Eric Clapton, one of the world's well-known guitarists, wrote a heart wrenching song about the death of his four year old son in 1991. He fell from a 53rd-story window. Clapton took nine months off and when he returned his music had changed. The hardship had made his music softer and more reflective. Maybe you've heard the song he wrote about his son's death. It is a song of sadness, and yet, hope: Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven? I must be strong and carry on, 'Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven. Would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven? Would you help me stand if I saw you in heaven? I'll find my way through night and day, 'Cause I know I just can't stay here in heaven. Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees. Time can break your heart, have you begging please, begging please. Beyond the door there's peace I'm sure, And I know there'll be no more tears in heaven.

Jesus just had the Passover meal with his disciples. He has washed their feet in an act of servanthood. He has foretold his betrayal which Judas will soon perform. He has predicted Peter's denial. He has told them he is leaving, and that He must suffer and die. But he adds this word of comfort and hope: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms... I am going there to prepare a place for you. And…I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." Those disciples had much to be worried about. The news of their Lord's departure had filled them with fear - their hearts were very troubled. There was going to be much hardship ahead!

Hardship has a way of getting our attention. Pain slows us down. Very few of us, after facing a trial, come out the same way we entered in. Jesus understood this and attempted to prepare his disciples for the road ahead. He wanted them to know Him! He wanted them to know Him and the comfort He gives! He wanted them to know Him as their Lord and God - the only way to salvation! And He wanted them to know Him as the One who empowers them for service! DO YOU KNOW HIM? He wants you to know Him for these reasons too!

1. First of all, KNOW HIM FOR HIS COMFORT! The worst things the disciples could have imagined were the things Jesus was telling them would happen; that He was leaving and facing suffering and death. An end to all their hope! Comfort gone! Trust gone! In our lives, when we experience a serious health problem ourselves or in our family, our world changes. When we lose a family member, our life turns upside down. Trust, comfort, and hope are gone! When we get laid off or experience a major change at work, when we have difficult battles to face at school, when our child doesn't respond to our parenting skills and makes us certain we are failing at that, our trust, comfort, and hope are gone! When we feel guilt for the way we have disappointed God, our friends, and our family, when we are troubled by something we have done; trust, hope and comfort are gone! When we leave God out of our lives by not making his Word and worship a priority, trust, comfort, and hope are gone!

But into our lives walks Jesus. He tells us that there are many rooms in his Father's house that He is preparing for us. And He promises that He is coming back to bring us to those rooms prepared for us. That is comfort! That is why He can say, "Stop letting your hearts be troubled." You have a home with God for eternity because Jesus prepared it for you! Without Jesus, the lives we have lived would have kept us out of that house for good. But Jesus came to this earth and did what we didn't do - kept God's laws. And then He willingly went through the torture of being separated from his heavenly Father on that cross so that He could assure us of a permanent home with that same heavenly Father! That is your comfort and hope, friends! Jesus is preparing your home right now in heaven! There you will be reunited with all your loved ones who are God's children. Your room was reserved the day Jesus showed his power over his death by rising to life on Easter morning! And what's more, Jesus himself is coming to take you there.

Can we even fathom the comfort and hope this promise means for us? A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; "Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!" What wisdom from the mouth of babes! What is waiting for us in our Father's house goes beyond anything we can imagine! That is the hope that fills our life with wonder. The fact that Jesus is coming to take us there is the comfort that gives us reason to trust God no matter what happens!

One night while conducting a church service in Chicago, Booth Tucker preached on the Sympathy of Jesus. After his message, a man approached him and said, "If your wife had just died, like mine has, and your babies were crying for their mother, who would never come back, you wouldn't be saying what you're saying." Tragically, a few days later, Tucker's wife was killed in a train wreck. Her body was brought to Chicago and carried to the same church for the funeral. After the service the bereaved preacher looked down into the silent face of his wife and then turned to those attending. "The other day a man told me I wouldn't speak of the sympathy of Jesus if my wife had just died. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, but it has a song put there by Jesus. I want that man to know that Jesus Christ speaks comfort to me today." Do You Know Him and His Comfort? He wants us to know Him for his comfort - for the fact that He will carry us to our Father's arms!

2. Secondly, He wants us to KNOW HIM AS OUR LORD AND GOD. He wants us to know that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that there is no other way to the Father. In fact, He wants us to know that He and the Father are One! In other words, He deserves our trust! Without Jesus, we don't know the way - we don't have any way at all to God! We don't have a chance to get to those rooms in the Father's house. We are lost in our selfish, sinful, godless lifestyles, no matter how good they look to the world. If we aren't perfect, we have no access to God. But along comes Jesus to give us a way - one way!

E. Stanley Jones tells us of a missionary who lost his way in an African jungle. He could find no landmarks and the trail vanished. Eventually, stumbling on a small hut, he asked the native living there if he could lead him out. The native nodded. Rising to his feet, he walked directly into the bush. The missionary followed on his heels. For more than an hour they hacked their way through a dense wall of vines and grasses. The missionary became worried: "Are you sure this is the way? I don't see any path." The African chuckled and said over his shoulder, "In this place there is no path. I am the path."

Jesus never said, "I will show you the way." He said, "I am the way." He is the only way to God. We are invited to trust Him - the same way that man in Africa simply had to trust that native. Jesus IS the way. He became the way with his life and death. There is no other way. We must keep trusting Him. We approach the Father through Jesus. Jesus also said "I am the truth." He IS the truth! We can trust Him because all that is real and true is found in Him. He is God the Word, and through his Word He reveals his salvation. He also said "I am the life." He IS the life! Jesus is the source of physical and spiritual life. Whoever believes in Him has eternal life! Jesus is the only way to God - reminding us that He is our only Savior! That makes Him the most all-inclusive Lord and the most exclusive Lord all at the same time.

The preacher H. A. Ironside was occasionally interrupted during his sermons with the objection that there were "hundreds of religions," and that no one could determine which was the right way. Ironside would answer by indicating that he knew of only two religions. "One," he would say, "covers all who expect salvation by doing; the other, all who have been saved by something done. The whole question is very simple. Can you save yourself, or must you be saved by another?" Jesus wants you to know Him as your Savior, your only way to heaven! Do you know Him as Your Lord and God?

3. Finally, DO YOU KNOW HIM AS THE ONE WHO EMPOWERS YOU FOR SERVICE? Listen to what He says in verse 12: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." What a staggering, comforting, and exhilarating promise! Look at everything Jesus did in his ministry! He tells you and me that if we follow Him we will do even greater things! The works Jesus had been talking about were the works He did in the physical realm, such as healing the sick. But the greater works that his disciples, including you and me, would do are the miracles in the spiritual realm, such as bringing people all over the world to faith in Jesus as the only way to heaven! By the power of Jesus' gospel, every believer in Jesus can have a part in changing hearts from sin to the Savior, in giving eternal life to the spiritually dead, in opening heaven to lost sinners. To this day, we can do those works all around the world! God in his grace, empowers and uses us for that purpose!

Michael Card tells the story of a man who came to Christ out of a Muslim background. One day walking an African road, he met someone who shared Christ with him. He came to faith in Jesus and was filled with such joy that the first thing he wanted to do was go back and tell his own village. He went door to door telling them of the cross and forgiveness for sins. He expected their faces to light up as his had when they discovered this wonderful truth. To his amazement they became violent: the men seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. Dragged and left to die alone in the bush. He revived and made it to a water hole where he spent days recovering. He was confused and finally decided that he must have left something out or not told the story correctly. After rehearsing the message he returned. He stood in the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. Again he was grabbed by men and beaten by women, reopening the wounds that had just begun to heal. Dragged unconscious again and left to die. Days later he awoke and determined to go back. This time he was attacked before he even opened his mouth. Before he passed out the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him had begun to weep. This time he awoke in his own bed, the ones who had beaten him were now trying to save his life. The entire village came to know Jesus Christ. Do YOU know Him? He knows you. He promises you the amazing comfort of eternity with God. He is the way, the truth, and the life - the only way to heaven. And He also empowers us to serve Him with our words and actions. So share that comfort and those wonderful blessings with others! Show the world who is the one path to eternal life with God! Amen.

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