I believe God's given me a message
for you today. Turn to very familiar, blessed
passage of scripture with me. John chapter 14. John chapter 14. The title of my message this
morning is Relief for troubled hearts. When I prepared the message earlier,
I finished preparing late Saturday night or Friday night, I had
planned the title of the message, Cure for Troubled Hearts. But I realized there's not any
cure. There's not any cure. but there is some relief. John
Chapter 14, Verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled,
our Lord Jesus says. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house, are many
matches. 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 you may be also." These three verses of scripture
are rich in precious gospel truth. For more than 2,000 years, they
have been particularly precious to God's elect throughout the
world. Perhaps this, Psalm 23, Romans
828, John 316, Most often quoted passages by
people throughout the religious world as well as among those
who believe God. Many hospital rooms have been
lightened by what our Lord says here. Many dying hearts have
been cheered by these words. Many have come away from gravesides
mourning only to find themselves comforted by what our Lord here
declares. It is my prayer that God the
Holy Spirit will cause us to know the comfort in the sweet
experience of his grace. These words are intended by our
Lord to convey as they fell from his lips. I want to show you
three things, just one thing from each verse. The first verse
talks about heart trouble and its relief. The second verse,
In the second verse, our Lord Jesus speaks about the Father's
house. And then in the third verse,
he teaches us something about the good things we may expect
at his second advent. All right, here's the first thing.
Here is a very, very, very needful, precious relief for a very old
problem. The problem is heart trouble,
heart trouble. And there's no trouble like heart
trouble. Physical pain, we can manage
to deal with. Heart trouble, something else.
Disappointment, we can manage to live with. Heart trouble is
something else. There's no trouble like heart
trouble. The problem is heart trouble.
The relief is faith in Christ. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. That's the master's word. You
believe in God, believe also in me. How many times have you
experienced something that was peculiarly painful? A distinctly
heavy burden. A distinctly hard trial. And you say, I don't know how
people who don't have Christ handle this. When Robin first
called a few weeks ago to tell me of Brother Tommy's condition,
weeping eyes. I could hear the quiver in her
voice. She said, Brother Dodd, I don't
know how people get through these things without Christ. We went
down to see them last week, and she and Tommy both said to me,
the Lord's so good, but I don't know how people handle this without
Christ, how to face it. Tommy said, I guess they just
brace up So this is what we've got to deal with and we deal
with it. That's about the best they can do. And faith in Christ
won't take away the trouble. These health, wealth, prosperity
fools on television who are anxious to part your money from your
wallet and put it in theirs and have no interest in the glory
of God and no interest in the things of God. They're just self-serving,
conniving false prophets. They, uh, they'll tell you if
you believe God, that'll, that'll make everything all right. No,
it doesn't. No, it doesn't. The fact is God's
people in this world experience the same heartaches that all
other people experience. We too are sinners, sinners saved
by grace, but sinners. And we too experience what other
sinners experience in this world as a result of sin. God's people. God's people have wives walk
out on them and husbands walk out on them. God's people have
children that break their hearts. God's people have mother and
father that break their hearts. God's people do. God's people
get sick. and endure pain and they watch
those they love get sick and endure pain. Now, that's just
fact. That's just fact. We have added
trouble that people of the world don't have. People of the world
just imagine that all these things are just fate or chance or luck
or that's just the draw of the cards or that's the nonsense
with which people live. We understand that whatever it
is that causes us pain, whatever it is that crushes our hearts,
whatever it is that troubles our souls, comes to us by the
hand of God and according to the will of God, our Heavenly
Father. We understand it. God's people
have lots of trouble. Heart trouble comes partly from
inward things and partly from outward things, partly from the
body and partly from the mind, partly from things we love and
partly from things we hate, partly from things that we cherish and
partly from things we would avoid at all cost if we possibly could. But heart trouble, something
you can't stay away from. No rank, no class, no condition
is exempt from it. No bars, no bolts, no doors can
lock it out. The journey of life is full of
trouble. Even the best of believers, and
forgive me for using such a term, the best of believers, even the
strongest of God's saints, Even those who walk closest in sweet
communion with Christ endure bitter difficulties in this world. We had many bitter cups to drink
between grace and glory. All Zion's pilgrims must pass
through waters of woe, rivers of adversity, and fires of trial. The scripture tells us plainly
we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
There are no exceptions. There are Philistines without
and Canaanites within, constantly at war with our souls. Sooner
or later, we must all face the giant despair. Sooner or later,
we all must walk through doubting chastisement. Sooner or later,
we will all be bound in the dark dungeon. Sooner or later, sooner
or later, sooner or later, we must all be sifted as wheat. No exceptions. Sooner or later, God's going
to break our pride and keep breaking it. He's going to humble us before
Him and keep humbling us. He's going to sift us. And He
will use Satan to shake the sieve. But He's going to sift us as
wheat. Now, when you read the Scriptures, we ought to be aware of the fact
that what we have before us, this book of God, has been preserved
for us in our language. And we are thankful for the translation
God's given us and for the chapter and verse divisions. How would
you like to try to find scripture if you didn't have any chapters
marking it off? That's why I try to find the
book of Habakkuk Tuesday night. If you didn't have it marked
off somewhere by headings and chapters and verses, it'd be
rather difficult even bound up like this. So the translators
wisely have given us chapter and verse divisions. But we make
a mistake when we try to read the scripture according to the
chapter and verse divisions. Many times the chapter divisions
come at a very awkward place. And that's the case here. Our
translators certainly did an excellent job, far better than
I could imagine doing, in trying to break the things up in a readable
section and break them up as they should have been broken
up. But our Lord's discourse here in John 14 doesn't begin
in John 14. John chapters 13, 14, 15, and
16 ought to always be read together and understood together. And
add to that chapter 17, our Lord there concludes the whole message
with his great high priestly prayer. But when you read John
13 and 14, don't ever think of a chapter division between them. There really should be no break
at all. has just finished washing his disciples' feet and breaking
bread with them for the last time at the Passover feast, establishing
the Lord's Supper. And Judas has gone out to betray
the master. And the Lord Jesus told Peter,
before the sun rose in the morning, he'd deny him three times. There may have been a slight
pause after Judas got up and left. You remember the Lord Jesus
said, one of you shall betray me and they all except for Judas
said, Lord, is it I? Because none of them had any
confidence in themselves except Judas. He was the only one who
was really confident. And then to cover up his arrogance
and his pride and his cunning, Judas says, Master, is it I? And the Lord Jesus said, the
one that dips his bread in my cup, that's the man. And he reached
over and gave the sop to Judas. Judas took the sop and walked
out, and I suspect there was a pause. These 11 faithful men and God,
our Savior, watched him walk out. But only a slight pause. And our Lord Jesus picks right
up where he'd been talking. Just picks right up where he'd
been talking. As if to say, there's nothing here to disturb me. There's nothing here that's out
of kilter. There's nothing here that's contrary
to my will and my purpose and my work. Don't be ruffled by
this. And he goes right on with his
message. He tells Peter, before the sunrise, you'll deny me three
times. But the audience, the place is
exactly the same here in John 14. as it is in John 13. Our Lord's great object in this
portion of scripture and in the two chapters that follow John
chapter 14, 15 and 16, is obviously to comfort and establish his
people with his faith, faith in him, establishing them with
his grace, the grace that he alone can give. so that their
downcast troubled hearts might find relief in him. Our blessed
Savior looked at these disciples and he saw that many things were
troubling them. They had just seen the Lord Jesus,
whom they dearly loved, troubled in spirit. Troubled in spirit. Their carnal Jewish notions that
they entertained still of an earthly monarch in an earthly
kingdom They still had the idea right up to this point that that
the Lord Jesus the Messiah would establish an earthly Jewish kingdom
and now those thoughts are completely shattered The Lord Jesus had
just told them That Judas would betray them one of them would
betray them They all watched as Judas left the room Can you imagine the shock of
that? Can you just imagine how shocked they must have been? If I were to announce today,
if I were to announce today that tomorrow Lindsey Campbell is
going to do such a thing, first, you wouldn't believe me. If I
had it on good, credible evidence that Lindsay were about to do
such a thing, you still wouldn't believe me. If I persuaded you
that this is coming to pass, you'd be devastated. You'd be
devastated. Not Lindsay. Not Lindsay. No, not Lindsay. That's just
exactly where these disciples were. The Lord said, one of you
shall betray me. Watch, I'll show you who. And
Judas went out. The Lord announced that he would
only be with them a little while, and they were beginning to perceive
that he'd meant a little while. Then he told them that where
he's going, they could not now go. These who had left all and
followed him for three and a half years, and then He told Peter
that he would deny him three times. For all these reasons, their
hearts were downcast, troubled, disquieted within them, uneasy.
They were anxious and fearful, and the master saw it and proceeds
to give them this sweet, blessed word of encouragement. Let not
your heart be troubled. Now, be sure you don't miss this. Our blessed Redeemer here uses
the singular, your heart, not the plural, your hearts. Just
like I'm looking at David Peterson right now, he's looking at Peter,
eyeball to eyeball. And he says, Peter, now I've
told you what you're about to do. You're going to be made to know
your weakness, your unbelief, your failure. You're going to
be made to know that you're nothing but a sinful wretch, just like
everybody else. You're going to be made to know
that you too have nothing in you except what God by his grace
puts in you. Let not your heart be troubled.
Let not your heart be troubled. He was saying to all these disciples
collectively. As they were all troubled, he
says collectively to them as one, because you see, your trouble
is mine if I'm aware of it. Your heartache is mine if I'm
if I'm knowledgeable of it. How can that be? We're one. We're
one. He says to them collectively,
let not your heart be troubled. And he says to you and me, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Now this is the point. The only
relief there is for heart trouble. is faith in Christ. That's all there is. That's all
there is. Our Lord Jesus is here telling
us to believe Him more thoroughly, more completely, more entirely,
more unreservedly, to just cast ourselves into the arms of omnipotent
mercy. Believe Him. Believe Him. Let not your heart be troubled
Believe in God, believe also in me. Our Lord gives this prescription
because there are many among us as there were in this little
band who were troubled, troubled. Many of God's people are troubled. At all times, there are some. Many are often troubled at once
like these were. These disciples certainly prove
they were believers. They had forsaken all and followed
Christ. That's what faith does. The Lord called Peter and Peter
left his nets. He called Andrew and Philip and
they left the nets. He called Matthew and Matthew
left his money changers table. They left all and followed him.
When he called them, they forsook everything, gave up everything
and followed him for three and a half years. They believed God. Peter, did Peter believe him? Just a few hours before he denied
him, he took out a fisherman's knife. That's not even a dagger. He took out a fisherman's knife
and took on a whole Roman garrison by himself. A man of boldness and faith and
confidence. because God so supplied him.
And then in a few hours, trembling like a scared rabbit before a
little girl. I don't understand that. I'm
beginning to, Bill. He was just flesh, that's all.
That's all. The fact is, Our Lord Jesus recognized
these men are genuine believers. And he's saying to them, believe
more fully and be comfortable. Rejoice in the Lord all way. And again, I say rejoice. Let
your moderation be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. Moderation. Remember that word translated
moderation is only used one other time in the entire Bible. And
there it's translated, the gentleness of Christ. Let not your heart
be troubled. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let not
your heart be, let everyone know your smooth, unruffled calmness. The Lord's at hand. Don't be
ruffled. Don't be then out of shape, the
Lord's at hand. Believe God, believe me. Our
Savior's words, you believe in God, believe also in me, have
caused some confusion among some and others are just heretics
who would here tell you that to believe in God and to believe
in Christ are two different things. To believe in God and to believe
in the God-made Christ are two different things, not at all.
Our Lord Jesus makes it very plain and clear throughout the
scriptures that there is no faith in God apart from faith in Christ. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed
on the Lord Jesus just as we do. Enoch prophesied of his coming
long before he came, back before the days of the floods, and prophesied
of his second coming with ten thousands of his saints. Moses
saw the Lord Jesus. You remember when he was in the
mount, he built the tabernacle according to the pattern shown
him in the mount. Why that pattern is Christ. That's
who he saw in the mount. Abraham rejoiced to see the Savior's
day and was glad that no one tell you that the Old Testament
saints didn't believe on Christ. Those who believe, believe just
as we do. Well, why does the Savior here
use these words? You believe in God. believe also
in me. The words might be read as a
double imperative, so that the Savior is saying, believe God,
believe me. Or the words might be read as
a double indicative, so that the Savior is saying, I know
you believe God. I know you believe me. Let not
your heart be troubled. And the words given that way,
the master is simply saying, believe, believe, believe. We should recognize and never
forget that there is a vast difference between strong faith and faith. There are those in the kingdom
of God who are strong in faith and those who are weak in faith. Some believers are weak in faith
and others are strong and sometimes those who are weak behave very
strongly and sometimes those who are strong behave very weakly. I just read last week of one
of the martyrs, several of the martyrs who were burned at the
stake during the reign of Bloody Mary. who at the prospect of
being put to death at first recanted. They denied the faith. They said,
okay, we will accept the papist foolishness that the bread and
wine really is the blood and body of Christ. And so they recanted. But then their hearts crushed
them. And they recanted of their recantation.
and boldly confessed Christ and sealed their testimonies with
their blood, with confidence and faith in the Redeemer. We've
all had to say many times, like that man who brought his demon-possessed
son to the Lord Jesus, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. The fact is the weakest faith
in Christ is true saving faith. How I wish I could convey this
to you. The weakest faith in Christ is true saving faith. That woman with the issue of
blood, she said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment,
I'd be made whole. And Merle, she crawls through
the crowd, knowing she's unclean and unfit to be there, and trembling
hands, Touched the hem of his garment and immediately her blood
stopped. Immediately. Immediately. The
weakest faith is saving faith. The weakest faith in Christ is
saving faith. You see, our salvation is not
dependent upon and does not hinge in any way upon the measure of
our faith, but rather upon the object of our faith. Weak faith
may not discern things clearly. Weak faith may not understand
things distinctly, but the object of faith is Christ the Lord.
Weak faith is sometimes vague and dim in perception, fearful
and fretting, but it is genuine faith. The disciples, when they
were out in that storm, the sea raging, Ship tossing
full of water. And they cried, Master, carest
thou not that we perish? Do you remember how the Lord
Jesus spoke to them? How is it that you have no faith? How many times he has spoken
those words to me? Don, how is it that you have
no faith? You believe God. You believe me. How is it that
you have no faith? When we're doubtful and weak
in faith, we don't see clearly whom we believe. We don't know
distinctly what we believe. And we cannot state plainly why
we believe. At such times, the thing that's
needed is faith. Faith. faith in the Redeemer
so that like Peter walking on the water, we quit looking at
the waves and the wind and the storm and most particularly ourselves. That's our biggest trouble, Bob.
We keep looking in here. We keep looking at ourselves.
Can't you imagine Peter? I'll guarantee you if I'd been
walking across that water that day, I'd have been saying, y'all
look at me too. And Peter began to sing. And
he cried, Master, save me, I perish. And the Lord took him by his
hand. And now Peter is as strong as God Almighty. God Almighty has taken him in
his hand. You remember what Paul said?
When I am weak, then am I strong. Why did the Lord put Peter through
that sieve to deny him three times, to crush him to nothing? Why did he do that? To make him
strong. To make him quit leaning on himself,
quit trusting in himself, quit believing in himself. and learn
to trust the Lord Jesus alone. Faith in Christ is the only real
relief there is for heart trouble. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace, the prophet said, whose mind is stayed on thee because
he trusteth in thee. Turn over to first Peter, first
Peter chapter five. Verse seven. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you,
lift you up in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he
careth for you. You remember our master's call.
He says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me and you shall find rest unto your souls. We come to him
in faith and he gives us rest and he says, now bow to me. Bow to me. He keeps making us
bow. He just, Skip Gladfelter, if
you're his, he's going to keep on making you bow to him. He's
going to do it. He's going to do it. He says,
take my yoke upon you. He's going to fix it so that
you willingly slip under his yoke. Because until you do, while
you're kicking against the pricks, you're constantly in pain. But
he says, take my yoke upon you and you shall find rest unto
your souls. We find ourselves in heart-wrenching
circumstances, and we're full of doubt, questioning God,
arguing with God, and mad at God. And then He graciously makes
us bow. Everything's all right now. Everything's
alright now! You'll find rest into your souls.
But only as He makes you bow. Well, He tells us to believe. That's our responsibility. Alan,
we must believe Him. We must believe Him. But we can't. How many times, my brother, my
sister, have you found yourself crying to God? Oh, God, I want to trust you. And you can't. You can't. And the fact is, you
can. unless God, the Holy Spirit,
at the moment, works faith in you. We are constantly, always dependent
upon Him, working in us, both to will and do of His good pleasure,
working in us to believe. We can say I will lift up mine
eyes to the hills from which cometh my help. People, when
I was in college, I haven't heard anybody say it or sing it in
a long time. I can, I will, I do believe. No, no. Lord, I can't believe
you. unless you give me grace to believe
you. I can't reach out and take hold of you, except you reach
out and take hold of me. I can't turn to you, except you
turn me, turn me, and I will run after you. All right, that's
the first thing. The only relief for troubled
heart is faith in Christ. Second, in verse two, we have
a sweet, comfortable description of heaven. and the blessed abode
that awaits us beyond the grave. Oh, what a home our eternal home
must be. We understand very little about
heaven. And the little we do understand
is cast more in negative terms than in positive. We know what
won't be there, no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sighing,
no more sickness, no more pain, no more death, for the former
things are passed away. But very little is stated about
what is there. Here our Lord Jesus tells us
four distinct, marvelous, precious things about heaven. In my Father's
house are many mansions. Now listen to this. If it were
not so, I would have told you. I wouldn't, I wouldn't let you
be deceived with it. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I wouldn't let you go on with a vain delusion, hoping
for the wind. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for
you. All right, here's the first thing.
Heaven is the father's house. in my Father's house. This is
that place our Savior speaks of when he speaks of God and
says, I go to my Father and to your Father. Heaven is our Father's
house. In other words, heaven is home. The home of Christ and his people.
Home. Oh, what a touching expression.
Home is the place The one place, the one place where we are loved
for our own sakes, not because of anything we contribute,
not because of anything we possess, not because of anything we do,
just cause we are. That's the one place, the one
place in the world where we're loved just for our own sakes. Is the place where we're always
loved and loved to the end. Home. Is the place where we've
never forgotten and always welcome. I tell you what I have not yet
experienced. I hope I never do that. What
I've never experienced. I have never yet looked up and
seen Doug faith or the grace or will. on the stoop of the
house back there and wish they weren't there. Didn't matter how sick I was,
how tired I was, or how much I had to do. I've never seen
their car driving up the driveway and said, oh, I wish they'd stayed
at home. Oh, no. Home is where we are always welcome,
always, never forgotten. We're in a strange land here. and heaven will be home forever. Heaven is a place of mansions,
mansions. Modern translations, I haven't
looked in a long time, but you can look for yourself. Best I
recall, they all translate this word mansions, dwelling places
or even less than that, abiding places, that the word means abiding
places. Well, there's a little, stoop
down underneath our stairs, a little closet down under the stairs.
Do you know a fella could actually live there? You could put your
bed in that thing and a sink in there and you could live there.
You could live there. I wouldn't want to, but you could. You could. It's kind of crowded
quarters, but you could live there. It could be a An abiding
place. You can put heat and air conditioning
in it and carpet on the floor and panel of the walls and paint
it up nice and put nice lights in there and a radio and a television
and you can live there. But who would want to? Who would
want to? That's not what our Lord's conveying
here. Just abiding place. Oh, no. Our
Father's house is a house of rich, lavish, spacious, ease
and comfort. Here we have no continuing city,
but when this house of clay is dissolved, this tent, this painful
abode for my soul, when this is taken down, then immediately
we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. here in this body, these temporary
lodgings, these tents. Let us never forget that they
must be broken down and the sooner the better." I said, well, you
don't really believe that. If you did, you wouldn't go through
surgery, go to the doctor and go through chemotherapy and radiation
or cobalt. You wouldn't do that. We have
a responsibility to exercise prudence, with measured care
to preserve life. The scriptures make that abundantly
clear. But don't misunderstand exercising
that responsibility with earnest, anxious anticipation for the
dissolving of this body. The sooner, the better. The sooner
the better. And I speak not as a man who
has something to escape. Never was a husband more loved
or a father more greatly loved by his family than this one.
I have nothing to escape from in this world except sin in myself. But the dissolving of this tabernacle
will be a welcome relief to my soul. Third, heaven is a place Of many mansions. Many mansions. Not just mansions, many of them. Enough of them for all God's
elect. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. Of all sorts. From every rank
and society. Black and white and yellow and
red. Learned and unlearned. All God's
elect. There's a man called Peter there. who denied the Lord. A man called
David there who murdered a faithful friend. There's a man there who redeemed
me. There's room in glory land for
all God's elect, multitudes of mansions, 144,000. And then the
apostle said, wait a minute now, 144,000, that's representing
all the host of Israel. The full number of all the tribes,
not one missing. But don't misunderstand, that's
144,000, that's a multitude that no man can number. It's 10,000
times 10,000. Thousands of thousands. Nobody can number this multitude.
Nobody except God who chose them. Heaven is a place It's called
home. It's a place of mansions, a place
of many mansions. But more than that, it is that
place that is prepared for us. It's the place where Christ himself
dwells. And he's not content to dwell
there alone. He said, where I am, there you
may be also. Look back in chapter 17. Chapter
17, verse 24. We should never imagine that
we're alone, not in this world, or that we shall be in the world
to come. We should never imagine that we're neglected. We're not.
Our Lord Jesus will have us with him forever. He says, Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given
me for thou lovest me. before the foundation of the
world. Oh, sweet, sweet consolation. The world, the unbelieving, the
skeptic, the scoffer, he may say, well, that's good enough
for the poor, ignorant, religious, old men and women who are full
of superstition. But there's nothing to that.
That's just a dream. That's the most substantial thing
there is. Eternity. Eternity with Christ. Now thirdly, and I've just got
to be brief, but I can't leave it here. Here is a solid expectation
of good things to come. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. Heaven is a place prepared for
us, for which we are prepared of God. A place prepared for
us, for which we are prepared of God. Our Savior prepared heaven
for us, procuring it with the merit of His blood, His obedience,
and His death. His obedience unto death is our
substitute, by which He fulfilled all righteousness and satisfied
justice for us as our mediator. He procured it for us as our
forerunner, who took possession of it in our name and in our
stead, with our names written on His breastplate as our high
priest. He prepares heaven for us. Procured
it for us and prepares it for us by His own presence there. Not only has our Lord prepared
heaven for us, He prepares us for heaven. Paul says, Colossians 1, 14, that He hath made us meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. By the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, God the Holy Spirit makes
every chosen redeemed center a new creature in Christ, makes
the center a partaker of the divine nature, creates in us
a holy thing that's prepared for heaven, and he will come
again. and receive us unto himself and
he will at that glorious second advent raise these bodies from
the dust and the very body as well as the soul and the heart
of every chosen sinner shall be fitted for glory forever. No wonder the master says, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. For 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 I will receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. Amen.