Seeking now the help of God, let's turn in his word to that passage of New Testament scripture from which we were reading, that's John chapter 14, and we'll take our text in verses 1 to 4. John 14, and taking our text in verses 1 to 4. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. 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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. that where I am, there ye may be also. Whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Let not your heart be troubled. The believer in Christ is one whose heart has been troubled. This is true by definition. The angel came and troubled the waters. The Lord Jesus came to bring not peace, but a sword, to bring enmity into the household, and how much more, into the very heart, for the corruption is in the heart. And can we think that the strong man are that Satan, that corruption will yield easily his control of the heart to Christ. So the believer's heart by definition is a troubled heart, a heart in which there is conflict, battle, warfare, but there is comfort. Let not your heart be troubled. It's a continuous tense. It indicates that this troubling is ongoing. Let not your heart be continually troubled. So the Lord is saying to us, do not continue to be troubled. Take the comfort. Find and receive peace. unto your soul, and see what peace it is that he offers unto those who are troubled, but who would have peace. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me." They believe in God. Already they have put their trust in the Lord God for their salvation. They are his people, they are believers. They are saved, but their hearts are troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also. That is to say, more particular, more specifically, more intelligently in me. Let your faith be exercised particularly upon Jesus Christ himself, Christ in his person, Christ in his work, Christ as the great mediator. Let not your heart be troubled. You see, there is comfort in Christ. And that is what this passage says before us so wonderfully, that that faith in its exercise, is a most profoundly comforting, pacifying, encouraging thing in the midst of the troubles and battles of the Christian warfare. And so that is our subject for a few moments this morning, the comfort of faith in Christ. This passage calls you, dear friends, to lift your eyes up above this present evil world, above the afflictions, the conflicts, the difficulties, which are all around us, and to see Christ on the throne, to see him exalted, lifted up, triumphant, and victorious, the risen, the living Christ, and to see in that victory the basis for solid, sure, and lasting comfort. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Oh, that the Lord would grant us a sight of Christ this day and would feed our hearts with that comfort which is to be found in him alone. There are three respects in this passage in which we are particularly to exercise. this faith in Christ. We'll see in the first place, his preparation. In the second place, his assurance. And in the third place, his example. In seeking the help of God, we shall look at each of these in turn. So firstly then, his preparation. Verse two, in my father's house are many matchers. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. I go to prepare a place for you. Christ was about to part from his disciples. If they were troubled now, how much more troubled would they be as they found themselves physically separated from Christ, but also separated from Christ by their own personal failure, by their own infirmity and sin, by how easily they succumbed to the temptation to deny Christ, to run and to flee and to leave him to his faith, to deny that ever they knew him. In that situation was to come, they must exercise faith in his work, and it would be that faith that would minister true comfort at the last to their souls, and that would pacify this trouble within. I go to prepare a place for you. Here is the hope of Christ's great work, that it is a work to prepare a place, a lasting home for the Lord's people, an eternal residence where they will be safe and secure. In what respect does he prepare it? Well, he redeems it. He purchases for his people that place. The children here know that the idea behind redeeming something is to buy it back. A good Old Testament example of this is Abraham. on top of Mount Moriah, commanded by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, for the sin of his own soul. He deserves to lose his son, but praise God, there is a substitute provided, the ram caught in the thicket. And so he can buy back his son. He can redeem his son by putting the ram in its place. The ram will die. might live. We find an example of this in the New Testament. Joseph and Mary with their precious newborn son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is sinless, but they are not sinless, and so they must redeem their son. They deserve to lose him, but they bring him to the temple, and they redeem their firstborn with the poor man's offering, a pear. turtledoves, the birds die and Christ lives. He is redeemed by the blood of the turtledoves and so they have their child undeserved because the mercy of God accepts a substitute in place of that death which the law required them to endure. Oh, what precious pictures of the great redemption. The Lord Jesus dying in place of his own to redeem them. that were under the law, Galatians 4 verse 5. That was his death. Blood shed in place of those that deserved their blood to be shed. Life taken in the place of those who deserve and had earned to themselves death, suffering and anguish, so that those who had earned and deserved would know only comfort and life everlasting. God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. And so for this purpose, he went unto death. He went to redeem. He went to conquer. Christ's going forth was going forth to battle, to war, not with physical enemies, not to fight with a sword, but to war with spiritual enemies, to battle against the tempter and against temptation. Oh, what a battle it was to face as he endured in the garden of Gethsemane, the horrifying prospect of that dreadful experience that lay before him. Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. And as he prayed, he sweated, as it were, great drops of blood. Such was the oppressive weight of that prospect of death before him. That's battle, you see. That's conflict. The hardest conflict. was in his own soul. The hardest conflict was that battle itself, a battle against the very weakness of human nature itself, to endure and to stand under the greatest weight of temptation that any man has ever faced in the entire history of New Orleans. So, praise God, the last Adam stood and endured where old Adam fell, the new Adam stood in righteousness. And so he conquered, he won the victory. His right hand and his holy arm in victory hath won. And so through death, he defeated him that hath the power of death, even the devil. And in an instant, in a moment, like the great giant Goliath with one little sling stone into the forehead, and he crashed to the ground. So in that instant of death upon the cross, the power of Satan was broken forever. Christ was victorious. His kingdom was conquered. He was triumphant. He had endured. He had faced all that the enemy could throw at him. And yet he had not failed. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And still in love he conquered. He won the victory and he purchased and obtained for his people an eternal inheritance. I go to prepare a place for you. And so the result of all that work is that he has received that place. I go to prepare a place for you. And so Christ has ascended into the heavens and has received that which his blood purchased, that which he redeemed, that which he conquered, his glorious kingdom. and exalted kingdom. He now has committed to him all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He is seated on God's right hand. He is exalted in glory. He has led captivity captive and received gifts for men. And so now we see by faith Jesus as the great New Testament Joshua ruling over the promised land. and dividing it by inheritance unto his people. He is the victor, he has received him, to the victor the spoils, and we in him shall have our worship. So it is in Christ alone that there is victory, in Christ alone there is that blessed inheritance of an eternal estate in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. Christ lifts his disciples' eyes above this present world to the eternal kingdom and to the eternal glory. They're not to put their trust in the heavenly mansion, but they're to put their trust in the Lord of the heavenly mansions. They're to put their trust in Christ, the great Joshua, to grant to them their inheritance in these mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. So dear friend, this day, see the certainty, see the power of Christ exalted upon high, and see then the one in whom you must trust, the one in whom you can trust, the one whom you can depend upon entirely and altogether for an eternal worship. He is the Christ. He is living. He is risen. He is victorious. His sacrifice is accepted and the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead his people in green pastures and to fountains of living waters, he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes." Friend, if you are burdened this day, living in this world, seeing it as a veil of tears, troubled and anxious by these strange, sad circumstances that have fallen upon us in recent months, troubled and worried about what the future holds, burdened by anxieties in your family, burdened by anxieties in your home life, worried for your church, troubled for the kingdom of Christ and for its future. In all of these burdens, lift your eyes to the risen Lord and rest upon him. I go to prepare a place for you. "'Let not your heart be troubled. "'You believe in God, believe also. "'Believe more specifically in me. "'Let your faith be exercised in Christ, "'the Lord of heaven.'" Firstly then, his preparation. But secondly, his assurance. Verse three, "'If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Christ must necessarily be absent from his people. That will be a painful and a hard thing, but it is necessary. Indeed, it is better for us. It is expedient for you. That means it is better that I go away. Better that Christ depart from this world in the flesh, that his power may be poured out across this world in the Holy Spirit. You see, it's of the nature of Christ that in the body and the flesh, he can be only present in one place at one time. But the Holy Spirit exercises his power in divinity. That is to say, he is everywhere equally present at all times. The Holy Spirit is at work throughout this world. The Holy Spirit is at work in the soul of every believer. And so you have, through the Spirit, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Would you not love to have Christ physically here present in this world, to be able to go to him, to see him, to speak with him? That would be wonderful, yes. but how much better it is to have Christ spiritually present and always with you. It is necessary that he goes away. It is better that he goes away. Necessary because he has gone to prepare a place for you. His work is to prepare for his people in heaven, in eternity, There he is readying the kingdom for his own, dividing to each their portion of that inheritance which his blood has purchased. And so it is necessary, but it is temporary. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be. Also, oh friends, his body is far from us, but his love is with us. His heart is toward us. He is near and to his own. He has gone to prepare a place for us, that is necessary, but it is for a time only. I will come again. and receive you unto myself. That may be at death. It is at death we will see Christ. In death we will be instantly in his presence, exalted with him forever, if our trust is in the Lord Jesus. I will come again and receive you unto myself. It may be at death. It may be at the end of this world, when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven, when his people rise to meet him in the air, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And that is the blessing of heaven, to be with Christ both spiritually and physically. to be with him in the body and in the soul, and to have his presence ministered to us abundantly. I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. There are many nowadays with funny ideas about heaven. They speak of heaven in very earthly terms as a place more like this present world, but just purged of the excesses of sin so that heaven will be a place of art and a place of culture, a place where we do our work and where we do the tasks and the work of this present life. And we do it to the glory of God, a place where we are spread out across this planet and far from one another. working and laboring and supposedly fulfilling this cultural mandate. Many man-centered ideas. The biblical picture of heaven is quite different. Heaven is the presence of Christ. Look at this text. I will come again and receive you unto myself where I am. there ye may be also." The believer's hope is not just this world renovated from the effects of sin. The believer's hope is not just to have relief from the devil and from his temptations, to be free, to live our lives here forever and evermore. The believer's hope is to be with Christ. That's heaven. Heaven is not merely the absence of Satan. Heaven is the presence of Jesus. Heaven is nearness to him, to know him, to walk with him, to experience his company and his fellowship. The work of heaven. It's a work of worship. It is a work of adoration. It is to use all the faculties of our being to praise and to glorify Christ forever and ever. I go to prepare a place for you, verse three, that where I am, there ye may be also. That's our hope, to be with Christ forever and ever. The future is his presence. Here in this life, we get from time to time with a glimpse. We get experiences of his felt nearness, moments where we taste and see that God is good. And in these moments, there is sweetness and there is joy. There is indeed heaven on earth and it's fleeting. and it passes and we look back with longing and regret and we would experience more of such things. But that's the point, it's heaven on earth and our hope is heaven in heaven. Our hope is these experiences drawn out eternally without left or hindrance, without end, without parting, without an arise, let us go heavens. to experience Christ in all his sweetness and abundance forever and ever. That is the assurance that Christ gives. Where I am, there ye may be also. Dear friends, lift up then your eyes to Christ. See the risen Lord reigning over his kingdom. See him triumphant and victorious. See him exalted there. and see his people there with him. See the redeemed of the Lord already gathered in soul, yes, and in the future to be gathered with him in body also. And see there your hope, your hope not just of this life a little bit renovated and improved, your hope to be with Christ, which is far better. My friend, take the comfort of this passage. Take the hope of this passage that Christ is coming again for his own people to lift them out of this life, to carry them away from it and to take them into the eternity of heaven and into the glory that there awaits. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. That is the hope that lies in store for the child of God and what comfort there is when we consider that hope. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. His preparation, his assurance. Thirdly, his example, verse four. Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Wonderful words of assurance that Christ speaks to his disciples here. They were shortly to experience the greatest challenge of all to their assurance, backsliding, when they so fell that they would not stay with Christ, but rather all forsook him and fled, left him to his fate. and ran and departed, leaving him to tread the white press alone, just as always it had been foretold. They would question themselves. They would doubt their own standing in the light of such grievous sins. And so to prepare them for that experience, he speaks to their souls' assurance. Whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Here is the example of Christ. He is offering them the best assurance of all. That His example goes before them. That His example leads the way. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. The way ye know, that means you know me. You have trusted in Christ. And so knowing that way, you know the way of life. You know the way of salvation. because it is found in Christ. The Lord sets before his people the great example that the gospel leads to everlasting life. He shows to them that the path of faith in God is a path that leads to that exaltation into glory. Christ's example assures of that. And so Christ himself is the great focus for our faith, to trust that indeed his way leads to heaven because he has ascended into heaven. Wherever I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Believers are like Moses. When he climbed to the top of Mount Pisgah and looked out upon the promised land, That land that he had heard prophesied of all these 40 years before, that he had longed for, that he had prayed for, that he had waited for, which at last he was to see with his own eyes, but only from afar. He looked upon a land still controlled by the pagans, still covered with walled cities and with giants and with fortresses and fortifications, a land entirely given of the evil one. He looked with the eye. With the eye of sight, he saw Satan in control. With the eye of faith, he saw the promised land, and he saw Christ's victory, and he saw his people's inheritance. By faith he saw it. And then he was transported from this vale of tears to see with the eye. that which he had trusted in, to see the eternal Israel, the glorious promised land, and to see the victory that was awaiting. He was transported from an earthly promised land to the heavenly. So it is with believers here. You look, you look with the eye of faith. You see, but you see spiritually, not physically. Whither I go, ye know. You know it as you see Christ triumphant by faith. And so it is by faith you find great comfort that Christ's path, Christ's way leads to glory. More specifically, Christ sets before us the great example of faith. Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. And in Christ we see faith enduring unto the end, faith firm. Says the Lord to us, be ye faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. And the assurance of that is in Christ. Look at Christ, faithful unto death. and see the one who received the crown of life. See his faithfulness and you see your hope of glory. See his triumph and you see your triumph by faith. Discern it with the eye of faith, not with the eye of sight. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Whither I go ye know, the way ye know. Trust in him, believe in him. Though all in this life would seem to contradict him, believe in his inheritance and you shall have it. Like Naboth of old, so love and prize your inheritance that you are willing to die for it. So value what you have in Christ that you will go to death you shall have it eternally and forever. Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. So hear then the comfort, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. Obedience is rewarded, faith is vindicated, Christ's way leads to glory, there is here for the eye of faith. Well, as we come to a close, how can we apply this to our own souls? Well, by way of direction. Here is the way of faith. It is to discern Christ as the Savior. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. With all your trouble and difficulty, taken to Christ. With all your burdens and anxieties, look up to Jesus. It is in the light of Christ that these troubles are seen in their true perspective. Become manageable things. Become things that can be dealt with. Become things that can be safely entrusted to his care. Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you. Lead me to the rock that higher is than I. Look to Christ and you will find the one who will bear your burdens and pacify your troubles and so win the victory that the enemies of your soul are defeated. and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. There's comfort here, friends. The comfort of Christ's way. That way that you have known and believed in, if you are one of his, that way is the true way and the right way. For it is secured by the very assurance of Christ himself. Just as Christ is ascended into the heavens, so shall you, if you take, if you follow this way of life. Oh, what hope there is then for us. What sweet comfort. Let not your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in me. what challenge then there is for us to indeed believe in God and to more particularly believe in Christ. Here is the way of life. Here is the path of the gospel. Here is the road that leads to an eternal heaven that secures a portion in God's dwelling place. Turn unto the Lord Jesus. Cast yourself entirely upon him. You have laboured hard. You have worked. You have fought against temptation and you have been defeated. You have been beaten. You have sinned all the more. You have felt all the more deeply your transgressions. You have earned to yourself God's wrath and curse. And you feel lost and you feel helpless. Well, here is the good news. that there is one who has won the victory, that there is one who has conquered, who redeems his own. Now is the time to turn from the strength of your own arm to the strength of Christ's arm. Lead me to the rock that higher is than I. You are cast upon the one who can win the victory and who has won the victory and there is comfort There is victory, there is eternal hope in Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe to him this morning and find in him an eternal dwelling place. May the Lord be pleased to bless his word.