Heart Trouble and It's Remedy

Q: What does the Bible say about heart trouble?

The Bible identifies heart trouble as a universal human condition, emphasizing that belief in Jesus is the remedy. Heart trouble is a theme that runs throughout Scripture, highlighting the struggles and fears inherent to the human experience. In John 14:1, Jesus instructs His disciples to not let their hearts be troubled, indicating that everyone, without exception, faces heartache and anxiety stemming from both internal and external sources. This troubled state arises from various factors, including love, fear, sin, and our responses to the circumstances of life. The remedy for this heart trouble is faith—faith in God and belief in Jesus Christ. Jesus reassures His followers that belief in Him gives peace and assurance amid the struggles of life.

Q: How do we know faith in Jesus is the remedy for our troubles?

Faith in Jesus is the remedy, as He invites us to believe in Him for peace and reconciliation with God. Jesus explicitly states in John 14:1, 'You believe in God; believe also in me.' This declaration underscores that faith in Christ is not just a suggestion but a foundational truth that provides the remedy for our troubled hearts. Believing in Jesus means acknowledging Him as our mediator and intercessor before God, who reconciles us to the Father. In Hebrews 4:14-16, we learn that Christ, our Great High Priest, understands our weaknesses and is able to offer mercy and grace in our times of need. This assurance encourages us to approach God boldly rather than with fear. Through faith in Christ, we can combat the anxiety that comes from the awareness of our sinful state, as His righteousness covers us.

Q: Why is belief in Christ important for Christians?

Belief in Christ is essential for Christians because it reconciles us to God and provides eternal hope. For Christians, belief in Christ is pivotal as it directly affects their relationship with God. John 14:1 emphasizes that faith in Jesus alleviates heart trouble, which is a common human experience. Not only does faith in Christ offer the comfort of His presence during distressing times, but it also secures our place in God's eternal family. Furthermore, in Hebrews 9:24, it is explained that Christ serves as our mediator who offers His own blood for our redemption, thus fulfilling the requirements of God's justice. His role as High Priest ensures that we can approach God with confidence, having received forgiveness and acceptance through His sacrifice. Therefore, belief is not merely intellectual assent; it is the key to living in assurance of God's promises and eternal life.

Q: What does John 14 teach us about Jesus's role as our mediator?

John 14 teaches that Jesus is the mediator who provides peace and reconciliation between us and God. In John 14, Jesus speaks directly to His disciples at a time of great turmoil, revealing His role as their mediator. When He instructs them to believe in Him, He is affirming that He is the bridge between God and humanity. Jesus acts as the intercessor who understands our struggles and sinfulness while also representing us before the Father. This is further affirmed in Hebrews 4:14-16, where He is described as the Great High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and invites us to approach God’s throne of grace confidently. Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection provide the means by which we can have peace with God, and thus His role as mediator is fundamental to our faith and assurance as believers.

Without a doubt, that is one of the greatest hymns
ever written. I've heard a lot of hymns, and I would say it's one of the greatest hymns ever written. John Newton wrote that. All of
us should secure a copy of it and commit it to memory. The
third verse alone, content with beholding his face,
my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. with a sense of his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisons
with palaces proved, if the Lord Jesus would dwell with me there.
Oh, that's a great thing. Ronnie will make you a copy of
that, along with some more songs you'd like to have it, wouldn't
you? And you can play it as you drive
down the highway, and then you can sing it. Dear Lord, if indeed
I am thine, then why do I languish in pines? Why are my winters
so long? Drive these dark clouds from
my skies. Thy soul-cheering presence restore. If you don't do that, just take
me to thee on high, where winters and sorrows and suffering are no
more. That's a grave, you know. That just sure beats, I got a
mansion over the hilltop, doesn't it? John 14. Well, my son-in-law Bob and I
talked a little bit the other day about a sermon he heard on
the Good Samaritan this past week, and he whetted my appetite.
And I've studied the Samaritan, and tonight, Bob, I'm going to
preach on the Samaritan. I couldn't get away from looking
at that story. So that's tonight's message on
the Samaritan. But this morning, John 14. John
14. Let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. One of the old preachers and
writers of many years ago said the real problem is heart trouble. The real problem is heart trouble.
That's what we've all got. We've all got heart trouble.
And the only remedy for heart trouble is faith. Let not your
heart be troubled. You do believe in God. believe
also in me. That's the remedy for a troubled
heart. Now there may be along the way
aches and pains, and there will be during this life good times
and bad times, and there'll be success and failure. But these
are all to be expected. Nothing unusual. Aches and pains
and good times and bad times and success and failure. But that which causes us most
problems, most difficulty, is our heart trouble. Heart trouble. Heart trouble is the most common
thing in the world. Everybody has heart trouble.
And it's partly caused from inward things and from outward things
also. It's partly from what we love
and partly from what we hate. Our heart trouble is partly from
what we cherish and partly from what we fear. Our heart trouble is caused partly
from what we do and partly from what we don't do. It's caused partly from the body
and partly from the mind, partly from the emotions, partly from
ourselves and partly from others. But the journey of life is full
of heart trouble. Heart trouble. In this one chapter,
our Lord mentions it twice. Verse 1, let not your heart be
troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. But I tell you this, heart trouble
is the lot of every son of Adam and every daughter, and no rank
or class or condition is exempt from heart trouble. No bars or bolts or locks can
keep it out. heart trouble. But I tell you,
my friends, there is a remedy. Our Lord said in verse 1, chapter
14, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, you believe
in God, believe also in me. Here's the remedy. Let not your
heart be troubled, believe. Believe. is the remedy for a
broken heart, the remedy for a troubled heart, the remedy
for a distressed heart, the remedy for a fearful heart, believe
in me." Now, there's no chapter division between chapter 13 and
14. It's unfortunate that this division
is there. Let's just pretend it's not there,
and go back up to verse 36 of chapter 13, right above Chapter 14, verse 36. Now, our
Lord had watched the disciples speak. He had met with them at
this table, and he was talking to them about what to expect,
what this life would hold for them. He said, I'm leaving you.
I'm going back to the Father. And he tells them what to expect,
and what they would what they would encounter here on this
earth. And verse 36, Simon Peter said
to him, Lord, whither goest thou? And Jesus answered and said to
him, Whither I go, you cannot follow now, but you shall follow
afterwards. And Peter said, Lord, why cannot
I follow thee now? I lay down my life for your sake. Jesus answered him, lay down
thy life for my sake." Will you? Truly, truly, verily, verily,
I say unto you, the cock shall not crow till you've denied me
three times, Peter. But let not your heart be troubled. The Lord was seeing to be crucified
and leave them. He told them they'd all be offended
because of him. They would all forsake him. They'd
all be afraid. They'd run. That one of them
would betray him. That one of them would sell him
for thirty pieces of silver. And then he said to his inner
circle spokesman, Simon Peter. There he is, talking again. I've been bit by that bug all
my life. He's talking when he ought to
have been listening. Why, he said, I'll never, I'll never
leave you. I'd lay down my life for you. He said, would you,
Peter? Why, he said, the cops won't
crow three times till you've denied me. Three times. Cock won't crow if you've denied
me three times. And then he told them that the
world would hate them. He told them that their idea
of a kingdom, they had an idea of an earthly kingdom. One of
them was going to sit on his right hand, one on his left,
James and John thought. He told them that their idea
of an earthly kingdom and personal fame and glory was contrary to
God's purpose. He told them that the world would
hate them, and the fellow that killed them would think he's
doing God a favor? My, they were troubled. They
were troubled at what he had said, and they were troubled
at their response, and they were troubled at what was ahead for
them. And that's when he says, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. He's not
asking them if they believe in God. That's not at all what he's
saying. He's not asking, do you believe in God? He's saying,
you do believe in God. You do believe in God, don't
you? You do believe in God, don't you? Sure you do. I can say that
to everybody here this morning. You believe in God. You believe
in God. Then he says, believe also in
me. Believe also in me, and believing
in me as your mediator, believing in me as your intercessor, believing
in me as the one whom God sent to bring you to God, to reconcile
you to God, then you don't have any cause to be troubled about
God and about your failures and about your sins. See, turn with
me to Hebrews 4. Let me show you that over here
in Hebrews 4. You see what I'm saying here?
Turn to Hebrews 4 with me. Hold John 14, I'm coming back.
But Hebrews 4, this is so important here. Here are these disciples. They're
just folks like you and me, folks like you and me. They had visions
of grandeur, they had dreams of kingdoms, and they had dreams
of success and power and success themselves. And here
the Lord just takes a foundation up, just shows them what they
are. He just said, you'll all be offended, you'll all forsake
me, and you'll all be confused, and you'll all go your separate
ways, and one of you will sell out. And Peter said, I won't.
He said, you'll be the one that denies me three times. And they
were troubled. Now he says, even be in what
you are, and God's greatness and holiness
and righteousness and power, don't let your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, you know the holiness of God, the majesty
of God, the truth of God, and you know your own failures and
But you believe in God, believe in me, because I'm going to take
you to God. I'm going to hold the hand of
God and hold your hand. I'm going to reconcile you to
God. I'm going to take away the fear of death and the fear of
sin and the fear of hell and the fear of condemnation and
reconcile you to God. Let me show you that. Hebrews
4, verse 13. that's not manifest in God's
sight. All things are naked and open
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Now, let me pause
here a minute. There's not any of us this morning,
we've got clothes on and all to cover our shame and our nakedness
and our scars and our wrinkles and our oldness and our, you
know, this covers We look pretty decent, but if we didn't have
these clothes on, we'd look pretty indecent. And the same thing about our
minds and our thoughts. There's thoughts going through
my mind today that I wouldn't want to share with you. There's
feelings that have gone through my soul that I wouldn't want
to share with you. I cover them. I cover them. And I don't want
people to know what I think and what I feel and what I do if
it wasn't for God's grace and what I covet and my complaints
against the providence of God. I cover that, too, just like
I cover this flesh. And I can hide that from you,
but I can't hide that from him. That's what he's saying here. Everything's naked before the
eyes of him with whom we have to do. It's appointed unto me and once
denied after that, have to do, have to do, have to do. See? Judgment. It's all naked. So that brings me, I'm troubled.
I give me heart trouble. That gives me heartache, makes
me scared, makes me fearful, makes me afraid to die, makes
me afraid to face God in the judgment, makes me fearful. All right, listen. Verse 14 now, Hebrews 4, saying
then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the
heavens. Who is he? Jesus, the Son of
God. Let's hold fast our profession. We don't have anything to fear.
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. He knows what we are. He knows
we're flesh. He took this flesh. He knows
this flesh. He was tested, tipped in all
parts as we are, yet without sin. He became a man. Our high
priest is not some angelic messenger. He's the son of man, made of
a woman. He thirsted, he wearied, he wept. He knew all of this flesh. He
knows what you are and what's appealing to you. He's been there. He was in all points tempted
as we are yet without sin. So let us therefore come. Let's come. How? Boldly. Not troubled, not scared, not
reluctant. Boldly. Where? To the thrones.
Oh boy, I don't belong there to you. Not naked I don't, but clothed in His righteousness
I do. Come on, come on bolder to the
throne that we may obtain mercy, mercy, mercy for the miserable,
grace for the guilty, salvation for the sinner, mercy, and find
grace to help us in our time of need. In fact, Hebrews 4 is
what he's saying here in John 14. Let not your heart be troubled.
He just shown them, tell them what they are and what to expect. And Peter rose up and said, I'll
do this. He said, sit down, you're the worst of all. Well, y'all pray for me, I'll
keep on keeping on. Sit down, you're the worst of
all. Well, I just gave my life to Jesus 20 years ago and I've
been on the firing line ever since. Sit down, you're the worst
of all. That's right. That's what he said. Sit down,
Peter. Hush your mouth. You're going to deny me just
three, not once, not twice, but three times. So just shut up.
Let not your heart be troubled. How good our God is. You believe
in God? Oh, I tell you, I know the scriptures. I know what the scripture says
about God. Holy and reverent is his name.
He's righteous and just. He will not clear the guilty.
Even the seraphims of glory cover their faces in his presence.
Even Moses couldn't look on him and live. He dwelleth in a life
to which no man can approach. Even his son was deserted and
forsaken when sin was found in him, not his but ours. Martin Luther said nothing to
do with an absolute God. You want nothing to do with God
apart from a mediator. How can any person even think,
even imagine, even consider standing in his presence, of whom it is
said, who shall stand in his presence,
he that hath clean hands and a pure heart. A pure heart? who's never lifted his soul to
vanity, who's never sworn deceitfully. David said, God, if you should
mark iniquity, who could stand it? Stephen Sharnock said this,
God apart from Christ, God apart from a mediator, God apart from
the high priest, is nothing but an angry, offended, holy sovereign. And that's it. Unless we can
behold him and approach him in and through his own chosen mediator,
the terrors of his majesty, holiness, and his presence will overwhelm
you and me. I don't belong there to you in
God's presence. God said the best of men the best of men, is only vanity. That's one thing that a person,
before he comes to faith in Christ, he'll come to a realization of
his own unworthiness and inability. Now, that's just so. He doesn't
belong there. David said, Who am I and what
is my house that God should take note of me? D'Arcy and I were
driving up in West Virginia a few days ago. We were coming back
from visiting our son, Paul. And I said, let's go the old
route. Let's don't go the four lane, the interstate. Let's get
on old 60, Clifton Forge and drive old 60 and see what we
used to look at when we drove over that way. And I said, we'll
go by the green bar. And we'll have lunch at the Greenbrier
Hotel. Anybody know where the Greenbrier
is? Anybody know what the Greenbrier is? Cheapest room there is higher
than you've ever paid. But anyway, we got to the Greenbrier. And it's not just Days Inn, you
know, sitting on the side of the road. You turn off and go
between the hedges. Monumental markers at the gate. And I started driving up that
long road up to the green bar and passed all these limousines
and folks around, you know. And I got up where you make the
turn and come to the front with all those columns. And there
stood a big fella with white gloves on, you know, and a uniform
with gold brass buttons or something, you know. And he was parking
somebody's limousine, helping them out. And I turned the doors
and I said, we don't belong here. We don't belong here. Let's go
on down to Wendy's where we belong. That's just so. I don't belong
there. That's out of my class. And I'll tell you about the presence
of God. I don't belong there. That's out of my class. Now then,
if one who does belong there, one who does, one who owns it, should come out and get me, and give me his name and his
nature and his rights and his wealth and his glory, I'll walk
right in there. I say, Old Henry's here. That's
right. He's here, because he belongs
here. And that's what this is all about. We dare not try to
stand before his presence except in Christ. That's what I'm saying. Christ, did you believe in God?
Believe in me. We dare not look upon his holiness
except in Christ. We dare not hope to be admitted
except in Christ, into his secret chambers, into his family room,
into his grace and mercy, into his arms. I don't belong there. And I'll tell you this, at sixty-six,
after preaching forty-two years the gospel of grace, I realize
more than ever before, I don't belong there. And I haven't made any improvement
on getting there. In fact, I honestly feel less
worthy than I did 42 years ago when I started this journey.
I really know I don't belong there now. Not by nature, not
by birth, not by practice. But I tell you, He made me worthy.
That's where it is. And see, that's what the whole
Old Testament priesthood is all about. Turn to Hebrews 9, let
me show you, that's what it's all about. Hebrews chapter 9,
if you can get a hold of this, you can get a hold of the gospel.
Hebrews 9, this is what it's all about. He talked about that high priest
going into the holy of holies, Hebrews 9. Verse 7, into the
second went the high priest alone. Once every year, not anybody
could go there but that high priest, and not without blood,
which he offered for himself and the heirs of the people.
That's where God's presence was in that Holy of Holies. The Holy
Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was
not yet made manifest while that first tabernacle was standing,
which is a figure for the time then present, in which were offered
gifts and sacrifices that couldn't make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience, because these things
stood only in meats and drinks, and different baptisms and carnal
ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation, the
time of Christ. But Christ being come, a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not that Old
Testament building. And neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the whole
place, having obtained eternal addiction for us. For if the
blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled
and unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without stop to God, purged your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. And for this cause
he is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death,
by the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
Do you believe in God? Believe in me. Now look at the
next, back to our text. wind her down right here. In
my Father's house, whose house is it? My Father's house. I'm
talking about the Father's house. Are many mansions, and the word
there is dwelling places. There's many, there's room for
all of you. Don't pay any attention to these
preachers who have a small idea of God and of His grace. There's room at the cross for
you. And there's room in glory. There's
many dwelling places. Many dwelling places. And they're
places. They're real. Now if it were
not so, I would have told you. And I go to prepare a place for
you. I go to Jerusalem. I go to the
cross. I go to the tomb. I go to heaven.
I go to the holy place. I go to the right hand of God.
That's where I go to prepare a place. I hear folks say, Jesus Christ
has been up there 2,000 years preparing heaven. No, he hasn't
been up there seated at the right hand of the Father, reigning
in power. He prepared heaven when he died
on that cross with Mary and Rosie, and he prepared you for heaven.
I'll prepare a place for you and you for the place. Now, if
I go and prepare a place, I'll come again and receive you unto
myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I
go, you know, and the way you know. And Thomas said, Lord,
we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? How
can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I'm the
way. I'm the way. I'm the way. And I'm the truth. And I'm the
life. And that's three things Adam
lost in the garden. When he fell, he lost truth.
He believed the lie. God said he didn't believe. He
lost life. He died spiritually. He lost
the way. God put him out. And in Christ,
it's all been restored. Come. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the light.

Heart Trouble and It's Remedy

What does the Bible say about heart trouble?

How do we know faith in Jesus is the remedy for our troubles?

Why is belief in Christ important for Christians?

What does John 14 teach us about Jesus's role as our mediator?

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Heart Trouble and It's Remedy

What does the Bible say about heart trouble?

How do we know faith in Jesus is the remedy for our troubles?

Why is belief in Christ important for Christians?

What does John 14 teach us about Jesus's role as our mediator?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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