Let me say some things this evening
here that might be of some help to your
heart. I like to speak to a man's heart.
I like to speak out of my heart to men's heart. That's where it really helps a man speak
to his heart. John chapter fourteen, familiar verses that
we've heard since our childhood. Chapter fourteen,
verses one, two, and three. 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,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Now the verses that we've read
here, 1, 2, and 3, are rich in precious truth. And certainly
I'll only be able to just touch on the fringe area of this blessed
truth. I know some of you probably by
heart experience know more about it than I do, but I do know this,
that for the last nineteen centuries, these verses that I read to you
have been very dear to the believing people of the Lord Jesus Christ
in every part of the world. Many are the sick rooms which
have been lightened by these verses. Many are the dying hearts
which have been cheered by these three verses. Let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Well, there's two things that
I want to call your attention to that's found in these three
passages. Number one is this. We find here
a precious remedy against an old disease. Now, the disease
is trouble of the heart. That's an old disease. And the
remedy for the disease is faith. Now heart trouble is the commonest
thing in the world, heart trouble. No rank or class or condition
is exempt from this disease. No door, no lock, no bolt can
keep this disease out. Man that is born of woman is
full of trouble as the sparks fly upward. Now the causes of
this heart trouble, partly it comes from inward causes and
partly it comes from outward causes. Partly from the body
and partly from the mind. Partly from what we love and
partly from what we fear. of this life is full of trouble. You know that, don't you? Even
the holiest of all the saints experienced trouble in this life. The Apostle Paul, that great
man of God, the author of the biggest part of the New Testament,
was a man that was acquainted with trouble. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, it was said about him that he was acquainted with grief. He was a man of sorrow, acquainted
with grief, and acquainted with trouble. No man is exempt from
it. Job, that holy man that our Heavenly
Father said this about him when the devil came seeking whom he
might devour. Our Lord God said that he was
perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed
evil, or hated evil. And there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. The Lord said unto Satan, Whence
comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and
said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up
and down in it, seeking who he might devour. And the Lord said
unto Satan, Hast thou considered, hast thou set thy heart on my
servant Job? There is none like him in the
earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and
hateth evil. What I'm telling you here this
evening is that this heart trouble is not confined to special people,
but people of all ranks, meek people, people of little faith,
people of strong faith, people in every circumstance and every
condition is subject to heart trouble. Somebody has heart trouble. And I said, the holiest of all
the people of God is subject to heart trouble, the disease
of heart trouble. Paul had it. Job had it. I said, there's none like this
man on the face of the earth. He's an upright man. He's one
that fears God. Ah, you know the story. Destroyed
everything that he had in just, it seemed like, hours. Took all
of his children. Wouldn't that be a terrible blow
for someone to knock on your door and say, well? Your children was having an anniversary
party over there. There's seven of them. They was
all gathered in. They was having a big time. He
had four daughters and three sons, and they were having a
good time, fellowship. Every one of them's dead. Every
one of them is dead. Then someone else came in and
said, well, listen, you lost everything that you got. You
haven't got any fortune anymore. You lost everything. And your
wife rose up against you and said, why don't you curse God
and die? Old Job rose and ran his mouth and shaved his head
and fell down and worshipped God. And he said, naked came
I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.
the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name
of the Lord." Well, I said this journey of life is full of trouble,
and even the holiest of all the saints find the world a veil
of tears. They find trouble in trial. Now,
that's the disease, heart trouble. or inwardly may be the causes
of all this. Regardless of the cause, we all
have it. There's no need for me to get
involved in what are the causes. We're all human, and we're all
subject to trials and temptations. We're all subject to fall, and
we're all frail. This flesh is frail. We all have
families, and we all have passions, and we all have appetites and
desires, and we all wind up sooner or later with difficulties and
troubles, and it's a disease, and none of us are exempt from
it, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only sure medicine
for a troubled heart. That's what our Lord's saying
here. These fellows was troubled. There's trouble. There's gathered
around a little table here. And our Lord announced to them
that He was going to depart from their midst. I'm going to leave
you. He'd been with them for three years. And boy, they was
not only indebted to Him, but they loved Him. They loved Him.
They loved the Lord Jesus. I remember old Thomas when he
said, they said, well, I have to go to Jerusalem and they're
going to kill me. And Thomas said, let's go and
die with Him. They loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith in the Lord Jesus is the only sure medicine for troubled
hearts. And he says here, in essence,
that when a man's in trouble, regardless of what kind of trouble
it is, when their hearts are heavy, he said that the medicine
for that troubled heart was to believe in him. Now these fellows
had already believed in the Lord Jesus. They'd already believed. But what he was telling them,
he was He was, one more time, pressing home this truth. Believe! Believe more! Believe greater! Believe stronger! Believe in
me! Believe it! Trust in me! Trust in me! Remember I told
you here the other day, We were talking about that passage of
Scripture there in the book of 1 Peter where it says, Casting
all your cares upon Me. Casting all your cares upon Him,
for He cares for you. And I wondered why we are not
able to cast our cares upon Him. Because He actually, literally
cares for us. He cares for us. We sang that
hymn that Pat Let us in here a little bit. I must tell Jesus.
I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear these burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. He will help. He will deliver. I cannot bear. these burdens alone. And that's
right! That's the truth! Why is it that
we cannot believe and we cannot trust in our Lord Jesus Christ? Let not your hearts be troubled,
he told these four eleven or twelve disciples here. Just this
little group of misfits, this little struggling He said, don't
let your heart be troubled in this matter. You believe in God? He said, believe in me. Believe
in me! Trust in me! Trust in me! Listen, he goes on and he says,
in my Father's house are many mansions. Why, I said, if it
were not so, I would have told you. That is, if there were not
many mansions in my Father's house, He said, I would have
told you about it. There are many mansions in my
Father's house. I'm telling you about it. Don't
let your heart be troubled that I'm, because I'm leaving you.
It'll only be for a short time. I'm going home. I'm going home. Our Lord Jesus Christ was away
from home. He was a stranger in a world
that hated him and a world that was about to crucify him. A world
that despised him. And he said, let not your heart
be troubled. I'm going home, going to be with
my Father. Ah, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only sure medicine for a troubled heart. Don't trust
in the arm of flesh, it'll fail you. Let me read something to
you here in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah, well, I'll find it. Is it Isaiah chapter 26? I believe
it is. Verse number 3, listen to this. Verse 3, Isaiah 26, Thou wilt,
that's the shallows and the will, Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in
Thee." That's what our Lord is telling these fellows. Trust
Me! Believe in Me! Lean! on me completely. Believe me
more firmly. Trust me entirely. Lay hold on me more firmly. Lean back more completely on
me. Trust me. You see, the sure medicine
for a troubled heart is to lean on Jesus. Leaning on Jesus, leaning
on Jesus, leaning on Jesus. Leaning on Jesus, trusting in
Him. That's the medicine. Now, I said,
no doubt this little group had believed already. They'd believed
already. This one, he wasn't talking to
a bunch of alienated, hard-hearted rebels against God. He was talking
to those that loved Him. He's talking to a group of people
that had forsaken everything and followed Him. They had left
their wives, for the most part, and their children, and their
homes, and their jobs. They had left their reputation.
They had put everything on the line and was following the Lord
Jesus Christ. They believed, but yet the answer
to their troubled heart was this plain and simple admonition. Trust in me! Believe in me, lean
backward completely into my arms and trust me. Not some magic
formula, not some step process, not some question and answer
thing, but simply trust from your heart that I know what I'm
doing and it will work out the best for you. I know what I'm
doing. He presses them with this lesson,
believe, trust. Well, let's remember as we think
about this, that there is, in our experience in the family,
this is the family of God, the household of God, the family
of God. In the family of God there are
degrees of faith. There is a wide difference between
weak and strong faith. Now, the weakest of faith is
strong enough to give a man a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it ought not to be despised either. But it will not give
a man such inward comfort as strong faith. Vagueness and dimness
of perception are the Defects of a weak believer. He does not
see clearly what he believes, nor does he know why he believes. All he knows is he believes. And we're not to despise that
kind of faith. But that kind of faith will not
bring comfort when the heart is troubled. When the heart is
troubled, and the heart will be troubled, the heart will be
troubled. Rest assured, the heart will
be troubled. Every man is going to experience
some heart trouble from this disease, inwardly or outwardly. And when he does, the only sure
medicine for this troubled heart is the balm of Gilead. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ to trust in Him. Well, listen, the second
thing then in this passage is this. It is an expression of truth
which declares a very comfortable account of the future abode of
those that trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
to what he says now. Let not your heart be troubled,
ye who believe in God, believe also in me, in my Father's house. I'm not going to tell you no
lie. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go. I go. I'm going to leave by the way
of the cross. I'm going to pay what you're
due. I'm going there to Calvary, Golgotha, and I'm going to be
crucified, and I'm going to pay your debt. I'm going to pay everything
that you owe, and I'm going to clothe you with my righteousness.
I'm going to make you accepted, and you become a member of my
Father's house. And I'll not only be your Savior,
but I'll be your Lord and your King, and I'll be your elder
brother, and I'll be your friend, and you'll become a member of
this family. I go to prepare a place for you. I'm going to go by way of the
cross. And He said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself. And where I am, where I am there
ye may be also." Oh, what a comfortable account of the future abode of
the people that trust in God! The people that trust in the
Lord Jesus, that have a saving interest in the Christ of God,
their abode in the future is to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how little we understand
about heaven while we are here in this body. Not much is said
in the Bible about this place called heaven, not much. some
negative things, sometimes some positive things, but not very
much is said, not very many plain things are said about heaven
in the Bible. The Bible is kind of silent about
it. There is a whole lot of things
said in the Bible about hell. There are more things said in
the Bible about hell than there are about heaven. And I told
you this morning about that one place in the Bible that accurately
described the future abode of the wicked, a place of torment,
but not many places in the Bible describes the future abode of
the people of God. Now here in these three verses,
or these last two verses that I read to you, verses 2 and 3,
are some plain things and some things that you and I can understand. We don't need some man that studied
prophecy all of his life to come here tonight and explain what
these two verses mean. We know what they mean. We know
that He is saying here that He went by way of the cross to His
Father's house to prepare a place for us, and if He goes, He will
come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is, we'll
be. That's our future abode, we'll
be with Him. That's the reason that the apostles
I preached to you here the other day about, He said, to depart. He said, it's far better to depart,
far better, and be with Christ. That's far better than staying
here. Far better. Listen, we have a passage here
of plain things. Heaven is my Father's house. That's what heaven is. That's
my Father's house. the house of that God of whom
Jesus said, I go to my Father and to your Father. It is in
one word. Now this will bless your heart
right here. The future abode of the people of God can aptly
be described, explained, defined in one word that everybody can
understand. It is a church. O-M-E. It's going home. That's what
it is. It's going home. Don't you like
to think about going home? You left home. You had a fine
home. They used to say when I went
to service, they had a cadence to keep you in, to keep you in,
you know, one, two, hip, two. They used to sing, you had a
good home but you left. You had a good home but you left.
You had a good home, but you left. Right. Left. You had a
good home, but you left. And all of us, we can remember
the time when we had a good home. We had a good home. We had a
good home. We can remember, we can remember the eating of the
apples. We can remember of the reading
of the stories. We can remember of the old radio
programs. And we can remember playing Old
Maid and all those games and the popcorn and the open fire. And we can remember all of those
things. And we can remember the linoleum
floors. And we can remember getting up
and going outside to the bathroom. We remember all of these things.
Pleasant memories! Going home! Going home! That's
what it is to go to heaven. It's to go home! It's to go home! This world is not my home, Bob. This world is not my resting
place. I'm a stranger. I'm only passing
through. Oh, that's what it means. It's
the home of the Lord Jesus Christ and His people. Listen, home! as all of us know, is generally
a place where we are generally loved for our own sake, not for
our money and not for our gift. We're loved because we're a member
of the family and we are welcome home! Welcome home! Glad to see
ya! Glad to see ya! And mother cries,
and father all chokes up, and embraces ya, and shakes hands,
and lays kisses on your cheeks, because they're glad to see ya! You went home! God bless you
tonight. The future state and the future
abode of every soul that trusts in Jesus. is home with God. That's what it is. H-O-M-E. I'm going home! Whenever you
meet a Christian, whenever you meet a man that's trusting in
the Lord Jesus, you meet a man that's going home. He's going
home! He may be going this way or that
way, but I'll tell you where he's going. He's going home.
He's going home. That's what it means Ah, the
believer, right now, as I said, he's in a strange land. In the
life to come, he'll be at home. He'll be at home. He'll be with
his friends. He'll be with his elder brother.
He'll be with his Savior. He'll be with his Lord. And he'll
be like his Lord. And there'll be perfect peace
and perfect enjoyment and perfect happiness. And there'll be no
trials. And there'll be no troubles. And there'll be no tears, and
there'll be no heart disease. We'll be with Him. With the Lord. Going home. That's what it means,
Gerald. It means going home. Where are you going? Going home.
What are you looking for, Abraham? Abraham was standing out there.
He said, what are you looking for, Abraham? He said, you're
looking for a city. What kind of a city, Abraham?
There's plenty of cities around here. He said, I'm looking for
a sin whose builder and maker is God. I'm going home. That's what Abraham was talking
about. He said, I'm a stranger in this world. And he said, I'm
going home. Going home. Going home. They'll be at home. And I thought
about this this evening. I said, man, when he goes home,
he'll be comfortable that way. That's good, isn't it? He'll
be comfortable there. He'll be comfortable. He'll not
be a stranger. You know, sometimes I go away
and be at these places and preach and stay with different people.
And though we're brethren in the Lord, yet there is a sense. There is a sense of strangeness. Strangeness about the home. Although
all of these dear, blessed people that have taken me in, been so
kind and so good, said, make this your home, do in your home,
in this home what you do at your home. Tell us anything that we
can do to make you comfortable. And they do, just bend over backwards. But when it's all said and done,
it's not home. It's not home, and I'm not I'm
comfortable until I get in my car and drive maybe hundreds
and hundreds of miles and turn in down there very soon and come
up and come into my house and there's my home and I'm comfortable. You know what I'm talking about?
It'll be comfortable there. Going home. That's what our Lord's
talking about. Going home in my Father's house. My father's house is my home! It's your home! Going home. It's a lasting and permanent
and eternal dwelling place. At home we shall be settled at
last. At last. I'm home. I'm home. It's like the fellow that struggled
coming in from the Midwest. He came, didn't have a pen in
his pocket. He came, dying, dying mother
at home, and his father got a hold of him and said, come home son,
your mother's dying. Come home. And he came down through
the Midwest. And he got a ride here and a
ride there, and the fella helped him out with a little money,
and he rode the bus a little way, and he walked a little ways,
and finally, after a lot of toil and a lot of hardship, He got
there, and he seen the light of home, and he said, At last! At last! He said, I'm forever
settled, and I'm home! I'm home. Home at last. Oh, a house. Let me read something
to you here from the book of Micah. Micah chapter 1, I guess
it's chapter 2 of the book of Micah. Listen to what it says. There's a lot of trouble here
in Israel at this time. He said the people here, they're
against God. And he said the priests and the
preachers and the prophets, he said they're deceiving the people
and everything. He said there's lots of trouble
here. False doctrine, false worship, idolatry and all that. And then
it comes over in this second chapter in the tenth verse, and
this is what Micah says. Micah says, Arise ye and depart,
for this is not your rest. This is not your rest. This is
not your home. You can only be at rest in your
home. For this is not your rest, because
it's polluted. This world is polluted, and it
will destroy you. There's a lot of trouble here.
in Israel at this time. He said, the people here, they're
against God. And he said the priests and the
preachers and the prophets, he said they deceive the people
and everything. He said there's lots of trouble
here. False doctrine, false worship, idolatry and all that. And then
it comes over in this second chapter in the tenth verse, and
this is what Micah says. Micah says, Arise, ye, and depart,
for this is not your rest. This is not your rest. This is
not your home. You can only be at rest in your
home. For this is not your rest, because
it's polluted. This world is polluted, and it
will destroy you even with a sore destruction. Arise. Arise and
depart, for this is not your rest. You can find no place to
rest your weary feet in this life. Not for long, no, sir. Well, listen. Turn with me again,
if you will, to the book of Hebrews chapter 13. Let me read a passage
here. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
14. Listen to what it says. for here have we no continuing
city." Now, notice now, if you don't get this, you know it will
run right by you and you'll never be able to get the blessing out
of it. Now, it does not say there is
no continuing city, but it does say here, here, right here in
this world, have we no, or have we none, we don't have any here.
But there is a continuing city whose builder and maker is God.
That's our home. That's our home. That's what
our Lord tells His troubled disciples. You've got heart trouble? You
believe in God the Father? Believe also in Me. In My Father's
house, My Father and your Father. I go to My Father and your Father.
And in My Father's house, there's many permanent mansions. Here you live in a temporary
shack, shanty, tent. tabernacle, but in my Father's
home, in my Father's house, there's permanency there, and you're
forever settled there, and we're at home there. All of us are
at home. We're like-minded there. We desire the same thing. Don't
let your heart be troubled. He said, Here there's no continuity,
for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come,
our home, our eternal home. Well, John Bunyan, one time they asked
him a question about heaven, and he couldn't answer the question.
And that was unusual for John Bunyan, because he was a Bible
student. But he couldn't answer the question.
They asked him a question about heaven, and John Bunyan couldn't
answer it. He said, well, the reason why I can't answer it,
he said, because the matter that's involved in the question that
you're answering is not revealed in the scriptures. Therefore,
I can't answer it. They ask him a question about
heaven. So, he advised the person that asked the question, he said,
why don't you live a holy life and go and see? I like that. He said, well, why don't you
just live a holy life and go and see? Well, I told you that
heaven begins where sin ends. And I told you that a fellow
by the name of William Gurnall said this about heaven. He said,
We are all like children strayed from home, and God is now fetching
us home, and we are ready to turn into any house to stay and
to play and to sit down on every green bank and much ado there
is to get us home. But God will finally get us home. You got heart trouble? Got heart
trouble? The remedy for the disease is
just to flat out lay back and believe thoroughly and completely
more and more in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the answer. There's
no secret formula to it. Believe. That's what he said.
He said, if you believe in God, believe also in me. The Lord
bless you. May that be of a help to your
troubled heart. I know it is to mine to realize
that we're going home. Going home. to be with my father,
going home, going home. I know all of you can appreciate
that, going home. Where are you going? I'm going
home. Where are you going, friend? Well, I'm going home. I'm going
home. Well, where are you going? Well,
I'm going home. My father's house. I'm welcome
there. You remember the story of the
prodigal He strayed and left his father's house. Spent all
that he had in righteous living, didn't he? Spent everything that
he had. Didn't have anything else. Was
broke. Didn't have anything to eat. Wouldn't fain eat with the swine,
the husk that they fed to the swine. No man cared for his soul.
No man gave to him. Why, he said, my soul, he said,
I've left better than what I've got here. I haven't got anything. He said, I'll arise. There was
a determination in his heart. He said, I'll arise. And this
is what I'll do. I'll go to my father's house. And he'll say, and I'll say,
Father, I've sinned against heaven, and I've sinned against you.
That's what I'll do. And he rose. And the Bible says,
as he was a long ways off, the father was out there in the yard
or the porch, and he's looking down the road. And he seen that
poor, struggling, wayward boy, tattered and torn, and here he
come with his head down. And the father, the father, at
the father's house, he went down to him and didn't scold him.
He didn't say, you rascal, you, I told you, I told you. He was
so glad to see him. Oh, my soul, if you know anything
about a father's heart and a mother's heart, and you see that long
lost son coming home, you ain't going to scold him. You ain't
going to say, well, I told you so. Oh, no, the father opened
his arms and embraced that poor unwavered child. all of his rags
and tattered and torn, healthy, and kissed him, and kissed him,
and kissed him, and kissed him, and smothered him with kisses. Someone said something and he
said, this was my son who was lost, but now he's found. My father's house is going You're
going home. There's room for all of the weakest
of God's children. There's room for them there.
There's room for the weakest and the strongest. The door will
never be shut from the man who trusts in the Lord Jesus. Never
be shut. Oh no. The door will be shut
upon rebels. upon rebels who will not bow,
who will not bend, who will not fall before him and acknowledge
their ungodliness and receive him as their Lord. The door will
be shut for them, but to all others it will be welcome. Welcome. Welcome, sister. Welcome, brother. Where to? My father's house. God bless you. Let's stand and
we'll be