afternoon now, I guess, that you will trust him, that you will know him. Believe in God, believe also in me. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.
Father, thank you this morning. This early afternoon that we can rejoice in the fact that in the troubled world, in a very difficult world, that can make our hearts very troubled. We are surrounded by the impact of sin in this world, by disease, by death, by confusion, by wars, by all of these things. But Lord, we are not swept away in these things because we have great hope.
Help us to believe in God and believe also in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you that He went to that cross to prepare a way for us. That where He is, that there we may be also. What joy it will be to go into eternity to be with Him forever.
What a great hope we have. We have no reason to really be consumed and swept away by the troubles around us. They are not going to go away, but Lord, our hearts can be anchored into the hope and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. That in spite of what might be going on around our lives, we find great hope in Him.
In His person, in His promise, and in our final destination, the heaven that is prepared for us. Father, we thank You. He is such a wonderful Savior.