Chapter 14, John 14. As you know, I went in to visit my sister. Her husband passed away last week and I went to, I drove in Wednesday and I went to the visitation. I didn't stay for the funeral. I left there Thursday and came back home and I thought of this OF THIS PORTION OF SCRIPTURE, LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED. I THOUGHT OF IT ALL THE WAY IN AND THEN ALL THE WAY BACK HOME.

THERE'S SO MUCH HEART TROUBLE THAT WE HAVE IN THIS WORLD. AND I ALSO KNOW THIS, THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. THIS MESSAGE IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. is for His disciples. He's speaking this to His disciples. Those who believe, love, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This message is for you. It's for you. And this is probably, this is definitely a portion of scripture that I most, or some of us here, the first three or four verses, I know by heart because I quote it to myself all the time.

This, this comforts me because we all have heart trouble. We all have heart trouble. I thought, I was looking up this morning, um, people who have had heart failure from heart trouble, just stress, stress. It's called Stress-Induced Cardiomyopathy, am I right? It's Broken Heart Syndrome. I started to title the message that. I started to title the message Broken Heart Syndrome because what He said to them just broke their hearts. And oftentimes when our hearts are broken, we don't hear what's being said. Things that can comfort us, it goes over us.

You know, the Word of God makes no attempt to hide the reality of this life. It makes no attempt to do that. This life is trouble, trouble, trouble. The doctor can come into the room when he is going to see you and he can say, What's troubling you? You ever have a doctor say that? I have. What's troubling you today? Oh, you got time? You really have the time. No, but it's trouble, trouble, trouble. Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. That's what it says in Job, quoting from Job. Jacob said, talking to Pharaoh, he said, My days have not been the days of my forefathers. And he said, They've been full of trouble, full of trouble.

And I witnessed some real heart trouble this past week. But trouble is universal. When I drove there After I got to my place I was staying before going to the funeral home, I looked up how many people died today. 172,000. 172,000 funerals going on at the same time. 172,000. That's how many people are broken hearted, just over that. Not counting many other things, but just over that. So we're not exempt from it, it's universal and no heart escapes it, no heart.

Even our Lord. When you read through the gospel it says He groaned in spirit. He groaned in spirit. When He's standing out there at the grave of Lazarus with Martha and Mary it says He wept. It wasn't crocodile tears, He wasn't faking it, He felt it. His heart was troubled. And his heart was troubled over the unbelief of those who should have believed. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen doth gather her brood, but you would not. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept over Jerusalem.

So everyone knows heart trouble. Every one of us knows what it is to weep. We know what it is to be afraid. We know what it is to have that fear in the pit of your gut, your stomach. We know what that is. We know what it is to be burdened because of trouble, but thank God our Lord does not leave us without the remedy. He gives us a remedy right here if we just listen and apply it and do what He says, just do what He says. He gives us a cure for heart trouble. In John 14, our Lord speaks directly to this heart trouble that His disciples have and He provides them the cure which is the same in all generations, it doesn't change. It doesn't change.

Now if we're really going to understand this portion of Scripture, you have to go back to John chapter 13. I'm not going to go back there, we don't have enough time. But he told them some things that deeply, deeply troubled them. He told them, he said, one of you is going to betray me. One of you, without a doubt, is going to betray me. And then he said, after that, he said, I'm going away, and where I'm going, you can't come. Because he's talking about the cross. HE'S GONNA SUFFER GOD'S WRATH! HE SAID YOU CAN'T COME TO THAT PLACE! No, you can't come. And they didn't understand that. They hadn't got to realize they were on that side of the cross. We're on this side of it. And they had no real understanding of what He was saying to them.

But when He tells them this, it just DEEPLY, DEEPLY troubles them. Their expectations WERE COMPLETELY SHAKEN! I MEAN COMPLETELY SHAKEN! ALL OF A SUDDEN HE TURNED THEIR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN! WHAT THEY WERE EXPECTING WASN'T MATCHING WHAT HE WAS SAYING! AND IT JUST TORE THEM UP! IT JUST MESSED THEM UP! YOU SEE THEIR EXPECTATIONS AND THEIR UNDERSTANDING WERE NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL! AND IT CAUSED CONFUSION IS WHAT IT WAS! and their hearts were heavy.

Remember Peter said this to the Lord one time, we have left all to follow Thee, we've left everything, we've left it all. And now you're leaving us? Now you're going away? Put yourself, as much as you can, put yourself back there 2,000 years ago listening to Him. They followed Him, they left everything. The sons of Zebedee, they jumped down out of the boat and left their father in the boat. They left him. Matthew, sitting at the receipt of customs, got up and left. They left their employment, they left everything. They left their families. And now you say you're going away and we can't follow you now? And one of us is going to betray you? In another gospel they said, Lord is it I? Is it I?

But then our Lord, you know, listen here. Our Lord prepares them for what's about to happen. And you can hear the compassion in His voice. He doesn't scold them. He says something here that only He can not only say but cause it to happen. And he says there in the first verse, Let not your heart be troubled. This is not an unreasonable command because of the one who's saying it. As the great high priest over the house of God, he felt their troubled hearts. You know, when somebody's going through trouble, you can say, Oh, I feel so sorry for you. He felt their trouble. He felt it. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was at all points tempted as we are yet without sin. He feels it. When he was standing there at the grave of Lazarus and he wept, I like what Matthew Henry said, he felt everything he took away. He felt it deeply. He felt it deeply. He knew their fears. He could feel their fears. He understood their confusion.

And so here He is with compassion and grace, He addresses their troubled hearts. And He's going to give them the cure for it. Which, it takes maturity for this to set in. This takes maturity. He tells us to do this But it takes time and trials for us to finally learn how to do it, to just trust Him, just trust Him.

But here's the cure for troubled hearts, and it's just this, FAITH IN CHRIST. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. He begins the cure with this, FAITH, you believe in God. THEY ALREADY BELIEVED GOD. NOW HE SAYS YOU BELIEVE IN GOD, HE'S NOT ASKING A QUESTION. THIS IS NOT A QUESTION. IT'S A STATEMENT OF A FACT THAT HE KNEW. HE KNOWS EVERY HEART. HE KNOWS EVERY HEART. HE KNOWS EVERY PERSON IN THIS ROOM. HE KNOWS WHO BELIEVES AND WHO DOESN'T. HE KNOWS. AND HE'S SAYING TO THEM, YOU BELIEVE IN GOD. I KNOW YOU BELIEVE IN GOD. I KNOW YOUR HEART. I KNOW YOUR HEART. YOU BELIEVE HIS POWER? You have no doubt about the power of God, they didn't have any doubt about it. You know His faithfulness, they had no doubt about God's faithfulness. You know His mercy, they had no doubt about God's mercy. They trusted God whom they had never seen.

Now listen, this is a very powerful, powerful statement. It's one of the clearest declarations of His Deity in Scripture. He says this, You believe in God, believe also in Me. exercise that's what this way saying believe also exercise that same faith in me we don't like to exercise we don't like to exercise we like for it we'd rather take a pill than exercise we would we'd rather take a pill than then then eat right wouldn't we we would but here he says this

You see the problem is not in what he's saying, it's in the fact that we don't exercise our faith that he's given to us in HIM. He said exercise that same faith that you have in God, exercise that same faith in ME, in ME. When you can't see ME, Because in a little while, He's going to the cross, the grave, and they'll see Him after the resurrection, but after that, they won't see Him no more until they see Him in heaven.

Now you exercise that same faith in Me when you are sitting in the dark and when your heart is broken, you rest in Me. You rest in Me. Believe in Me just as you believe in God. Trust Me the same way. As Peter said in 1 Peter 1.8, Whom having not seen, you love. Have you ever seen Jesus Christ physically with these eyes? No, you haven't. No one has. Not since He went back to heaven. No one has. He said, Whom having not seen, you love. Yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

A TROUBLED HEART IS CALMED NOT BY MANY EXPLANATIONS, BUT BY TRUSTING THE LORD, JUST TRUSTING HIM.

And then He speaks of a PREPARED PLACE, and HERE IS THE WISDOM OF GOD. THEY ARE BROUGHT TO THIS PLACE, HE BRINGS EVERY ONE OF HIS CHILDREN TO THIS PLACE. HE WILL BRING YOU TO HEARTACHES, HE WILL BRING EVERY ONE OF THEM because here's what's going to happen you're going to take your eyes off of these things and set it set your heart on things above listen in my father's house are many mansions here's what he does he lifts their hearts from present trouble to future glory

Whatever we're going through in a little while, which may not seem like a little while to us, but it will be over. It will be over. Listen to Colossians 3 verses 1 through 2. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Get your mind off these things. DON'T LET THESE THINGS DRAG YOU DOWN.

Now I know it's going to be some people thinking that's easier said than done. Well the Lord said do it. And you know what you and I ought to do? Lord help me do it. You said do it, help me do it. I can't do this by myself. I can't do this on my own. Help me do it. I can't think of any better way to go to the throne of grace and to take his own word to him. You said, you said, you said, let not my heart be troubled. You believe in God, please believe also in me. Help me do that. Help me do it.

In my father's house, you know, when I wrote this, I thought of my home, when I grew up in, I thought of our home. A place of welcome, a place of love, a place of provision, a place of joy. But this morning as I was going over this, I thought this really doesn't describe too many homes on this earth. Does it? It doesn't describe too many because I know too many homes that don't have this. But I tell you this, this describes our Father's house. It describes His house. This is what we're going to. WE ARE GOING TO GO TO A PLACE WHERE WE'RE WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME, SINNERS! WELCOME! WE'RE GOING TO GO TO A PLACE WHERE WE ARE LOVED! A LOVE THAT'S BEYOND UNDERSTANDING! WE'RE GOING TO A PLACE WHERE WE ARE PROVIDED FOR! WE PROVIDE NOTHING! EVERYTHING'S PROVIDED! COMING DOWN! COMING DOWN! AND A PLACE OF JOY! WE'LL NEVER CRY AGAIN! THERE'LL NEVER BE A HEARTACHE EVER AGAIN!

We're about that close to reality. We're this close to realizing this. In many mansions, in my father's house, there are many mansions, many dwelling places, many rooms. You know, when you think of a mansion, Vicki and I have been watching documentaries on a lot of these men, most of them are men, back a hundred years ago, most of them. They started from ground zero and they built these great fortunes. I mean, just great fortunes. And they built these mansions. One of them was 60,000 square feet. But about all of them were 20,000 and 30,000 plus square feet. They had all these rooms in them empty. And every one of them except for one. Except for one, Walt Disney. He was the only one that wasn't MISERABLE. Married 5, 6, 7 times. MEAN TO THEIR CHILDREN. I MEAN MEAN TO THE CHILDREN. That's not this. That's not this. And most of them, the homes were bulldozed down. Or they turned into a museum. They couldn't even afford to keep them up. THE GENERATIONS THAT INHERITED IT, THEY COULDN'T EVEN AFFORD TO KEEP IT UP. THE BUILT MORE, YOU KNOW, IT'S TURNED INTO A MUSEUM BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T AFFORD TO KEEP IT UP. THAT'S WHY IT'S A MUSEUM NOW. THEY COULDN'T AFFORD TO KEEP IT UP. BUT HERE, EVERY, EVERY ROOM IS FULL. AND WHAT HE'S SAYING HERE IS THIS, THERE'S MANY ABIDING PLACES, PLENTY OF ROOM, AND IT SPEAKS OF PERMANENCE. PERMANENCE.

Here we are pilgrims. I wish we could, oh, I wish we could get a hold of that. We are just pilgrims. Dwelling in tents. This is a tabernacle I live in. I live in a tabernacle. This body, that's all it is. We're pilgrims, we dwell in tents, But there it's home. It's not a tent. It's not a tent. Here we're strangers. We're strangers. And Christ adds this assurance. If it were not so, I would have told you. I would have told you. He's a faithful witness to the truth. IF HEAVEN WERE NOT REAL, IF PARADISE WERE NOT REAL, HE WOULD HAVE NEVER SAID TO THAT THIEF, TODAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.

Now you think about that when a loved one dies and believes the gospel. They just went to paradise. Heaven, if it were not real, He said, I would have told you. He doesn't deceive His disciples. Then He is taking them to a place PREPARED, a PREPARED PLACE. I go to PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. If you really understand why I am going, you would REJOICE, you would REJOICE!

Here is what I am doing, I said I am going to go away where I am going, you can?t come now because what I am doing is I am going to PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, a place of ACCEPTANCE. You know, when God made the first Adam, He prepared a place for him. But now the second Adam, HE GOES TO PREPARE A PLACE IN HEAVEN FOR A REDEEMED PEOPLE! And it?s not a garden, it?s ETERNITY! It?s a NEW EARTH! It's a new earth, new heaven, new earth.

I was saying as we were eating our blueberry muffins this morning, I was saying, can you imagine that God is going to dissolve this earth and the stars and the moon? He said, you know, the stars are going to fall from heaven, but all everything has to do with this place is going to be dissolved. Everything. and we re literally going to live and walk on a new earth. That s not Greek mythology, that s the truth. That s the truth.

We are going to a prepared place prepared by our Lord for us. It says in Hebrews 6.20 Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. He s the forerunner. You know, God has never taken His people to an unprepared place. Even Canaan, in the Old Testament, when He was taking them to Canaan, it was a prepared place. He said, It is a place that flows with milk and honey. God has never taken His people to a prepared place.

Now, if I go and prepare a place for YOU, and this is what we ought to realize when God takes one of us. When He takes one of us, I was thinking this morning, probably within 10 years, a quarter of this congregation will be gone. I'd say at least that, a quarter of it will be gone. Maybe me, I'm 70 years old. But He says this, and here's how we need to look at this. If I go and prepare a place for you, You, you, you, I'm coming back to get you. I'm coming back to get you.

We ought to be so excited, shouldn't we? We should be so excited. He's coming to get me and he's going to take me to that prepared place and he's going to take me away from this place of sorrow and heartaches and I've learned the older you get the more of that there is. You see, this is not wishful thinking, it's divine promise.

Here's a divine promise. I wrote this down this morning. I never stop on my notes until I come over here. I'm always working on them right up to the last minute. But I thought of this this morning. If today were your last day, how important would things be to you now? How important would it be to you now? And I thought of this, because there's been times I've talked to Madison, and I'd say, did you make it to the service today? You know what she'd say? I had to study. I understand that. Miranda has to do the same thing. Miranda, most of the time, brings her computer over to the house and works over there the whole evening. Sunday morning after service.

But here's, boy, if I could JUST GET THIS ACROSS, DO WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT! DO WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT! Because this could be the last day. As I've told her, you know, the Lord can give you the ability to understand and do that, even if you take an hour out of it. What's it, an hour, hour and a half? I said, that's nothing. That's nothing. But that same goes for every one of us.

You know, there was a man I knew, I knew him real well, partner in business, and he had a big business. He's a multimillionaire. but and he was busy man i mean he was busiest man i ever seen in my life but when it was time for the service he dropped what he was doing and he was there every time he'd just drop it i don't care how important it was he dropped it and he was there if today were your last day how important would things be to you now because sooner or later it will be the last day, and nothing else will mean anything else to you, nothing.

Now if Christ has prepared a place for you, He will come and get you, He will come and get you.

Vicki and I were, and I don't mean to make light of this, but this is what I told her, I was, because my sister, you know, she had a tough time there with the situation. And we were talking, we said that, you know, we don't want to be kept alive on a machine. I said, I don't want to be, if that's what it is, do not, do not do that. Don't do that. I said, I think she asked me, she said, do you want me, what about having you resuscitated? I said, if he has his hand over my mouth and I kick and tell him to resuscitate me, but if I'm not, I said, but if I'm not, don't resuscitate me. I thought, I shouldn't tell that. Give me a minute anyway. But anyway.

You know, the Lord's come to get me. It's time. It's time. You know, we are trophies of His grace, and He's not going to leave His trophies behind. He's not going to leave them behind. And here's what He says, that where I am, there you may be also. Oh, He says, Father, I will that they also be with me where I am. Where is He? He's with the Father. We have no idea what we're about to experience. It's forever with the Lord, never to depart again, paradise.

And then He makes the way plain to him. He says, And I thank the Lord, because everything He said, every word He spoke, is calculated. He made this statement not only to instruct them, but to bring this question out of Thomas to enlighten us. Whether I go, you know, in the way you know. He knew what they knew. They didn't even know what they knew. They didn't know what they knew. Does that make any sense?

Thomas he objects, but it's not a rebellion. It's just it's honest. He's just being honest. Lord, we know not where thou goest. How can we know the way? Remember they're on that side of the cross. We're on this side. And he said that that Thomas may ask this question that you and I might be enlightened. They were still thinking of earthly terms, earthly kingdom, and an earthly destination. He's got to turn them to things above.

So Christ speaks one of the clearest gospel statements in all Scripture. And He gives the CURE, and He Himself is the CURE. Thomas, I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. No man comes to the Father but by Me. But He said, I am the WAY. They were brought up under the Law! They were brought up under CEREMONIES! They were brought up by the scribes and the Pharisees! And He is telling them, THAT IS NOT THE WAY! I AM! I AM! I AM THE WAY! He is the way of ACCEPTANCE! He is the way of RECONCILIATION! He is the way of RIGHTEOUSNESS! HE'S THE WAY! And that being so, why would you seek any other way? Forsake all other ways. He said, I'M THE WAY! I'M THE TRUTH!

The scribes read the scriptures of truth to them DAILY! But HE'S NOT READING THE SCRIPTURES TO THEM, HE IS THE SCRIPTURES! HE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF TRUTH! You know, these scriptures, this is Christ! YOU SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURE, FOR IN THEM YOU THINK YOU HAVE LIFE, BUT THERE THEY WOULD TESTIFY OF ME. THE LIVING WORD AND WRITTEN WORD CANNOT BE SEPARATED. CAN'T BE. HE'S THE EMBODIMENT OF TRUTH, HE'S THE FULL REVELATION OF GOD. HE THAT HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER.

And he said, I'm the life. They didn't understand that life is a person. They were thinking life to be, you know, that's thinking of eternal life is the length of it, not the quality of it. It's the life of God. Eternal life is the life of God. Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ who made sin in John 17. I think it's verse two, but that's what it is. Life is found in Him. It's in Him.

Now in closing, a troubled heart is cured not by circumstances changing. That's not what happens, but by Christ being trusted. There's four things to do when our hearts are troubled. First of all, look to His person. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's real. He's real.

REST IN HIS PROMISES, THEY WILL NOT FAIL. REJOICE IN HIS PRESENCE, HE SAID, I'LL NEVER LEAVE THEE NOR FORSAKE THEE. AND TRUST IN HIS RETURN, HE SAID, I'LL COME AND GET YOU. If I go and prepare a place for you, I'm coming again and I'm going to get you.

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, CHRIST IS ENOUGH for the troubled heart.