00:00:00.000 - 00:00:46.000

[ Silence ] [ Music ] [ Music ] ♪ I give ♪

00:00:46.000 - 00:01:24.000

♪ Thee every hour ♪ ♪ Most precious Lord ♪ ♪ No tender voice like mine ♪ ♪ Can beat ♪

00:01:24.000 - 00:01:51.720

♪ A void ♪ ♪ I need thee, oh ♪ ♪ I need thee ♪ ♪ Every hour ♪

00:01:51.720 - 00:02:22.100

♪ I need thee ♪ ♪ Oh, bless me now ♪ ♪ Oh, bless me now ♪ ♪ Oh, bless me ♪

00:02:22.100 - 00:02:48.480

♪ Bless me now ♪ ♪ Bless, bless me right now ♪ ♪ I come, I come ♪ ♪ I come to thee ♪

00:02:48.480 - 00:03:11.880

♪ I come, I come, I come, I come, I come ♪ -supporters are out I come, I come to thee. Bless me now.

00:03:11.880 - 00:03:38.620

Bless me now. ♪ Oh, bless me ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, bless ♪ ♪ Bless me ♪

00:03:38.620 - 00:03:54.440

♪ Right now ♪ ♪ My Savior ♪ ♪ My Savior, I come ♪ ♪ I come to thee ♪

00:03:54.440 - 00:04:13.100

♪ Oh, please bless ♪ ♪ Bless me, bless me, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, bless me, Lord, bless me ♪ ♪ Me now ♪

00:04:13.100 - 00:04:38.900

♪ When my heart is troubled ♪ [Music] bless me now lord you know i come you know i come you know i come

00:04:38.900 - 00:05:19.900

you know i come [Music] You know I come, I come to Thee. My Savior, my Savior, I come to Thee. Amen.

00:05:19.900 - 00:05:51.900

Amen. In my Father's house are many mansions. Another translation says, "In my Father's house are many rooms." So I want to talk about "in the Father's house."

00:05:51.900 - 00:06:34.400

These are last sayings of Jesus. words spoken prior to his departure from his disciples. They're the last sayings we have record of. Ordinarily we don't like to talk about the last things. It has to do with death. And we sort of shy away from talking about death.

00:06:34.400 - 00:07:06.060

It makes us sad. But Jesus openly discusses the last things because he is what one theologian calls our eschatological hero. He is the one who is the hero, the victorious one over the last things.

00:07:06.060 - 00:07:40.360

He leads us from death to life. He takes what seems to be a tragic loss and makes it a victorious gain. In the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "Little children, yet a little while I am with you.

00:07:40.360 - 00:08:08.780

You will seek me and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you where I am going you cannot come. Now he says in this 14th chapter let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me.

00:08:08.780 - 00:08:23.500

His last words to the disciples are, "Keep the faith. Commit your way unto the Lord. Believe in God. Believe in me."

00:08:23.500 - 00:08:52.700

Jesus has told them time and time again that He is God's only begotten Son. He's the supreme revelation of the living God, the one who is alpha and omega, the first and the last. In my Father's house are many rooms.

00:08:52.700 - 00:09:17.900

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. In the Gospel of John, at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, he visits the temple in Jerusalem during Passover.

00:09:17.900 - 00:09:56.400

It was a time of celebration. crowds were present. He found on that visit in the temple merchants selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and there were also money changers. Jesus made a whip of cords and drove the merchants out with the sheep and the oxen. He poured

00:09:56.400 - 00:10:37.520

out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He said to them, Take these things away, you shall not make my father's house a house of trade. Our Lord begins his public ministry with cleaning the father's house. House cleaning. This is a time when we focus on spring cleaning, removing corruption,

00:10:37.520 - 00:11:11.280

ridding the house of dust and dirt, rearranging the furniture, and it's good for us at this time to consider some spring cleaning. Getting rid of injustice said, "Greed." Now near the close of his ministry, he speaks of the Father's house. The first reference to the Father's house is about the temple, beautifully situated

00:11:11.280 - 00:11:48.680

it is on Mount Zion. It was originally built by Solomon. It was destroyed by the Babylonians and restored after the exile and destroyed again by the Romans in 70 AD. This temple, the pride and joy of the people of God, it was the hope of every pious Jew to visit Jerusalem and be in the temple at least once in his lifetime.

00:11:48.680 - 00:12:24.280

This is the place that Solomon spoke about, the glory filling the house. But Jesus has invaded the temple. He has come in a holy crusade. The Gospel of John John describes this madness of the Master. He comes to the Father's house.

00:12:24.280 - 00:12:51.560

He demonstrates that the Father's house is to be handled in a rather meticulous way. He is concerned about ridding this house of merchandise that is in the stalls. He dashes the coins and currencies upon the floor.

00:12:51.560 - 00:13:24.360

And the merchants have contributed to the pollution of the dignity, the reverence, and the purity of worship in the Father's house. Again Jesus now refers to the Father's house when he says, "In my Father's house are many rooms."

00:13:24.360 - 00:13:53.000

He's not talking about stalls related to an earthly temple. He's talking about a temple not made with human hands, the Father's house. Another translation of this scripture is, "In my Father's house there is room for all." No lack of rooms in the Father's house.

00:13:53.000 - 00:14:21.480

there are plenty rooms, plenty, plenty rooms. We experience in this world occasions where there is no room. In fact, the one who utters these words in the Father's house are many rooms. This is the one of whom it was said when he was born, "There is no room.

00:14:21.480 - 00:14:33.720

There is no room. There is no room. I remember a number of years ago, my first visit to California.

00:14:33.720 - 00:14:47.080

I'd driven most of the night and wanted a place to stay. I hadn't made any reservations. I thought if you had money going out there at that time,

00:14:47.080 - 00:14:59.520

that certainly you could get a room. And I stopped at place after place. They said, "No room." And once a place had vacancy, vacancy flashing,

00:14:59.520 - 00:15:14.280

and I stopped and went in, and the man said, "I have no room for you." And I understood what that meant. So often we encounter experiences where

00:15:14.280 - 00:15:30.160

science says vacancy, but when you go in to go in, Not for you, not for you. So the words of Jesus in my father's house or many rooms are spoken

00:15:30.160 - 00:15:46.060

almost in the shadow of the temple. It was a place where some of the father's children gathered from time to time to celebrate the father's goodness.

00:15:47.500 - 00:16:07.860

Israel's journey as a people, the journey from Egypt, the sojourn in the wilderness, and then arrival in Canaan. And that's the journey of each one of us. We've all had our experience in Egypt.

00:16:07.860 - 00:16:45.340

And we have our experience of wilderness travelers and we're on our way to Canaan. But we must use all of the strength that we have in seeking to reach the goal, the God who meets us in time, who goes with us as he hooks us up with that which is eternal

00:16:45.340 - 00:17:27.340

make the journey and remain with him in eternity. In John's account of some of the first disciples that Jesus called, they asked the question, "Where dwellest thou? Where do you stay? Where do you live? And the reply is, "Come and see." Abiding in the Father's house is dwelling with the Father. The Father is the source of our

00:17:27.340 - 00:18:04.860

being. That is where we come from, the Father. We all come from the Father. Have we not all one Father? He is the source of our being and the goal of our striving. The Father guides us in our doings. He is with us in our coming and our going in the Father's The Father has supreme authority in the Father's house. I can hear my father

00:18:04.860 - 00:18:46.940

saying now if you gonna stay here under my roof, eat my food, you're going to do what I say. So we are to be governed by the Father. He is the supreme sovereign. He speaks the word that we are to obey. His will is our peace. His will, not my will, but His will, not your will, but His will is our peace. So remember the Father

00:18:46.940 - 00:19:23.960

is the subject. He's the supreme subject in the Father's house. So the goal of those who dwell in the Father's house is to please the Father, to do the Father's will, for in his will is our peace. So let's consider the Father's house. Jesus says the Father's house has many rooms. It was noised about this past

00:19:23.960 - 00:20:02.400

week that we have a house here in Austin that was the home of two governors, two governors lived there and this home is now up for sale for three million dollars. The article also stated, I'm sure you read it, that it would cost three million to repair it, making a total of six million dollars for this house. Now

00:20:02.400 - 00:20:35.240

not many people can stay in that house, so it's very limited as to who may purchase it and who may stay there. Before it was just the governors that we talked about in their families, but here is a house that has no price on it, but it has room for everybody. All peoples, everywhere, people everywhere may come to

00:20:35.240 - 00:21:08.280

the Father's house. There's enough room to accommodate those that may come from the east or from the west, from the north, from the south, from whatever direction, there is room in the Father's house. So this is a wonderful word, wonderful word, that there's room. You know, all of us suffer from time to time from not having

00:21:08.280 - 00:21:45.480

sufficient space. Some of you get away and say, "I just got to have some space." Space. When I was in the fifth grade, I was in the class where the teacher asked us to write about our dreams and the like. And I wrote on my paper that I wanted to have a home when I grew up, a large place to stay with 20 some rooms. And I gave the number of

00:21:45.480 - 00:22:09.480

bathrooms, but I was at the time I wrote the letter, we were staying in a two-room shack, kitchen and one room. And I slept on a mattress that was rolled up at the at the beginning of the day and put in the corner and then roll down at night.

00:22:09.480 - 00:22:20.840

And I wrote this letter saying I wanted a house with 20-some rooms and I also wanted to have a factory that made RC Cola so I could drink, (audience laughing)

00:22:20.840 - 00:22:41.840

so I could drink all of the RC Cola that I wanted. And so the teacher took my paper and read it to the class and they all laughed, they had a heart at last. And I was somewhat embarrassed where they left and I took the letter home and I gave

00:22:41.840 - 00:23:05.920

it to my mother and she took it and she treasured it. She put it in a safe place and we kept it for years. It had to do with need for space, not only the need of a lad for space but it was the The cry of a child for room, cry for more room.

00:23:05.920 - 00:23:21.840

And all of us from time to time find ourselves crying for room, room. We have certain doors that are shut, we can't go in certain rooms, you know.

00:23:21.840 - 00:23:38.600

And we get this one open and another one seems to close and we still have to struggle for more room. But in the Father's house, there is room. In the Father's house, there is room.

00:23:38.600 - 00:23:56.180

And there's plenty of good room, as one song puts it. Plenty of good room in the Father's kingdom. In other words, some may draw a circle that shut you out.

00:23:56.180 - 00:24:16.040

But in the kingdom of God, there is a circle that is inclusive. Everybody is included in my Father's house. And then we used to sing a song when I was a lad in our church.

00:24:16.040 - 00:24:36.040

Come and go with me to my Father's house. To my Father's house. Yes! to my father's house, come and go with me to my father's house where there's peace,

00:24:36.040 - 00:24:54.000

peace, peace. So there is a place. May not be much room where we are in certain circumstances now, but there is a place. There is a place where the Father has room for everybody.

00:24:54.000 - 00:25:10.240

And you know, the one who speaks this word came to this earth as a carpenter. So he arranged through his life, he builds a structure in the kingdom

00:25:10.240 - 00:25:26.320

when we enter into a right relationship with him, he builds a structure so that there's room for everybody. We just keep reaching out, saying, "Come, come, there's room. Come, just as you are.

00:25:26.320 - 00:25:38.240

Come." We call this casual day here. Some of us forget it, but it only demonstrates that whoever wants to come,

00:25:38.240 - 00:25:54.120

whosoever wishes to come, let him come, let her come. In the Father's house, there's plenty of room. Plenty of good room. So come, you who are weary and worn, come.

00:25:54.120 - 00:26:09.760

You who are sick and sad, come. Those who are rejected by society, the publicans and sinners, come. Come ye that love the Lord and let your joys be known.

00:26:10.720 - 00:26:27.900

Come there is room, plenty good room in the Father's house. As we extend this hymn of invitation, we ask you to respond to the call, the call from the master.

00:26:27.900 - 00:26:57.320

Come and go with me to my Father's house. I ask you to come by letter, by Christian experience, on profession of faith. The door of the church is open we invite you to come by letter by Christian experience on profession of faith. Come.

00:26:58.640 - 00:27:19.640

Come and go with me to my father's house. To my father's house. To my father's house. Come and go with me to my father's house.

00:27:19.640 - 00:27:42.080

Where there's peace and joy and hope. Come and go with me to my father's house. To my father's house. To my father's house.

00:27:42.080 - 00:28:03.540

Come and go with me to my father's house. There is joy, joy, joy. There is peace up there In my father's house

00:28:03.540 - 00:28:17.540

In my father's house In my father's house There is peace up there In my father's house

00:28:17.540 - 00:29:01.020

There is joy, joy, joy I am a savior there in my Father's house, in my Father's house, in my Father's house. I am a savior there in my Father's house, there is joy, joy, joy. Well, I have a mother up there in my father's house,

00:29:01.020 - 00:29:26.440

in my father's house, in my father's house. I have a mother up there in my father's house. ♪ There is joy, joy, joy ♪ ♪ Peace and happiness there ♪

00:29:26.440 - 00:29:40.700

♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ There is peace and happiness there ♪

00:29:40.700 - 00:29:54.620

♪ In my Father's house ♪ ♪ Where is your joy, joy ♪ ♪ Where don't you want to go ♪ ♪ Come and go, come and go with me ♪

00:29:54.620 - 00:30:08.720

♪ To my father's house ♪ ♪ To my father's house ♪ ♪ To my father's house ♪ ♪ Don't you want to go ♪

00:30:08.720 - 00:30:27.940

♪ To my father's house ♪ ♪ Where is your joy, joy ♪ ♪ Where is your joy, joy ♪ - Amen.

00:30:27.940 - 00:30:37.940

[BLANK_AUDIO]