Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled.

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.

John 14:1-31.

*From John 13:33 to the end of chapter 16, Jesus spoke words of encouragement to His eleven remaining Apostles.

Text: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1).

*The cure for troubled hearts is faith in God, but only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples, as good Jews, no doubt already believed in God, but Jesus pointed out that they must also believe in Him. Belief here speaks of trust, resting in Him alone for our salvation.

1. Jesus reassures us that those who put their trust in Him have a sure place in the Father’s house (John 14:2-3).

Jesus has left us as the forerunner to search out a resting place for us. He is our passport home. We are just strangers and pilgrims as we pass through this earth (cf. 1 Peter 2:11).

2. We have in Jesus a sure way to get to heaven (John 14:4-6).

Jesus is the way, the key, the door, the straight path. There is no way to heaven but the way of the Cross (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18). Our “cross” is easy by comparison (cf. Matthew 16:24).

*Jesus is the way – and Jesus is the ONLY way (cf. Acts 4:12).

Jesus is the truth. The incarnation of the truth of God. The only truth that sets us free (cf. John 8:32).

Jesus is the life. He embodies the life of God. “And no-one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).

*In response to Jesus’ comment in John 14:7, “If ye had known me, ye should have known the Father also,” Philip asked to see the Father (John 14:8).

Jesus’ gentle rebuke was (Philip having been one of the first disciples), how after “so long time” (John 14:9) had he not known Jesus in such a way as to see that Jesus and the Father are One? The words that Jesus spoke were not His words alone - and it was the Father dwelling in Jesus who was doing the works (John 14:10). “Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:11).

3. Even with His departure, His work goes on (John 14:12).

Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes. Peter saw 3000 converts on his first outing (cf. Acts 2:41). Ever since that day the church has grown by fits and starts, leaps and bounds.

Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. So did the Apostles. Even to this day there is a healing ministry in the Church.

Jesus rose from the dead. In the fullest sense, He is the “firstborn from the dead” (cf. Colossians 1:18). He guarantees our power over death, and the resurrection power courses in our very veins.

The Book of Acts is a continuation of the Gospel. It contains an account of what Jesus afterwards said and did by the power of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of His Apostles. Yet it is an open-ended book.

There is an on-going work of Christ in our midst, and through prayer in His name we can accomplish anything (John 14:13-14).

*Notice how closely our love and our obedience are bound together (John 14:15; cf. John 14:21; 1 John 2:3-5).

4. He has given us the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17).

Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and He will send another Comforter that He may abide with you forever.”

Elsewhere it is Jesus who sends “the promise of the Father” (cf. Luke 24:49). Thus the Holy Spirit is said to proceed from the Father “and the Son” in the Western creeds.

The Holy Spirit is personal, a “He” not an “it;” a 'Who' not a 'what.' The Spirit of truth indwells us (John 14:17). He helps us to pray (cf. Romans 8:26), and assists us when we are called to account for what we believe (cf. Matthew 10:19-20).

*This is another reason that the eleven Apostles should ‘let not their heart be troubled’ (cf. John 14:1). Jesus would ask the Father, the Father would send the Spirit, and the Spirit would come as “another Comforter” (John 14:16).

“Another” Comforter suggests another like Jesus, filling the void when Jesus is gone. The Greek word for Comforter is also used of Jesus in 1 John 2:1, although there it is translated ‘Advocate.’

Thus we have all three Persons of the Godhead: Jesus as ‘Emmanuel: God with us’ (cf. Matthew 1:23). The Holy Spirit as ‘God in us’ (John 14:17). And the Father as ‘God for us’ as in ‘If God be for us, who can be against us’ (cf. Romans 8:31).

The world, natural, sensual people, cannot receive the Spirit of truth because it neither sees Him nor knows Him (John 14:17; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14; Jude 1:19). Christian people know Him because they have the experience of His indwelling.