“Promise” – John 14:1-4

If I were to say the words, “It doesn’t get any better than this” where does your brain go?  To what place does your mind take you?  Maybe it is the beach or the mountains.  Maybe you have your family with you or maybe it is all by yourself.  Are you doing something fun or doing something relaxing?  Somebody tell me what you are doing when you say, “It doesn’t get any better than this!”

For me, I think it would be sitting on a back porch overlooking the beach watching the sunset while eating what my Mama and my sisters have cooked with all my family.  Man, that would be great!  You may not believe this but, for me, another place I love to be is right here on Sunday morning worshipping with my church family when everybody just forgets themselves and lets the Holy Spirit move however He wants to. “It doesn’t get any better than this!”

But wherever that takes you, wherever it is, whatever you are doing, there is a problem.  All good things must come to an end, right?  The sun goes down.  The food gets eaten.  You run out of gas or the cops come or whatever happens, it’s always going to come to an end.  Don’t you hate that?  Don’t you wish times like that could go on forever?

Well, I have some good news and I like the way one man wrote it.  Thinking of the fullness and duration of this wonderful life, W. B. Hinson, a great preacher of a past generation, spoke from his own experience just before he died. He said, "I remember a year ago when a doctor told me, 'You have an illness from which you won't recover.' I walked out to where I live 5 miles from Portland, Oregon, and I looked across at that mountain that I love. I looked at the river in which I rejoice, and I looked at the stately trees that are always God's own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting His lamps, and I said, ' I may not see you many more times, but Mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone; and River, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea; and Stars, I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material universe!' "  sermonillustrations.com

Hinson is obviously referring to having eternal life in Heaven with Jesus Who has made all things new. (Revelation 21:5)  As great as it would be to sit on the seashore and eat a great meal, it can’t compare; it’s a waste of time and energy  and I despise it; I’m bored with it and I don’t want to ever do it again, compared to spending eternity in Heaven with the Creator of the universe.

This life is too hard.  There is too much pain and sorrow and difficulty but the good news is that this life is short and for believers in Jesus Christ, we have a most comforting promise that when this nasty old life ends, we will immediately be in the presence of Jesus.  (2 Cor. 5:8)  While we may have some good times and we may live a full life like God says we can and we may have friends and family that support and love us, I can’t wait to leave this place and spend eternity in Heaven with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Now, some of us need to learn a word.  It’s a good word and it applies to this situation in which we find ourselves today.  The word is “amen.”  Do you know what “amen” means?  It means “So be it” or “That’s truth and I believe it.”  I’m not complaining that you don’t say it enough.  I’m not talking down to you at all but “amen” just fits here.  It’s not complimenting the speaker.  It’s just saying that what you have heard you know to be truth.

“Amen” fits here and you know it is truth because you read it in scripture.  You know it’s truth because in John 14 it is written in red as the words of Jesus and it is the most comforting words in all of scripture.  Do you know why I say it is the most comforting?  Because Jesus intended to comfort with this promise.  He intended for His words to bring comfort and joy to His friends and we can take comfort and joy from them still today.

Let’s read John 14:1-4 and let’s see why these red words are so comforting.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Have you ever been in a really serious life crisis and some well-meaning person says, “Don’t worry.  It’s gonna be ok.”?  Don’t you want to look at that person and ask them just where they get their information?  I would like to believe you but it looks to me like my life is a train wreck and that it’s not gonna be ok for a long, long time.  Why should I believe you when you say it’s gonna be ok?

Well, Jesus doesn’t just say, “Don’t worry about it.”  Even if He did that would be fine.  We know we can trust Him but He actually backs up that first statement of “Do not let your hearts be troubled” with three reasons why we should not have troubled hearts.  Jesus is speaking to His disciples and they needed to hear this if anybody did. 

For three years they had been with Him and He had protected and provided for them.  He had educated them, given them great wisdom, laughed with them, cried with them, motivated them to be better people and now Jesus has just told them that He is going away (13:33).  Not only that but one of them would betray Him (13:21), they would all abandon Him and Peter would deny Him 3 times. (13:38)  Oh, and by the way, Satan has said He wants to sift you as wheat. (Luke 22:31)

Don’t you know they had to be looking at Him like the guy in the movies who has been shot and is bleeding like crazy from this sucking chest wound and the medic says, “Don’t worry.  You’re gonna be ok.”  Then the medic looks at the other medic and shakes his head.

Jesus said “Don’t be troubled.  Don’t worry.  It’s gonna be ok.”  But He’s not just trying to make them feel better so that their last moments are a little better.  He is telling them truth and then He backs it up with three reasons why they - and we - should not be troubled, no matter what this life brings.

In verse 1 He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”  “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  This command to believe in God and in Him is not just a command.  It’s deeper than that.  This is an encouragement.  Yes, we should trust God, and Jesus is God so we should trust Him but the biggest part of what He is saying here is what He leaves out.  He leaves out what we are not to trust, namely ourselves.

I have bad news and I have good news.  The bad news is you are going to fail.  You are going to fail at pretty much every aspect of your life.  I’m sorry but it’s true.  You are going to fail at being the person you should be.  You are going to fail at being the spouse you need to be.  You are not going to be the employee or employer that you should and you are going to fail at being the parent that God wants you to be.  The bad news is that you cannot trust yourself to be good enough at anything.  Some of you should say “amen” right there.

The good news is that it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to be the people God wants us to be at all, but in the end, your peace and your joy, your comfort, your forgiveness and your happiness, not to mention your salvation does not depend on you at all.

Can you imagine if Jesus had said, “Don’t worry.  I know you will be good enough to get through all this.”?  I would be a nervous wreck.  When He said to believe in God, He is not saying to believe that God exists and then everything will be ok.  He is saying to put your faith and trust in Him.  Know Him.  Have a relationship with Him.  Be close and intimate with Him and then you will understand that your peace and comfort depend on the One Who can be depended on.  Not on you.  Isn’t that great news?

Now, Jesus could have stopped right there by just saying that we should believe in God and not in ourselves but He continues with this great promise.  Not only will He provide everything you need but He will also prepare a place for you.  Look at verse 2.  He says that in His Father’s house are many rooms.  That word “rooms” is sometimes translated mansions but it really just means “abiding places” or places to live.

Some of the commentaries spend a lot of ink debating whether it is mansions or rooms in a mansion and just what that’s going to look like and I believe that is missing the point Jesus was trying to make here.  The emphasis is not on what the place is going to be like.  The emphasis is on Jesus going to Heaven to prepare it just for us.

I think if a person wants to be a preacher, they need to have either kids or dogs so you can have some illustrations and I highly recommend dogs over kids any day.  I have two dogs.  Sometimes they are in the yard and sometimes they are in the house but if I say, “Let’s go for a ride” they know what that means and they jump around and bark and run to the door and just go crazy because they can’t wait to go for a ride.

Now, life for my dogs is not too bad.  They are not mistreated.  They get plenty to eat and we have fun there at the house but they know that going for a ride is going to be better than anything they are doing right now.  I don’t have to explain where we are going or what we are going to do.  They wouldn’t understand anyway.  They know I would never take them someplace that is going to hurt them.  They know I’m not going to put them in the car and leave them or tell them we’re going for a ride and not take them.  They know we are going to have fun and adventures if we go for a ride.  That’s all that matters.

I don’t know what Heaven is going to be like.  I have read books on it.  This book by Randy Alcorn (Heaven) is about the best of them and it goes into as much detail as possible but I can still say that I don’t really know what Heaven is going to be like exactly.  I know it is a physical place.  In Revelation 21 and 22, the New Earth and the New Jerusalem are described as actual places, with detailed physical descriptions.  It is real and not just a state of mind or an altered state of consciousness as some people like to make it out to be.

Also, there is no reason to think of Heaven as being a figurative place.  When Revelation 21 and 22 talk about Heaven having rivers, buildings and streets, we know what those are and we can expect something very similar to what we know in Heaven.  We know what cities are and Hebrews 10 and 13 describe Heaven as having cities.  Cities have buildings, culture, art, music, athletics, and fun.  We can expect something very similar in Heaven.

We are told we will have resurrection bodies in 1 Corinthians 15 and while we can’t imagine having perfect bodies, as least most of us can’t, we do know what bodies are like and we can expect something very similar in Heaven.  We will rest (Revelation 14:13) but we will also serve and work and we will find great reward in our work.  (Rev. 22:3)  The Bible talks about there being mountains, trees, water, people, animals and while I don’t know if your pet is going to make it or not, wouldn’t it be just like Jesus to prepare a place for you that included little Fido or Fluffy?  We don’t have all the details and I believe we don’t because that is not the emphasis.

Richard Baxter expresses the thought in these lines:

My knowledge of that life is small,

The eye of faith is dim,

But it's enough that Christ knows all,

And I shall be with him.

That’s the emphasis – being with Jesus.  He is going to prepare a place for us and it is enough to know that.  Amen!  Now, while the thought of Heaven ought to blow your mind, I am going to top that with something else.  It’s not me saying it.  Jesus says it in the next verse.  Verse 3 says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Have you ever known a little kid who asks “Why?” all the time?  That’s how I feel sometime when I think about what God has done for me.  I’ll admit there have been bad times in my life when I have asked God, “Why me?”  But the longer I live and the closer I get to Him the more I ask it in the good times.  Why, Lord, have you been so good to me?  Why do you care if my heart is troubled?  Why would you allow me to trust in you?  Why would you prepare a place for me and now I ask, “God, why would you make a special trip to come back to get me?”

I won’t go into great detail about this because I don’t believe it is needed but you need to know or be reminded about what Jesus is saying here.  The first time Jesus came to earth was when He was born as a baby in Bethlehem and we celebrate Christmas because of that day.  He is also coming back to earth a second time and we cleverly call that His “Second Coming” but there is also going to be a rapture and it is different than the Second Coming.

The rapture will happen before the Second Coming and Jesus will not come all the way to earth.  1 Thessalonians 4:17 says we will meet Him in the air and that is what Jesus is talking about in our passage this morning.  He is talking about the rapture.  We will actually be coming with Him back to earth at His Second Coming.  That’s different. 

So, in verse 3 when Jesus says He is coming back to get us, I don’t know why He would be so good but I believe it.  I look forward to it.  I’m ready and I want you to be ready.  I heard the story about a little girl who was quizzing her mother after church one day where she had learned about the rapture.

"Mommy, do you believe Jesus will come back?"

"Yes."

"Today?"

"yes."

"In a few minutes?"

"Yes, dear."

"Mommy, would you comb my hair?"  Don Hussong

Thankfully, we are not going to have to look good and he is not going to wait for you to brush your hair.  I know how long it takes some women to get ready and we don’t have that kind of time.  1 Corinthians 15:52 says it will happen in the twinkling of an eye. But like this little girl, we should want to be ready, expecting the rapture at any minute; living like this is our last day on earth and knowing that all of our problems are almost over.

I don’t have all the answers.  I don’t always know why.  But what I do know is that Jesus loves us so much that He doesn’t want our hearts and minds to be troubled.  He is going to prepare a real place for us and then come back to get us when He is ready.  We don’t have to trust in our own ability for any of it.  That ought to bring great comfort and joy if you really do know Jesus.

In verse 4, Jesus says, “You know the way to the place I am going.”  It’s not that we know where Heaven is or the latitude and longitude coordinates.  We know the Way and Jesus is the Way as He says in verse 6.  If you know Jesus, you know the Way.  It’s more than knowing about Him or believing that He exists.  It is having an intimate relationship with Him, worshipping Him daily in scripture and prayer and even in song.

Let me close with the words to this old hymn.

VERSE 1
It could happen in a moment, In the twinkling of an eye,
It could happen in a moment, He could break the Eastern sky,
Tho our hearts will feel unworthy, yet how happy we will be
When the Savior comes from heaven, When His blessed face we see.
CHORUS
I am list'ning ev'ry moment for the mighty trumpet sound,
What a time we'll have together when the saints shall leave the ground.
All our toiling will be over, all our sorrow and its pain,
It could happen in a moment, Jesus Christ could come again.

And everybody said…Amen!!!