That's a good hymn. Thank you,
John and Robin. Good hymn. That line, O for the
living flame from his own altar brought to touch our lips, our
minds inspire and wing to heaven our thought. Do you understand
it? That's Isaiah 6, where the Lord
sent an angel, a preacher, with a coal from the altar, a live
coal, which is the Word of God, and touched Isaiah's lips. And we need, you know, to sing
that, we need the same thing to happen to us. Are you with
me? You understand? If we could sing
that from the heart. Oh, for the living flame. Word
of God, fire. Touch my lips, let me sing. Heart,
my mind. Wing my thoughts heavenward. Some of your minds are already
wanting it. Sing that from the heart, Lord.
Send a cold from the altar through your angel. Touch me. Cold. Oh, to go away from this
place like the disciples of old said. Did not our hearts burn
within us? After this is over, find somebody's hearts burning.
Or else someone else will quench it. Let not your heart be troubled.
That's what our Lord said. They're so full of trouble, these
disciples. This is written to His disciples,
all right? Most everything, well, everything
I'm going to say this morning, everything our Lord is saying
is to His disciples. Everything He says in these chapters
now are to those that really believe on Him, those that are
following Him. Remember, Judas left. This is to those that are
following Him. This is those that love Him.
They're not nominal professors. nominal professor, a mere one
in word only, and someone who comes in here in body only, but
not in spirit. When the real trials come, when
the real tests come, they will leave. When the real troubles
come, they will leave. Always. Because troubles are
the tests. And he says to his true disciples,
he says to his true people, Let not your heart be troubled."
They were troubled at the thought of Him leaving. They were troubled
that they might deny Him, betray Him. They were troubled. And
He says to them who were troubled, who trembled, let not your heart
be troubled. If there's one thing certain
about the flesh, it's trouble. It's trouble. Scripture says
so. Man is born a woman is a few days full of trouble. Why is
that? Sin. Man's in trouble with God. Our Lord said there will be no
rest for the wicked. None. But not God's people. They're
given rest. What our Lord is about to say
here, He's saying here is to His people, let not your heart
be troubled. Rest your soul in what I'm saying. The world's in trouble with God.
The wrath of God is clearly seen. Like Egypt of old couldn't see
it. They're in trouble. The world's in trouble. God's people are not in trouble
with God. Not in trouble with God. We have
troubles. One thing that's certain in the flesh is trouble. All
flesh, trouble. All mankind's in trouble. Man's
born to trouble, Job said, as sparks that fly upward. At a campfire or a charcoal grill,
you know, you just barely touch it and sparks fly upward. They
don't go down, they go upward. Scripture says like sparks that
fly upward. It's a certain trouble. Trouble. God's people are not
exempt from it. In fact, I'm going to show you
how they go through the deepest trouble. But it's not... It's for their good. This is
what our Lord... You remember right before this,
He said, now is my soul troubled, exceedingly troubled. Remember
in Lamentations, He said, see if there's any man that has sorrow
like my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me. Search
and find if there's anybody that's been through trouble like me,
Christ said. But the joy said before, and
he's cheering, he said, be of good cheer. Let not your heart
be troubled. But we have troubles. David said,
man after God's own heart, dear, dear child of God, David said,
my soul is in trouble. He said, my life is spent in
grief and sorrow, David said. So trouble is especially so for
God's people. It must be so. Our Lord said,
you must, through much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
He said that to His disciples. The Lord kept telling His disciples
many things that troubled them. And like us, like our flesh,
they didn't want to think about it. He told them, He told them anything,
but he told them, one of you will betray me. How can that be? And they looked
around and there was 12 disciples and one of them, that's one twelfth,
I don't know how many people in here, 50 or so, but percentage
wise, what if I said five, six people in here, will betray Christ,
you'll go back to the world, you'll sell out, and you'll never
have anything to do with the gospel again. Doesn't that trouble
you? You don't tell. They were trouble. Then he said, one of you, a prominent,
one of you prominent people, persons, men, will deny that
you ever knew me. Act like and talk like you never
knew me. Again, what if I said five or
six more are going to deny Christ and act like they never did?
It would be troubling, wouldn't it? Would you be troubled by
that? Lord, is it me? He kept telling them things like
this. He said, I'm going to the cross. He told them this over
and over again. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem.
The Son of Man is going to Jerusalem. And they're going to take Him
and beat him and torture him. And they're going to put him
on, hang him on a cross and kill him. And he's going to die. I'm
going to die and they're going to bury my body. They were troubled. And he kept telling them things
like this. He said, you're going to be hated by everybody. Kept telling them that. You're going to be hated by everybody.
He said, your own family is going to turn against you for my sake.
I'm going to separate fathers and sons and mothers and daughters
and husbands and wives. I'm going to separate. I didn't
come to bring peace. He said, I came to bring sword. He said, your city is going to
be destroyed. Going to be destroyed. Your homes are going to be gone. You're going to hear wars, rumors
of wars, frightening. There are going to be famines.
There are going to be pestilence, disease, affliction such as the
world has never known more than ever, ever. And that's not what they want
to hear. It's just what you want to hear. It's the truth. It's the truth. The world didn't
want to hear this. So they go, they have itching
ears and heap to themselves teachers that tell them smooth things.
Tell us how much God loves everybody. Tell us you shall have peace
like Jeremiah 23. Tell us no harm shall come upon
you like Joel Osteen. He's the most listened to and
watched preacher on the TV today. Millions, millions and millions
watch him because he's always got a silly smile on his face
telling everybody God loves you and health and wealth and he
doesn't want anything bad to happen to you. He'd be rich like
me. And people, yeah, yeah. That's what we want to hear when
God says the opposite, the opposite. Shall I go on? You see, this
is only comfort to those that believe this. The gospel is only
comfort to those that are troubled, that see this world in trouble,
that see their soul in trouble. Huh? They thought, you know, they
thought just like the Jews did of old. They thought that Christ
was the Messiah. Well, He is, but not like they
needed to think of Him as. They thought that he had come
to restore the kingdom to Israel. That's what they thought. They
kept asking him that. Lord, will you at this time restore
the kingdom of Israel? They wanted the splendor of Solomon.
They wanted the power and the rule of David. The great kingdom
of David. Everybody under his own vine
and fig tree. They wanted health and wealth.
They wanted prosperity. They wanted everything to be
just fine. And we're just going to be just
happy, you know, all the time. And then when it's over, we just
walk on into glory and there's no trouble whatsoever. That's
what they wanted. That's what they thought. Get rid of all
these heathen people. Our Lord said the opposite. He
said, they're going to kill me and they're going to kill you.
They're going to hate you. The world's going to hate you.
If you love the truth, you know the truth, the world will hate
you. Our Lord kept saying that. If you believe the God of the
Bible, religion will hate you. That's what our Lord said. If
there's no offense, there's no truth. If there's no hatred,
there's no truth. If everybody's dying to get in
your door to hear what you have to say, you ain't preaching the
truth. Our Lord said that. He said, they're going to think
they do God a service by putting you out of business. They're
going to say, let's cast this little man asunder. Let's get
rid of these people." And our Lord said, they're going
to do it to you. It's going to happen. But let
not your heart be troubled. God, you see, in great mercy,
sends his people trouble. These troubles that he sends
us are not to destroy us, but to keep us from being destroyed,
to keep us from perishing with this world that's in trouble
with God. God's people go through troubles of a different sort
than the people of the world. Nearly everyone goes through
fleshly troubles, but God's people go through Well, our Lord said
this, 2 Corinthians 7, 28, He said, you shall have trouble
in the flesh. He's talking about marriage there. Talking about
marriage, especially if you're married, you're an unbeliever.
He said in Philippians 1, 29, He says, given unto you not only
to believe on His name for His sake, but to suffer, suffer for
His sake. It's given to you. You will suffer
if you're by truth. disciple, you'll suffer persecution.
You will, he said. He said in 2 Timothy 3, 12, all
that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. All
that really, really stand for the truth will suffer persecution. David, as wonderful a man as
he was, loving, kind, best brother a brother could possibly have,
he came out. Isn't there a cause? And his
brothers hated him. Hated him. Our Lord said to all His disciples,
and He says it to us, He said, you must, through much tribulation,
enter the kingdom of heaven. All of them. All God's people. You know, you see a new convert,
a new believer, and I sure would like to see another one or two
or three before it's over, your unsaved spouses, and they're
going to be saved by this gospel. Because there is no other. That's
right. I don't apologize for saying that.
If this is not the gospel, I don't know what the gospel is. If what
Joel Osteen is saying, what Billy Graham is saying is the gospel,
I'm not preaching the gospel. But you see, new believers, they
hear of the true God, true Christ, And they lay hold of this gospel,
and they hear it, and receive it, and believe it, and they
begin to rejoice in it, and they confess Christ and believers'
baptism, and they join with the church, and they become witnesses
to the truth, and they're full of joy and enthusiasm, and zeal
for the truth, and go out in the world, and go home, tell
their family, and go out in the world, and the trouble starts. You think, you think, and this
is what religion tells everybody, your troubles are over when you
accept Jesus. Your trouble is over, you know.
No, no, no. Then it starts. Then it really
starts. Because our Lord said, if you
were of the world, the world would love its own. But now I've
chosen you out of the world. You go out and tell people your
Lord chose you, and you begin to tell them that He chose a
people. I don't like that. What do you mean, Billy? God
elected a people. Well, that's what he said, brother.
That's what he says right there. And I believe he elected me,
because I believe that. I know. You think you're right and I'm
wrong, Billy? You think I'm not saved, Billy? You think Daddy and Mommy's lost,
Billy? I don't like that. Don't be telling
me that stuff. And Billy says, well, I thought you'd love this.
Billy would rather have you drunk in the gutter than the Lord reveal
the truth to you. When the Lord cast out the demons
out of that fella, you know, and put them in a herd of swine,
the people from town came and said, get out of here. We like
him like he was. Didn't they? That's truth. You're going to have trouble.
You go home and tell people the truth, you're going to get in
trouble. Let not your heart be troubled.
That's a good sign. Because all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, if they don't. A new believer here, and trouble
starts. Satan assaults him like never
before. I never forget, I read as a young
believer, William Grinnell, I think it was, Christian in complete
armor, but he made this statement. He said, Satan, who's wily and
crafty, he's not sovereign. He's not all powerful. He can't
do what he will. Satan, no. Christ does that. God does that. Satan's not God. God is. Satan can't do anything
unless God lets him do it. Unless God permits it. Satan's
not God. Nevertheless, Brother Gernal
said that Satan will take somebody that's in false religion, somebody
that's made a profession, somebody that's gone through some kind
of little confession of faith and accepted Jesus and got in
the baptismal pool and joined the church and quit their drinking,
quit their cussing, and now they're a good person and all that, and
they've got a patched up righteousness. Satan will take that person and
leave them alone! Leave them alone! So that they
think, I'm so good now, I've got to be saved. Look, I'm too
good not to be saved. But then he'll take that fellow
who laid hold of Christ in the gospel, a sinner saved by grace. looking to, trusting in the mercy
of God to his sinful soul, to the righteousness of Christ to
cover his sinful soul, the blood of Christ to pay for his sin,
who's trusting and looking in Christ and Christ alone. And
he said that Satan will bombard him, because he knows he doesn't
have him anymore. He knows he's out of his absolute
control. Christ has taken captivity captive. Christ has taken away from him
his own, Christ's own. It only allows him to do what
he allows him to do, and Satan so bombards him, bombards him. And so that believer in Christ
says, I'm too bad to be saved. There's no way I can be saved,
I'm so bad. Did that thrill anybody? I've
heard a young believer, it thrilled me! I thought, does this old
believer says that? Is that what he feels? Bombarded
constantly, Satan won't let up. If you belong to Christ, Satan
won't let up. Let not your heart be troubled. If you didn't have these inward
struggles, there's not a new man there. If you don't struggle with temptation,
there's no new man there. You've heard this a thousand
times, Stephen. You've heard everything I have to say, but
I want to hear it again. But somebody said, it's like
two men living in the same house. One living on the upper floor
and one on the bottom floor, and every now and then they meet
in the middle and just have a battle. Is that you? Well, our Lord said,
sin shall not have dominion over you. That old man, he said, the
elder shall serve the younger. That old man, somehow this serves
God's purpose. Oh, I'll tell you many reasons.
But anyway, the believer, the new believer, and then the trouble
starts. And the world, oh my. Our Lord
gave the illustration of the house built on the rock. He said
it was no sooner built on that rock than the rain started falling,
the wind started blowing, and the floods started rising. No
sooner was that house built than the trials and the tribulations
came. But, why did it stand built on the
rock? Troubles. Troubles. He said you
shall have troubles. Wars and rumors of war, didn't
it? Fear, worry. Please listen. What I've said
thus far is wonderful, but listen. Our Lord said wars and rumors
of war. Are we hearing any of that? Are
you worried about North Korea? Bless your heart, sister. She's
not. She's doing that. Bless your heart. The Lord has
delivered you from that heart trouble. Many are. Don't you
think American people are trembling? Wars and rumors of war, financial
trouble. We go through all sorts of trouble.
Financial trouble. Do you worry about a recession?
Do you worry about a depression? Can it happen? Oh, can it happen? I don't think it's the point
of time. I don't think it's if, I think
it's when. Let not your heart be troubled. Are we afraid of losing our comforts? Are we afraid of losing our lifestyle?
Our plush, comfortable, easy lifestyle? Sure we are. There's troubles in the home.
As Paul said, you get married, there's going to be trouble.
You know, a young married couple think, oh, married bliss. Even
between believers. You get a male and a female in
the same house for 24 hours a day, you've got trouble. I blame it on the man mostly.
I know that from experience. That's a fact. Because he said,
I'm telling you, it's not funny anymore. Husbands, you love your
wives as Christ loved the church. If you do, she'll love you and
she'll submit to you. Church, trouble in the home,
trouble in your marriage, trouble with children. Oh, my. Hmm. Wayward children. Man. Trouble in church. Is the church
immune from trouble? Oh no. Strife, discord, envy,
jealousy. This is the cause. Pride. Bunch of selfish sinners. That's
the trouble. That's why. If we were all in it for the
glory of God, we wouldn't have those troubles. We wouldn't have
any envy and jealousy. We wouldn't have any bitterness
and bickering and discord and envy if we all really loved each
other like Christ loved. You see how important that is?
If we really did, we wouldn't have trouble in the church. There
wouldn't be any trouble. The honeymoon would never end.
If we all remembered each other's frames, we all never forgot we're
just flesh and just dust. We'd forgive and forget. We'd
just go on, wouldn't we? We're a bunch of selfish sinners.
Got trouble in the body, don't we? All have trouble in the body.
Sickness, diseases, suffering, age. To watch my parents get
so feeble, it's troubling. It's sad. Infirmities, all must go through
trouble. Somebody, and I'm talking to
God's people, somebody that I esteem so highly, several people, really,
thinking about going through troubles. And I had to ask the
Lord, why, Lord, why? Why does this have to happen
to this person? They've been such a testimony,
been such a witness, been so generous, been so supportive,
and been so this and that and the other. Why? Let me give you several reasons,
okay? Why do believers go through so
much trouble? Like Job, you know, Job, the
story of Job. It's the oldest story in the
Bible. Job was an upright man, astute evil. There was none like
him in the earth. The world wasn't worthy of Job.
He was a salt of the earth. A righteous man, upright. But he went through every trouble
known to man. as an illustration of God's plan. Why? Number one, God sends these
troubles to keep us from forgetting God. Now you tell me, if everything
was going just fine, would you call on God? But you
cry unto God, you know you never really cry unto God until you're
really in trouble. I'm telling you from experience
and you know it so know it. Psalm 107, I was going to have
you turn, says it four times, it said he brought their souls
down, he said they were at their wits end, he said they thought
they were all going to die, he said they despaired of their
lives. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, four times.
That's when they cried unto the Lord and he saved them out of
all their troubles. To keep us from forgetting God. To keep us calling on the Lord.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Everything
just right, we don't call on Him, Lord. We're taken up with
these things. Everything's fine. And we come
and we give lip service. Why do we go through so much
trouble? To keep us humble. Prosperity equals pride. Prosperity brings pride. Look
at what all I've done. There's nobody immune from this. I worked hard for this. Look at what all I've done. You
ain't done nothing. We haven't done nothing. What
do we have we have not received? Huh? What do we have we have
not received from the Lord? And why would we ever glory in
anything? What we know, what we've done,
what we've accumulated, the house we live in, the car we drive,
the job we have, the children we've born. All grace. Job was the greatest man on earth.
The greatest man on earth. He had it all. What happened
to him? Huh? If you know the story of
Job, he got lifted up with pride. He got lifted up with self-righteousness. That's why the Lord sent it up
to him. And he had nothing. But now in
the beginning, when Job, when the Lord sent all these troubles,
here's what Job said. He said, naked I came from my
mother's womb. I came into this world with nothing.
And he said, it's certain I'm going out naked. He said, the Lord gave everything. And bless God, He took it away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. Now this man's testifying of
God. Now this man's bearing a good
witness. Now he is. He told people of
God when he was wealthy. He told people of God when he
was healthy. He talked about God to people when everything
was fine and prosperity. But now you can believe him. Everybody says they believe in
God and everything's going well. Everybody. In fact, false religion
says that's why everything's going well, because they have
such faith. That's what Osteen and all of them tell people.
Because they have so much faith, nothing bad can happen to you.
The opposite is true. See, this keeps us from pride. Troubles keep us from
pride. When you're down and out, destitute,
you've taken a great fall, Loss, when you know, when you finally
realize, hey, I'm wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Call on the Lord. Keeps us from
loving the world. Troubles keep you from loving
the world. Keep you from loving the world.
Keep us longing for our true home. Keep you longing for your
true home. We have here no continuance,
see? I'm talking to God's people. If you look for a city whose
builder and maker is God, whose foundation is Christ the Lord,
that's where you really want to be. He's not going to let
you stay happy here. He'll send you trouble so you
won't fall in love with this world. There's some things about
this world I like. I'm trying to quit saying I love
this and love that. But he sends trouble so we won't
fall in love with this world. Either love with the world or
the things of the world. The love of God's not in him.
That's how serious it is. Keep us, you know, when Moses,
remember Moses, he was in Egypt, he was the next in line, Pharaoh. But God chose old Moses, didn't
he? And made him revealed himself
to you, and took him out of Egypt, and gave him a heart, and a desire,
and a will, and a longing, and a love to be with God's people,
which is far better, he said. I'd rather be, he said, I'd rather
suffer affliction with the people of God than the treasures of
Egypt, the pleasures of Egypt, for a season. I'd rather walk
with God's people through the wilderness, suffering affliction,
than to sit on the throne of Egypt with all its finery. And
you know what God showed him? He showed him, see Moses, you
didn't give up a thing. As he saw Egypt start crumbling,
he saw Egypt crumbling, and he said, thank you Lord for bringing
me out. Thank you Lord for revealing
to me that all that's wood, hay and stubble. And he had a rock
following him. Thank you. Keep us longing for
our true home. Keep us looking to the Lord.
If you see that Egypt's in trouble, you won't look to Egypt. You
won't look to Pharaoh. If you see this country is in
trouble, if you see this country for the frail, fickle, finite,
foolish people and land that it is in the hands of a sovereign
God, you won't trust its government. You won't look to its leaders.
You won't look to its ruler. You'll look to the Lord. Because
this place is coming down. That's a fact. They all have.
Kingdoms come and kingdoms go. But people, you're a part of
a real kingdom, where a real king reigns. Let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God? You believe
in God. When he said there, you believe
in God, he's not asking... there wasn't a question mark
there. He said, you believe in God. Why? Because he revealed
the Father to him. He came to reveal the Father.
He said, you believe in God. Simon Peter believed in fishing.
Before that, he believed in himself. I can whip anybody. I can do
anything. But God... sent Christ to reveal
the Father to him, to show him you can't do anything without
me. Everything you had, I gave it to you. But though this world
with devil's fill should threaten to undo you, Simon Peter, I'm
yours and you're mine. I'm your king. I own you. You look to me. Let not your
heart be troubled. Keep us, he sends troubles to
keep us thinking on each other. If we didn't have any troubles,
we couldn't enter into the troubles that other people are going through.
Couldn't. But Simon Peter wrote this, brethren, the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren throughout the world. They all
go through the same trouble, to one degree or another, all
go through the same. God's people go through trouble.
And to keep us witnessing and testifying to the world that
our God reigns, They came to Job, remember, and said, something's
wrong here. You couldn't be going through
this and be one of God's people. That's what they said. You couldn't,
you must be doing something bad wrong. You can't be, this wouldn't
happen. God doesn't do this to you. Yes,
he does do. Why? As a testimony. And this
is the greatest verse Greatest testimony of any child of God
written in the Scripture. This is it, right here. When
Job said, though He slay me, I will trust Him. Job's God is God. Job's profession
is real. Real. So he said, you must, through
much tribulation, let not your heart be troubled. He said, you
shall have trouble. You shall have trouble. But now
look at it. Look at it in our text. Let not
your heart be troubled. This is not advice. This is not
good counsel. This is a command. Stay with
me. Stay with me, because we all
are trouble. Every believer, these disciples
were full of trouble. They were distraught. They were
full of doubts and fears, despair. They were almost at the point
of despair. Depression would have set in. Anxiety. They were full of anxiousness.
Worry. Wars. The Lord had told them
all this bad news, but He said, now let not your heart be troubled.
This is a command. Don't give way to, don't give
in to, don't... I'm talking to God's people now.
Don't give way to doubt, despair, and depression, because a troubled
heart That is a heart that's constantly always troubled and
not resting, not believing, not having peace. A troubled heart
dishonors God. A troubled heart dishonors our
Lord. It questions His love. It questions
His wisdom. It questions His goodness. It
questions His providence to us. It questions His Word. It questions
His promises. How do you make this up? This
is a fact. I quote it to you, and all that
Job sinned not, and all that he sinned not, nor charged God
foolishly. A troubled heart, a constantly
troubled heart, full of anxiety and despair, questions his love. Now our Lord said to his disciples,
he said, if you being evil, if you then being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, How much more, your
Heavenly Father? Would you give your son a snake
if he asked for bread? And everything the Lord sends
to us, He sent it. And the Scripture said, Romans
8, 28, we know, do we know? That all things, all things work
together. For what? Good! To who? To them that love God
who are called according to His purpose. We love Him. Why? Because
He first loved us. It questions God's love. Why? Why is this happening to me?
Because He loves you. It questions His wisdom. It questions
His wisdom. Does it have to be this way?
If it be, it need be. Or it wouldn't be. Shall not
the judge of the earth do right? It questions His goodness. All
things work together for good. A troubled heart makes us forget
His goodness. A troubled heart constantly makes
us forget all the goodness, all the blessing, all the mercy,
all the grace. It does. It makes us forget. When we forget that, what do
we have we haven't received? Like Job in the beginning, the
Lord gave it and he's taken it away, bless his name. Now, his
eyes were full of tears, his heart was troubled and broken
with grief and sorrow of his children, yet he could say with
joy and rejoicing in his heart, The Lord gave and the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be His name. He gave
it all to me and He saw fit in His goodness, in His wisdom that
I don't understand, but He did it and blessed be the name of
the Lord. And that, He didn't sin there.
And then His heart began to be troubled after that. He began
to curse the day He was born. He began to question God's providence. He even ordered His case against
God. You remember that? Our Lord said, don't do this.
Don't let your heart be troubled. A troubled heart, constantly
troubled heart, makes us forget that we have far more than we
deserve. Paul, who went through affliction
after affliction after affliction, he named them. Finally he named
them. He said, okay, I'm going to tell
you about my affliction. Because I hear everybody complaining.
And he went on to tell all those. And here's what he said, he said,
our light afflictions. Our light affliction worketh
for us a far more exceeding and what? Eternal weight of glory. Our light affliction, meaning
our afflictions are much less than our blessing. Our afflictions
are much less than we deserve. Our afflictions are less than
somebody else. The old saying is, it could be
worse. It could be worse. Couldn't it? Every one of us have gotten in
trouble and our hearts troubled and we thought, I can't make
it through this. It could be worse. Compared to His blessings, compared
to His mercy toward us, oh my people, compared to others, Let
not your heart be troubled, he said. It robs the Lord of his
praise that he's due. When we're overly troubled, constantly
troubled, and our hearts are troubled, we won't praise him
like we ought to. We won't give him the thanks
like we ought to. We're murmuring and complaining
and talking about our troubles, and we're not giving him the
blessing that we ought to, like Job did. It robs God of His praise. It robs us of our joy. A troubled
heart will rob us of our joy and our rejoicing. We dwell on
your troubles. If we dwell on and talk about
our troubles, we're not talking about a blessing, are we? If
we dwell on the bad, we're not talking about the good. If we're
dwelling on what's bad in the world, we'll start talking about
the world. Like the world. That's all the
world is talking about. It's the world. Look how bad
things are. Let not your heart be troubled.
Let your heart be filled with praise and honor and glory. Look
how good the Lord is to us. Huh? It robs us of our joy. It robs us of our witness, our
testimony. Our Lord, this is a command.
Don't give in to this. Here's the cure. Go back to Psalm
42 quickly and I'll close with it. I will close right after this.
But Psalm 42. Look at this. Here's the cure. David got downcast,
didn't he? All the time. David. David. Man, after God's heart, his heart
began to be troubled. And here's what he said. He poured
out his heart. He poured out his soul, verse
4, in him. He said, I went with a multitude.
I went into the house of God. Here's the cure for trouble.
What we're doing right now. What you're hearing right now.
with the voice of joy and praise with the multitude. And here's
what I concluded. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me,
O my heart? Hope thou in God. You believe
in God? Yes, we do, don't we? God reigns. Thy God reigneth. Christ that
believeth in me. I am God. Christ reigneth. Oh,
my, look down at verse 8. Verse 7, Deep calleth unto deep
at the noise of thy waterspout. This is talking about trouble.
I have to trouble all thy waves, and thy billows are gone over
me, yet the Lord will command. The Lord
who commanded the stormy wind and the waves to blow that I
might call on Him will command His lovingkindness in the daytime. In the night His song will be
with My prayer will be unto the God of my life. Oh, but I'll
say unto God, you're my rod, but why have you forgotten me?
Forgotten you? We're talking like a fool, aren't
we? God, you've forgotten me. Talking like a foolish person.
Talking like an unbeliever. The disciples did that, didn't
they? He was asleep during that storm. And they came, don't you
care? We're going to perish. Don't you care? Talking like
a spoiled child, aren't you? Like an unbelieving child, aren't
you? Don't you care? He came from heaven because he
cared. So David says, talks about the
reproach. Go back and read this for yourself,
for your comfort. And he concluded by saying, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God. I will yet praise him. See, he's
the health. of my countenance, countenance, my God, and lift
up the spirit. Go back to our text. And our
Lord said this, let not your heart be troubled. You believe
in God. Believe also in me. I am God,
he 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. He said, whosoever,
whosoever, He that believeth on them. Many mansions. That
means room. People that, we're not going
to have houses there. You understand that? We don't
need them. Not going to be the sun. Don't need it. Adam and
Eve didn't, did they? And it's going to be far more
glorious than that. But the word means of many places, mansions
being room, right? glorious riches, unsearchable
riches in my many. In other words, if I receive you, it's not going
to fill up heaven. You want any? Come on. Anybody. Many. If it were not
so, I would have told you. I would have told you. I go,
he said, to prepare a place for you. Who's he talking to? Who
are these fellas? John, and Simon Peter, and Doubting
Thomas, and Philip, and sinners, Matthew, the publican. I go to
prepare a place for you. He's going to Calvary. He's going
to the Father. He said, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also in
my Father's house. Do you think of your Father's
house as a place of comfort, a place of security, your Father's
house? He said, in my Father's house
are many, many rooms, this room for whosoever to come to me. Let not your heart be troubled.
Do you believe in God? I know you do. I gave you that
path. Believe in me. In this world you shall have
trouble because God sent it. It's for your good, for His glory,
that you might seek your all and me, and you're all looking
for another place. And he said, I'm going to come
and take you there. I want to see you smiling. If you're not,
if you're troubled, you're countless. If you're not troubled, if you
build good cheer, hey, you mean to tell me that God sent all
this It's for my good, because he loves me. It means I'm one
of his children. I'm one of his elect, and he's
coming back for me. Is that what you're saying? That's exactly what he was saying.
So don't be troubled. Don't give way to this. Rejoice. Rejoice. And again, I say, rejoice
in the Lord. Okay. John, you come.