Oh, for a living flame, we've
sung. Oh, for a living flame from his
altar. That's Isaiah 6, where the Lord
took a coal from the altar and laid it on Isaiah's lips. It says, You're iniquity's burden.
And then he had something to say to it. Oh, for a living flame
from a coal from the altar upon my lips and upon your ears, heart,
John 14, this begins, it actually is a bad place for a
chapter. Chapters were added by men later
on, but it says, let not your heart be troubled. The Lord had
said some things to them that troubled them greatly. Go back
to chapter 13. Verse 10, he said, you're not
all clean. He said, neither is washed, neither
is not saved to wash his feet. He's clean everywhere, and you're
clean, but not all. And then he said, someone is
going to betray me. Verse 21, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, one of you, there were just 12 of them, one of you will betray me, sell
me, sell out. And all of them, In another place,
all of them said, Lord, is it me? Is it I? Is it I? That worried
them, greatly troubled them. And then when Judas left, verse
33, the Lord began here saying, He began to comfort them. Little
children. Little children. Yet a little while I am with
you. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither
I go, ye cannot come. So now I say to you." He's telling
them that he's leaving, and this troubled them more than anything. Our Lord was their everything. They had left everything and
everyone for him. He knew that. And he had become
their everything, their father, their mother, their brother,
their husband, their provider, their lord, their teacher, their
master, their protector, their provider, their everything. They
depended on him completely. They had become like little children. And he says, I'm leaving. He
already told them why. He'd been telling them all along
where he was going, and they didn't want to hear it. Don't
want to hear that, that's bad news. And they didn't want to
hear it. And he said, you can't come where
I'm going, you cannot come. And he said in verse 34, a new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. He
gave them many commandments. He magnified the law in the Sermon
on the Mount. Told, you've heard it said by
them of old time, thou shalt not, well I say unto you. And
he gave them many, many commandments. He said, if you know these things,
happy are you if you do. Many commandments. But here he
said, this is a new commandment. He said that you love one another
as I have loved you, but you also love one another. You love
one another the way I love you. He's telling them and he's telling
us. He's talking to his disciples, believers. You need one another. I'm leaving. You need one another. You need
to gather together. You need to love one another.
You're going to have the same doubts and fears and worries
and troubles. All of you are going to go through
it when I leave. And you love one another as I have loved you.
He said that in chapter 15. Again, look at that. Chapter
15, verse 9. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Oh, my. Get a hold of that. As God loves
his Son, Christ loves his children. Continue in my love, that is,
keep yourselves under the sound of this gospel of my love. If
you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, even as I've
kept my father's commandment and abide in his love. These
things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you
and that your joy might be fulfilled. Who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, despised the shame, and the joy pleased the
Lord. to come and live and die for
us, His people. You'll have my joy. Read on. He said, This is my
commandment, that you love one another. 1512. You love one another
as I have loved you. Greater love. And this is the
greatest display of it. Lay down your life for Him. All right, back to chapter 13.
Now, the Lord said, this is my commandment. You love one another.
Sacrificially. He left everything. He gave everything. Unconditionally. They didn't
love him like he loved them. This is not good advice. This
is his commandment. With long suffering. Long suffering. Patience. Compassion. Not thinking of himself. But
thinking of them, thinking of the loved one. By this, he said
in verse 35, shall all know that you are my disciples. This is
how, because it's such, it's such a natural love to love people that are not your flesh
and blood family. Love them as you do yourself. That's how they'll know. And
now John said this, this is how you know. We know we've passed
on from death unto life. We love brethren to further accompany
over our own flesh and blood. If you have loved one another.
That's what the Lord did. He left heaven to come to those
he loved. He loved one another. And that troubled him. And that
troubles me. I do love, and I do believe,
but help my unbelief. Thank God I believe I do love
the brethren. Oh boy, I've got a long way to go in loving them
like he did. That troubles me. A lot, he said,
troubles me. Then, Peter said, Peter's really
getting worried now. Verse 36, Simon Peter said, Lord,
whither goest thou? Where are you going? Well, if
he'd have listened. But he's a little child. And
the Lord answered him, Whither I go thou canst not follow me
now, that thou shalt follow me. Take heart from that, Simon.
You can't go with me now, but you will. This sounds like a little child,
isn't it? Why can't I go? Why, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I want to go. Now, don't leave
me. That's what he's saying. Don't
leave us. And then he said this, I will
lay down my life for thy sake. And Peter meant that. He meant
that. The Lord loved him for that.
You know what? He did lay down his life. He
sure did. Later on. The Lord answered him
and said, Peter, Simon, wilt thou lay down thy life for my
sake? Simon should have said, by God's grace, the Lord willing,
I won't leave you or forsake you. The Lord willing, By God's
grace, I'll lay down my life." But he didn't. He didn't say
that. The Lord said, Will you? Will you do what you will? Will
you lay down thy life for my sake? No, you won't. I will. But you won't unless God makes
you willing. And he said this, verily, verily,
truly, truly, I say unto thee, and what he says to Simon Peter,
he says to every one of his disciples this morning, before the cock
crow, before the morning lights, you'll be dying May 3rd time.
You'll act like and you'll talk like you don't know me. Anybody? before this day is through and
before the sun comes up in the morning, we will act like and
talk like in such a way that you'd never know we were believers.
We'll deny it. Our attitudes are everything.
We're honest. But by the grace of God, that
is. Do you know how this troubled
Simon Peter? They all said that. Mark's gospel said they all said,
Lord, we won't leave you. They all said that. We'll all
die with you. Lord, none of you will. You're all going to scatter.
You're all going to leave me. And so they all quit talking. And, you know, there's a chapter
here, there must have been a paragraph, a little time. Our Lord spoke carefully. He was slow to speak. Wise men
are slow to speak or let things sink in. A fool is known by... He's going to say all his mind
at once, not the Lord. He's going to let that sink in.
He's going to let that sink down deep in the ears of Simon Peter
and all of them. You're all going to deny me. And that filled them full of
trouble. Simon Peter, you know he's thinking,
well, if I deny him, does that mean I'm lost? How could I deny him? How could
I be one of his disciples and deny him? Huh? He taught my trouble. I'm glad that the Lord wrote
these things. I'm glad that Peter denied the
Lord. I'm glad that he wrote this down.
He wrote all the failures. He wrote all the denials, all
of the doubts, the fears, the worries, the unbelief of his
closest disciples, of his strongest men. The men he chose to go out
and represent him as no other men ever in history were failures
at this thing of faith in themselves. and trust in the Lord. The Lord
wrote down all of their doubts and fears. Thomas, Philip, Simon
denied him. He cussed like a sailor. Just
24 hours later, Peter is cussing like a sailor. And nobody thinks, well, no,
we were mistaken. He's not one of his disciples,
is he? I said, go ahead. That gives
me some hope. And you know that everything the Lord said from
this point on, everything He said from this point on was to
comfort their troubled hearts over their sin, over their unbelief,
over the possibility of them selling Him out, over them denying
Him, over worrying about the future, everything He said from
this point on. This is the greatest sermon ever
preached. Christ preached this to twelve men. Eleven. Eleven
men. And then followed it up with
the greatest prayer, the most comforting prayer that a sinner
could ever hear. And our Lord, you know, Peter
had to deny the Lord. Why? Because the Lord must go
alone. He must. He's got to go to Calvary
alone. Like Abraham told his servants,
you abide here at the foot of the hill. I am the lad that's
going to go yonder and worship. This thing is between God and
the Son. Nobody can go with him. They're
not going to support him in there. The shepherd's got to be smitten
and the sheep got to scatter. And the Lord's got to do this
by himself. By himself. Peter had to deny
Him. Peter had to deny Him and all
of them that they might know the depth of guilt and shame.
Nothing will make us appreciate God's sovereign mercy and love
and grace more than knowing the utter depth of our guilt and
shame and denial of Him and unbelief and lack of love to Him. Nothing. Simon Peter's got to know, got
to go through this, they all have to go through this so they
can glory in the Lord's great love and mercy, even to somebody
who denies Him. And their greatest hope, and
our greatest hope, listen to me, the greatest comfort to our
heart, I'm talking to believers right now, is that if we deny
Him, And we will. If Simon did it
in 24 hours, we're going to do it in three. Our greatest hope
is he cannot deny himself. Gomer was taken off an auction
block of sin, a worthless woman, and Hosea, the Lord, Cleaned
her up and bought her with a price and made her beautiful again.
What did she do? What did she do? She went right
back out and did the same thing. What did Hosea do? Went and brought
her home. Went and brought her home. Oh, these words of comfort. Let
not your heart be troubled. What the Lord told Peter broke
his heart. Heart trouble. That's our greatest
trouble, isn't it? That's real trouble. Heart trouble. Trouble over sin. Trouble over
the sin within. Trouble over worries, doubts
and fears and worries. I know that Peter thought, if I deny him, I can't be a believer. I know they all thought that.
And they all thought to a man. What are we going to do without
Him? He's protected us. He's kept
us all these years. There's no hope for us without
Him. The Lord kept them from all evil,
kept them from danger, kept them from trouble. And if the Lord
leaves us alone for one minute, we're in trouble, aren't we?
We're really in trouble. heart's deeply troubled. Worried,
what are we going to do? What's going to become of us?
The Lord leaves me alone for a minute. What would become of
me? I'll tell you what would become of me. We'd fall into outer darkness,
wouldn't we? Let not your heart be troubled.
He's talking to his disciples. He's talking to the ones he chose.
Talking to the ones he loved. The ones he led. The ones he
fed. The ones he taught. The ones he bought. The ones
that believed Him and only Him. The ones who hung on His every
word. The ones who loved His voice.
The ones who loved His person. The ones who just wanted to follow
Him around like a dog. The ones who just left everything
and everyone to follow Him, esteem Him above all, admired Him, that
He was their all and in all. Their hearts were troubled. That's
who he's talking to. And they're worried about losing
Christ. What are you worried about? What is the thing that
worries you more than anything else that troubles your heart? Is that I might be lost in the
end. After all this, after so long
time with me, I ended up lost. These verses came to mind when
a sister, a lady said to me, she told me she had a dream where
she woke up, woke up in the middle of the night and began to worry,
and things like this came into her mind. Unbelief filled her
mind, her heart. She said, I thought, I sat up
in bed and I thought, There is no God. What if none of this
is true? Has it ever entered your mind?
Be honest. Has it ever crossed your mind?
What if this is not true? What if there's no God? What
if all of this is not in truth? And these verses came to my mind
immediately. Immediately. Look at verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God. Believe also in me. The title of this message is
The Cure for Heart Trouble. The Cure for Doubts and Fear.
Cure for Heart Trouble. That's doubts and fear. The greatest
cure of all for unbelief. What if there is no God? Someone
said, a believer. What if there is no God? How do we know that there is
a God? How do we know that God is? The heavens declare His glory. I've got to be... I'm just telling
you, this is not me at all. This is a gift. Faith is a gift. Rarely, rarely ever does that
thought ever cross my mind that there's no God. I don't, I don't,
I can't remember when it's ever crossed my mind. There's just
no doubt in my, it's not that I just think or believe it. No. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day unto speech. Night
unto night showeth knowledge. What? God is. You'd have to be
an utter blooming fool to say there's no God. You'd have to
be blind, wouldn't you? These things are clearly saying
there's eternal power in God. I rarely think that. Rarely ever
think that. If it does pop up, that's the
devil doing that to me. God is. God is. But I tell you what, though,
I have trouble, and it troubles my heart when I start doubting,
when I take a good look at myself, good, honest look at myself and
realize that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And even after all these years,
I'm so full of unbelief and so full of sin, and I begin to doubt
and I begin to fear that God is merciful, like he says here,
that God is gracious, that God's word says I'll never leave them. Those are the doubts and fears
that I have. You believe in God. He's not
asking them. He's telling them, you believe
in God. And I do. You do, Stan. I know you do. But why do you? Why do I? There was a time when I didn't. I'm not talking to people who
say, I believe there is a God. I mean believing in God, that
God is holy and sovereign and just and everything, wisdom from
above. To believe in God, to believe Everything he says is right,
and everything man says is wrong. That's to believe in God. To
believe in God, to believe God, is to believe that God reigns
and rules among the armies of heaven, the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, You can't
do that. That God reigns and rules. That
God is God. That's to believe in God. Man's
not God. To believe that man is God, you
don't believe in God. To believe that Satan is an equal
with God, you don't believe in God. But that's not salvation. Not all of it. This is life eternal,
our Lord said, to believe in Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. God's too holy. God's too
just. God dwelleth in light that no
man can approach unto. God is too pure eyes to look
upon or look to. God, the sun doesn't shine. The
angel charges the angels with following. God was manifesting
today. God became a man. You believe
in God. No man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. No man has seen God at any time,
neither can see him. God is spirit. No man knoweth
the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." And we
know God through Jesus Christ. It's on the web. Anybody on the
top side of God's earth who claims to believe in God, but doesn't
believe Jesus Christ, doesn't believe in God. He doesn't know
God. He's going to face God someday and realize that they don't know
him. Because they want to face Jesus
Christ. He's the only God any human being
will ever see or deal with. The only one who deals with human
beings is the Son of God. That's why he was made flesh.
You believe in God, and I do believe also in me. People, this
is the greatest declaration of who He is in the Bible. What man would possibly say,
do you believe in God? Yes, I do. Well, then believe
me. That's blasphemy. If you believe God, then you
need to believe me. What he's saying here, and he
went on to say, and look at verse 10. Now in verse 10, Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Quote that
to these Russellites, Jehovah Witnesses they call them. Do
you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words I speak unto you, it's
God's Word. God's Word. There's no greater
declaration of who He is, God, in the flesh, and no greater
cure for our troubles, our doubts, and our fears and our worries
than this. What's God like? What is God
like? Jesus Christ. Is God merciful? Will God receive sinners? Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all
of you. Whosoever... There's a woman just in the depths
of sin and depravity, Mary Magdalene. You mean me? Start with you. You get the front row seat to
his dying breath, the worst man on the planet, hanging on a cross. One word, Lord, you're telling
the glory of his name. Will God receive sinners? My
heart, sin troubles me. Unbelief troubles me. Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God? He's holy
and just and righteous. He's merciful. He's gracious.
He's love. God is love. How do you know?
Jesus Christ. Greater love hath no man than
Him. Believe me, he said in verse
11, believe me. that I am in the Father and the
Father in me. Or else believe me for the very
work's sake. Verse 12, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on me. That's all I can do, people,
is believe on Him. I can't work. I can't quit sinning. Now, all I can do is trust Him,
His Word. How about you? Believe on me. Believe me. Believe
me. I want to. Lord, I believe. Help
my unbelief. But their Lord, and their Savior,
and their God, and their Christ, and their Master, and their Father,
and their Brother, and their Husband, their Lamb, their Righteousness,
their All, and their In-All, their Wisdom, they believe Him. Trust Him. He said, I'm leaving.
I'm leaving. And He went on through these
chapters. He said, I will not leave you comfort. I'm going
to leave the comforter. He's going to abide with you
forever. The Spirit of truth. He's going to take the things
of mind. This is the cure for trouble. This is the cure for
heart trouble. This is the cure for doubts and
fears and worries and unbelief. You just believe me. Trust me.
Look at verse 2. 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. Who? He didn't call anybody's
name here. Simon Peter at that time was
thinking, I must be lost. I'm going to deny him. When he
did, he did think he was lost in it. When Simon finally did
deny him, he went out and wept bitterly. And the Lord sent that
blessed angel, and the first person He said to call him back
was, tell Peter! Not Simon, Peter! What, me? You kidding? You didn't believe, did you?
All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me. Have you
come to Christ? You've been called, you've come to Christ, you believe
Him, you trust Him, you look to Him and Him alone. Huh? You
see, all your hope, all your salvation, all that the Father
giveth me shall come unto me. And Him that cometh to me, The woman caught in the axe.
Caught in the axe. Woman, thy sins be forgiven thee. I don't accuse you. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast. Believe me. Believe me. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe me. Believe me. In my Father's house
are many mansions. Now, there are no mansions, literal
mansions, houses. Boy, we need a house, a building
for it. We're going to dwell in one not
made with hands. Adam didn't have a house, and
we won't either. The heavens will be our ceiling.
There's not going to be any literal He said, in my father's house,
we live in him, or where he abides, his abiding place. It's figurative
language. In my father's house are many
mansions. We're all going to live in huge,
built... No, no, no, no. In my Father's
house are many rooms. Or that is, there's ample room. It says mansion, because what
do you think of a mansion? You think of a large place. You know, the Scripture says
we're going to have an abundant entrance. An abundant entrance. Room. You reckon there's room
for me? I want to go and be with the Lord. You reckon there's
room for me? Room? If it were not so. You're not going to get in by
the skin of your teeth. You'll get in by the blood of Christ.
And it's not going to be barely making it. The heavens are going
to erupt, and Christ himself. Peter's not going to meet us
at the pearly gates. That's an old wise thing. Christ
is going to meet us in the heavens with all the people of God. Skin of your teeth. It's like
they were expecting us. Who? The thief. Who? Mary. Who? Saul of Tarsus. We were talking about Saul of
Tarsus the other day. Nobody, Paul, nobody felt his hand more
than Saul. He stood there while they were
beating Stephen's brains out. And he said, hit him harder. Kill him. And he'd done that
for years. It's like me going and dragging
Stan into prison and watching him kill him. All these brothers. And Paul thought, I'm less than
the least. I'm not fit to be called a disciple. I persecuted
the church. Oh man, but this is a faith insane
and worthy of all acceptation. And Paul said, this is my hope
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save cells. I'm the chief. I'm the chief.
I'm the worst. That's what he came for. And if it were not so, He would
have told you. If righteousness had come by
the law, He would have told you. What does He keep telling us,
John, throughout the Scripture? It's by works, no, that's just
it. How is it? How are we saved?
Grace. Much room. There's much room.
Much room. And Mary Magdalene, we're here
right now, she'd tell us all, sinners, if He took me, He'll
sure take you. You really don't have anything
to worry about. I go to prepare a place for you.
I go to the cross. They didn't understand this,
and we don't really either. I go to the cross to suffer the eternal
hell that's due to your sin. I go to the cross so that you
might go to the Father. I go to the cross to be made
sin for you, who knew no sin, that you might be made the righteousness
of God in me. I go to the cross as a substitute
under the wrath of God. I'm the sin sacrifier. I'm the
burnt offering. I'm the lamb. I'm going to the
cross. to prepare a place for you. You're not doing it. We're
not doing it together. I'm going to do it. I'm going
to prepare a place for you, a reservation for you. And if I do that, did
he do it? Yes, he did. And if I go, he
said in verse 3, I will come again. I will come again and
receive you unto myself. That where I am, you may be also. Where is he? He's in heaven. What is heaven? It's where he
is. Brother Joe Terrell's article,
did you get time to read it yet this morning? Read it. Excellent. Excellent. He said the person,
what they think about heaven reveals the state of their heart.
And I'll paraphrase it. He said, if heaven is just a
continuation of this down here, you're not going to be there.
If heaven, you look forward to this and that and the other.
But if Christ, heaven is where Christ is. If you're looking for a big mansion,
you're not going to be there. If you're looking for Him, you're
going to be there. that where I am, said, Father,
I will that they be with me where I am like a husband and wife. And there's sure nothing wrong
with wanting to be with those you love. Oh, my. Oh, my. Yes, we do. But what's going
to make heaven heaven is there's no relationships other than in
Christ. But what's going to make heaven
heaven is Christ is there. And what makes this a little
taste of heaven is the same thing. Most people can't abide just
hearing Christ pray. What about you? This is a forte. They want to
be with Him. They want to hear about Him.
They want to see His glory. Well, I've got to quit. But Thomas
said unto him, and the Lord said, you know, the way you know, and
where I go you know, and the way you know. Well, Thomas, Lord,
we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? And
our Lord said these glorious words, I am the way. You see, if you believe Christ,
if you really do trust Christ, you're already there. You're
already there. If you're in Christ, that means
you're in Christ. You're in Him. And you can't get out of it.
You're shut in. Like Moses, shut up, shut in
to faith. Shut up. The Lord shut him in.
It just remains that you fall asleep and wake up in glory. Of which we can't not say much
about. I am the way. It's not a way. You try this. He is the way. You don't get there. He prepared
me. He did. I am the way. I have
made myself your way. I put you in me by faith. I am
the way. I am the truth. Ask anything.
He's the truth of the matter. The life? He that hath the Son
hath life. Hath what? Love for the Son?
Faith in the Son? Trust in the Son? Knowledge of
the Son? I believe I do. He hath life. Now, Philip, show us the Father
and so on and so forth. And our Lord said this for us
and for them. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. If you know me, you know God.
Everything I say, everything I've done, all the works I've
done, works of amazing work. All the words He spoke, God. What if there is no God? That's
not possible. No, it can't be. You know why?
Because of Christ. Because of Christ. And they couldn't kill him. They
couldn't kill him. He couldn't drown. He'd walk
on the water. And the words and the works,
everything, this is, I can't get it across to myself. I don't
know what I'm trying to say. If you believe what he said,
you believe in God, you believe in God. I'm he. I'm him. You don't need to worry. Let not your heart be troubled. You're troubled over so much.
And you know, when he said this, the Lord was going to the cross.
He was going to the cross. He was going to go through troubles.
He said, now is my sole trouble. He's going to go and be separated
from the Father. He's going to go through agony
beyond anything we've ever been through. He's the one that's
getting ready to endure, go to a place that we'll never have
to go. And yet, He's comforted us. Let not your heart be troubled. Because I'm doing this, you see.
This can't happen to you. This can't happen to you. Because
I'm going to do this for you. Don't be troubled. Okay. Brother
John, come and lead us in it. 199. 199. Christ receiveth sinful
men. 199.