“Calming Words for Troubled Hearts.”
John 14:1-6
To be troubled is a human reaction to adverse conditions. Trouble comes into our lives in almost endless variety. And yes, they even come in the lives of people who are completely surrendered to the Lord. Sometimes we bring these troubles on ourselves by bad decisions or through violating what we know that the Word of God says. But sometimes the trouble comes from outside. It may be a physical illness that strikes you or someone you love. Your trouble could be from the loss of a loved one or the loss of our job, or even uncertainty about the future.
As the Lord looked at His disciples, He knew what was going on in their minds and hearts. He knew how disturbed and upset they were and He not only knew what was causing it, but He also knew the remedy. It could be that many of us today also have troubled hearts, fearful hearts and are also disturbed and upset because what is going on in your life.
The disciples were upset and fearful becausethey were very much afraid of what the future held. They knew they were in danger and so their hearts were deeply troubled as they gathered in the Upper Room with Jesus. They were afraid that they were all about to die, afraid that they along with Jesus were going to be executed by the Jewish religious leadership. A fear that was not unfounded!
But beyond their fear for their own physical well-being there was a deeper fear. Jesus had been talking about leaving them and this literally struck terror into their hearts. They had a deeper fear that they might survive death, but it would mean that they would have to go on living without Jesus, and this was an unbearable thought. They could not feel His pain but He could feel theirs.
It is into this atmosphere that Jesus spoke the words found in John 14:1-6, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (4) And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (5) Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (6) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (NKJV)
With His disciples (minus Judas who had departed) gathered around Him, with the Cross looming over Him and His own departure near at hand, the Lord sought to encourage His Disciples with a number of truths that would be vital to their peace of mind, as well as their ability to carry on their mission to a lost world.
But before we begin examining the text we need to recognize that everything that the Lord shares in these verses is based upon a relationship with Him. He is talking to them as believers and everything that is shared applies only to believers. I have often used the 23rd Psalm as a text for funerals, but when I do I add that twenty-third Psalm was written by Kind David and was written from the perspective of one who enjoys a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life. The promises that are made in the 23rd Psalm only apply those who can say “the Lord He is my Shepherd.” In the same way what Jesus says in John 14 is written to those who have already established a relationship with Jesus as the Savior and Lord.
In today’s text we find five reasons why we should not be troubled.
First, You Need Not Be Troubled Because We Know Jesus. (v. 1)
“… you believe in God, believe also in Me”
The words “let not” in verse one, convey a truth that I have overlooked though I have read and even preached this text many times. With the words “let not” Jesus conveys the truth that the disciples (and we as believers today) could do something about their problem. They held in their own hands the remedy to the heart trouble. It was possible for them to either continue allowing this to happen or choose not to let it happen.
According to the Greek text Jesus was not saying, “Don’t let your heart start being troubled” but rather He was saying, “Stop letting your hearts be troubled.” He was recognizing that His disciples were in fact were troubled in heart and He was urging them not to continue in that state. The Lord is calling His disciples to deal with their fears! It has been said that Faith and Fear cannot reside in the same heart.
The answer to fear is faith. He stated in verse one, “… you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
What Jesus says can be taken as a command, “Believe in God and believe in me!” Or as an acknowledge-ment, “You believe in God and in me.” Or as a combination meaning, “Since you believe in God. believe also in me.” It is certainly possible that John wants us to see it in more than one way.
Keep in mind here that the word “believe” does not mean that we are just too mentally acknowledge the existence of God and of Christ as his only son, but that we are to place our trust in the living God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The Disciples have complete faith in an invisible God whom they have never seen, and Jesus is asking them to continue believing in Him when He is no longer visible.
As John MacArthur states, “The kind of belief that Jesus was talking about in John 14 isn’t the same kind of belief expressed in salvation. He wasn’t saying, ‘Believe in me and you will be saved.’ The disciples were already saved. The word translated ‘believe’ in John 14:1 is in the present tense in the Greek text, which conveys the concept of continual trust. Jesus asked the Twelve to keep on trusting Him even though He would be visible to them anymore.” [John MacArthur. “Comfort for Troubled Hearts” www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1544]
What mattered more than the troubles that surrounded them was that they had someone in whom they could trust and Jesus is calling on them to exercise faith. The main point is that the Disciples need to make the conscious choice that in the troubles that lie ahead they must place their trust in their heavenly father and in Him. The way to an untroubled heart is to believe in God and believe in Jesus. The tenses tell us, “Keep on believing in God. Keep on believing in me!”
The story is told of “a man on top of his house gave his small son permission to climb the ladder to the place where he was standing. The little boy started up the ladder, but when he was halfway up, he looked down to the ground. He became fright-ened and began to cry. The father then said, ‘Son don’t look down, look up at me, and keep on climb-ing.’ The boy looked up to his father, the fear left him, and he climbed safely to the top. Oh, that is what we need to do! When troubles gather round us, we need to look up to the Lord. He has brought through before and He will do it again.” [W. Hershel Ford. Sermons You Can Preach On John. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958) p. 288]
There is an old hymn entitled “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” which says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” [Praise! Our Songs and Hymns. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” Hymn # 284 (Grand Rapids: Singspiration,1979)]
They need not be troubled because they had Jesus and…
Secondly, You Need Not Be Troubled Because We Have A Home In Heaven.
(v. 2) “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you…”
What do you think He means by the phrase “in my father’s house”? This is the only time that this phrase is used in the whole New Testament. But there can be little doubt that Christ is talking about Heaven.
In the New Testament, Heaven is called “a country” (Heb 11:16) which tells of its vastness. It is also referred to as “a city” (Heb 11:10) which refers to its many inhabitants. It is also called “a kingdom” (Matt. 4:17) because of its orderliness.But by far the most comforting picture of heaven is when the Bible refers to Heaven as “Home.” Home is the one place where we know we will always be accepted, it is the place where our loved ones are, and it is a place to find refuge from the stress of this world.
Jesus further states “in my father’s house are many mansions.” The word “mansions” used in the King James translation is (monoi) and when it was translated into Latin, the Vulgate translators used the Latin word mansiones.(man-she-on –ahs) Consequently, when English translations were made the early translators followed the Latin rendering rather than the Greek original and so we have the word “mansions” here. Unfortunately, this gives us a picture in our minds of separate mansions apart from the main house. We visualize being met by a real estate agent who give us a map and says, “Your mansion is two blocks down and then one block up on the left.” But the word would probably be better translated as “places to live” The phrase then would read, “in my father’s house are many places to live.” This translation brings up some intriguing possi-bilities. With the limitless universe at his disposal, to populate with his saints think of all the possi-bilities
Revelation 21:16 tells us how large the city in heaven will be:" The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.” (NKJV)
“That description gives us a cube with equal sides of approximately fifteen hundred miles in every direction. An Australian engineer calculated that would be 2,250,000 square miles. To give you a reference point, London is 140 square miles. At the ratio of population in London, the heavenly city could hold 100 billion people. It could hold even more than thirty times the population of our world right now and still have plenty of room to spare. Now that's many dwelling places!” [John MacArthur. “Comfort for Troubled Hearts.” (www.biblebb.com/files/Mac/sg1544]
So, Jesus is saying, “Don’t be troubled, just a little while longer and then we will all be together in Heaven.”
You Need Not Be Troubled Because We Have A Home In Heaven and …
Third, You Need Not Be Troubled Because He Has Gone To Prepare A Place For Us.
(v. 3a) “And if I go and prepare a place for you…”
On the surface it may appear that this is the same as the previous point. But in reality, it tells us more. Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Jesus is preparing Heaven for us and He is preparing us for Heaven. It is the recognition that we not only will go to Heaven but to recognize that Jesus is preparing an eternal place for us as individuals. When life caves in, and troubles surround us, and they indeed will, we can find comfort and rest for our troubled hearts in the fact that there is an eternal home especially prepared for us. He repeats that His going is intimately connected with His preparation of a place for us. We are not for one moment to think that He has forgotten us or that He is unconcerned with our welfare.
You need not be troubled of heart because He Has Gone To Prepare A Place For Us and….
Fourth, You Need Not Be Troubled Because Jesus is Coming Back. (v. 3b)
“….I will come again…”
The best part of Heaven is that Jesus will be there. But he is not content to be there without His people. Not only is Christ preparing heaven for us, but He has promised that he will come and take us there!
There are two things that I want to point about his second coming here. First, it is the cert-ainty of His coming for He states “if I go and prepare a place for, I will come again.” There is no doubt that He did go. History is unanimous on that point; the record shows that He did go away. The garden tomb is empty. There is no grave bearing the body of Jesus Christ anywhere on this Earth. And because we are certain He has gone we can be certain that He will come again. When Jesus says, “I am coming again” it is in the present tense, because His coming is so certain that Jesus speaks of it as a present reality.
As the disciples stood around gazing into the heavens after Jesus ascended back into Heaven the angels proclaimed, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
The second thing our text reveals is that it will be a personal return. Jesus with the words “I will come again” assures His disciples that He Himself will return. As the angels proclaimed in Acts 1:11 “this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come again.” The greatest fact of the past is that Christ came and died for your sins. The greatest fact of the future is that He is coming again. His second coming is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament. HE IS COMING BACK! You count on it!
You Need Not Be Troubled Because Jesus is Coming Back and…
Fifth, You Need Not Be Troubled Because Jesus Will Receive You To Himself. (vv. 3c-6)
“… and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
Jesus links His Second Coming with the receiving of His people to Himself. He comes for us, either at death when He takes His saints to the Father’s house one by one or at His Second Coming when He gathers all His saints at one time. The promise of 1 Thess. 4:16-17 is that “… the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trum-pet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Jesus is returning to take us with Him to Heaven but that is not how He phrases it, notice that Jesus did not say, “I am coming again and will receive you to Heaven”: He said, “I am coming again and will receive you to myself.” A person, not a just place that is the destination. He literally when He says, “I will receive you” it meant “face to face.”
The Lord concludes his statement by saying in verse four, “And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas did not understand and in verse five he asked the question that probably all the Disciples are thinking, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” What Thomas means is, “If we do not know the destination, how can we know the way.”
Jesus responds in verse six saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Someone has noted that every other religion says, “Follow me and I will show you the truth,” but Jesus says, “I am the truth.” Other religions say, “Follow me and I will show you the way to salvation,” but Jesus says, “I am the way.” Other religions say, “Follow me and I will show you how to become enlightened,” but Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” Other religions say, “Follow me and I’ll show you the many doors that lead to God.” But Jesus says, “I am the door.”
Of the seven “I am” statements found in the gospel of John this one found in chapter four-teen and verse six strikes a nerve with the Jewish leadership far deeper than any of the previous statements. Jesus has already stated, “I am the bread of life” (6:35), “I am the light of the world” (8:12) “I am the door” (10:7) “I am the good shepherd” (10:11) and “I am the resurrection and the Life” (11:25). In every one of the “I AM” state-ment Jesus uses the word “the” not “a”. For exam-ple, He is the light, not just a light, He is the door, not just a door, He is the good shepherd, not a good shepherd etc.
And now Jesus categorically declares in verse six, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And just in case anyone still did not get it he added, “No one comes to the father except through me.” James Montgomery Boice says that this is probably “the most exclusive statement ever made by anyone.” [James Montgomery Boice. The Gospel of John. 5 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker 1999) p. 1076]
It is also the greatest offense in our modern age of tolerance. Non-Christians grant tolerance to every religion except Christianity, precisely because of this statement. The world outside of the church hates that statement and even Christians are tempted to back away from it. But the truth remains!
When Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” You could easily paraphrase John 14:6 to read, “I am the way to God, that reveals the truth about God and gives life with God!”
You must come to God through faith in Christ to be saved. This is no detour around Him, for He is the way!!!!
When we are troubled of heart we need only to remember that Jesus has not abandoned us nor forsaken us, He is coming back and when He does He will receive us unto himself that where He is we can be also!
Conclusion
While we cannot change our circumstances, we are in control of how we respond to our circum-stances. So, what is the remedy for a troubled heart? It first, rest in the assurance of a relation-ship with Christ.
Our text for today is a clear challenge to believers to realize that we can strengthen our faith. We are to think of Him and overcome our troubles by reminding ourselves of the power and promises of the Lord. Just come to Him and say, “Lord I don’t understand everything that is going on in my life, but I know that you know the way, so I am going to leave everything in your hands.”
