Let not your heart be troubled

[0:00] let's turn in our Bibles to the chapter of God's word which we read, the Gospel of John, chapter 14.

[0:11] And as God would help us, I'd like to concentrate on the first verse, verse 1. Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 1.

[0:26] Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. The disciples at this point are very, very disturbed at what Christ has just told them.

[0:50] The news, the information which Christ had just revealed to them, had actually shaken them in their faith.

[1:02] They were unsettled in their convictions. And that is not good. So Christ gives them this word, this word of comfort.

[1:15] Let not your hearts be troubled at the news I've just given to you. The disciples were, you can say, understandably troubled and distressed.

[1:29] But you see, it is one thing to be disturbed and confused. It is quite another thing to waver in your faith.

[1:44] There's a big, huge difference. We can be confused. We can be troubled. But we must never waver in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:00] The bottom line in Christianity is always faith. It's John Calvin who apparently said, If we have no troubles, if there are no dilemmas in life, if there are no problems, then there is no rule for faith.

[2:24] And the way to heaven is by faith. When there are problems, when there are difficulties, when you can't see the way forward, that's the occasion to exercise faith.

[2:41] It's a religion of faith, not works, is our Christianity. Now, as we said, be disturbed, be confused, but that should never lead us to skepticism regarding the things of God.

[3:03] But that was the situation here. What Christ had just said to them, not only confused them and troubled them, but it made them waver in their confidence in Christ.

[3:18] And that is not a good thing. But we should learn that God will reveal nothing to us to weaken our faith.

[3:30] It's because there's still so much of the flesh, so much of the natural man, that we waver in our faith. God and Christ reveals things to us for our good, so that we'll be ready and prepared for what's in the future.

[3:49] It's because he loves us, it's so that we can be prepared and ready for what's to come that the Lord God makes known to us what is about to happen.

[4:03] Times and distress are times to exercise faith. And you see, we should never, ever let what we do not understand affect what we do understand.

[4:22] Never, ever let what you do not know influence what you do know. It's an important principle and it applies not just in the religious realm, but in every realm of life.

[4:39] Never let what you don't know affect what you do know. I think it's Lord Bacon, I remember hearing, I think he was, I don't know, was he a politician or a poet, but apparently he said, never, ever let the uncertainties of life rob you of the certainties of life.

[5:06] How much more appropriate in the Christian faith. Never let what you're uncertain of rob you of what you're certain of.

[5:18] Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has eternal life.

[5:34] Whatever you don't understand. God in his wisdom has chosen what's to be revealed and we are to trust him.

[5:45] And if he doesn't reveal something, we're still to trust him. And if he reveals to us something that unsettles our natural mind, we should still have confidence in Christ because he's revealed it to us not to disturb us, not to worry us.

[6:05] He's revealed it to us so that we'll be ready and prepared when these things come to face us. So, we ask first, what was it that Christ said that disturbed them and confused them and upset them?

[6:24] Well, there's three things he said that put them in this condition. First of all, they were very sad because Christ has just said in the previous chapter, chapter 13, verse 33, I am going to leave you.

[6:47] You have to carry on the rest of the work without me being beside you. Without me being here, I am going to leave you.

[6:59] You have to be here, as it were, on your own. Now, it was perfectly natural that they would miss his company and be sad. Perfectly natural.

[7:12] But we're trying to talk about the spiritual. Natural to be sad, but we must never make it question, does God love us?

[7:23] Is God good? You should never question these things. It's natural to. But we Christians, aren't we supposed to be spiritual?

[7:35] Knowing that God only does good. So that's the first thing he said that troubled them. I'm going to leave you. Second thing, not only were they sad, but they were ashamed of themselves.

[7:55] Embarrassed beyond measure and absolutely ashamed of themselves. You see, Jesus Christ had just washed their feet when they should have washed his feet.

[8:15] The roles were completely reversed. Now, when someone arrives at your house, at your door, oh, you say, welcome, come in, give me your hat, give me your cotton, come in.

[8:27] In the East, in Bible times, what they did, there's a bowl, there's water, there's a towel, and let me wash your feet from walking on the dusty road.

[8:41] They'd forgotten to do that to the Son of God. and they were ashamed and Christ washed their feet.

[8:55] The roles should have been completely reversed. So they were ashamed of themselves. They felt so low, they felt just so embarrassed.

[9:08] But it's really the third thing that was so distressing. He said, there's two things actually, two further things Jesus said that distressed them so much.

[9:20] The first was, Peter. Peter will deny me. Now, if he had said, Simon will deny me, well, doubting.

[9:38] Sorry, if he had said, Thomas will deny me, well, doubting Thomas. Don't expect it a lot better from him. But Peter, Peter, the rock, the first to stand up for Christ, the first to speak for Christ, the first, the one, the leader, you could say, the spokesman, he will deny Christ.

[10:08] They could not imagine it. And that made them waver. That made them, that made them very, very uneasy. And then there was the other thing Christ went on to say.

[10:26] There they are, around the table, having a meal, and Jesus said, one of you will betray me.

[10:40] One of you putting their hand in the dish, I'm putting my hand in, one of you will betray me. Do you see what was unnerving them?

[10:58] It made them waver in their faith. Natural to be upset, but wavering in faith?

[11:09] That should not happen to us if we're spiritually properly exercised. But you see, they would have been saying, look, if Peter, if Peter, the spokesman, if he denies us, well, is there such a thing as faith?

[11:29] If one of the inner twelve, if one of them betrays, hey, we can't trust anyone. We can't go on with this.

[11:43] If Christ, if he, he talks about this being crucified and dying and leaving us, we can't cope without him. And that really, that really did unnerve them.

[12:03] Well, what does he say to comfort them? What's the, what's Christ's remedy?

[12:13] remedy? We've looked at the disciples' problem. What is Christ's remedy when they began to waver in their faith and become so unsettled?

[12:26] Well, here it is. There's four things I'd like to look at which he says to them. Number one, when he says, let not your hearts be troubled, here's the advice, believe in God.

[12:40] Believe in God. God. Now, if you do not believe in God, you have every right to be troubled.

[12:52] Every right to be troubled if you do not believe in God. But listen, if you believe in God, if you believe in God, there's no mileage in questioning what God's doing, if you believe in God, you need not fear.

[13:17] Yes, you can be confused. Yes, you may be surprised. But you've nothing to fear if you believe in God.

[13:29] Now, actually, the original is better translated as far as those who study Greek tell us.

[13:42] It might be better translated, you continue believing in God. You believe in God already. Continue it.

[13:55] Continue believing in God. Continue trusting. God has power to overrule the situation that's coming that you're so worried about.

[14:08] Continue believing in God's wisdom. He does know what he's doing. Am I right? Are you like me? So often we say, Lord, what were you doing?

[14:20] Why did you do that? But it's wrong to question the wisdom of God. And he's saying here, look, continue believing in God.

[14:33] God. We might think, well, nobody can get us out of this mess we're heading for. Oh, yes, God can. Oh, but it's a bad move. It's not.

[14:45] God knows what he's doing. You say, but it's not going to be good. Oh, yes, continue believing in God's goodness. Continue believing in his power. Continue believing in his wisdom.

[14:57] Continue believing in his goodness. you believe in God. But it's probably the second part that causes it's most helpful and most interesting.

[15:15] Believe also in me. Did the disciples not believe in him already? Of course they did.

[15:28] But once again, of course, what he's saying is continue believing in me. I'm not going to be with you down here, but continue believing in me up there.

[15:41] There's that, but there's also something else. Surely there's something else. When he says, believe also in me, is he not really saying, look, you see, he's addressing Jews who never had any problem about God the Father.

[16:01] The real question for Jewish Christians was, is Jesus Christ God the Son? That was the question. But he says, so he's really saying here, is he not, believe in me, the Son, the way you believe in God the Father.

[16:22] you see, the Father is invisible. The Father has no body. The Father never came to earth to visit them.

[16:38] And yet, their faith was not wavering in the Father. They were wavering in the Son. Could he be the Messiah?

[16:49] He's going to leave us in this mess, facing this predicament without him. You see, the Father doesn't have a body.

[17:00] And the Father never came to be with them. The disciples were making all this fuss about not having Jesus with them in the flesh.

[17:10] flesh. They wanted his flesh beside them. They wanted his skin and bones to be beside them.

[17:21] And the Savior saw, hey, they're putting far too much confidence in my skin and my bones and my flesh. Do you remember Peter's confession?

[17:35] Where is it? Matthew 16, isn't it? When Jesus said to them, who do you say that I am? Matthew 16, 16, isn't it?

[17:51] Ah, yeah. Simon Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven.

[18:14] Do you find yourself saying, look, I could easily believe in Jesus if I just saw him, like the disciples saw him. If his flesh and blood was beside me, I'd have no problem being a Christian.

[18:27] Don't kid yourself. There were plenty, plenty people who followed Christ for a while, who saw his flesh flesh and blood, who did not believe in him to the saving of their souls.

[18:49] Flesh and blood, even the flesh and blood of Christ, does not reveal these things to a soul, but my Father who is in heaven.

[19:04] It's the Father who reveals the true nature of the Son to us. So my friend, if you are here tonight and you really believe that Christ is the Savior, the Messiah, the Christ, sent from God, is God the Father who has revealed it to you.

[19:27] Not flesh and blood. Not a special minister. elder. Not a special elder. Not a special Christian friend you've got.

[19:40] The power is the power of God the Father or God the Holy Spirit to be more precise. It's the Spirit that does that work, revealing it.

[19:52] Now, he's saying, believe in me. You Jews, you believe in me when my body is away from you as you believe in God the Father who doesn't have a body.

[20:08] You have no problem believing in God the Father, but because I had a body, because I had skin and bones and flesh, and that skin and bones and flesh is not with you personally, you're nervous and worried, but I'm the same up in heaven.

[20:26] Continue putting your trust in me when my flesh and blood is not with you down here on earth.

[20:39] Believe in the Father. Believe in the Son. The third words of comfort to disturbed disciples, believe in heaven, my Father's house.

[20:58] my Father's house. Believe in heaven. There is such a place, and I'm going to prepare a place for you there.

[21:12] I'm going to prepare, there's many rooms there, and I'm going to prepare a place there exactly suitable for your position.

[21:23] Designer made for you. I remember being given a holiday by a good Christian friend who paid for a holiday.

[21:36] He said, there's a lovely little cottage down by the sea. He says, I've paid for a week's holiday for it. Just go there and enjoy it.

[21:47] It's magnificent, he said. Well, Isabel and I went, it was beautiful. It was lovely. Beautiful house. The very, very best of material.

[22:02] I went into, went into the bedroom, lay on the bed. Wonderful, very, very expensive bed.

[22:13] But wait a minute, my feet were a way out over the entrance. It was too small. Best of material, but not designer made for me.

[22:26] When entered the bathroom, you should have seen the units. I went to shave. The mirror lasted about there on me. Wonderful stuff, beautiful, but not made for me.

[22:42] Not designer made, not tailor made for me. Jesus says here, I'm going to prepare a place. Designer made for you in my father's house.

[23:00] Believe in it. It's comforting. It's strengthening. Believe in it. There is such a place. I'm sure you've heard the term utopia.

[23:16] Do you know what it actually means, the word utopia? It's a Greek word meaning no place. Apparently it came from a book which was written by Sir Thomas Moore way back in 1516.

[23:33] And he wrote this book about an imaginary island. There was no death. There was no suffering.

[23:44] pain. There was no pain. There was no wild animals on the island. There was no storms on the island.

[23:55] Everything was just perfect. And he entitled it No Such Place. It's a lie.

[24:07] There is such a place and it's called heaven. And if you trust Christ, you're going there. It's all ready for you.

[24:18] Designer made. In my father's house are many rooms and I'm going to prepare a place exactly fitting for you.

[24:34] Everyone individually. there's a crown being prepared for every believer.

[24:46] Every individual believer has a crown prepared for him and that crown will fit no one's head but yours.

[24:59] I'm going to prepare all these things exactly for you. there is such a place and it was bought with the blood of Jesus.

[25:17] I often think, you know, there's a verse, wait a minute, the previous chapter, does it not begin? Yes, the previous chapter, 13, verse 1.

[25:29] Before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

[25:45] I often think of that. He loved them before the world began and then he comes to earth. He goes to the cross and he goes through the agonies of crucifixion and as he's going through the agonies of crucifixion he must have said something like who am I going through all this for?

[26:12] What am I suffering all? Who am I suffering this for? And then he meets them when he comes to earth. He meets them. He must have been saying these people when they were discussing it in the past eternity Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[26:33] And when they were discussing where you go, are you prepared to go and suffer all that for them? Here they are. Here are your people. And he meets them. Are they lovely?

[26:44] Are they the cream of the earth? Are we wretched ones of the dust we are? And yet he loved us. Having begun to love us, he loved us to the end.

[27:03] Even after he met us. Even after he discovered what we were like. Even after we let him down. Having been saved and regenerated, we still let him down.

[27:19] But having loved us, having begun to love us, he continued to love us right to the end. I think we mentioned in the morning what to be Christ-like.

[27:34] He loved us to the very end. Let us continue loving him to the very end. Looking forward to that joy that was set before him, Christ endured a cross.

[27:49] Looking forward to showing you your room in heaven. Showing you that place he's prepared for you. That kept him going. Will it not keep us going?

[28:02] Will it not keep us being faithful? In my father's house are many rooms designer made for you individually.

[28:16] Believe in God. Believe in me. Thirdly, believe in heaven. And finally, believe in the gospel.

[28:32] I verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way. See, there's Thomas asking, Lord, show us the way.

[28:48] You know, Jesus does not show us the way to heaven. He says, I'm the way. just come to me. Just depend on me. Just believe in me.

[29:01] That's the gospel. You know, heaven is a wonderful thought. The older you get, you know, the more you think of it.

[29:14] the more you think of it. Not everyone is going to heaven, though. But listen, without exception, exception, without exception, everyone who believes in Christ is going to heaven, without exception.

[29:40] Without the gospel, we have nothing. Without the gospel, there's no hope. There's no real love.

[29:53] There's no future. without the gospel. But we have the gospel. We have the gospel. Come to me. You say, what is, what exactly is the gospel?

[30:11] The gospel is a, well, the way I like to define the gospel is, it's a genuine offer from God to all people everywhere.

[30:25] a genuine offer from God to all people everywhere. A genuine offer of instant forgiveness for confessing your sin and trusting Christ to take you to heaven.

[30:46] That's a bargain. Is there a, well, talk about, talk about Black Friday offers. Here's an offer Christ is making you.

[30:58] He's saying to every single person here, you give me your sins eternal life.

[31:12] That's the offer that Christ makes in the gospel. Believe in it. You give me your sins, he says, and I will give you in exchange eternal life.

[31:29] And no one, no one is able to pluck you out of my hand. That is the gospel. It's what you depend on.

[31:42] It's what you believe. It's not what you don't understand. It's not what confuses you. It's what you put your trust in. And in the gospel crisis, put your trust in me.

[31:55] I am the way. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.

[32:08] In my Father's house are many rooms. If that was not the case, would I have said, I'm going to prepare a designer made place for you in glory.

[32:24] I am the way. May God, the Holy Spirit, make his word effectual to every one of us.

[32:37] Let's bow our heads.