Let's go back to John chapter
14 now for a little bit this evening. John chapter 14. And here's my subject. Good news to troubled disciples. You know, the disciples had received
some bitter news from the Savior. At least it was bitter. The news
was bitter to their hearts. I think the bitterest thing to
them, though it was that which would benefit them forever, yet
the most bitter thing for them was that he was going away. He said he was going away. He
said he was going to die. That was the greatest blessing
he could give them. But they didn't see it that way.
They didn't have the understanding of all that was involved, all
that was necessary for their redemption, and to them that
was bitter news, that he was going away, he was going to die.
You know, he says here, look at John 14.1, let not your heart
be troubled, don't let your heart be agitated, John 14.1. You believe
in God, believe also in me. 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. 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, and whither I go ye
know, and the way ye know." He kept saying he was going away,
and that hurt them. They ought to have rejoiced. they understood that He was going
to redeem them, He was going to justify them, He was going
to deal with their biggest issue, which was the burden of their
sin, but they saw it as bitter news. Bitter news. Our Lord's been speaking about
His death several times. Back in John chapter 12, and
you don't have to go back to John 12, He said this, except
a corn weed fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. They heard Him say,
now is my soul troubled, what shall I say? Father, save me
from this hour. And as He said words like this,
They must have filled His disciples with dread, with sorrow, with
shock that He was going away. He said earlier, He said, you
had a little while and I'm with you. And you shall seek Me. And as I said unto the Jews,
He said, I also say to you, whether I go, you can't come. I go. And this was indeed a reason
for their sorrow and their anxiety. You see, they dearly loved him.
They did love him. I know John would later write,
we love him because he first loved us. And that's a fact. If we love him, it's because
he first loved us. But this is also a fact. We do
love him. Do you love him? I do love him. In fact, the scripture says,
if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema
maranatha. Let him be damned when our Lord
Jesus comes again. These men loved him and the thought
of him dying, it just, it broke their hearts. The thought that he was going
away and they wouldn't see him again. It filled them with unbearable,
unbearable agony. They must have asked themselves,
how can this be? We thought this was the Messiah.
We thought He would deliver us from Rome's bondage. And we've
forsaken all to follow Him. And now is He going to forsake
us? You see, you've got to look at
this thing through their eyes. Well, we left everything to follow
Him about three years ago. And we thought it'd be a lifetime
of following. But now He says He's going away. He's leaving us. And it just
broke their hearts. and His conduct and His words
during the Passover feast? Boy, that troubled them and confused
them and distressed them. Hold your place here. Go back
to Matthew 26. And of course, this is a passage
we often go to for the Lord's Supper. Let me
read a few verses to you here, Matthew chapter 26. And I want
you to keep this in mind that briefly, John writes of this
Lord's Supper, of this Passover meal, and that's when he said,
one of you is going to betray me, meaning Judas. And so this
is all at the Passover meal. Let me read to you now from Matthew
chapter 26 and verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break it and He gave it to the
disciples. He said, take eat, this is my
body. I wonder what the disciples were
thinking when he said that to them. They're eating and perhaps
they're just about finished the meal, but he did some different
things here. And then he took the cup and he gave thanks. He gave it
to them and he said, drink ye all of it, for this is my blood. of the New Testament, of the
new covenant, the covenant of grace, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink in you with you in my father's kingdom. And then Matthew
writes, and when they had sung in hymn, they went out into the
Mount of Olives. But remember this, what Matthew
doesn't tell us after that, and what Mark doesn't tell us, and
what Luke doesn't tell us, John does tell us. Because you see,
as you go back to John, look back at John chapter 13. You
see, briefly, John mentions this Last Supper, the Lord's Supper. He mentions it briefly to these disciples. Look in John
chapter 13. Well, where shall I begin? Look at verse 23. Now, there
was leaning on Jesus' bosom, John 13, 23. one of his disciples
whom Jesus loved. What is the occasion of this?
Exactly the same occasion I just read to you from the book of
Matthew chapter 26. Okay, so keep that kind of in
your mind. Peter therefore, Simon Peter,
therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be
of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast
said unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, he it is to whom
I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped
the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And
after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said unto
him, either to Satan or to Judas, maybe to both. That thou doest,
do quickly. Now no man at the table, what
table? What table? The Lord's table.
The Lord's table. Just what we read over there
in Matthew chapter 26. No man knew what intent he spake
this of Him. But then Matthew breaks off. And Mark, when he talks about
this supper, he stops as well and goes right to the events
of Friday. And so does Luke. But John doesn't. So if you want to know what happened
after the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper, you go to the
Gospel of John. And here we find chapters 14,
15, and 16, which Matthew doesn't give us any of that information,
Mark doesn't give us any of that information, and Luke doesn't
give any of that information either. But John does. John does. I think we tend to forget that
where Matthew, Mark, and Luke leave off, John picks up. So here we have our Lord's farewell
discourse to his disciples. And these men are very troubled
that he's going away, that he's going to die. Now our Lord knew what was in
these men, just like He knows what's in all of us, right? There's
nothing hidden from Him. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, correct? That's
what the Scripture says. And our Lord looked into their
hearts and He saw that their hearts were troubled. They were
agitated and He knew the biggest thing, the most bitterest thing
to them was that which would be the most glorious thing for
them, that He was going away to die. But He knew that they
were troubled. He knew that they were anxious.
He knew that they were despondent. And the Scripture says He's touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. Listen, He has a light on Him,
Himself. He is about to bear the weight
of all weights. All of the guilt, all of the
sins, all of the transgressions of His people to be imputed to
Him, charged to Him, made to meet on His head. He's already
feeling the burden of what's going to happen. That's why He
said back in John chapter 12, now is my soul troubled. And
what shall I say? Father, deliver me, save me from
this hour? No! That's the reason I came
into the world. For this hour of death. So He
has His own, shall we call it, burden to bear. And these disciples, they couldn't
enter into His feelings. but He could enter into theirs. They couldn't help Him. In fact,
they rendered no words of encouragement to Him. But He rendered words
of encouragement to them. And though He had the salvation
of all of His people dependent upon His obedience unto death,
still His great big heart had room for His people and their
sorrows and their troubles. And I'm telling you, His great
big heart has room for your sorrows and your troubles and your afflictions
as well. Yes, indeed. That's why it says in Isaiah,
in all their afflictions, He was afflicted. No wonder the scripture says
that the Lord anointed him to comfort those who mourn, to bind
up the brokenhearted. And the scripture says in Isaiah
that God has given him, God's given him the tongue of the learned,
that he might speak a word in season to them that were weary. And He still does that. A word
in season. What's that song? Just when I
need Him most, just when I need Him, Jesus is near. Jesus is
near. He comes to comfort me. He comes to cheer me in my hour
of need. So here was the first bitter
news to them that he was going away. And then the second bitter
news was, and I'll be brief on this one and the third one as
well, that he would be betrayed by one who professed to believe
him and love him. And we know that's Judas. But
the other disciples, the disciples didn't know who he was talking
about. And they just looked at one another like, well, who is
it? And they began to say, Lord, is it I? Am I the one? But Judas didn't ask that. He knew. He was the devil. But that troubled them. And thirdly,
he said one of them would deny him and he identified who it
would be. Simon Peter. He would deny them three times.
Bitter news. All of that was bitter news to
the disciples. Just about more than they could
bear. And so our Lord Jesus, as He always does, He has words
of encouragement for His people. Good news. Good news to troubled
disciples. Our Lord gave them Oh, very solid
ground for comfort. He gave them relief for their
heart trouble. He gives them good news. First
of all, the good news is, believe me, believe me. He says in verse one, let not
your heart be troubled. Don't let your heart be agitated,
stirred about. You believe in God? Believe also
in me. He calls them to believe. And
here's the necessity and the blessing of believing the Lord. And by this statement, I think
he means two things. Number one, believe in the Father
and believe in me. That is, believe what the Father
said and believe what I've said. The troubled, agitated, distressed
hearts of the disciples, that was all due to their lack of
faith. Let's just be honest. It was
due to their lack of faith. That's why the first thing the
Savior says is, Believe in God, believe also in Me. They were distressed for this
reason. They didn't believe like they
should have. So our Lord is simply saying,
Believe God, believe Me. Their uneasiness arose because
they didn't believe what the Father had spoken by the prophets
concerning the sufferings of the Lord Jesus and the glory
that should follow. They should have believed what
the Father has been saying all along. Hold your place here and
go back to Luke 24. Let me just show you a couple
of verses here. Real quick, Luke chapter 24. Believe the Father's words, and
believe my words. Look at Luke 24. These are the
disciples on the road to Emmaus, and I won't read the story. All
of you have read this before, and you know this. In Luke 24, look at verse 25. And they're full of doubts. They're moaning and groaning
that, you know, we thought Jesus was the Messiah. He was the Savior
and He's died. Some say He's risen. They're
all mopey, you know, down in the dumps. Look at verse 25.
Now watch it. Then He said unto them, O fools,
Slow of heart to do what? To believe. To believe. It's foolish not to believe God. Oh, fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things? Isn't that what the Father said
in the Old Testament? Didn't He speak about the death
of Christ and then enter into His glory? And I'm sure the Savior
opened up to them portions of Scripture like Isaiah chapter
53. Believe what the Father has said. Believe God. Believe what He
said. The reason their hearts were
all aflutter was for this reason. They didn't believe. They didn't
believe God like they should have. And so he's saying over here
in John chapter 14, believe the words of the Father and believe
me as well. Believe my words. Child of God, don't let your
heart be troubled. Your Father is possessed of infinite
power and wisdom and goodness. He knows what's best for you.
Believe the Father and believe me. Believe that if God be for you,
who can be against you? And then I think he's also saying
this. Ye believe in God who is invisible? They couldn't touch God. They
couldn't see God. God is spirit. God's everywhere. Ye believe in God who is invisible? Believe me! even when I leave
and you can't see Me either. Still believe Me." Though the Lord Jesus would leave
them and go back to heaven, wasn't He still with them by His Spirit? And did He not give them this
word of promise? I will never leave you, I will
never forsake you. And though they could not see
Him after His ascension, He was with them by His Spirit, just
like He's with you. And I think he's saying, you
believe God, you do believe God, though you can't see Him. You
can't touch Him. You can't feel Him. He's not
speaking to you with an audible voice. He speaks through His
Word. As you believe in God, believe also in Me when you don't
see Me anymore. I'll still be real. And I'll
still be with you. That's why Peter In 1 Peter 1,
verse 8, he says of the Lord Jesus, who had ascended back
to heaven, of course, when he wrote his epistles, he said of
Christ, whom ye see not, whom having not seen, he writes to
these believers, whom having not seen, you love. We love a Savior who is invisible
to these eyes. We love a Savior that we can't
reach out and touch. We love Him though we have never
laid eyes on Him. We love Him because we see Him
by faith in the book of God. And this comfort remains for
us. Believe also in me and I'll give
you another little thought here. That brings out the absolute
deity of Christ Jesus. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. He's equal with the Father. Because to believe in Him is
to believe in God. If He weren't divine, if He weren't
deity, faith in Him, it'd be false, wouldn't it? If He wasn't
God, faith in Him would be false, and moreover, it'd be idolatrous,
too. He says, you believe in God, believe also in Me. Believe
also in Me. So here's good news. Would you
be comforted this evening? Would you find peace in your
troubled hearts, even in the midst of outward agitations? Believe in God and believe also
in Christ Jesus. Secondly, here's more good news
for troubled hearts. gave them assurance that the
Father's house would be their eternal home. What is the Father's house? He
mentioned it in verse two, in my Father's house are many mansions
or many dwelling places. What is the Father's house? Well,
it's his dwelling place. Have you ever noticed that the
Lord Jesus is the only one who referred to heaven as my Father's
house? He did so on three occasions.
And this affirmed his deity also. David wanted to build a house
for God, but because he was a bloody man, a warrior, that honor didn't
go to him. He raised a lot of money for
it. But that honor went to Solomon, but Solomon never referred to
that great structure, the temple, as his father's house. Neither
did Ezra, never referred to it as the father's house. Those
who rebuilt the temple, only our Lord Jesus did. He did, first
of all, and we won't look at these, but back in John chapter
two, He said, this is when he overturned the money changer's
tables. When he came to Jerusalem, he said, make not my father's
house a house of merchandise. What was the temple? It was a
house built where God was honored. where God took up his residence
in what we might call a very symbolic way, a symbolism in
the temple. That was the Lord's house, the
Lord's house. Christ said, don't make my father's
house a house of merchandise. By the way, at the end of his
ministry, You can jot this down and look it up later if you want
to, Matthew 23, 38. He no longer referred to the
temple as my Father's house. He referred to it as your house.
He went into the temple, he said, your house is left unto you desolate,
barren. It's just a dry wilderness. You
know why? God left it. God left it. Where God leaves, Nothing's left
behind but death and wilderness and desert. And then secondly,
he had also mentioned it in connection with that parable in Luke chapter
15, the prodigal son, that part of the parable with the prodigal
son and his elder brother. Our Lord, he talked about the
father and his house. And there he said, he mentioned
that, you remember that's the older son. He came and drew nigh
to the father's house and he heard music and dancing. You
know what that tells us? The father's house is a place
of delight and joy and gladness. That's what heaven is. It's a
place of delight. I tell you that, the Father's
house there in Luke chapter 15, boy, when that prodigal came
home, that place came alive. You talk about joy. You talk
about celebration. And in each of those parables,
that parable of lost things, the finding of the lost sheep,
the finding of the lost coin, the finding of the lost son,
in each of them, the emphasis is on the rejoicing Rejoice with
me. I found the sheep. I found my
coin. Rejoice with me. Here comes the
elder son. Rejoice. Your son was dead. My son was dead. Your brother
was dead. Now he's alive. It's a time of
rejoicing. That's what the Father's house
is. It's a place of rejoicing. And every time another child
of God goes on to heaven. New joy breaks out. New celebrations
break out. Another one has come home. Another
one of God's sovereign grace elected ones. Another one of
the redeemed ones. Another one of the reconciled
ones. Another one of the justified ones has come home. Another one
of the Spirit's objects of grace quickened by the Spirit of God
has come home to glory. And joy breaks out all over again. I tell you, heaven's a joyful
place. The Father's house. And then here in John 14, our
Lord mentions it as being the final abode of the saints of
God. Where do we go when we die? Well, our soul goes to the Father's
house. To the Father's house, the glories
of heaven. You know, heaven's called a country
because of its vastness. It's called a city because of
the multitude of people who are there. It's called a kingdom
because it's very orderly. It's called paradise because
of the delights of heaven. And it's called the Father's
house, which speaks of this, it lasts forever. It lasts forever. But he gives
more good news. There's more good news yet. He
tells them, I'm going to do everything necessary for you so that you'll
have a place in my Father's house. And he puts it this way, the
latter part of verse two, I go to prepare a place for you. I go to prepare a place for you. I go to make everything right
with God for you. I go to repair all of the damage
that you've done to His law and justice. I'm going to make reparation. Oh, I'm sure we cannot in this
life really understand the extent of the injury that sin has inflicted
upon us. We can't understand in this life
the way that our sin has been an attack against God's glory,
against God's sovereignty. But our Savior knew And He went to suffer, bleed,
and die to make things right with God for us. That gives me some comfort. That
gives me some great comfort. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Just like He prepared Eden for
Adam, He's going to prepare a paradise for us, and he did it by his
bloody death. And here's more good news. There's
the blessed hope that he's coming again for us. And so he says
in verse three, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto myself. The Lord's not gonna,
he won't send for us. He'll come in person to receive
us. Notice the language, and receive
you unto myself. Who's he going to receive us
from? As I read in the scriptures, it appears to me that our Lord
Jesus, he receives us two times. He received us as a gift from
the Father, right? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. He received us as a gift from
the Father. And then when He left, having
finished His work of redemption, ten days later, He sent His Spirit
and He gave all of these people, as it were, to His Spirit. And the Spirit of God is looking
after us. He quickens us. He teaches us. He speaks to us about Christ
Jesus. And our Lord is coming back one
day And I interpret this scripture's meaning when he does. He will
receive us unto himself from the Holy Spirit. Here they are. Here they are. I quickened them. I gave them
repentance. I gave them faith. I kept them
believing. I maintained their interest in
the gospel. The life that I created within
them, they still have that life. Here they are, because it doesn't
say Christ is going to take us. He will receive us unto Himself
from the Spirit of grace. And here's more good news. The
last thing is, where He is, that's where we're going to be. We'll
be with Him forever. He says that where I am, there
ye may be also. Here's the amazing thing. That
place that our Lord Jesus has gone to, and He was worthy to
enter into that place, He is our fitness. He is our
worthiness to enter in. He said, you'll be with me. You'll
be with me in paradise. That's what he told the believing
thief. That where I am, there ye may be also. Well, here then is good news
for troubled hearts. Here's precious consolation For
those who've grown in the Spirit, those whose hearts are heavy,
faith, faith in God, faith in the Lord Jesus, and then the
assurance that the Father's house will be our eternal home. And
thirdly, the realization that the Savior has done everything
necessary to secure us a welcome in that fair land. And fourth,
the blessed hope He's coming in person. Think of that, in
person. In person. The Lord Himself. He's coming in person to receive
us unto Himself. And finally, the precious promise
that where He is, that's where we'll be. And people say, where
is heaven? Is it in another dimension? Well, Paul talked about the third
heaven. Wherever that is. But I'll tell
you, my idea of where heaven is, it's wherever Christ Jesus
is. Because His presence makes wherever
He is to be paradise. And wherever He is, when we leave
this old world, that's where we're going. To be in His presence
forever. He did a great work at the cross.
We're thankful for that. Let's sing 129 at the cross. At the cross where I first saw
the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there
by grace I received my sight. And now I'm happy all the day. I'm so happy he died for me,
aren't you? That gives me a good consolation. All right, 129. Let's stand.