I'd like for you to turn with
me this morning to John chapter 14. I titled the message this morning,
Words for a Troubled Heart. When you found your place in
John chapter 14, just hold your place and let me say a few things. There is, in these chapters,
our Lord's preparing His disciples for His death. For His death,
which is why He came into this world. And He's saying some things
to them. And in these chapters, some bitter
waters flow as well as sweet. I don't think the man who knows
nothing of the bitter waters knows anything of the sweet.
I think we experience both in conversion and both in our understanding
of the Gospel. In chapter 13, one of their own,
whom they believed to be above reproach, was exposed as a thief
and a traitor. When our Lord said those words
to His disciples, they just looked at it. Who is He talking about? Who is He talking about? He can't possibly be talking
about us. Huh? Now let me ask you something. I know this is a special event.
I know this is a special man. It'd been better for him to have
not been born than to be who he is. But I want to ask you
something. Wasn't there a time when you
said the same thing? Who's he talking about? Who is this whose mind is enmity
against God? Who's he talking about? Who are
these traitors, these deceivers, these false prophets? Who are
these people? Surely he's not talking about
me. Huh? Yeah. He's talking about you. There's some bitter waters here.
Bitter waters. One of their own, whom they believed
to be above reproach, was exposed as a thief and a traitor. And
another was told, in spite of his bold profession, I'll never
forsake you, that he would betray the Lord
three times before the cock signaled the dawning of a new day. They would all, in fact, desert
him. They would all, in fact, quit
the ministry, go back to their nets. And, in fact, the whole
world, by representation, would work in harmony to murder the
Son of God and rid themselves of this man who had turned their
lives upside down. And so it is with every sinner
who's brought to see his sin and to see him who's coming into
this world, is to put this sin away and to speak peace to the
hearts of chosen sinners. I want you to think about what's
taking place here. Peter maintained his integrity
having walked with the Lord for three years. Surely by now he
ought to know he doesn't have any integrity. But some things
were said about him, you know. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto you, Peter, but my Father which is in heaven, he
hath revealed this to you. And from that day forth all the
disciples esteemed Peter higher than themselves. And Peter esteemed
himself a little bit higher than what he ought to. Here's our Lord beginning to
face the last hours of His life on this earth, about to go to
the cross, and He's preparing His disciples for this event.
And He's showing to them something of the necessity of His death. And He's revealing to them what's
really in them. What's really in them. You don't
like to think of yourself as a deserter, do you? But that's what we are. That's
what we are. So it is with every sinner who's
brought to see his sin, and to see this one who's dying, to
put it away. The truth which is embodied in
the Lord Jesus Christ is bitter at the first because we come
to see that His suffering and death is vicarious. My wife asked me the other day,
she said, what's a vicar? She heard what the news media
was saying about the Pope. Well, vicarious, according to
the dictionary, means something performed or endured by one person
substituting for another. appearing in the place of someone
else. Jesus Christ appeared into this
world as a representative and substitute for those given him
by the Father before the foundation of the world. And he said, the
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He's already established
that point back in chapter 10 of John. To view the death of Christ in
any other way, other than a vicarious death. To view his death in any
other way, and let me make it even clearer than that, that
Christ died for our sins, his elect sins, according to the
Scriptures. It's a vicarious death. And to
view the death of Christ in any other way is to view his death
as a vain attempt by an impotent God who allowed his son to be
sacrificed for nothing. Now that's what it is. To view
his death in any other way destroys the wisdom of God, makes God
out to be ignorant. It violates the justice of God,
makes His justice of none account whatsoever. And it turns the
love of God into nothing more than an ineffectual passion. Christ died for our sins, Paul
said. This is what I preached to you.
This is what was preached to me. Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. And according to the Scriptures,
His death is vicarious. Matthew said, listen to this.
He said, many were brought unto Christ. Many possessed with devils. And he cast out the unclean spirits,
and he healed them of all their infirmities. And he did it that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled, which said, himself took our
infirmities and bore our sicknesses. The Lord Jesus Christ had both
the ability and the right By virtue of his person and work
to forgive sin and heal the sick, because as their substitute,
he bore their sins, and he bore their sicknesses, and he bore
their infirmities. You can read about that in Mark
2, verses 5-11. When instead of saying, Arise
and be healed, our Lord said, Thy sins be forgiven. Then the
man was healed. And those Jews said, now, whoa,
wait a minute, wait a minute. Only God can forgive sin. Christ
said, you're absolutely right. All that was infuriated. Now, don't you listen to me.
I know that you children and you young ladies and young men
are in a very subtle way, a way you don't even recognize right
now. In God's own time, He'll reveal it to you, and you'll
look back and see it. But in a very subtle way, you're
being convinced by this world that God and sin and eternal
judgment are just carryover superstitions from early civilizations that
have long since been proven otherwise. Your schools teach it. Your friends
profess it. This whole world is about one
business, and that's to convince you that all these things are
nothing. They're just superstitions. It's
superstitions. But I'm here to tell you something
this morning. There is no denying that Jesus
Christ was the Son of God. There's no denying it. who came
down from heaven in the form of a man to save chosen sinners
and to glorify God in the process. Some TV evangelist said the other
day, we've got no evidence whatsoever to support what we preach. Probably
not what he's preaching. My friend, the coming of Christ
was prophesied thousands of years before we ever came. Thousands
of years. The book of Genesis wasn't written
a day before he came. It was written thousands of years
before he came. The coming of Christ was prophesied,
not only many, many years before He came, but every detail, including
His virgin birth, and the tribe He'd be born of, and the place
where He'd be born, and the angels that would attend His death,
and over and over and over. I don't think we got every scripture
that was fulfilled, quoted in the four Gospels, just enough
to convince us that He is the Christ. His life, his ministry
was confirmed of God by undeniable miracles. When the disciples
preached to those Jews after the death of Christ, they said
him being confirmed of God, he was affirmed of God by miracles
and wonders and signs which he did by his Son in your midst,
as ye also know. It's an established fact. It's
not a theory. It's an established fact. Even
before his enemies. He said this thing wasn't done
in a corner. It was done in a wide open and
it was proved. The Bible is not a bunch of fiction. It's not a bunch of theories
and concepts. The Bible is recorded fact. You want the facts? Here it is.
These are the facts. Undeniable facts. You know anybody
can raise a dead? I don't. I don't. I've never
seen it done, but I'm telling you he did it, and he did it
before a cloud of witnesses. His life, his ministry was so
confirmed of God that it's undeniable. His resurrection was witnessed
by hundreds of people, 500 people at one time. His ascension into
glory was witnessed by men. They saw him step onto the clouds
with the angels and ascend back into glory. And there's never in over 6,000
years been a single truth of this book disproven. Not one single thing. And don't you think men haven't
tried? And to this unbelieving world,
he spake these words. He said, I am God, and there
are none beside me. I declare the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I'll do all my pleasure. Now, the one who can do that
is God alone. God alone. I'm not dealing with the superstitions
of an ancient civilization or ideas and concepts of deceived
men today. I'm declaring to you from the
Word of God things which God has clearly declared that would
come to pass, which came to pass and were witnessed by the multitudes
and preserved in this book as established facts. The Apostle
Paul preached to people just like you and I. And he preached
how that Christ died according to the Scriptures. And that He was buried and rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures. To deny any
part of the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ is to make God
a liar. I tell you, it's a bitter thing
to see in the suffering Savior your unbelief. It's bitter waters. Bitter waters. They denied. Not so, Lord, not so. For this
hour came I into this world. I must die. It's necessary for
me to die. If I don't go away, I can't send
the Comforter. The Comforter won't come. It's a bitter thing to see in
the suffering Savior your unbelief. your ingratitude, your desertion,
your ignorance, your utter inability. All of these things the disciples
were being brought to face. But from the bitter waters comes
the sweet waters of grace. Oh, my soul! Straightway from
the sea of judgment, God took Israel to a bitter pool. The
very first thing. Took them right out of that judgmental
waters of the Red Sea and took them right over here to this
pool. And oh, they were so thirsty out in that wilderness. And they
ran and got a big drink of that pool. Oh, it was so bitter like
eating a raw persimmon. Bitter. Bitter. Why would God
lead those He loved so much to drink from such a pool? He didn't
lead them there to drink from the pool. He led them there to
taste of it. He let them there to taste of it. And after they
had tasted, God showed them a tree. He said, now you cast that tree
into the waters and see what happens. And the waters become
sweet to the taste, and they drank to the full. That's the
cross. That's the cross. Well, you can't
know nothing of the sweetness of the cross until you've tasted
those bitter waters of sin and unbelief. And face what you are
and confess what you are to God when He brings you down to here.
Oh, how sweet those waters become. It's the cross of Christ that
sweetens the bitter pool. Now listen as I read this text.
Heaven told them all these things. They didn't understand it yet
in their heart and He told them they didn't. But He said, you
will. You will. A few more days. Comfort will
come. He'll open your heart and mind.
You'll see these things. You'll recall these things. And
you'll know exactly what I've been teaching you. Now listen
as I read the text. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also
in me. In my Father's house there are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go. Are you listening? This is where
the sweetness... I go to prepare a place for you.
For you. Oh, I tell you, this poor, wretched,
helpless sinner, if I could just lay hold on something of the
fullness of what this verse is saying, Let me just take it a word or
two at a time, and let's go through this and see if we can find some
words for a troubled heart. I. Let's just start with that.
I. There's no angel. There's no
ambassador. There's no servant. This is the
Son. This is the Son. I. The Father would not trust His
glory nor His counsel to another. But this is Him in whom God first
trusted. And Paul said, it's whom you
trusted too after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation. In Revelation chapter 5, this
is pictured in the vision of God's Apostle who saw one sitting
upon the throne. holding in his right hand a book
written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. And this book is the book of
God's eternal decrees concerning the salvation of sinners through
the person and work of Christ. And the question asked in the
vision is this, who is worthy to take the book? Nobody. Nobody came forth, nobody
in heaven, nobody in earth, nobody in hell, there was nobody. Nobody
came to take the book, nobody worthy to open it, to look upon
it, to unloose the seal. What is God's counsel? What is
His purpose in Christ? What is this book of God that
no one was worthy to look upon it, let alone take it from Him
who sat on the throne, and to unloose those seals? He says in John 6.39, this is
the Father's will which has sent me. It is the everlasting and eternal
will of God to save a people for the glory of His name. And
our salvation is according to God's own purpose and grace given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. In Hebrews 10, verse
7, beginning to climax now on the very root and glory of our
salvation, it says in verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of
the book it's written of me, to do thy will, O God. By the which will, that is, by
the one sent to accomplish it. By the which will we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hear what he's telling his disciples in spite of their desertion,
in spite of their treason, in spite of their unbelief, in spite
of their sin. I, the one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus. I, the great high priest of Israel,
ordained for men in things pertaining to God. I, other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. None other
name given under heaven, given among men whereby we must be
saved. I, in our own text, No man cometh
unto the Father but by Me. Whoever these were in glory with
John, who saw Christ in the midst of the throne, and who saw Him
as the Lamb's flame, He come and took the book out of the
Father's hand, and loosed the seal. And when they saw it, they
all sung a new song." I'm going to tell you something. You will
too if you ever see it. And here's the words. Thou art
worthy to take the book." Who's worthy? He is. The Lamb slain. He's worthy to take the book.
He's worthy to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain
and hast redeemed us unto God out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God, kings and
priests, and we shall reign up on the earth. Aye, boys, I tell
you, that's words for a troubled heart. Not you go. Aye. Aye. And listen to this. I go. I go. Let me see if I can give
you some light on this. The Heavenly Father sent Him.
He said, I come down from heaven, not do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. John said, and this was manifested,
the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. And you can talk all that
universal nonsense you want to. Nothing will ever bring peace
to your soul until you see Christ, your representative and substitute,
dying for you. I go are the words that describe
the Redeemer from one end of God's book to the other. Listen
to this Old Testament prophecy. I thought this was so good. He
said, Out of Bethlehem shall come forth that is to be ruler
in Israel. Him that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings..." Isn't that what he's saying? I go. "...His goings
forth hath been from of old, even from everlasting." Psalm 68, verse 24, he said,
talking about those who gather there to worship God, "...they
have seen thy goings, O God." even the goings of my God, my
King in the sanctuary. The goings forth of the Lord
is His accomplishing the redemptive will of God. His goings forth
are from of old, even from everlasting. His goings forth are effectual.
Everything Christ came to do, He did. That's not what I'm hearing
on TV. That's not what I'm hearing.
I listen to a country radio station up there while I'm working on
the church, and they have men come on there and preach every
now and then, or read some things, make some comments. That's not
what I'm hearing them say. Every soul He came to redeem
is redeemed. He entered into heaven with His
own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Every soul given to Him of the
Father is redeemed by His blood, justified in His resurrection,
and has in glory one that ever liveth to intercede for them." I go, he said. I go. Now listen to this. Here's the third thing. I go
to prepare a place for you. Religion says Christ descended
into heaven and is building us a habitat out of the spiritual
lumber that we give Him through our works. That's not what our Lord is telling
His disciples here. The fact is, He didn't say building
anything. He said, in my Father's house
are many mansions. Their habitat's already done.
It's already there. It's already finished. Whatever
they are, they're there already. What He ascended into Heaven
for was to guarantee us a place. To guarantee us a place. By His own blood He entered in
once and obtained eternal redemption for us. Oh, what a shock it must have
been for Peter when he saw the Lord risen from the dead and
with open arms inviting him, come and die. Oh, he knew what
he was. He knew what he did. He knew
perfectly well that the Lord told him he was going to do it.
And never in his wildest imagination did he ever think he'd see the
Lord with open arms saying, come and die. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. I go to prepare a place for you,
so much yours that God Himself will say to you in that day,
well done by good and faithful servants." Nathan, you'd pass out if God
said that to you right now, wouldn't you? Me? Me? Well done, thou good and
faithless. Enter thou in. Enter thou into
glory. This place prepared for you before
the foundation of the world. Now listen to this. Verse 3. Here's the fourth thing. If I
go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again. And I'll receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Men and
women have strange ideas about heaven, don't they? Every time
somebody famous dies, I listen to how they talk, or sometimes
at funerals where I preside, I'll go down and I'll just listen
to the relatives talking. Men and women have strange ideas
about death. They try to mix earthly desires
and earthly relationships with heavenly experience. Listen to me. Half of our Lord's
disciples were fishermen. He never mentioned fishing in
Galway. Never did. Never did. But I hear people
talk about it. I hear people talk about it.
He cared for His earthly mother and He left her in the care of
a faithful disciple, but He never one time ever mentioned meeting
Mama in glory. Never did. All of the disciples
had loved ones who had gone on before them, but the Lord made
no mention of them looking down on us and seeing them in glory
or seeing us on the earth. This whole thing of salvation,
of resurrection and ascension was about them being with Him. This is the words of the text.
Christ is the centerpiece of glory. And if He's not the centerpiece
of your faith, you won't have to worry about it. You won't
be there. But this idea of going up here
and meeting lost loved ones and all these things, I'm not saying
if they're not believers that you won't see them in glory,
but you won't see them the same way you see them now. You'll
see Him. You'll see Him. He's the centerpiece in glory.
And every time John sees the 144,000 over there in Revelation,
or the number that no man can number, they're all standing
before the throne. singing praise to the Lamb. They're
not looking at each other. You remember that time back there
on the pond, we caught that big bass? They're not doing that.
Their hearts and minds are focused on Him. Listen, John said the New Jerusalem,
the Holy City, had no need of the sun. Had no need of the sun,
neither the moon. It didn't need anything to shine
in it. For the glory of God did lighten that city. And the Lamb
is the light thereof. I tell you, we can't imagine
what heaven is because we can't imagine what it is to have no
sin. That's why we've got no concept of it. Now let me give
you this, and I'll quit. Verse 4. He said, You know. You know. And the way you know. And Thomas was just sitting there
listening to all this and he said, now wait a minute. We don't
know where you're going. We don't know where you're going.
And how can we know the way? Thomas, he said, I am the way. And you know me. If you know
me, you know the way. I am the way. I am the truth. You know me,
you know the truth. I am the truth. You know me, you have the life. I am the life. This is eternal
life. To know God and Him whom the
Father has sent. I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." These are
the words for troubled hearts. Troubled hearts. We know Him. We know Him. We rest in Him. We're satisfied in Him. We rejoice
in Him. We love Him.