Jesus: The Only Way (John 14 Tim Robinson)

Good morning, we're going to get started this morning. I just have a few announcements, and then we're going to pray together.

Father, we just set our hearts before you, and we thank you that your mercies are near every morning. We thank you,

Lord, for the rain. We thank you, Lord, that you cause your rain to fall on the just and the unjust, that it is a blessing from you.

We thank you, Lord, for the blessing that we can come before you boldly, before you worship you. We pray,

Lord, for your anointing upon the teaching this morning, that you would wash us in the water of your word. Sanctify us through your truth.

Your word is truth. Lord, in this crazy world where the government is putting fences around churches to keep people out, and opening up borders to let illegal immigrants in, this world,

Lord, can't tell from the left hand and the right hand. We thank you that you have pulled us out from this world unto yourself, from darkness into light.

We thank you, Lord, for the blessing that we can come before you boldly, before you worship you. Lord, in this crazy world where the government is putting fences around churches to keep people out, and opening up borders to let illegal immigrants in, this world,

Lord, can't tell from the left hand and the right hand.

Lord, in this crazy world where the government is putting fences around churches to keep people out, and opening up borders to let illegal immigrants in, this world, Lord, can't tell from the left hand and the right hand. We thank you, Lord, for the blessing that we can come before you boldly, before you worship you.

Lord, in this crazy world where the government is putting fences around churches to keep people out, and opening up borders to let illegal immigrants in, this world, Lord, can't tell from the left hand and the right hand. We thank you,

Lord, for the blessing that we can come before you boldly, before you Lord, in this crazy world where the government is putting fences around churches to keep people out, and opening up borders to let illegal immigrants in, this world,

Lord, can't tell from the left hand and the right hand. you. We thank you, Lord, for the blessing that we can come before you boldly, before you worship you. hand, God's healer, household power.

Our God, our God. God's healer, hospital power, our

God, our God This is how we celebrate you, the healing spirit that conquered the grave, paid all my sin and my shame.

There's no one like you, none like you.

The healing spirit that conquered the grave, paid all my sin and my shame. In heaven on high, there's no one like you, none like you.

Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God, you are higher than any other.

Our God is healer, awesome in power. Our God, our

God. And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?

And if our God is with us, then what could stand against? And if our God is for us, then who could stand against?

Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God, you are higher than any other.

Our God is healer, awesome in power. Our God, our

God. Our God is greater. Our God is stronger.

God, you are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power.

Our God is greater and our God is stronger. I was thinking about this concept this week.

I thought, you know, we are to sing praises. That's probably the command that's throughout the scriptures the most.

Sing praises to our God, sing praises. It's not a request. One of the reasons that God commands us to do that is because Satan hates unity.

And unity is us singing together. There are so many things.

Chains can be dropped. Prison gates can be opened because of singing praises.

We have great power in singing praises to Jesus' name.

Let's continue to sing together. Give thanks to the Lord, our

God and King. His love endures forever. For he is good, he is above all things.

His love endures forever. Sing praise.

Sing praise. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

His love endures forever. For the life has been reborn.

His love endures forever. Sing praise.

Sing praise. Sing praise.

Sing praise. Forever God is faithful.

Forever God is strong. Forever God is with us.

Forever ever. Rising to the setting sun.

His love endures forever. And by the grace of God we will carry on.

His love endures forever. Sing praise.

Sing praise. Sing praise.

Sing praise. Forever God is faithful.

Forever God is strong. Forever God is with us.

Forever God is faithful. Forever God is faithful.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much that we can gather this morning in your presence and sing praises to your name.

Thank you for the opportunity, the voice, the breath that you give us to sing praises to your name.

We know that Satan can be defeated in singing together. We are so thankful,

Lord Jesus. We sing praises to your name. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

When I see the beauty of a sunset's glory.

Amazing artistry across the evening sky.

When I feel the mystery of a distant galaxy.

It awes and humbles me to be loved by a

God so high. What can I do but thank you?

What can I do but give my life to you? Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but praise you every day?

May everything I do. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Hallelujah. When I hear the story of a

God of mercy. Who shared humanity and suffered by our side.

Oh, the cross they nailed to that could not hold you.

Now you're making all things new. By the power of the risen life.

What can I do but thank you? What can I do but give my life to you?

Hallelujah, hallelujah. What can

I do but praise you every day? May everything

I do. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but thank you? What can

I do but give my life to you? Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but praise you every day?

May everything I do. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but thank you? What can I do but give my life to you?

Hallelujah, hallelujah. What can

I do but praise you every day? May everything

I do. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Lord, allow us to come to your presence and sing hallelujah every day.

You may be seated. A little intro as Tim makes his way up here.

Tim Robinson is our director of children's ministries and youth. And he's only preached twice, right?

Well, three times if you're counting today. It was a double service before and now it's a double service again.

So, maybe twice. So, he's less nervous because he went through it once already. It was a practice run, right?

But we're really excited to hear about your passion and your story.

So, thank you. Appreciate you, Michael. Alright, so I'll be...

Sorry, I don't have a story that Jeff usually has. He's like... I don't know where he gets all his stories from, but they're amazing.

I don't know if you noticed, but he starts his sermon off every time with a story. I don't have one. I'm just going straight to the word.

It's... Yeah. I hope you guys like that. I actually love the stories.

I just don't have one for today. So, it's John 14. And we're going to be studying verses 1 through 6.

And I'll read the passage for today. And this is

Jesus talking to his disciples. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God.

Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would

I have told you that I go and 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, so that where I am, you may also be.

And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know the way 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. Amazing words from Jesus.

He just pretty much demolished every other religion, right? By saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And then the shocker, no one comes to the Father except through me. So, there might be people out there that tell you that there's another way to heaven.

But Jesus is actually the only way, believe it or not. I have a friend that always says, like, your truth is not my truth.

Stop trying to force Jesus on me. And I'm like, I don't have a gun against your head, it's no big deal. I'm just preaching the word to you.

But I'm like, well, how did you come to the conclusion that your truth is not my truth?

If Jesus says he's the only way, that means he's the only way for me and the only way for you, right?

So we need to be able to think through these things. And when Jesus says he is the only way, I think he means it. That he is the only way to the

Father. No one can enter by another way. But we'll get to that even more.

So, to give some context, here we find Jesus near the end of his ministry. He has lived a full life, probably 33 years.

The best life anyone has ever lived by far. If you're looking at God's standards, the man was perfect, never sinned once.

Jesus Christ, amazing man. He is with the disciples that he's been training up for the past three years in the upper room.

It's a Thursday night before he is to drink the full cup, every last drop of the full cup of divine wrath the

Father is about to pour out on him on the cross. It has been an amazing week.

Passion week is always an amazing week, right? It starts off with Palm Sunday. As he comes in on his triumphal entry, riding into the holy city of Jerusalem on a donkey.

Just as the scripture predicted he would. And the people were shouting

Hosanna and laying palm branches on the road. And praising him as he was riding in on the donkey coming in on Palm Sunday.

He got the full royal treatment. No doubt they accepted him as a king on Sunday.

And the very people who accepted him as a king, his very own people who he came to, who gave him the royal treatment, will be crying out for his blood by Friday.

They'll be shouting crucify him, crucify him. The very people that welcomed him on Palm Sunday. And of course if you came to church last week, you know that after Jesus died he didn't stay dead.

Hallelujah, right? Amen. Three days later on Easter Sunday, the first Easter Sunday, he rose from the dead.

And that's how we get our hope, right? Jesus rose from the dead and we said last week that as much as America thinks it runs on Duncan, it really should be running on hope, right?

And that's what people really do run on is hope. And Jesus rising from the dead provides us with extraordinary hope.

The most hope that you can possibly be looking for. I don't know how people go without hope.

The hope of eternal life and having your sins forgiven and the hope that we would be with Jesus. I just don't know how they do it.

I just don't know how. It's so comforting to know that this life isn't all there is, right?

And eventually Jesus would appear to some of his disciples and then ascend into heaven. But here we are on Thursday night before the death of Jesus.

This is John chapter 14 and it's kind of the beginning of Jesus' farewell discourse.

Meaning that Jesus is saying goodbye. He's saying goodbye to his disciples. And this is extremely bad news for the disciples.

As you know the disciples have left everything to follow this man. And they've been with this man for three years now.

Giving their lives to him, following him, learning from him. They mean everything to him.

Some of them were fishermen. And Jesus said, follow me and become fishers of men.

And they immediately dropped their nets and followed. One of them was a tax collector and maybe

Jesus said to him, Hey you tax collector, stop collecting taxes and I'll make you a collector of men.

Maybe he said something along those lines. But the tax collector had to leave a lot behind.

It was Matthew who wrote the gospel of Matthew. He left everything. He left more than, because the fish were always there.

They can go back to the fish, right? But he had staked his life on being a tax collector.

And he's kind of ripping people off. And tax collectors made a lot of money back then. But he left everything to follow

Jesus. So you can see how some of the disciples, their hearts had to be really troubled by this. Like Jesus is going away, what do you mean?

Where are you going? And Jesus had been hinting at this for quite some time through his ministry.

Sometimes even plainly telling him. Plainly telling them that he's going away. That he's going to be lifted up on the cross.

And they fully don't understand that. Or maybe they don't fully want to understand it.

Because they're just loving the fame of Jesus' ministry. But they didn't fully understand that the

Messiah is coming and he's going to suffer and die. They don't understand where he's going and that's where he's going away to.

But this is the reason why he came. So an example is in chapter 13, right before chapter 14.

Jesus is talking to his disciples. He says, little children, get a little while I am with you. You will seek me.

And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, where I am going, you cannot come.

And Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus said to him, where I am going, you cannot come and you cannot follow me now.

But you will follow me afterward. And then Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for you. And Jesus probably looked at him and said, really, Simon? 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.

And Peter may have really meant those words that he said to Jesus in that moment, but we know that Jesus is the truth and that all of his prophecies come true and all the prophecies about him come true.

And, of course, Peter, no matter how much he thought he wasn't going to deny Jesus, he did deny

Jesus, and specifically three times, just as Jesus predicted. And then even to be more specific, right before the rooster had crowed.

So Jesus is always right and Jesus is always true, and he's always trustworthy because he never lies.

He's without sin. He's a perfect person. And they recognize this. They recognize that he is completely different, and they love him and they're following him.

But after Jesus and Peter having this conversation, Peter and the rest of the disciples, I mean, their hearts had to be troubled, right, because he's going away, especially

Peter, troubled that he's going away, troubled that they did not know what to do next.

Every direction they need is coming from Jesus. They're following his lead the whole way.

Their whole lives for the past three years revolved completely around Jesus, and now he states that he's leaving.

He's going away. His time has come. And Jesus, sensing that they don't like this news,

I'm sure, and sensing that their hearts are really troubled, he says to them in verse 1, Let not your hearts be troubled.

So even Jesus knows Peter will deny him. Jesus knows he's about to drink the divine cup of wrath, and Jesus is the one who is going to suffer and die.

He's the one in the predicament. He decides, Jesus being so cool and not worrying about himself, he decides he's going to comfort the disciples now, even though just in less than a day he's going to be hung up on that cross and the wrath of God is going to be dumped out on him.

His love is just remarkable, Jesus' love. Jesus is the one who is going to suffer, yet he is so concerned with his friend's well -being.

How humiliating that his closest friends could not even offer the slightest bit of comfort for him, but he didn't even care.

He still offered comfort for them. The disciples are still a little bit concerned with just themselves.

They love Jesus, and they're really upset that he's leaving, but it's kind of a little bit selfishness, because Jesus is trying to tell them there's a reason he's leaving, but they're just not willing to accept it.

But their hearts are completely troubled, and Jesus, concerned for them, basically says, Stop being troubled.

You have unholy turmoil within you, and you don't need to have that. Stop being troubled. You can trust me.

And it just seems so far from Sunday. The ups and downs of the

Passion Week are really just incredible. I mean, this same day, Judas would leave the table at the

Last Supper, and just before this, Jesus had washed all of their feet. But we talked about Palm Sunday, and even now, when

Palm Sunday comes around 2 ,000 years later, the last few Palm Sundays, I've been really happy just thinking about how

Jesus came in, and he came in on that donkey, just how it was prophesied. And everybody loved him, and they welcomed him as the king.

And then, Palm Sunday is just always awesome, but then leading up to Good Friday, that's when you're kind of like,

Oh man, this is kind of getting heavy, when you're thinking about Jesus on the cross. But for me, my favorite day of the year really is

Good Friday. And I think it's because it's just, for me, the most real day of the year. I'm just the whole day thinking about Jesus dying on the cross, and how it should have been really anybody but him.

And I know that it should have been me. I'm the guilty sinner, that Jesus took my place on that cross.

And thinking about that all day, I'm happy in a sense, but I'm also like, I'm just seeing red all day, not because I'm mad, but just I'm seeing the blood of Jesus.

And I know that that blood is able to wash all sins clean away. And I just am sometimes sad that the

Lord that I've come to know is being punished by his own father, and I just see blood all day.

Thinking about Jesus, the one we've come to love, has been crushed by the almighty God, knowing that it should have been anyone else on the cross.

And then coming to the point where, yeah, it really should have been me. Realizing that, yes, it should be you on the cross.

Don't think that you're good enough. Jesus is the only good person. And Paul writes how he is chief sinner.

And the great apostle Paul, who probably had all the spiritual gifts in the world, and had this amazing love, and he calls himself chief sinner.

And sometimes even Jeff calls himself chief sinner. Maybe you need to get to the point where you realize you're kind of chief sinner yourself, and that your sin is actually great, but Jesus' love is so much greater, and it's able to wash those guilty sins away.

Because when you realize you're such a big sinner, you realize how big of a savior Jesus really is.

And that brings in more glory. When you realize you're an actual sinner, and you don't deserve heaven, it brings

Jesus more glory, because he takes you there. And then

Jesus, of course, rose from the dead on Sunday, and all our hope is restored by that Resurrection Sunday.

And it's usually where everyone comes to church, right? Some of the people that have not been to church all year, you see them on Easter Sunday.

And it's amazing always hearing the Easter Sunday service, and then how he came and rose again, and he appeared to over 500 disciples, and then also to those two on the road to Emmaus, explaining to them how it was necessary for the

Christ to come and die, and how it was God's plan from the beginning, and it was prophesied, the whole thing.

And even though the religious leaders and the devil were working towards this goal to kill Jesus, Jesus is working towards the same goal, and they don't know it, that he actually came to die.

But right now, it's Thursday, and the disciples are troubled, and Jesus knows it.

Or else he would not have said, let not your hearts be troubled. Jesus kind of knew their thoughts and said, okay, your guys' hearts are troubled, don't let that happen.

Jesus says, believe in God, believe also in me. Meaning, you guys believe in God, believe in me too.

You can see God, I mean you can't see God, but you can see me, and I am God. So if you can believe in that God, believe also in me.

It's a claim to deity, no doubt. But Jesus, we're learning on Friday nights, I'm the youth pastor for Friday nights, and I'm teaching through the gospel of Mark, and we're studying chapters 1 and 2.

And we are learning how Jesus is not just a mere man, and he is very different from all other men that's ever lived.

And the gospel opens up with John preparing the way, and he's really preparing the way for the way.

And even John, who was the foreteller of Jesus, and the forerunner of the king, like every good king has a forerunner.

And John is the man preparing the way, and he's the foreteller. And even the foreteller was foretold about.

But even John, the foreteller, knows that Jesus is different. John's a prophet, and Jesus is a prophet, but John knows that the prophet that comes right after him is way different than he is.

He even says that he's not even worthy to untie his sandals. He's talking about Jesus, that he's not worthy to untie

Jesus' sandals. But yet, Jesus asks him to baptize him. It's an amazing thing.

And something special happens on your baptism day, I think. Many of you probably remember getting baptized.

If you haven't got baptized, maybe you'll know what I'm talking about if you decide to follow Jesus and put your faith in Jesus and make a proclamation of identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But there's a problem here. John's baptism was for repentance, and Jesus had no repenting.

He didn't need to repent, because he's perfect, right? So, John comes to Jesus, and Jesus is like,

I'm not worthy to baptize you, but Jesus says, No, John, this is to fulfill all righteousness. And then, if you think your baptism was amazing,

Jesus' was way more amazing. When Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens opened up, and the

Spirit of God came descending like a dove visibly on him. And then, not just the visual, but the audible of God the

Father announcing that he is pleased with his son, saying, You are my beloved son, in whom

I am well pleased. So, this was a glorious baptism, and he didn't need to be baptized, but just like we identify with Jesus in the death, burial, and resurrection of him, when we get baptized, he was identifying with guilty sinners.

He didn't need to repent of anything, but he identified with that. So, Jesus is completely different, even his baptism was different.

And, even his teaching, people knew that he was different. He taught with authority, not like anyone, anyone's ever heard before.

He taught with authority, and the people were amazed at his teaching. Like, this is a new teaching with authority. And then, he proved that authority when someone in the crowd at the synagogue he was teaching in had an unclean spirit, and he shouted out,

Jesus, what are you doing here? Have you come to destroy us before the time? We know who you are, the Holy One of God.

And then, Jesus looks at that man and says, Be quiet, come out of him. And then, the demon comes out of him right away, and he has even authority over the unclean spirit.

So, this guy is completely different. They never see anything like it. And then, we even learned about how

Jesus can heal people. And, one of the people he healed was Simon Peter's mother -in -law.

And, she was sick with a fever, bedridden, and Jesus came and healed her. And, she got up right away and started serving

Jesus right away. And, she even recognized, wow, Jesus is different. She healed me. This is miraculous. I'm going to serve him right away.

And then, after that, his fame kind of became, it started to spread like wildfire.

And, they were bringing everyone to him that was demon -possessed, and everyone to him that was sick, and Jesus was healing them all.

And, his fame was incredible. A lot of people say that Donald Trump is the most famous man that's ever lived.

Some people say the most famous man in the world right now is Justin Bieber, or Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Can you smell what

The Rock is cooking, that guy? And, these people were all very famous, and even

Donald Trump, when someone came up to him and said, Donald, you're the most famous man who ever lived. And, Donald said to him, no,

I'm not. And, they said, well, who is? And, he said, Jesus Christ, and it's not even close. So, love him or hate him,

Donald Trump even knew that Jesus was different, and Jesus was the Son of God, and he was much more popular than he was.

And then, one of the other people he healed was a leper, someone who was hated by everyone in the community, and leprosy, it's a nasty disease, if you know what leprosy is.

It's really just the walking dead. Your skin is falling off, sometimes your toes are falling off, your fingers, your nose, it's just, you just look like the walking dead.

If you want a better description, talk to Timmy Clearwater, he can tell you all about leprosy. We've been studying it

Friday night. And, basically, this man, not just the physical appearance of this man was hurting, no one wanted to be around this man for so long.

He's in the final stages of leprosy, and Jesus heals him with a touch. Think about it, this man has probably not even been touched by anyone in so long.

People are looking at him as an outcast, that he's unclean, but we see that Jesus heals him with a touch.

And, when Jesus touches you, you become clean. It isn't the other way around, when they touch Jesus, he becomes unclean.

No, Jesus is different, he's touching people, and they're becoming clean, and he's healed. And then,

Jesus' popularity got so big that he had to go out into desolate places.

And, even then, people were following him, and coming out to him, and hearing him preach, and being healed. And then, after it cooled down a little bit, he came back home to Capernaum, where his hometown,

I guess his main base of ministry was, Capernaum. And, he's so popular that word gets around that he's back home.

And, he might have been in James and John's dad's house, Zebedee. That's how The Chosen presented, if you guys have ever seen

The Chosen. And, Jesus is in there, and he's sitting there preaching, and now crowds are coming, and filling up the room.

And, there could have been at least 50 or more people in the room, and then the room is so packed that no one can even fit in the room anymore.

And then, now the crowd is coming, and gathering outside the house. But, there's a guy who is a paralytic, who has been carried by four friends.

And, they pulled up, and they've heard Jesus was in town, and they're bringing their friend, so he can get healed.

And, the crowd is too big, they can't get through. Like, maybe someone like Timmy Clearwater could kind of just make his way through to the people, and get all the way to Jesus.

But, four grown men, carrying another four, or carrying another grown men, cannot make it through the crowd, right?

So, what did they do? They said, oh, well, Jesus is busy, we'll pack up and go home. No, they didn't say that.

Jesus, they didn't see a way, so they made a way. And, they climbed up the house, and ripped off the roof, and lowered the paralytic down into the room of Jesus.

And then, Jesus looked at him and said, Son, you better fix that hole in the roof. What are you interrupting my teaching for?

No, he didn't say that. Jesus was so cool. He loved their faith. What he actually said was so amazing.

He said, Son, your sins are forgiven to the paralytic. And, I'm sure that the paralytic, and the people who brought him there, that paralytic probably didn't walk that day, he didn't walk that week, and he probably didn't walk that month.

He might not have even walked his whole life. But, they were counting on him to be walking out of that room. But, Jesus doesn't say, take up your bed and walk.

He says, Son, your sins are forgiven. Jesus looked at the deeper issue. No matter who you are in life, if you're a paralytic, or if you're blind, or you have big needs, your biggest need is that you're a sinner, and you need your sins forgiven.

And, Jesus has the power to do that, because he is God. And, some of the scribes were there, listening in, and questioning in their hearts, like, this man is blaspheming.

He has the power to forgive sins. He's not God, he's blaspheming.

But, what the Pharisees and scribes didn't understand is that, actually, they're the blasphemers, because that actually is

God healing them. So, Jesus knows that they're questioning in his hearts, knows that their hearts are troubled, and says to him, what's easier to say, take up your bed and walk, or,

Son, your sins are forgiven. And, to be honest, both are really hard to say for any people, but not for Jesus.

It's easy for him to say either or. But, because he wanted to prove that he has the power to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, after he said your sins are forgiven, get up and walk, and he did.

So, Jesus is different, he is God. And, that's what I'm trying to get at, back to John 14.

Jesus is like no other man, he's not a mere man, he is God. But, he is saying that you guys believe in the invisible

God, he's telling the disciples. Believe also in me. I'm God, too, and I'm standing right in front of you.

He is highlighting that the need to believe in Jesus is just as important as the need to believe in God the

Father. And, they're going to have to continue to believe in him, because Jesus is going away, right?

And, when Jesus is not physically in front of them, they're still going to have to be able to believe in him and put their faith in him when he becomes invisible, too.

They need to believe in God, even though they cannot see him, just as they need to believe in Jesus when he becomes invisible.

After all, this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one whom you've sent,

Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So, that is eternal life, to know both of them. If you believe in God rightly, you'll believe in Jesus.

If you interpret the Scriptures rightly and search for eternal life through the Scriptures, you will find that the Scriptures bear witness about Jesus, and you will come to him and find life.

If you believe in Jesus rightly, you also believe in the one true God. There is no one or the other.

They're both God. Both are God. Also, the Holy Spirit is God. All God, different persons, one

God. It's hard to wrap your head around, but that's what it is. And the Holy Spirit is going to be promised later on in this chapter.

He's God, too, and he's also a comforter, just like Jesus. He's indeed the Spirit of Jesus.

In verse 2, Jesus will offer even more comfort to the disciples. He says, Now, I love this verse, and it's really close to my heart because when

I first read it, it brought me so much joy because I'm reading it, and I'm like, wow, there is a place for me in heaven.

There's a room for me. I think I'm one of those people that have a room. So, I ran over and told my friend who

I was with. I said, look at this verse. There's many rooms in the Father's house, but he's a

KJV only guy. So, he said, no, there's many mansions. And I'm like, okay.

And he wanted to argue with me about mansions or rooms. And I'm like, after a while of arguing,

I'm like, who cares? Who cares? Mansion, room, I just have a spot in there. That's the amazing thing.

And he still wanted to argue with me about mansions and rooms and which one it is, and I'm like, you're missing the point.

There's a spot for us, and we're not supposed to be there, but yet Jesus is rescuing us and bringing us to himself. So, there's many rooms in the

Father's house, and I've come to know that I do have one of those rooms. If it's a mansion, great.

If it's a city, great. But it's only great because Jesus is there, and he knows our every need, and he knows what heaven's going to be like and what we want, and we're going to be without sin, so we'll know that the one thing we want is

Jesus. So, please don't think that the word room is to convey any idea of small spaces.

It's not that big of a deal. It's really just to continue with the metaphor that heaven is one house, and it's the

Father's house. But if you were a Jewish person at the time and you're hearing

Jesus teaching, you would have known that the word is rooms. But if I do think rooms is the right translation, and here's why

I think it is, because if you looked at a Jewish wedding back then, people in Jesus' day had a betrothal time period, which is kind of like an engagement today.

And the betrothal was just as binding as marriage itself.

So if you signed a paper for a betrothal, you would have had to get a divorce, even though you weren't officially married yet.

And if one or both parties wanted the betrothal to be done with, they did have to get a divorce.

And we see that as an example when Joseph and Mary are together, and Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant with Jesus, and Joseph decides that he's going to divorce

Mary quietly. We know that they were still in that betrothal period.

They haven't gotten married yet, but then of course Joseph was reassured that he can take Mary as his wife, and Jesus was impregnated by the

Holy Spirit, not any other man. So even Jesus' birth was divine and different than anyone else.

This man is just different. And it was common for the bride to join the groom's father's household.

It's not like today where if you get married, you and your wife or you and your husband go, and you started your own life together in a different house.

Back then, you actually, after the betrothal period, the groom would leave the bride, go back to his father's house, and what he would do is start preparing a room for his bride to move in.

This process could have took up to a year or more. After this process was over, the groom was to go fetch his bride after he has prepared the place for her.

But the only thing was, neither the groom or the bride knew when the groom was actually going to come.

It was actually only the Father in Heaven who knew the day or the hour. Does that sound familiar? Only the

Father knew the day or the hour. So eventually, the son would get the okay from the father, and he and his friends would parade around the streets to go pick up the bride so that the bride and her maidens could join in the parade to go back to the father's house and live there.

And they would go return back to the father's house for the wedding feast.

And after the guests were there, the door would be shut. So if you weren't invited to the wedding, or if you missed it, or you weren't ready when the wedding was going on and the doors closed, you weren't able to get in.

Now maybe the bride would not be ready because the groom may have came on a day or hour that she may not have expected.

Or maybe the groom would never come after saying that he's going to marry her, and maybe he would never show up to pick up his bride.

But when Jesus says that he's going to prepare a place for us, we know that it's true.

He is going to do it. Jesus is the truth. He's not a liar. When Jesus says something, we know it's going to happen.

And don't miss that the main preparation he had to do was on that cross because there wouldn't have been a way to get there without him taking the punishment of our sin.

So we look at verse 3, 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 also be.

Heaven is really just great because Jesus is there. It is not because the streets of gold, it's not because of the pearly white gates that you might have heard of, or any other thing that you can imagine.

Heaven is great because you're with God. For some reason God has chosen to dwell with man.

I'm not really sure why, because we don't really measure up to his standards, but yet he still loves us.

I don't even know, like who is God that he's even mindful of us, right? This big God who threw the furthest star in the sky and created the heavens and the earth, yet is mindful of us and loves us and saves us individually.

And then in verse 4, Jesus says to his disciples that they do know the way to get to this place called heaven and to get to the

Father's house. In verse 4 it says, And you know the way where I am going, but...

And then Thomas asks this amazing question that makes me want to maybe name my first son Thomas.

He asked this... Anyone who is searching the kingdom of God should ask this question. He says, Thomas said to him,

Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way? So this was big for me because my friend had just...

When I was reading this scripture for the first time, my friend had just told me about the narrow gate and how the pathway is wide and broad that leads to destruction and many are entering through that way.

And the pathway is small and narrow and hard that leads to life and only few find it. So that kind of flipped my whole world view upside down because I thought that like only like really, really bad people went to hell and most people just went to heaven.

But that verse kind of like flipped everything all the way around and I am just thinking like, wait a minute.

If only few make it, am I part of that few? And what is this way? How do I know the way? And I am trying to look in crowds like maybe a hundred people and I am just like, am

I better than 97 % of the crowd? And then I realized like, what if I am not? So I am really just on this mission to figure out like the way and I do not want to miss it.

And then I read Thomas asked this question and I am on the edge of my seat. I am just like, please give me the answer.

I need to know the way. And of course, you guys know the answer

Jesus says. He says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. So if you are seeking the kingdom, you love that answer, right?

Because you found it. You found the way. You found what you have been looking for. If you are not seeking the kingdom, you hate that answer.

You think it is narrow minded. And you think like, oh, you got to open up your mind. There is plenty of different ways.

No. No, there is actually not. And it is okay that you are narrow minded on this because Jesus is the way.

He is the only way. And the shocking part is when he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, the shocking part is no one comes to the

Father except through me. Jesus defeated pretty much any other religion just on that verse. Because if you come to me and say there is another way,

I would say, is it through Jesus? And you say, no. I say, no, there isn't. That is wrong. Two plus two equals four, right?

It can't also equal six. You can't see how like when someone comes up to you and says that your truth is not my truth, it is like, no, how did you come to that conclusion?

Because why did you think that your truth is separate from my truth, right?

So we need to be able to think through these things. Like it is clear to us because God has sent a spirit to us and he has opened up our eyes that we see like, okay, obviously

Jesus is the only way, but for unbelievers they have not seen this. And it is right there in front of them that Jesus is the only way.

It makes no sense. If this is the only way, why are we not following this way, right? But another verse about the way is a way seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways that lead to death.

Not just physical death, but spiritual death. We are talking about losing your soul death here.

There are people out there losing their souls because they don't know the truth about Jesus Christ. And you might think like, well, they never heard about Jesus if they are on a different country.

Like, are they going to die too? It is like, well, yeah, probably because they are sinners too and they have sinned against God.

So Jesus really is the only way to heaven and if you haven't heard about him, it doesn't mean that you are automatically in.

It is just a deeper call to go tell people about the way that you found that have not yet found the way.

But there are ways that very well seem right to us that are just not right. It may seem right to you that the world got here all by itself, right?

And something just appeared out of nothing. The universe just appeared, an explosion, a big bang maybe.

And it might seem right to you just to be an atheist and just put all your faith in evolution because you love science and you don't want to worry about religion and you think that is proving everything.

But in the end, that way just leads to death. It might seem right to you to follow your emotions or follow your heart but really the

Bible says your heart is deceitful and wicked above all things. So who can even know it? So you can't really trust your own heart.

That is why you need the word of God. It might seem right to you to think when you die, you will become a different person or you might become a bug or you might become an animal like a lion or you might even become a fish or maybe if you are really good in life, you might become another human that is more blessed than you.

This is a very man -made way of thinking because humans kind of want things to be fair and they think like if I got a bad life,

I will just have a good one and my next one, if I got a really good life and I was mean to people, I will just drop down.

No, this is just completely man -made. It is not real. And it might really seem right to you to think that if you die, you will become another person or it might seem right to you to become a

Hindu but if Jesus says he is the only way, then that religion is false.

And the devil is the father of all lies so I can't help but think that all the other religions out there, the devil is just behind them.

And it might really seem right for your grandparents to be really following maybe the mosaic law, maybe they are caught in legalism or maybe older people that you know out there or anyone really out there.

It might really seem right to them that you need to wear your best to church, you need to come in a suit and you can't go to movie theaters because movie theaters are evil and you can't even dance, no dancing is good because that is a sin.

And your grandma might even come up to you and quote Leviticus 19 saying like, tattoos are evil, why do you have that tattoo?

But she doesn't know that it is in the same chapter that it says that you can't blend two pieces of cloth together and make a shirt out of it.

So you might want to say to your grandma, hey grandma, is that a polyester blend? Hey grandma, you are sinning.

You know what I mean? It might really seem right to them but it is wrong.

And I grew up in Catholicism and I think that the Catholic Church has a lot of truth to it. But after examining everything,

I'm like, well, it seems like Catholics really have come to the conclusion that it's grace plus works, faith plus merit,

Jesus plus other mediators, even though Jesus says he is the only mediator between God and man, the man

Christ Jesus, that's who he is. And it becomes scripture plus tradition being equal with scripture and also for the glory of God but also to the glory of Mary and all the other saints.

So just because you are born in a religion or a different denomination doesn't mean you have to stay there, right?

You have your mind of your own, you can think through these things and follow the truth. And that's why you really need

God's word because I might say something that I say is true and Ray might say something he thinks is true.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what our opinions are. What matters is God's opinion and he's spoken through his word.

So if it's in the word of God to be true and I say different, that means I'm wrong even though I can't see it.

So it might seem right to follow even the social justice religion and it might even seem right to go woke.

I'm not even really sure what woke means completely but all I know is those people who are woke are not awake.

That's what it seems like, right? But just like it might seem right to follow

Joseph Smith or follow Gandhi or even follow Buddha or Muhammad, it might really seem right because that's what you were taught but the reality of it is those guys are all dead and Jesus is alive.

And we talk to him right now and we feel his presence and he sent his spirit to bear witness about him. And this is all true because we know it and he's opened up our eyes to see it.

It may really seem right even to live with your girlfriend or boyfriend before you get married but really the

Bible calls that fornication, right? I think they used to call that living in sin. I don't think there's a word for it anymore, right?

I think it's kind of just normal in the world. All my friends are just living with their girlfriends. I'm like, I don't know if that's good.

That way might really seem right to you but I think it really ends in death. And we need to be aware of this and tell people the truth because when

Jesus was here he really wasn't concerned about other people's feelings nearly as much as he was concerned with the truth, right?

So we should be like Jesus and not be afraid to tell people the truth. But as for the cowardly, this is

Revelation 21, 8. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexual immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake of fire that burns like sulfur and fire which is the second death.

So there really is a lake of fire out there. You might know about heaven and hell. When you die, it's either heaven or hell.

It's not purgatory. It's not you come back another animal or whatever you think it might is.

The reality is heaven is real, hell is real, and those are the only two options. And Jesus has made it that he is the only way, that he came.

And as a pre -born infant, he entered the world and then grew up and he was, we read about him doing all these miracles and he was an amazing teacher and that's one of the reasons he came was to proclaim good news so that people might be saved.

He wasn't here to condemn people, but in order that the world might be saved through him. But his main mission really was to come and die on the cross and he was looking towards that cross.

He had his eyes on Jerusalem since he started his ministry. And that was the father's plan from the beginning to go to the cross.

And it wasn't that the Jews killed Jesus. They did in a sense, but Jesus didn't have to be killed.

He willingly laid down his life. And that's the greatest love of all time when you lay down your life for your friends.

That says that in the Bible. And Jesus actually did that for us and he talked about that and then proved it to be true laying down his life for us.

And then of course we know Jesus didn't stay dead and he came back to life and provides us so much hope. And if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you really will be saved if you actually believe.

There's a difference between believing in God and believing God, right? Like if you actually believe God, it's going to change you.

The word of God is powerful. It's sharper than any two -edged sword. So when it hits you, it really does change you. And it turns you into a new person.

So if you're the same way as you were before you became a Christian, that's probably evidence that you probably really aren't saved.

Unfortunately. And then that way really leads to death and then even a second death in the lake of fire.

And it says that all these people will take part in that. And moving on to Corinthians 1, verse 6, it talks about kind of a similar thing.

It says, Or do you not know that all the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

Neither the sexual immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality.

Yeah, I said homosexuality. I know it's against the grain nowadays, right? But it's wrong.

And it's really creeping into the church. I go to Bible school and one of the professors asked a question at the beginning of the semester last year.

He said, If you were invited to a gay wedding, would you go? And I'm in the class with like 40 kids and I would say there was only four of us that raised our hand and said,

No, we wouldn't go. And I think that we were right. And the professor even said, No, he wouldn't go either.

And he was trying to get the class to see that. But really the class didn't understand what really true love was because true love tells the truth and it rejoices in the truth.

It doesn't delight in unrighteousness. So when you go to a gay wedding, you're sitting there and you're delighting and you're approving of what's going on and I just don't think that could be right.

And I think it's because it's kind of a counterfeit love, right? If you're given an invitation to a gay wedding, that's cool.

Maybe they love you and maybe you're a good friend. That's a good sign, maybe. But you have to really respectively decline because if you're a real

Christian, you cannot participate in that. And you can do it in a loving way. We love gay people. We love all people.

It's just the reality is that if they keep living that way, they will lose their soul and it would probably be better to tell them that before they figure it out the hard way and find their part in the lake of fire.

So we want to be able to tell the truth and do it in love. We don't hate gay people.

Gay people, I have friends that are gay. I have cousins that are gay. I love them still. And no matter how much they think

I don't, I really do because I'm going to tell them the truth before it's too late. And it doesn't stop with homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you, but you were washed. This is the amazing part. You were washed.

You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of God.

So all of us can probably fit into one of those categories, right? Or all of them. And we only do it, right?

These sins only captivate us because we love it. Something inside of us really loves to sin and we chase after that.

And what happens is once you're born again and you believe the gospel, you're given the Holy Spirit.

And when you have the Holy Spirit, you can be sure that you're a child of God and you do have a room in his house because the

Holy Spirit is a guarantee that you are a child of God.

He seals you with the Holy Spirit and it's not like he's around us anymore. He indwells us and he's with us and the same spirit that raised

Jesus from the dead is now living in us. So really the only reason why we want to sin is because we love it and part of us loves it.

But now when we have the Holy Spirit, we have something that can fight against sin. So I would say that you really are a child of God if you know you have the

Holy Spirit and it's fighting against sin in your life. Because if you just have the flesh, you have nothing to fight.

But now you have the Holy Spirit and now you're at war. You guys should know this if you're a believer, that you're in a war.

And if you're struggling, it's not like a horrible thing because it means you're actually in the fight.

There's some people that might not be aware that they're actually sinners. So we love our sin, but when we realize how much

God has loved us and the gospel has hit us, we actually love him back and we love him more.

We respond, right? We respond to that love that he's given us and we love him more than the previous sin that we once really loved.

And that's when we're able to turn from that sin and trust in Christ. So if you think that you're not a sinner,

I feel bad for you because Jesus only came to save sinners. So that's the good news that only the sick need a doctor, right?

And sinners know that they're sick and their doctor is Jesus. So in all these ways, it may really seem right to a man, but the

Bible says their ways really do end in death. A lot of people think all roads lead to heaven, but it seems like most roads really do lead to death.

And the culture out there really wants you to go with them. The world wants you to go with them. The devil wants you to go with them.

And your own flesh wants to go with them sometimes. But we're given the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit can help us.

And we're saved and we're not called to be conformed to the pattern of the world anymore. We're called to actually go against that.

And now we're living with purpose. We're not, we don't like, are wasting our lives like everyone else in the world.

We actually are living with purpose and we're preaching good news. And we know that Jesus is going to return for us one day and we want to be ready for that.

So I ask you that, does this truth that you know that Jesus is the only way, it should change you.

It should change you and how you view other people, right? Like you can see and make, you can make judgments on other people, not condemning them, but you can see like, hmm, that brother over there,

I don't think he's on the right track. It's okay to go up to him and be like, you know, brother, if you keep going this way, you're going to lose your soul.

But you want to, you know, take the log out of your own eye before you go. Take it out, the little speck out of someone else's eye.

So that's why we need the word of God to help us train and grow in that. But now you guys know that, and I'm sure you guys already knew this, most of you, that Jesus is the only way.

He's the only way to heaven, and that's final. Like he's the only way in.

We couldn't make it on ourselves, so God has provided a way through Jesus Christ that God has punished him instead of us.

And there's people out there that really are going to suffer the wrath of God for eternity because they have not believed in Jesus Christ.

But those of us that are born again, and are walking a new life, we know that Jesus has already took the punishment for us, and we believe that, and that's called faith.

We put our faith in Jesus. It's not in ourselves anymore. It's in Jesus Christ. And there's no other name under heaven by which we may be saved, and it's the name above every other name, and that's

Jesus Christ. He's the only name that gets us in. And all who actually call upon this name will be saved, and that's an amazing thing.

But how will anyone ever call on the name of the Lord if they have not even believed in the name of the

Lord? And how will anyone ever believe in the name of the Lord unless they hear the word of God, right?

And how will anyone ever get the word of God unless someone goes and preaches it to them? And how will anyone ever go and preach unless they're sent?

So blessed are those who preach good news. So blessed are you guys if you go out of here and preach good news to people who may not want to hear the gospel, but you give it to them anyway.

We need to be doers of the word and not just hearers of the word. So when you've been bound up and you really know what it's like to be a slave to sin, when the truth really does set you free and the

Son sets you free, you're free indeed. And when you've been bound up and you've been made free, you can't really help but to go and tell people about that freedom that you found in Jesus Christ.

And so now you guys are accountable for hearing that news. You're either going to see

Jesus as the way or He's not the way. Make a decision today, right? He is the way or He's not.

So you're either going to live like He's the only way to the Father or you're going to live like He's not. And that's what

I'm going to close with, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

Amazing words. God, thank you so much for your word today. I hope that the church was edified, but more importantly,

I hope that you were glorified and that people know that you really are the only way to the

Father. And you're not just one of the ways, you're the only way, and we're just happy that there's actually a way to get there and we know that the biggest preparation that you're making for us right now has always been you dying on the cross and the wrath of God being dumped out on you instead of a sinner like me.

I hope that your word is going forth and it's convicting people of sin and they're gaining the power to turn from that.

I've never heard of anyone who's put their faith in you that has regretted it. So I hope that these people and all of us would taste and see that you are good.

Thank you for loving us. We look forward to you coming back and getting us so that we may be where you are.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We'll stand and sing.

Set your rule and reign In our hearts again

Increase in us we pray Unveil why we're made

Come set our hearts ablaze with hope Like wildfire in our very souls

Holy Spirit come invade us now

We are your church We need your power in us

Seek your kingdom first Floods will waste our lives

But you're our seed

And captive hearts will bleed The hurt, the sick, the poor and peace

We lay down our lives for you

Are your church We pray revive this birth

Build your kingdom here Heal our darkness here

Show your mighty hand Heal our streets and lands

Set your church on fire Give this nation back

Change the atmosphere Build your kingdom here

We pray Unleash your kingdom's power

Reaching near and far The force of hell can't stop

Your beauty changing hearts You made us for much more than this

Awake the kingdom seed in us Fill us with the strength and love of Christ You are the church

We are the whole on earth

Build your kingdom here Let the darkness fear

Show your mighty hand Heal our streets and lands

Set your church on fire Give this nation back

Change the atmosphere Build your kingdom here

Build your kingdom here Let the darkness fear

Show your mighty hand Heal our streets and lands

Give this nation back Change the atmosphere