Prescribed Portion for Troubled Hearts

I'll read our sermon passage, which is verse 1 of John 14.! I read this trusting that it's God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, sufficient, powerful word for you and for me.

John 14, 1. The words of Jesus Christ. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God.

Believe also in me. The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. O living God, three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise you for your faithfulness, Lord, for your covenant kindness to your people.

We thank you for how you have spoken. You've revealed yourself through Jesus Christ for how all of the scriptures testify of him and for how your Holy Spirit ministers Christ to your people.

Every single one from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. Lord, that you give the gift of faith to see Christ. Lord, that you give the gift of God. To hear the good news. To hear the good news. To respond to the voice of the chief shepherd of our souls.

We pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit will help Pastor Chris Ewell as he ministers Christ to us today. We pray that your Holy Spirit will also help us, Lord, to receive Christ.

To pay attention to the words that we're receiving, Lord, as they're words from you. We pray that your word, Lord, will burn in our hearts.

And that we'll be able to grow and be sustained in our faith because you are the one who purchased your people. You're the one who made us right. And you are the one who has committed yourself to sanctifying us until you present us complete and perfect in Christ at the great day when he comes again.

We long for this day, Lord. And until then, we trust that even receiving this sermon today is one of the means you will use to fulfill your promises. Please do this, Lord. For Christ's sake we pray.

Amen. It is a rich blessing to be with you this morning to minister God's word to you. A rich blessing from the one who tenderly loves his sheep.

And so may our eyes be fixed upon the great and glorious shepherd of our souls this morning, our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you would fix your eyes upon our text this morning.

John 14, verse 1. If you don't mind, I'd like to pray again. Father, our glorious God. God, you are merciful.

You are gracious. God, our hearts tremble before your holiness. And Father, let us consider your holiness this morning.

We would consider your great and glorious nature. That we would consider your sovereign providences. That the trials and tribulations that you have given us in our life, we want to thank you for them.

For they have grown us. They have matured us. And they have allowed us to fix our eyes upon you. The author and perfecter of our faith.

So I just pray for us this morning, O God. That your word would cut us like a two-edged sword. Going down to the very bone and marrow of who we are.

That you would teach us and rebuke us and correct us. And convict us and convict us and train us in righteousness. Oh, Father, we thank you, God, for this divinely appointed means of grace that you have given us.

The preaching of your word. The listening of your word. And all of us engaged together in unified spirit. To learn and grow in the gospel of grace.

And we say this in the name of Christ. Amen. In our text this morning in John 14, verse 1. It says, Do not let your heart be troubled.

Believe in God. Believe also in me. The word of God also reads in Psalms 27, verse 5. For in the day of trouble, He will conceal me in His tabernacle.

In the secret place of His tent, He will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. And we are welcomed into the Holy of Holies this morning.

In our passage. To gaze upon the glorious love of our Savior toward His covenant children. Even reminding us in John 13, verse 1.

Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world. He loved them to the end.

So at this family tuck, Christ is gathering in this upper room. His eleven. Judas has already left. And He's loving those that are His.

He's loving them all the way to the end. So whatever we read in chapters 14, 15, and 16, from this point forward, in the upper room discourse, you must come through the archway, through the gate, through this door.

that everything is part of Christ loving His own. And loving them all the way to the end. I mean, there are dark hours on the horizon for the eleven who love the Lord.

He has just revealed this at the end of chapter 13. Three shocking realities. First, He has told them that one of them will betray Him. Chapter 13, verse 21. Truly, truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.

Second, He has equated glory with the suffering of His cross. In verse 31. Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. For our Lord Jesus, the unimaginable sufferings of the cross are but a few short hours away.

Remember, they are to Him unimaginable trials and sufferings. He has told them that He was going away and that He could not follow at the present moment. And third, He's just told Peter that He would deny Him three times.

Verse 38. Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times. And so He knows that all the other disciples will even desert Him in His final hours.

For if you strike the shepherd, the sheep will scatter. Added to the emotional turmoil that the disciples felt, they had been shamed. Just a few moments later, walking to the upper room, they were having a discussion about who would be the greatest.

Pride was filling their heart. They were even shamed by their prideful refusal to wash each other's feet, which prompted our loving Savior to stoop down to the servant position.

So what will He do now? Well, He does what He always has done. And He will always do for you and I. He begins to minister the grace of God to their deeply troubled and deeply confused hearts.

And if there is ever one thing that we need to understand and grasp regarding this farewell discourse, it is this, that as our Lord Jesus analyzes the needs of His little children, His covenant children, as you will see at the end of chapter 13, as He, as the covenant head of His family, seeks to minister to them and understand what is pressing their need, what is it do you think that He does in the last hour before His death?

What He does is He does in the following chapters, chapters 14, 15, and 16, and a closing prayer for them in 17, He sees the depth of their troubled heart.

He sees the pressing need that is consuming them. And what does our Lord Jesus Christ now do? He does something very remarkable. It's in this really dark hour that He gives to them really the clearest light.

And all that He now says, in essence, He is saying this, sink your lives into the Holy Trinity as you trust in the grace of the triune God, into the glory of the triune God.

Fix your eyes upon the glory of Christ. It is the glory of the triune God into the mystery of the triune God.

For your great need this morning is to discover who God is. To be reminded of who God is. Now that would become increasingly clear as you are reminded of the Upper Room Discourse.

I'm sure most of you have read it. But the principle lying behind our Lord's teaching is a principle that we greatly need to understand for our own spiritual good. and its significance of grasping the importance of the doctrine of God.

Knowing God will do more for your troubles in your life as a Christian than anything else. Knowing the will of God will do more for your life and the tribulations than anything else will.

Knowing God will do more for the mortification of your sin than anything else. exploring the height and the breadth and the depth of the grandeur of God's ontological nature.

The glory of God. The attributes of God. The incarnation of Christ. Knowing and understanding from Genesis 3, 15 onward is the work of the covenant of grace on your behalf.

Knowing God and His redemptive covenant will do more for impacting how you live in this world than anything else. And that is Jesus' significant ministry to His disciples really at this critical time in their lives.

It is as if He's taking them by the hand in these chapters and saying, let me take you and explore with you the depths of the triunity of God. Now these opening words of John chapter 14 as you know have brought untold comfort and help to Christians throughout the ages especially Christians going through hard and distressing times.

Actually, the Puritan John Owen says this about verse 1. He says, quote, no other verse has helped me more to understand that a sense of God's presence and love is sufficient to rebuke all anxiety and fears and to calm the troubles and to give me in the midst of turmoil a solid consolation and joy.

And so Jesus' disciples are troubled. And Jesus is going to give them a remedy for a troubled heart as well as ours.

He's going to tell them that they have a prescribed proportion given to them. And what is true for them is true for all believers today. And we're going to note three things as we consider together this singular verse as our focus is upon this portion of the upper room.

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His weary saints. And the first is the sovereign appointment of sorrows in the saints. And the second we will go to the solemn command of Christ towards struggling saints.

And then third we will strengthen our gaze toward the triune God for you the saint. So we see first the sovereign appointment of sorrows in the saints.

Look at verse 1 with me beloved. Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God and believe also in me.

And let us remind ourselves that we need to be careful with a passage like this because it's just this kind of passage that we're so familiar with. Often spoken at funerals especially verses 2 and 3.

And rightly so but often with familiar passages we can read over them carelessly. And in the type of passage that really requires for us to place our tent here and to really ask ourselves what is Christ commanding us to do?

What is He supplying to obey the command? I mean Christ not only commands us to obey but He also gives us all the things necessary to be obedient.

And yet before we can understand Christ's command we must understand our condition. There is the certainty of trouble and it is sovereignly appointed for the saints.

Verse 1 says do not let your heart be troubled. And the world in which we are called as Christians is not a sanctuary of ease but it is full of tribulation. Isn't it beloved?

I mean Scripture has always reminded us of this. Job 14 verse 1 man who is born of woman is short lived and full of turmoil. Job 5 verse 7 for a man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward.

I mean the fall has left no corner of our life untouched. And therefore trouble meets us from every side and every angle. I mean let us recognize this.

And not be blind to the reality of a fallen world. The fallen condition of men. I mean the weight within our homes. There are maritable troubles.

I mean the closeness of earthly bonds often feel strained because sin so still clings closely to us. Raising our children in the Lord comes with tribulent times.

We have trouble with sin within our homes and patient pride, harsh words, cold affections. Sanctification is real but it's not yet complete and so we struggle.

Even Paul cried for the good that I want I do not do. Romans 7 19 so the Christian home is not exempt from spiritual warfare.

Indeed it's a primary ground. And then we have the war within. We have the daily trouble of bringing our own sins under submission to Christ. Put death therefore what is earthly in you Paul says to the Colossians.

So mortification is not an easy work. It's a continual work of the saint. I mean the Puritans spoke of it as a lifelong combat.

The flesh resistant. The old man lingers. And though sin's dominion is broken as Romans 6 14 tells us its presence remains therefore we groan wretched man that I am who will set me free.

We also carry the burden as I know many of you do of non-believing family members. Those who seem indifferent to eternity.

Those who ignore the warnings of the Scripture. Those who ignore what should wake them up from their slumber. That it is appointed for man to die once and then comes the judgment.

And they appeared untroubled by these words. And yet they stand on the brink of everlasting ruin. And for them there is little concern.

For us there is much anguish. I mean Paul knew this sorrow. I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart as Romans 9 verse 2 says. We also endure betrayal by those close to us.

Those we have walked in ministry with. Shared fellowship with. Scriptures prepare us for this. A man's enemies will be the members of his household.

Matthew 10 verse 36. David laminated it is you a man my equal my companion and my familiar friend.

Psalms 55 verse 13. Even our Lord was betrayed with a kiss. Then we have those who walk with us for a little while in the church only to find out all of our efforts, time, and ministry although not in vain does have pain and troubles and trials attached to it.

As the moss, a close companion of Paul, abandoned the truth for he was in love with the present world. There are also those times that the ministry especially for the leaders where we are so troubled that it's likened to death.

2 Corinthians 1 verse 8 For we do not want you to be unaware brethren of our affliction, our troubles which came to us in Asia that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life.

And then we just have the providential troubles, don't we? The pressures of daily life, the ordinary pressures, the strain of schedules, responsibilities, the relentless demands of daily tasks as Martha was distracted with all of her preparations.

We also face the trouble of sin's consequences catching up with us. Though forgiven consequences often remain, David was pardoned as 2 Samuel 12 verse 13 told us, yet the sword did not depart from his house.

Grace removes eternal condemnation, but not always temporary repercussions. Then we have the hostile trouble, the world that is in opposition to the very gospel that you believe in.

Enemies at every territory. And we have the task of proclaiming the message that offends the natural man and all of his cardinal desires. Whether it be the homosexuals or abortion or the misrepresentation of Christ's name with all the false gospels that use Christ's name to gain glory, wealth, or reputation.

We have all of those troubles, all of those tribulations. sins. And then we have cults claiming and professing to know our Savior, yet deny His deity.

I mean, the spirit of our age resists the truth of Christ, and therefore they will resist His people. Domestic hatred surrounds the true church of the Lord.

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. John 15 verse 18. Paul testified afflicted in every way, but not crushed.

So troubles from within, troubles from without, troubles from beneath in temptation, from every side and every angle.

And the Word of God warns us of the troubles of this world. Christ is going to warn them again even. In the upper room discourse in chapter 16, he says this in verse 33, These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace, but in the world you have tribulation.

But take courage. I have overcome the world. And so the disposition of the heart of the disciple this morning, or the heart of anyone listening to the words of Christ that is in Christ, at this moment in the upper room, is a heart full of trouble.

The Christian life is a hard pressing road if you haven't noticed. Our Lord says in Luke 10 verse 3, Go behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

Paul encourages the church during persecution after being stoned in Antioch and then returning to Antioch. He records this in Acts 14 verse 22, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying through many tribulations you must enter the kingdom of God.

I mean, consider how Paul strengthened them. He strengthened them not by promising ease, but by preparing them for endurance. He did not say tribulations may come, did he, beloved?

No, what does he say? He said tribulations must come. We will enter through them. That word must speaks of divine necessity.

And so it's not accidental. It is ordained. The path to the kingdom is appointed by God himself through his sovereign means.

And so where do we get the idea that we are supposed to have an easy life in this fallen world? I mean, consider this, beloved, if the Father did not spare his own son, how shall we be spared from troubles?

Right? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all. I mean, mark the weight of that phrase, he did not spare.

The beloved, the eternal son in whom the Father was well pleased, as Matthew 3 verse 17 says, was not shielded from suffering. He was appointed to it. Isaiah foresaw it.

It pleased the Lord to crush him, that he was put to grief. And so the cross was not accidental. It was ordained. The spotless lamb bore wrath, shame, rejection, and death for us.

If ever there was one who might seem deserving of exemption, it was Christ. And yet he learned obedience through what he suffered. And shall you, his servant, expect a softer path than the master?

In John 15, the word of God reads there, a disciple is not above his teacher. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Actually, beloved, the constant counsel of Scripture is quite the opposite of the modern evangelical churches teaching on the life of a Christian.

For the Scripture teaches us God leaves his church in a tribulent world to show his amazing sovereign power. The Scripture nowhere promises exempt from sorrow.

Rather, it prepares all believers for it by those divinely appointed means of grace. For even Paul says later, in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

So God has one son without sin, but he never has a son without trials. If the Father loved you enough not to spare his own son for your redemption, he loves you enough not to spare you and I from what will conform you to his son.

For this is the purpose we are saved. And even attaching to his covenant of redemption, Romans 8, verse 29 says, for those in whom he foreknew, he also predestined become conformed to the image of his son.

So there are sorrows. The reality of your life as a Christian will be one of full of trials and tribulations and troubles that arise from every side of us.

From a fallen creation, sickness, frailty, death. As Romans 8, verse 22 says, for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pain of childbirth together until now.

And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

And even Peter addresses this in 1 Peter 4, verse 4. The Word of God reads there, in all this they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same access of indulgence and they malign you for it.

And so this world is full of troubles, but it's sovereignly ordained by God. And so for the Christian, for the child of God, you're not promised that you'll be freed from hard times.

Quite the opposite. Christ has explained to us, you will have a hard time, tribulations. And in the midst of these, the Christian heart can be troubled.

And this is why Jesus addresses the saints' tribulance. Hearts here. And He gives them a solemn command in the midst of their struggles. He gives them a solemn command of Christ toward these struggling saints.

I mean, look back at verse 1. Do not let your heart be troubled. I mean, make no mistake, beloved, this is a command. The command of Christ is clear.

What is Christ commanding us? What is Christ commanding the disciples in this hour of hardship? Do not let your heart be troubled. And the word that is used here for trouble is the same exact word that He used in John chapter 12, verse 27 of the Lord Himself.

Now my soul has become troubled. And sometimes the English translation, of course, doesn't do justice to the actual term that's being used in the Greek. The word here for trouble is terresto.

It means agitated. It means to be stirred up. The same word, for instance, that was used to describe what the angel did to the water at the pool of Bethesda.

And so if you turn back to John 5, we get a word picture of it. In John chapter 5, verse 7, when Christ is about to minister grace to that lame man by the pool, it says, The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.

And so the Lord uses a picture there. And this is so helpful. In other words, the soul, the human soul, according to Christ, is pictured as water that is either calm and peaceful and quiet, no movement, all is at rest, or it's stirred up.

Emotions going back and forth like waves and tides and splashing and slothing everywhere. It's one of the two. And he's saying that this is the case about the disciples.

The one who knows their hearts, as John 2 tells us. The one who knows every trouble of their soul. He knows every thought of their mind. And so their hearts are stirred up to the shocking words about his death and betrayal.

And so when you think of this word trouble, when you're looking at this word, think of the raging waves of the sea in the midst of a particular violent storm. And then you have a good idea of what is meant by troubled.

You have a good idea of what's going on in their hearts. And so there's confusion, there's bewilderment. If nothing else, we can learn from this is that genuine faith is often punctuated then with these troubles, punctuated with the times of distress.

Now when you begin to look everywhere else in the word of God, it gives you a little handle on what this word also means. In Acts chapter 12 verse 18, it says this, the word of God reads, now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.

And so they were disturbed by the present circumstances. Acts 15 verse 24 uses the same word, since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words unsettling your souls.

And so it could be false doctrine that stirs up a believer. And disturbs him, shaking his assurance everywhere. Paul uses the same thing in Galatia.

Those who are trying to disturb you, trying to distort the gospel in Galatians 1.7, only there are those, some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. And so it was unsettling for the church.

It was unsettling for Paul. In John 11 verse 33, it's used of wakes and funerals like Christ comes to Lazarus' tomb and he was deeply moved in spirit and trouble.

Peter uses it in 1 Peter 3 verse 14 and do not fear their intimidation, do not be troubled. And so everywhere we see this.

And so here in John 14 he uses it twice. And in verse 1 and verse 27 later on, peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives to you, do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled. Nor let it be fearful. So it's described in the same way in John 13 verse 21 concerning the betrayal of a close friend.

Where it says, when Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit. So we are in this immediate context. And yet Jesus is commanding his covenant children, don't be troubled.

There's something else to notice here too. It's in that, in the tense of this word troubled, the verb is a continual tense. So it carries this meaning, let not your heart continue to be troubled.

And that's important because Jesus is not saying don't ever be troubled. Because the trouble you are experiencing can be genuine concern. Right?

Paul was genuinely concerned for the churches. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 28, apart from such external things, there's a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

Galatians 4 verse 19, my children with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. So he's not saying you need to quit being troubled or that genuine Christians don't have a troubled heart.

He's not saying that. He's saying don't allow your heart to continue to be troubled. Because you might ask, how does Jesus command me not to be troubled?

But yet I know these verses say he was troubled. And if it's not a sin for Christ to be troubled, or Paul to be concerned about how it could possibly be a sin for me and my heart to be troubled.

You have trouble in this world and there are reasons, as we've noted, to be troubled. But Jesus is saying don't continue to have a troubled heart.

Don't dwell in your troubles. Since the imperative mood is addressing the emotional state, it's best to take this command in this sense concerning the disciples.

Be self-controlled. It's not good for us to let our feelings rule our minds and our hearts.

To let our feelings of fear and anxiety or trouble wash us again and again without addressing them. It's not good for the Christian to live in the state of trouble.

I mean, sinless sorrow flows from holy affection, godly concerns with godly trust, yet sinful disorder flows from unbelief or neglect of gospel promises.

And so the big perspective in all of this, and that is precisely because Jesus was troubled with all the events of his crucifixion, to endure that it's now possible for us not to be troubled.

To look to him and praise the Lord for that. For his merit of trouble is our righteousness, and now we can have peace. So Jesus is telling his disciples to not be troubled.

And the wonderful thing about our Lord Jesus Christ is that he knows our frame. Not by the observation of omniscience only, but by his common humanity with us.

That he is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. That by his common humanity with us, he knows our troubles. He said it over and over in the gospel to prepare us for this moment in verse 1, my soul is troubled.

So he knows what heart trouble is because he has experienced sinless heart trouble. But our heart trouble is at times sinful, isn't it? When our troubling concerns turn into continuous anxious worry, it becomes sinful.

His wasn't, right? 1 Peter 2 verse 3 speaks of the trouble of the Lord, and it says, while being reviled, he did not what? Revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.

And Peter says we will share in this suffering. 1 Peter 4 verse 12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fire ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you, but to the degree that you share the suffering of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation.

So he's not oblivious to their need. That's a great thing to know, isn't it, beloved? When you come to cast yourself upon the Lord, he's never saying, I didn't realize things were that bad.

Neither does Jesus dismiss the trouble of a fallen world. He doesn't say things here on earth will get better either. He doesn't give them some sort of false hope that everything on earth is going to get better for them.

No, trouble will increase for the believer, as Paul said in 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. And then verse 13, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

So he doesn't minimize their troubles. He said right here what we have. So we have a prescribed portion that he sets before them.

What does he do? What does our Lord do? In the midst of their trouble, do not let your heart be troubled. Well, our Lord sets their gaze.

He redirects their gaze. He strengthens the troubled saints by fixing their eyes upon the triune God. Let not your heart be troubled, but look at this.

Look at the strengthening gaze toward that triune God where all of our eyes need to be. Verse 1, believe in God and believe also in me.

And yes, there's a realism about troubles. But he directs their gaze from the realism of their woes to the realism that is found in the triune God. And we ask ourselves, why do we get stirred up or troubled?

What is when we think our resources are not able to meet the need? Whether that need be spiritual, physical, emotional, whatever the need is.

And yet there's nothing in the text about positive thinking. This is not some philosophical self-help that our Lord gives to His troubled disciples. This is not a moral therapeutic gospel spoken from many pulpits today.

Here's no worldly encouragement, no cardinal stratagem of self-exhortation. No, the peace of Christ gives, that He gives here is not fragile fruit of self-persuasion, but the purchased possession of His blood and righteousness.

I mean, the world traffics in slogans and sentiments, but Christ bestows Himself before you this morning. So nothing in this text where you say to yourself, well, I just hope things will get better.

Or let me just think for the best. Or let me just envision the best. Or just fantasize the best outcome. Or as our world is telling our children, believe in yourself.

And this will somehow build up your heart and give you some encouragement. I mean, you and I have been told too much in our life that we can help ourselves if we will just try hard enough.

That's nonsense. This is no motivational pep talk that we hear blaring from the mouth of Christ. No, not at all.

No, to counter the trouble, the Lord answers by redirecting our gaze upon the triune God. And He uses the word pisto twice, believe, believe.

And by believe, the Scripture means relational trust. A trust that's founded upon being in a genuine relationship with the Lord.

God. This is what we in the Reformation tradition call sola fidei. Faith alone. The rally of the Reformation. That faith is a gift according to Ephesians 2.8.

That God gives allowing us to respond with our whole being, our whole self to God. That when the believer is faced with constant sorrows, we must be careful to be in the word of God so frequently that the great facts about God and the great facts about the work of redemption and the great facts about union in Christ, they grip us.

And I believe them and I rely upon them and I'm comforted by them. So again, we're not talking about general optimism here.

People just say, I just believe things have got to get better. No. We turn our gaze into penance on knowing God.

The object of our trust that we know Him. And we must know His character. And that means we must know what He says about Himself in the one place that He reveals His character to us and that's Scripture.

That all His attributes, they are laid out there beautifully for us, so lovingly for us. And as we know them, we know Him. Because Jesus says this in His high priestly prayer in John 17, verse 3, the Word of God reads there, this is eternal life that they may know you, know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

You see, the deeper you go, the deeper you go into the study of the doctrine of God and His ways and the more you meditate on His attributes and His ways, then the deeper your trust can be.

And therefore, the less troubled your heart will be. Something else about this word believe, it includes the idea of being absolutely persuaded about something.

In other words, it means to trust, it means to place your total confidence. It means to choose completely to trust everything about your life to entrust your well-being to the Lord.

And so he's talking about a belief here but a certain kind of belief. Now this can be a difficult phrase to translate at the end of verse 1, not because the words are difficult, because they can be translated as indicative statements.

You believe God, you also believe in me. Or they can be translated as imperatives, believe in God, believe also in me. Or they could be indicative and imperative, you believe in God, then also believe in me.

And it shouldn't be read as an indicative for Jesus is not hoping to add belief in Him to already believing in God, as if belief in God and Jesus could ever be separated. Which as you know, beloved, and I hope you have learned as you have read in the Scripture, that is a foreign thought.

It needs to be read as an imperative. Believe in God, believe also in me. So that the meaning would be keep believing, grow in your faith.

You've already believed in God. God has already called you unto Himself, drawn you to the Son. So now keep believing, keep trusting, keep your eyes fixed on Christ, not on the things of the earth.

So He gives them really two root ways, a remedy, you could say, for their troubled hearts. And He says, trust in the Father, believe in God.

Now notice that Jesus does not direct them to look within themselves to see if they're up to the challenge. Jesus does say, well, how much faith do you have and how much faith can you muster up? No, Jesus recognizes none of those things typical of modern American religion that is utterly self-centered and entirely subjective.

It is faith in the Lord that is set before us. He's saying, continue to place your confidence, not into the troubles around you, not into the fluctuations that are unsettling, but place your confidence this morning and your trust in God, in His wisdom, in His goodness, in His power, in His love, in His unchanging grace.

So take for example, Abraham in Romans 4, verse 19. We read this about Abraham's faith, which is what he's telling them to do, to have faith, to believe in Him.

It says, without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

And so he didn't escape the reality, did he? Abraham didn't. He knew it. He saw it. It says in that text in Romans 4, 19 that he contemplated it. He thought of it.

But he saw it in relationship to what? Verse 20, yet with respect to the promise of God. Did you hear that? Now respect to the promise of God.

So let me turn your attention to the promise of God, to the character of God. He did not waver in unbelief, but grew in faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to perform.

Look upon Him who is worthy of glory and always good, who Himself is love and who is all-powerful. Fix your gaze here upon the covenant-keeping God.

Believe in God. And this is the remedy for the troubled disciples in this moment. Believe in God. Christ says, continue to believe in God.

You know Him. Christ doesn't bring anything new to them. You know this God. You, 11, have already trusted in Him.

And so Christ is really saying, consider your God. Let not your hearts be troubled. Why? Because you consider your God in the midst of those adversities and troubles.

Now proclaim the faith that you know Him. And so the cure for the troubled heart is something that has not changed throughout human history.

The cure is genuine trust in the Lord. I mean, let's think of the Old Testament for a moment. God's people, they were frequently told to trust in the Lord. They were expected to trust in God.

Let me just give you a few examples this morning. Deuteronomy 20, verse 1, when you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt is with you.

Jeremiah 17, verse 7, blessed is a man who trusts in the Lord, who trusts in the Lord, doubly repeated. It's the same thing that the Psalms train us in.

Psalms 28, verse 7, the Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart, trust in Him and I am helped. Psalms 27, verse 1, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread? Psalms 42, verse 11, it says there the Word of God reads, why are you in despair?

O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

And so the gaze of the Christian is to be fixated upon the object of faith that is found in God Himself. And so, beloved saints, these are the words not only to the leaven, but to every single believer.

an exhortation which we constantly need to be reminded, believe in God. Believe in God, O Christian, for your Father is possessed with infinite power and wisdom and goodness that He knows what is best for you.

This is why in Luke chapter 12, verse 32, Jesus says, do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. But fear not, beloved, for it is your Father's good pleasure to save you, to redeem you, and to one day glorify you.

So Jesus is constantly reminding us, believe in God and His absolute sovereignty, His infinite wisdom, His unchanging faithfulness, His wondrous love for you, for He will love you to the end.

That is His promise. I mean, think about how God has been described for us in Scripture. And in each of these descriptions, troubled heart, you grabbed hold of this.

And you reckon it to be the reality and not fantasy. And you live upon it. And you not be tossed to and fro as so many are. in Psalms 102, verse 25, talks about the unalterable and timelessness of our Lord.

It says, of old you have founded the earth and the heavens are the works of your hands. Even they will perish, but you endure. Psalms 103, verse 19, the Lord has established His thrones in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all.

It rules over all places, all events, all circumstances. 1 Timothy 6, verse 15, He who is blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Isaiah says in chapter 25, verse 1, O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You and I will give thanks to Your name for You have worked wonders.

Plans formed long ago with me. perfect faithfulness. So we are not alone. Christ knew of these things with His disciples. He knew of the trouble Himself and He trusted the Father perfectly.

That He experienced all that man experienced. And He tells them to fix their eyes to trust in God. But not only does He give them that remedy, believe in God, and yet Jesus also goes on to say, trust in the Son.

Did you notice that? It says, believe in God and believe also in Me. In Me. It's not necessarily the presence of faith and it's certainly not the feelings we have of faithfulness, but it's the object of faith which matters.

Jesus is pushing Himself as it were to the forefront as the exclusive object of their faith and of our faith. But this is Christ alone.

Standing next to faith alone. That if one is weak and the other collapses. If one is misunderstood, the gospel is obscured.

To say we are justified by faith alone is to say that we are justified by Christ alone. To say we are saved by Christ alone necessarily means we receive Him by faith alone. These are not competing truths. They are inseparable beams of the same gospel light and that is what He is putting before them.

Come to Me. All who are weary and burdened may come to Christ.

So Christ is the object of our faith. He's the root of it. And our sanctification is in that same root.

The branch does not draw life from itself nor does holiness grow from that native soil. No, all grace flows from union with Christ. The Savior who justifies will also sanctify.

1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and yet it's falling on these ears of the disciples and if you've read in John 14 you know they don't truly grasp all of this but Christ is building them.

He's preparing that soil for them to be strengthened to be sanctified. I mean consider it this morning beloved Christ Himself is our sanctification.

So He's claiming to not only be the object of justification but of sanctification as well. And in claiming this here in verse 1 He's associating Himself with God.

Isn't He? He's associating Himself with God as the object of worship. I mean this is high Christology. For Jesus is linking Himself with God.

And for you beloved you recognize this because to believe in God's Word is to believe in the Word made flesh. He's saying I'm the object of faith.

He's making Himself equal with God. And this yet again as we see everywhere in the Scripture and especially in the Gospel of John the divinity of Christ's glory being set before us.

That He's identifying Himself with the Father just like in John 10 verse 30 surely ringing in our ears I and the Father are one for He is the true Emmanuel who answers within.

So this is not someone foreign coming to us saying believe in Me. No this is God Himself. And here's our Lord beginning to sink their mind and their hearts into the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

And Paul says to the Colossians and he says it while he's in jail Colossians 1 verse 19 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.

And in chapter 2 verse 9 he says for in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. So all the fullness of God is packed into the human body and soul of Christ.

The second person of the triune God the Son of God. So let's be clear then here today what Christ is saying. We cannot consider God without considering Christ.

We cannot know God without knowing Christ. We cannot genuinely believe and trust in God without believing in His Son. John 5 verse 23 the Word of God reads there so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

He who does not honor the Father who sent Him. And so we cannot see God without first seeing His Son for they are one. And our great mediator in His work is exactly this to bring us close to God.

And we can never be close to God if we are not truly close to Christ. So this is primary beloved.

This is preeminent. The only right passage to peace with God and peace of God as John 14 verse 6 will say is Jesus said to them I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but through Me.

And so it's through Christ alone that we can believe in God. And in this text we have that proclamation so that we would set our eyes not upon our troubles not upon our circumstances not upon what the world throws at us but that we may continue to look towards Christ.

Christ has invited us as His covenant children to partake in Him.

And so He says to them believe in God but believe also in Me. And this is the prescribed portion for our troubled hearts. Christ ever placing before you this morning His nature.

who He is. But as you look at yourself and you think I'm discouraged with perhaps the circumstances discouraged perhaps with what I find inside my own soul when I go looking as I rehearse my own thoughts and as I rehearse all that is taking place within me.

And as we examine our hearts and we find remaining corruption coldness in prayer wondering thoughts even this morning unbelief fear and spiritual weakness we feel the pressure of that indwelling sin warring against the law of God as Paul describes in Romans 7 we feel the hatred of the world the accusations of Satan and the burden of present trials we feel all of that and our Lord comes to us and He interrupts everything else that's going on in our little world and He says believe in Me trust in Me continue to believe continue to be poured out for the sake of Christ and the Trinity is precisely what we need to know God is precisely what we need for every trial on this world that is why Christ gives them that in His final hours to encourage them and to display to them that He will love them to the end to continue to fix and redirect their troubled hearts into fixing their gaze upon Him isn't that what Hebrews 12 2 has taught us fix our eyes on Jesus gaze upon Him beloved the author and perfecter of faith who for the joy set before Him

He endured the cross despising this shame and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God return again and again to the cross return again and again to the empty tomb return again and again to the throne of grace and lay your burdens there confess your sins and your troubles there anchor your hope there and though the storms of life will come indeed they will you will find beneath every wave is an everlasting grace and beneath your weary soul are the everlasting arms of the loving Father and the gracious Son trust in God trust also in Christ for in Him and Him alone your troubled hearts finds its place of rest in the place of Christ John 14 1 do not let your heart be troubled believe in God and believe also in me let's go to our Lord oh Father you're so gracious oh God you're so gracious to love us to the end we creatures who know who we are we know how sinful we are oh God we know how Lord we can often try to solve our own issues our own troubles ourselves by our own marriage and our own works

God but yet you come you come with words of life you come with words of comfort and encouragement but also words of rebuking and you come to us in a command and you say for us to trust in you to believe upon you Father let us do that give us the strength to God because we cannot do it on our own we are quite helpless we pray God that you would give us the strength the strength to trust you the strength to get into our word daily the strength to pray to you the strength to even come before the Lord's table and really reflect upon what Christ has done oh Father let our hearts remember what was spoken to those disciples has spoken to us that we should believe in you and believe in the son that you have sent and let us do that oh God and let us not grow weary in doing it yet let us finish this race clinging to the arms of our Savior and we say this in the name of Christ

Amen