If you would, go to John tonight,
chapter 14 once again. John chapter 14. I was reading
this great chapter over again, as I've done several times, but
it just overflows with the tenderness and the great compassion of our
Savior for His beloved people. He is full of sympathy for us. And that's evident in this passage
of Scripture, the way he treated his disciples here. Now you'll
notice, and I'll just remind you of this, that Judas isn't
with them anymore. He left back toward the end of
chapter 13. And after he left, Then it was
that our Savior really began to speak encouraging words to
his disciples. He says this in verse 1, if I
may refresh your memory just a bit, John chapter 14, verse
1. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. That's not hearts, but heart. First of all, he's speaking to
Simon Peter. because we know the chapter division
wasn't there originally. And the last words of chapter
13 were to Simon Peter concerning Simon Peter. And the first words
then of chapter 14 also, I believe, directly point to Simon Peter. But there's another thing here. It's only after Judas is gone
that He gives these words and He speaks of these men as though
they were all of one heart. One heart. Do you remember in
the book of Jeremiah, the Lord in His new covenant promise,
He says, I'll give them one heart. That's what He said, wasn't it?
I'll give them one heart. One heart. In Ezekiel 11, 19, he said the
same thing. And in Acts chapter four, we
read that those, the multitude that believed were of one heart. In other words, there's a unity
here. There wasn't unity while Judas
was there. That's a mixed group. They weren't
of one heart. He didn't love Christ Jesus.
He didn't believe the Redeemer. He's looking to the blessed.
He's not looking to the blessed Savior like the other eleven
men were. So our Lord Jesus, He never says
one heart. Let your heart, let not your
heart be troubled. He doesn't speak that language
until after Judas is gone. And now the only ones who are
there are those who believe Him. Those who rest in Him. Those
who look to Him for full salvation. There's a blessed oneness among
the people of God. There's a wonderful unity that
we have. You remember reading, and I'm
sure you do, in Ephesians chapter 4, it talks about several ones. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
but the first one is one body. We're one body. And you know
what? Your body has one heart. Even so, the people of God, the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have one heart that beats
for His glory. We've been made alive. He's given
us a new heart to know Him. and to believe Him. And this
is the life that we all have in Christ Jesus. And so He speaks
to these men and He says, let not your heart be troubled. By the way, the word your is
plural. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. These men, they were experiencing
grief unlike anything they had experienced before. One of them,
the Savior said, is going to betray me. He said, one of you
is going to deny me. But more than anything, He said,
I'm going away. And He repeated this, I go, I
go, I go. Where are you going? Well, I'm
going to die. I'm going to give my life a ransom
for you. And then I go to the father.
I go. That broke their hearts. That
tore them up. They couldn't get over that.
These other things, they were bad enough. They were tough enough
to handle. One of you is going to betray
me. They see Judas leave, they don't know what he's going to
do. And then he specifically says, one of you is going to
deny me. That's Simon Peter. But he kept on saying, I go. Very troubling to these men.
They experienced a sorrow unlike anything they'd ever felt before.
They were greatly troubled and they needed encouragement. They
needed compassion. I'll tell you, they needed a
tender-hearted Savior. And that's who the Lord Jesus
is. And He spoke to them. He spoke to them in a way that
nobody else could. And He used just exactly the
right words When we go to somebody, we speak to somebody who's having
troubles, difficulties, trial, grief, disease, sickness, whatever
it is, we hunt for words to say. What shall I say? And even before
you see the person, you say, Lord, let me say just the right
thing. And I speak for myself here because
I make pastoral visits and lots of times I leave and I think
I wish I had said something else or elaborated on this because
I'm always kind of second guessing myself. But I'll tell you the
Lord Jesus, He knew exactly what to say to these men. He knew
the specific words they needed that would give them some great
encouragement in their hearts. The scripture says, here's a
wonderful verse, you can jot it down and read it later if
you want to, Proverbs 15, 23. A man hath joy by the answer
of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is. Words spoken in due season, how
good it is. And our Lord Jesus, He spoke
these words in due season. And He was joyful to speak them. Don't you know he was delighted
that he could speak to these men, these men who had the love
of God shatter brought in their hearts by the Spirit of grace. He was delighted to speak to
them words that would fill them with cheer. And he was glad to see them encouraged. I just read all things are naked
and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." And
He looked deep within them. He saw right into their hearts,
right into their souls, right into their minds. He saw how
disturbed they were. He saw how anxious they were. He saw how worried they were. And we know that worry and murmuring
and doubt and fears, all of these things are wrong, but that's
the way we are. And he knew these men. He saw
these men and knew exactly what they needed to hear. And he spoke
those words in due season, in due season. No wonder it said in Luke 4 and
22, and all bear him witness and wondered, they wondered at
the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. My, what gracious
words came out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. You go
through the gospel narratives, go through Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, and just listen to him speak to people. Not to the
self-righteous Pharisees. He didn't have anything kind
to say to them, but listen to him speak to people like the
woman of Canaan. She said, have mercy upon me,
O Lord, son of David. My daughter's grievously vexed
with the devil. And he didn't answer her a word.
And the disciple said, so evidently she had been kind of saying,
I need to speak to the Savior. My daughter's grievously vexed
with the devil. And the disciple said, would
you send her away? She's bothering us. And he said, I'm not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then she came
and worshipped him. She said, Lord, help me. But he answered her, it's not
meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. She said,
truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from
the master's table. Then Jesus said unto her, O woman,
great is thy faith. Be unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole.
From that very hour, he says this, you have what you asked
for. Your daughter is healed. Don't you love those words comforted
her? She just, she just, she had worshipped him. She knew
he had the powers. He had the authority over demons. And she got words of comfort
from him. Our Lord speaks soothing words
to those who are brokenhearted over sin. Like the woman caught
in adultery. The Pharisees said, Master, this
woman was brought in adultery. They put this woman in front
of Him. In the very act, they said. They
said, now Moses in the law commanded us She should be stoned. What do you say? This they said,
trying to tempt him, trying to test him. But he stooped down
on the ground and he wrote something on the ground. Acted like he
didn't even hear them. So they continued to ask him
and he lifted up himself and he said, now he that is without
sin, Let him cast the first stone at her. Then he stooped down
again. He wrote on the ground. The scripture
says that they which heard what he said, convicted in their conscience,
began to leave one by one, beginning at the oldest down to the youngest. And our Lord Jesus was just left
him the woman. And he stood up and he looked
and he said, woman, where are those thine accusers? She said,
no man, Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Neither do I condemn thee. I
don't condemn you. I don't condemn you. You can't
be condemned. Now, she deserved to be condemned. The law of God condemned her.
Well, how was it that she would not be condemned? Because He
is going to be condemned in her stead. He is going to be judged
in her stead. And when He said those words,
neither do I condemn thee. Boy, those words, you know, they
resounded in her heart. You're the Lord of glory. You don't condemn me. The reason she wasn't condemned
was because He would die the death of all deaths and save
her from her sins. Our Lord was invited to a meal
at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. And a woman, the scripture
says, who was a sinner, she brought an alabaster box full of ointment. She stood at his feet behind
the Savior. He was kind of reclined, leaning
toward the table with his feet out away from the table. She
stood back behind him and she began to weep. She washed then his feet with
her tears wiped him with the hair of her head. She kissed
his feet and anointed his feet with ointment. Simon the Pharisee
watched in amazement. He thought to himself, if he's
really a prophet, he'd know what kind of woman this is that's
touching him, for she's a sinner. The Lord Jesus said, Simon, I
have something to say to you. Simon said, well, say on. Tell
me what's on your mind. He said a creditor had two debtors. One of them owed him 500 pence. The other owed him 50 pence.
The creditor forgave them both. Which do you think loved him
the most? Self-righteous Pharisee said,
well, I suppose he to whom he forgave the most. And he said
to him, you've rightly judged. Do you see this woman? I came
to your house, you didn't wash my feet. But she has. She washed my feet with her tears
and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss,
She just keeps on kissing my feet. You didn't anoint my head
with oil, but she's anointed my feet. Wherefore I say unto
thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much,
but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And then
he said to her, what I hope he says to you, And what I believe
he said to me, thy sins are forgiven. What sweet words. I tell you
this, our Lord Jesus is full of sympathy. He's full of compassion. He is very tender hearted toward
his people. Thy sins are forgiven. He was
thrilled to speak those words to her. Those were words in season. And don't you find as you read
the Word of God in your own Christian life, as you open up what thus
saith the Lord, and you read, He gives you something out of
His Word and you can say, it's in season. It's just when I needed
it. It's just what I needed. I just
needed that Lord. I'm sure some of you know the
song, Just When I Need Him Most. Just when I need him most, just
when I need him, Jesus is near. Just when I falter, just when
I fear. Ready to help me, ready to cheer,
just when I need him most. Just when I need him, Jesus is
true. never forsaking me all the day
through. Giving for burdens, pleasures
anew, just when I need him most. Just when I need him, Jesus is
strong, bearing my burdens all the day long. For all my sorrow,
giving a song, just when I need him most. Just when I need Him,
He is my all. Answering when upon Him I call,
tenderly watching, lest I should fall. Just when I need Him most. The chorus goes, just when I
need Him most, just when I need Him most, Jesus is near to do
what? Comfort and cheer. Just when
I need Him, Don't you find that to be true? I found that to be
true. And these men did here in John
chapter 14. They found that their master,
their savior, their teacher, was a very sympathetic high priest. And he speaks to them, these
heart-cheering words. And I don't have time to go through
every verse of the chapter. But I'll tell you, there's several
things that stand out to me, and I'm just gonna, I'm gonna
cover the whole chapter here just real quickly, just briefly,
in the minutes that are left. Because our Lord Jesus, here's
what he does, he comforts his people. You remember in Isaiah
chapter 40 that the Lord told Isaiah, comfort ye, Comfort ye
my people, saith your God." Well, that's what the Savior does.
That's what the Savior does. And He knows exactly what to
say to these men who have a troubled heart. Here they are in unity. These men who believed Him. These
men who trusted Him. And they acknowledged from the
heart, this is the Son of God. This is the Savior. Now there
was a lot they didn't understand. They thought He was going to
bring in a literal, physical kingdom, and He wasn't going
to do that. And they didn't understand Him going away. And much of this
they didn't understand until after His resurrection, until
after the Holy Spirit came and gave them further instruction.
But they did believe this. This is Messiah. This is the
Son of the Living God. This is the Savior. This is the
Redeemer. Here He is. And they hung on
every word like we ought to do. And the reason we don't have
the comfort that we ought to have, the reason we're not encouraged
like we ought to be encouraged, is because we don't hang on His
every word. Because it's His Word by the
Spirit of God applying it to our hearts. That's what comforts
us. The Word of God. First of all,
He spoke of preparing a place for them. Well, how would He
do that? By His death. By His work of
redemption. He would prepare a place for
them. Oh, what encouraging words these are. You and I who drink
iniquity like water, our Lord Jesus went to the cross of Calvary
to prepare for us a place of acceptance with the Father in
glory. He's gone to prepare heaven for
the disciples. That's what He's saying. I've
gone to prepare a place for you. He said, if it weren't so, I
wouldn't have told you. I go. Don't be troubled that
I'm going. I'm going for your good. I'm
going to save you. I'm going to redeem you. I'm
going to reconcile you to God. I'm going and then I'm going
back to the Father and I'll send the Holy Spirit and he'll teach
you all things as we shall see later in the Gospel of John. These are encouraging words.
He spoke of preparing a place for them. Number two, he spoke
of going to the Father's house. going to the Father's house and
then coming back to take all of the Lord's people to be with
Him in the Father's house. I will come again and receive
you, even you, you who doubted, you who had fears, you who have
unbelief. I will receive even you when
I come again. and I'll take you to the Father's
house." This is what happens to a child of God when this earthly
life comes to its end. The Lord sends His Spirit and
His angels. The Lord takes our life, He takes
our soul, and we go back to be with Him. He said, I will come
again and receive you unto Myself. What words of compassion, what
words of encouragement. What happens to a child of God
when he dies, when she dies, what happens? They go to the
father's house. In other words, they go home.
Oh, the sweetness of going home. Where is home? It's where the Father is. Where
is home? It's where our elder brother
is. Where is home? It's where the brethren are.
It's where a massive family, my family members, are gathered
together in glory. He said, I'm going to take you
there. You don't have anything to worry about. You don't have
anything to concern yourself about. I'll lead you through
this life, and then when you come to the hour of death, I'll
just, I'll take you, I'm coming for you, and I'll take you to
the Father's house. Nothing fearful about that. And
then thirdly, he spoke of himself as being the way to God. There
is a way to God, be encouraged. Boy, I tell you, this surely
helps us. There's a way to God. There's
a way to the Father's house, and we're not in the dark as
to what that way is, because the way isn't a what, it's a
who. He's the way. He's the way by
His substitutionary death. How can I get to the Father's
house? That's what I want to know. How
can I get to heaven? How can I get to glory? How can
I get to everlasting bliss? Listen to the Savior. I'm the
way. I'm the way. Fourthly, he encouraged them
by reminding them that in seeing himself, they were seeing the
Father. Here's what he's saying to them. I'm the word made flesh. I've
been tabernacling among you. I'm the glory. I'm the glory. I'm the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. I'm the visible image of the
invisible God. I'm the brightness of His glory.
I am the express image of His person. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in me. Philip said, show us the Father,
we'll be satisfied. Philip, have I been with you
so long, these three years? Don't you understand? In seeing
me, you've seen the Father. What a union there is between
God the Father and God the Son. Christ was in the Father and
the Father was in Christ. Look down at verse 20, where you're talking about a union.
At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in
me, and I in you. In other words, you can't separate
the Lord's people from the Lord. There can't be a separation here.
He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I'm in the Father,
the Father's in me. I'm in you, and you in me. And we're in him by everlasting
union. Number five, he spoke encouraging
words by saying that these men would do wondrous things. Look
what he says in verse 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, The works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these
shall he do. Not greater in might, but greater
in number. Greater works shall he do. And
here's the reason, don't leave out this last part, because I
go to my father. Not greater in power, but greater
in number. You see, as a result of the death
of the Son of God, the Spirit of grace would be given. And
these men, by the Spirit's might, they would accomplish magnificent
things, marvelous things. 3,000 people are gonna be converted
when the Spirit of God comes on the day of Pentecost. We've
never read of that before. Indeed, he was divine might.
And our Lord Jesus, he saved, he converted lots of people while
he's on this earth, but he said, he said, you're gonna do something
as a result of my death. Don't forget this now. As a result
of my work of redemption. As a result of me going back
to the Father and sending my Spirit, you're going to do some
things that are just going to be unbelievable to the natural
man. And the very first thing was
3,000 people converted. I can't even comprehend 3,000
people being converted at one day. We're absolutely thrilled
when one is. When one person makes a profession
of faith in the Lord Jesus, and that is a miracle in itself,
but what about 3,000 genuine conversions? Nobody browbeat
Him to come to the front. Nobody tried to twist our arms
and talk Him into a profession of faith. This is the work of
the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel of Simon
Peter. And then here's the sixth thing.
He spoke to them about the blessing of prayer. Look at verses 13
and 14. Whatsoever ye ask in my name,
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Whatever ye ask the Father in
my name, In order to accomplish these great things, you'll have
it. God would give them might, God
would give them courage, God would give them boldness to do
the work that lay ahead of them. He's given to us the privilege
of prayer. Isn't it encouraging to know,
isn't it comforting to the heart to know that the Lord hears us
when we pray? And he answers according to his
will. And then, number seven, he told
them that he would pray and the Father would send them another
comforter. Look at verse 16. And I will
pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter. By
the way, there's the Trinity. There's the Son of God praying
to the Father for the gift of the comforter, the Holy Ghost.
And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter
that He may abide with you forever. Who is He? Even the Spirit of
truth. whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But you know him,
for he dwelleth with you, and he shall be in you. I will not, he says in verse
18, leave you comfortless. I will come to you. That word
comfortless means I won't leave you without a father. I won't
leave you as orphans. I'm not one who's going to desert
you and leave you all alone in this world. This is what these
guys are thinking. The Savior said, I go, I go,
I go. And they're thinking, well, we'll
be all by ourselves. He said, you're not going to
be by yourselves. I'm not going to leave you as
orphans. I'm not going to leave you as fatherless. I'm going
to send you another comforter, another like myself, who's divine,
who's full of love toward you. And he'll take the things of
mine and he'll show them unto you. And then lastly, He says
in verses 27 through 31 that He would keep them in peace.
Verse 27, He says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you. And I'll tell you, when He started
saying these words, they had anything but peace. Because they
had what? A troubled heart. That's not
peace. A troubled heart is not art at
peace. But now he says, my peace, peace
I leave with you. My peace I give, I give unto
you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. And so now he repeats his admonition
to them again that he spoke in the first verse. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Am I speaking to one or two of
the Lord's people tonight who have a troubled heart? Well,
don't hear my words, hear his words. Hear his words. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. My peace I give to you. But Jim,
look at all that's going on in this vile world. My peace, he
says, I give to you. How can a child of God be at
peace in a world full of turmoil? How can we be at peace? How can
we be settled? How can we be at ease? How can we be resting and not
fretting, not fretful, not murmuring? How can we be full of faith when
all around us is nothing but wickedness and vileness? Well,
I'll tell you how. He speaks peace to our hearts.
And he tells us this, I rule over all things. I guide all things. And this
world today, It's being governed by our Savior.
I can get some peace through that. I can get some peace. Things may not be the way I'd
like for them to be, but I'm gonna tell you this, they are
the way He has ordained for them to be. And in that, I can find some
comfort. He says in verse 28, You ever
heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you?
If you loved Me, you'd rejoice. Because I said, I go unto My
Father. For My Father is greater than
I. You'd rejoice if you knew what was about to happen. If
you knew where I was going, you'd rejoice. You wouldn't be troubled.
You'd say, He's going to save us. He's going to redeem us. He's going to wash our sins away.
You'd be happy. and rejoice. Well, he says in
verse 29, and now I've told you before it come to pass that when
it is come to pass, you might believe. Hereafter, I will not
talk much with you, or the prince of this world cometh. He's found
nothing in me. He didn't find anything in me
with which to work. But that the world may know that
I love the Father, And as the Father gave me commandment, even
so I do. Arise. Let's go hence. Watch it. Arise, let us go. He didn't say you go. Let us
go. He's with us. He said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. That
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. He's my helper. Well, let's sing a closing song,
shall we? God leads us along.