1. This was the last night before the crucifixion, and our Lord was alone with His twelve disciples in the upper room.
2. The disciples had been greatly distressed because our Lord had told them He would soon be leaving them (13:33; cf. 14:1; 16:6, 22).
3. Within hours of this "Upper Room Discourse" (John chapters 13--17) the Lord would be crucified.
4. In less than twenty-four hours, our Lord would be dead and buried, so these are the last words of Jesus before His death.
5. This "Upper Room Discourse" is not found in the other three Gospels.
6. It is a message of comfort and consolation. Twice our Lord said, "Let not your heart be troubled" (14:1, 27).

1. THE FUTURE HOME
2. THE PERFECT WAY
3. THE COMING HELPER

I. THE FUTURE HOME

1. We often sing,
         "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through
         My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
         The angels beckon me from heaven's open door;
         And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."
2. Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2).
3. This is why our Lord said, "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matt. 6:20).
4. We should not get entangled with the affairs of this life, because life here on earth is fleeting. Our home here on earth, and the things of this world are temporary (cf. John 14:1-4).
5. An old man was moving from a house that he had lived in for many years. After all the furniture was moved out and the place was empty, he walked around the house by himself.
6. Deep in thought, precious memories flooded his soul – this was the happy home where all his children had been born, where he and his wife and children spent many happy hours.
7. As he stared off into space remembering these happy days, one of his sons tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Come father, the new house is much better than this one.”
8. Beloved, our home prepared in heaven is much better than the most beautiful mansions in this world.
9. Sometimes I see photographs in the newspaper of beautiful mansions out in the Hamptons. Some of these magnificent homes have many bedrooms and bathrooms, and huge swimming pools -- both indoor and outdoor, and acres of land larger than some city parks, etc.
10. But when I look at these pictures, and read these articles I cannot help but think -- where will these people spend eternity?
11. Psalm 49 is a warning to those "that trust in their wealth" (Ps. 49:6).
12. The Psalmist says it is foolish to live for the things of this world. "For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away" (Psalm 49:17).
13. The Lord said this to the rich man who laid up treasure for himself, but was not rich toward God -- "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12:20).
14. Our Lord said in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
15. But those who do not believe, those who have left God out of their lives, those who live only for the pleasures of this world, are very foolish and will not go to heaven, but to hell!
16. The poet said:
          "I am a stranger here, heaven is my home.
          Earth is a desert drear, heaven is my home.
          Sorrows and dangers stand, Round me on every hand.
          Heaven is my fatherland, heaven is my home" (Thomas R. Taylor).
17. Our Lord said, "In my Father's house are many mansions" (14:2). Some of these new Bible translations say, "In my Father’s house are many rooms." But the KJV is better -- "many mansions."
18. Our Lord said, "In my Father's house are many mansions" (14:2), because the abode of God is in heaven, and that is where we (those that are saved) are going when we leave this world.
19. Five times in the Bible we read that God looks down from heaven. For example, Psalm 80:14 says, "O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold..."
20. That is why our Lord told His disciples to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (Matthew 6:9).
21. In fact, the very name heaven is used as a synonym for God. The prodigal son said to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against thee” (Luke 15:21).

II. THE PERFECT WAY (14:4-6)

1. Note: "the way" (14:4, 5, 6).  Jesus is the only way to heaven. 
2. People try the religious way, the do-good-works way, the join the church way, etc. but these ways lead to hell, not to heaven.
3. Twice in the book of Proverbs, we read this important statement: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pro. 14:12; 16:25).
4. Religious pluralism is very popular today.  This is the philosophy that all religions are equally valid.  Even though the basic principles of these various religions are mutually exclusive, their truth claims must be accepted as equally valid.
5. I do not need to spend precious time refuting the claims of Islam or Hinduism or Mormonism, etc.  I only have to preach John 14:6.
6. This is the perfect way because this is God's way.
7. Proverbs 4:18 says, "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
8. But, "The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble" (Proverbs 4:19).
9. The Lord Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life..."
10. Our Lord stood before Pontius Pilate, and Pilate asked Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:38).  The answer is found in our text -- John 14:6.
11. The perfect way means being guided along the way, and having your prayers answered (John 14:13-15).
12. Albert Barnes said, "In my name" (14:13, 14) "is equivalent to saying on my account, or for my sake. If a man who has money in a bank authorizes us to draw it, we are said to do it in his name...No privilege is greater than that of approaching God in the name of his Son; no blessings of salvation can be conferred on any who do not come in his name."
13. RA Torrey said something similar: “If I go to a bank and hand in a check with my name signed to it, I ask of that bank in my own name.  If I have money deposited in that bank, the check will be cashed; if not, it will not be.  If, however, I go to a bank with somebody else’s name signed to the check, I am asking in his name, and it does not matter whether I have the money in that bank or in any other, if the person whose name is signed to the check has money there, the check will be cashed…So it is when I go to the bank of heaven when I go to God in prayer.  I have nothing deposited there, I have absolutely no credit there, and if I go in my own name I will get absolutely nothing; but Jesus Christ has unlimited credit in heaven, and He has granted me the privilege of going to the bank with His name on my checks, and when I thus go, my prayers will be honored to any extent” (How to Pray).  

III. THE COMING HELPER

1. I started out saying the Upper Room discourse was a message of comfort and consolation. In fact, our Lord said He would not leave them "comfortless" because He would send them "another Comforter," i.e., the Holy Spirit (14:16-18, 26; cf. 15:26; 16:7-11).
2. The Greek word translated “Comforter” is Paraclete, and it means, “one called alongside to help” or “encourager” or “strengthener.” In I John 2:1 the same Greek word is translated “advocate” and it is used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is our helper, our encourager, and our strengthener. He is the Comforter. He, being the Spirit of God, is infinite in His resources and can therefore never fail in His ministry of comfort.
4. What is more, this ministry of comfort can never be broken for He is given to us “for ever” (John 14:16b).
5. Consider the promise of the Holy Spirit. The promise is given by our Lord to His disciples (John 14:16).
6. Our Lord said in Luke 11:13, " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"
7. The promise was given again by our Lord, right before He ascended into heaven (Luke 24:49-53). Since these were His very last words before His ascension, they must be very important (cf. Acts 1:4-8).
8. As we consider the promise of the Spirit, let us remember the promise of the Holy Spirit is “power” (Acts 1:4, 8; cf. Luke 24:49).
9. This power is for soulwinning (Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8).
10. In relation to the world, the Holy Spirit’s function is to convince, convict, or reprove the world (John 16:8).
11. The Holy Spirit convicts sinners of their sin of unbelief. We see this very vividly on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:36-41; cf. 7:54, 55; 6:5).
12. There are many similar examples in the book of Acts, for example, when Paul preached to Felix (Acts 24:24, 25).
13. Before concluding allow me to say a few words about the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Christian. 
14. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ through the life of the Christian (John 16:14).
15. In John 3:3-8, our Lord told Nicodemus that we are born again (regenerated) by the Spirit of God.
16. When a person is born again he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”
17. Also, he is sealed by the Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 1:13 says we have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
18. Galatians 5:22, 23 tell us that the Holy Spirit produces fruit in the life of the believer - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
19. Though all Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, not all Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit.  In Ephesians 5:18 we are commanded to “be filled with the Spirit.”
20. Have you been filled with the Spirit?

CONCLUSION:

1. I mentioned that the Upper Room Discourse is a message of comfort.
2. It is comforting to know that we have a home in heaven, and that our Lord is coming back (14:1-3).
3. And it is comforting to know that in the meantime, we have the blessed Comforter (14:16-18).
4. Walter Wilson was born in 1881 in the state of Indiana.
5. Walter Wilson was saved in 1896 at the age of 15, and right away he began street meetings, preaching and soulwinning out on the streets.
6. He worked at a tent making business while attending the University of Kansas, earning his medical degree. After graduating from Medical School, he opened his own medical practice, and in 1904 he married the tentmaker’s daughter.
7. However, due to his father-in-law’s failing health, he was compelled to work full time at the tent making business as well his medical practice.
8. This continued for 25 years. In World War I, he devised a method of camouflaging and waterproofing tents in response to our government’s urgent request.
9. Another customer was the legendary Buffalo Bill.
10. In his medical work, he soon noticed that people did not need physical help as much as they needed spiritual life, so he became a witnessing doctor.
11. However, he was frustrated that his efforts were often ineffective.
12. One evening Dr. Walter Wilson went to hear James M. Gray, the president of the Moody Bible Institute, preach, and Dr. Gray preached a sermon on Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
13. Gray said, “Have you noticed that this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus; He has His own body. It is not the Father; He remains on His throne. Another has come to earth without a body. God gives you the indescribable honor of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth.”
14. This message helped to clear things up for Walter Wilson. He went home and prayed, “Lord, I give You this body from my head to my feet. I give you my hands, my limbs, my eyes and lips, my brain."
15. From that day forward, the Holy Spirit used Dr. Walter Wilson in a wonderful way, and he went on to become an effective soulwinner.