text that is conjoined to chapter 13. One of the things that all Bible readers ought to understand is that the versification of the Bible, that is chapter and verse, is something that was placed upon the text to help us navigate it. And so when you come to different chapters, don't think or consider that all of the chapter headings are actually breaks in time or teaching. When we come to verse 1 of chapter 14, that's right on the heels of Jesus foretelling Peter's threefold denial. That is, right after Jesus has prophesied of his suffering and his departure unto the Lord, and also right after his prophecy of Judas' betrayal. This is conjoined here in chapter 14, verses 1 through 3, and really throughout this section of chapter Fourteen, we have Jesus' ministry to a group of troubled disciples, to people that have heard hard news and that are struggling with it as anybody would. So as we consider this this morning, I really want to encourage you to receive this ministry of Christ to troubled hearts, because who among us can say that we have a heart that is untroubled? Who among us can come to this passage and find nothing of value One thing you might notice is that in your bulletin it says we'll study verses 1 through 6. Early in the week, your pastor thought that we could, but quite frankly, we ought not go so fast through so sweet of the Word of God. So, let's turn our attention. We'll read chapter 14, verses 1 through 3. This is God's holy, inerrant, and inspired Word. Jesus said, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we come to you and we plead that you will do in us and for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. That, Lord, you would cause the scales to fall from our eyes. That, Lord, as we've opened our Bibles The Lord, you would open it to us in the preaching of your word. Oh, Lord, Holy Spirit, we pray for your help, that you would give light to our minds, that, Lord, you would give warmth to our hearts, and that, Lord, you would comfort us as we draw near to you in this time of worship. We pray this in Jesus' name. As chapter 14 seats us directly at the table in the upper room with Jesus and His disciples, it sits us in the midst of a people who have troubled hearts. And as we have read over the last few chapters, we have read twice that even our Lord Himself experienced what is called biblically a troubled or a disturbed heart. Why were the disciples troubled and why was Christ troubled? Because this was a day that anticipated the gruesome experience of the cross for our Lord and also to His people. You see, Jesus' heart was troubled because the thing that He looked down the path of life to was simply this, that only in hours He would bear the entire weight of the sins of the people of God, and that He who knew no sin would become sin in His death on the cross. Christ was looking at excruciating physical pain and an unimaginable spiritual pain that would be levied against Him by the hands of man, by the power of God and the Lord's decree for your salvation and my salvation. But the disciples, what they were faced with is very much the same as what we are faced with in this world, as we live lives following Christ, existing in a world that is full of sin and hatred toward God, as we are people who are beloved by Him and being redeemed unto Him. You see, the thing that they heard firstly, that one of their number, that one of their number, one of their closest friends, one whom they had slept near and ate meals with, who had laughed together with them, was a betrayer. He was going to give their Lord over unto death, a gruesome, horrible death. That was the first thing they heard. I want you to know that the disciples were gutted with sadness and fear, and that is at least a portion how their hearts were troubled. The second thing they heard, let me remind you, was that Jesus was going to a place that they could not follow Him to. These were disciples that Jesus had called out of various portions of life, that they had taken up His call, left all, and forsook it, that they might follow Him in devotion. And the thing that they were hearing was this, that their teacher, that their Lord, that their friend was about to have great distance from them. Can you imagine the feeling of loss that overwhelmed these disciples even though he had not yet been taken to the cross, arrested in chains? Terrible, terrible feeling of loss. I wonder if you've ever heard that you're gonna lose a loved one. and it's news, but the day of their demise has not come. The agony and excruciating pain that leads up to the death of someone you love is often more of a burden than the actual death of the person. They experienced that. They experienced the anxiety that came along with knowing that a loved one was soon departing. Another thing that they were confronted with in the passage And at the table of the Lord was this, the word that they would fail him and that they would abandon him. Shame struck the hearts of the disciples. They heard that the greatest amongst them, the chiefest of the disciples, the leader amongst those who were his equals, Peter, would deny Jesus three times with His mouth in public, and would see Him arrested and taken, and He would not give His life for Christ. Not in that moment. They bore the weight of shame that took them into what Christ is giving voice to in our passage that we have just read. A heart troubled by a multitude of circumstances. You see, as we enter into worship this morning, are your hearts troubled? Are any of you reeling from poor relationships that have gone awry, things that have hurt you, that are still on you? Maybe between a spouse, maybe between yourselves and a friend or a child? Are you weighed with that sort of troubled heart? Are you weighed with the troubled heart that you know that because of illness or circumstances a loved one is soon to be departing? Is the trouble and the grief of having already lost somebody still with you this morning? Or are you struggling, as the disciples of Christ did, with a terrible weight of shame Because you know what this week was for you. You've reviewed your own heart. You've heard yourself sin with words. You've seen yourself sin with actions. And you know that in your deeds, that in your words, that in your heart, that though you love your Savior, you've denied Him. I want to tell you this morning that as we come to this text, we're coming just like Christ's disciples came to Him, and as He came to them, I want to encourage you to receive the ministry of this passage of Scripture. To come being okay with being a troubled heart, but in this passage to attend to it with your hearts and your ears and your minds, and receive the ministry of it from Christ. Jesus had a heart for people that are troubled like his disciples and like us. He wasn't dismayed at them. He had an urgent heart to deal with them, to be with them, and to give them comfort. That's the point of the passage this morning. Let the people of God be comforted by Christ's means. If you're taking notes, The three things that Christ directs his disciples to for their comfort are these. In verse one, the object of our comfort. In verse two, the hope of our comfort. And in verse three, the assurance of our comfort. Let's consider verse 1. Our Lord speaks to these troubled disciples and the thing that he says is this, let not your hearts be troubled. Let not your hearts be disturbed. And what he does when he says this word is he gives them a command. This is an action. He's exhorting them to something. This isn't just a throwaway word. This isn't just a kind word spoken in a whisper, but this is a directive. Let not your hearts be troubled. This wonderful command of our Lord to His disciples that are in the midst of what we just spoke of, real, serious, heavy, weighty pain. Pain that ought to trouble the hearts of people. Jesus says, don't let your hearts be troubled. We'll get to the how of it in a moment, but I want to, for just a second, pause and say, why? Why in the world does Jesus say, let not your hearts be troubled in this correction that He gives to His disciples? I'll simply tell you a few things for you to consider. When you have a troubled heart, almost immediately the thing that happens Maybe it's because of our pride or maybe just the way we are made. The troubled heart flees from the trouble and ends up in isolation. In the fight or flight of the heart and the soul, you run, believe it or not. You retreat unto yourself. I think that's why it's important that Christians visit mourners, that we visit those who are hurting. as rebuked as we can be for our failure in that, nonetheless, the reality is that when people are troubled, they isolate themselves, they retreat to a safe corner, they try to find some place of solace. Jesus speaks to them and says, let not your hearts be troubled so that they would not be isolated. From whom though? From God and from one another. You see, that's the terrible thing whenever our hearts are overwhelmed with sadness and all of these other things. is that we cut ourselves off from discussing the pain because it's often just too hard to bear. We don't want to revisit it. We cut ourselves off from the benefit of a merciful ministry, and oftentimes we shut our mouths and isolate ourselves from God with a multitude of unholy and unreverent questions. Jesus says, do not let yourselves be troubled because something else that attends it is depression. Maybe it's a result of the isolation or just the circumstances of a troubled heart. Depression comes and it drives the man down, down, down. It takes the woman's heart and it breaks them. It brings you down to a low place as if you're in a ditch so miry you cannot climb out of it. One of the things that all Christians need to understand is one, depression is real. And also, two, depression is a great and powerful force that can hold you down and dominate you if you're not careful. To drive you into a place so dark, so bitter, that it seems as if no light can enter. The third thing that Jesus is guarding His disciples from in regards to encouraging them to let not their hearts be troubled is what happens on the back end of isolation and depression And that is a bitterness. A bitterness towards friends and family for whatever failure caused the circumstances of trouble. A bitterness to your fellow man because of the sake of the world and the state that it has put you in. But even more dangerously, whenever you allow your heart to stay in a place of trouble and storms, well, it makes a man turn a bitter and a hard heart toward God. Lord, where were you in my pain and my trouble? Lord, where were you in this moment of evil? Where were you and why didn't I have comfort in the moment? And then the obvious thing that happens at the end of it is anger against God for the circumstances that we are in. Anger against others. And eventually the place that the saint is left is with a faith so weakened as to almost be unrecognizable. It's faith at all. That's the terrible danger that whenever Jesus issues this correction to His disciples, this strong exhortation, let not your heart be troubled, it is why He follows it up with a very distinguishable ministry to tell them how they might not let their hearts be troubled. You see, it's a wonderful thing to tell somebody, don't feel bad about your circumstances, but it is an entirely different thing not to feel bad about your circumstances. I want to tell you this morning that Jesus is not telling you to just wipe some dirt on it and walk it off. His encouragement to His disciples to flee from this sort of heart is not an encouragement to a stiff upper lip or to just suck it up and be tough. It's an encouragement to faith. That's why Christ follows it with the command to His disciples to have a heart that in the midst of trouble goes to the right place, the object of the comfort of the people of God. This is what Christ says. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. The remedy to the heart of the people of God in trouble is simply believing in God and believing in Christ. Why does Jesus say it this way though? What's the point? Is it just some kind of token throwaway term? Believe in God and believe in me unthinkingly. No. Jesus is calling the troubled saint. To cast himself down to God and to Christ. To throw off all of his troubles and all of his pains and leave them where they belong in the hands of a mighty God. Beginning with the remedy is to simply know that He is calling us to run to Him in trouble. Where's the comfort of the saint to know that he, like Pilgrim, can go unto God and unburden himself by clinging to God in faith? What a comfort it is to know that you're not meant to just grit at it and bear it. That you're not called to just be a tough Christian. But Jesus doesn't say, I can't believe, disciples. You don't know better. Don't you see the glory in all of this? He says, believe. He points them to faith. To take it to God. To rest in His cross. To find the place, the pillar of strength. And to surrender the troubles of our hearts to Him. Believe in God. It's an imperative in the text. Do it, he's saying to his disciples. He wants a movement of the heart. And Christians, I want you to notice and not look over this, that in the midst of troubles, if you don't do something, it will overwhelm you. A Christian does have to consider that this is the hour he must believe in God the Father and in the power of the Son. I want to encourage you Christians that in the hour of trouble, it takes fortitude of heart just to think this. I must go to Him and leave it at His feet. This isn't something just to be known and something that you think will happen miraculously in trouble. It will be something that you need to hear in your ears and have echo in your heart that in the moment you do it, in your heart you run to Him and you drop all the baggage of trouble at His feet and at the foot of the cross. I want to tell you that the object of our comfort is not simply that we would believe. This is not simply the power of positive thinking. I want to tell you, this isn't just belief for belief's sake, but this is belief in God and in Christ. It is belief in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. It is belief in a God who has character. It is belief in a Savior who has done a work. It is belief in power that is not theoretical, but that is expressed in the universe by providence and mercy and grace and the upholding of all things by the Word of His power. It is going to Him believing in the cross of Christ and laying all down because He died for all of our sins and to redeem His people from all trouble. You see, Christians, our faith in God and our faith in Christ, that Jesus is placing on the same and equal level, no differentiation, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, the three in one. We teach children to sing this. That when we go to them in holy reverence and faith, we lay things down at the feet of a God who is able. What comfort is it that we know that when we have troubled hearts, it's not only we have a place to take it, but we have someone who can deal with the trouble of our hearts and souls. That's what's here in this passage. That we have a God. And we are to consider in His character, and in His power, and in His love, and in His promises, in His mercy, in His cross, in the redemption that He's purchased for us. And that we are invited that in the moment of trouble that we should bring to Him all things and give it over to Him. Consider with me for just a moment in Isaiah chapter 43, verses 1 through 5. This is the God. This is the Christ that we are being called to believe in in a moment of trouble. But now, thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Sabah in exchange for you. because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you. I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for you. Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east and from the west. I will gather you." This is the God whom we are to go to. This is his character, the God who is our defender. But don't let this escape your attention, Christians. that in the moment of distress and trouble, the place where we're supposed to go is to a God who loves us. A God with whom we are precious in His eyes. A God who's for us and not against us. What great comfort there is in that for a Christian. That's the comfort that Christ directs His disciples to. That's what He directs you to this morning. with all of the pain and all of the difficulty of your life, where you are right now, whatever struggle, financial, physical, spiritual, personal, whatever it is, come to the Lord, believe in Him, unburden yourself and rest in Him because He loves you and will do you good and defend you from all harm and uphold you in the moment of trouble. Secondly, As Jesus handles the hearts of His disciples who are overwhelmed by this troubling season, He holds before them the hope of our comfort. Jesus says in verse 2, In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? In my Father's house there are many rooms. If you have an older translation, there are many mansions. In my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? One of the things that I remember hearing early in my Christian walk as I was a maturing Christian, I'm still a maturing Christian, but as I was young in the Christian faith. An older man said this phrase to me, and you may be familiar with it. Son, you've got to be careful not to be too heavenly minded for any earthly good. Too heavenly minded for any earthly good? I've scarcely met anyone remotely fitting that description. A person too heavenly minded? That's not my problem. Too heavenly minded to do any earthly good? My problem is that I'm too earthly minded to receive any heavenly comfort. That's my problem. And you see, this is what Jesus knew about His disciples. is that their attention had been so focused on the things of this world, they'd been so focused on the earthly relationship of a betraying disciple to a righteous Lord, and of losing an earthly master that though He would be ascended would never be truly separated from them. They were disciples that were so focused on the earthly shame, on the earthly shame, of their failure and fear of the hands of other men, that they had entirely missed the simple truth of the coming blessing of heaven. That's why Jesus transitions so abruptly. He is trying to press them to a vision of the coming blessing that is promised in Him, the heavenly kingdom, our heavenly home. He's promised. that he is secured and that we as Christians ought to gaze after and long for. One of the things that confronted me whenever I was a missionary, high in the Himalayas, a very miserable place. It sounds great on paper, but it's absolutely desolate. It's dry. It's cold. There's no washing machines, and you don't bathe for months. It's horrible. The food's terrible. I was there for four months of my life as a 19-year-old fool. And I will never forget that each night as I laid in a chicken coop where our bedroom had been fashioned, how much I longed to be home, how much I wanted to hear the whir of The central air coming on and off. How much I wanted my sheets to smell like laundry. How much I wanted a warm bowl of soup. How much I longed to come into the door and to see my mom and dad. How much my heart wanted to be home whenever I was sick. Missionaries get sick all the time and it's usually something to do. with our digestive systems and that was true of me almost the whole trip. I wanted my family. I wanted the comfort that I had at home, the safety. I wanted the solace. I wanted the assurance that I could eat and know that I would be filled and not diseased. I wanted the assurance that I could lay and rest and not rise frozen. I wanted the best of what I had experienced, the grace of my parents and the mercy that was under our roof. I wanted that so bad. By the time four months came, yes, I was a warrior for the mission field in Nepal, but I tell you what, I was a wimp that wanted home. Whenever Christians are not heavenly minded, we are like people who are in a desolate place who don't desire for home. Contented with the difficulties and the pains of this life. Whenever Jesus points his disciples to the heavenly blessing. He is telling them this magnificent truth. This suffering won't last forever. There's a better day coming. You will go home. There will be a place where when you enter, they know your name and you are warmly embraced The pain that you feel now will not last forever. There is a home prepared for you. Your bed is set. The meal is spread. It's terrible now, but it will end. Christians that have a heavenward gaze are Christians that anticipate what our hearts and our souls desperately need. communion with God, comfort in His arms, and an assurance that He loves us and He will give to us what will be best for us. You see, whenever Jesus tells His disciples of the place where He is going, He tells them two things that ought to kindle our hope this morning. It is simply this. There are many rooms. And I go to prepare a place for you. He's telling them simply this. There's room for you in the safe arms of God. And I have secured your way to God. Christians must find their hope and their comfort in this. You're not at home here. Yazoo City is not your home. The pain of this life is not your home. This is not normal. The precious things here pale to the preciousness of the blessings of heaven. Hope in heaven, Christians. Let all of the things that hurt you in this life be comforted and the knowledge that they will not last forever. They are passing away and you will inherit blessings that you have yet to imagine. The third thing that Jesus points his disciples to is the assurance of our comfort. Jesus is so sweet in dealing with them. He deals with them very much and in the same way as we read in verse 33 of chapter 13 little children. As he deals with him in verse three, he's saying, I'm coming back. I'm leaving, but I'm coming back. Like a father at the door that sees his son run, throwing his arms out. Daddy, don't go. And you look to him and you say, I'm leaving, but I'm coming back. And the comfort that gives the child the swell in safety and anticipation of his return. He says, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may also be. Do you catch this? Jesus is telling His disciples, yes, I will suffer. Yes, I will die. Yes, I will rise and I will ascend. But I will not leave you as sheep without a shepherd. I will not leave you and abandon you. I will never forget you. I will come again. And I will draw you to Myself that you might dwell with Me. One of the things that I fear, that covenantal and sound, theologically, eschatologically right people miss or don't pay sufficient attention to. We are not the people of the rapture. We are not the people of pre-wrath, tribulation, and all of these other views that are not biblical. But Christians and Presbyterians and Second Pres in particular, let me hold before your eyes this morning something that is intended for the consolation of your heart. The second coming of Christ. Do you think about this morning, noon, and night? Do you go to bed at night waiting to hear the herald call? Do you rise in the morning looking to the horizon? Is He coming today? In the midst of your pain, are you praying, Lord, come quickly? This is intended for us and for our benefit, for our comfort to know that whenever all things fall apart, our Savior is running to meet us and that He will come again. That we are not abandoned children, bastardized by a wicked father. What a great assurance it is to know without a shadow of a doubt, because of the truth of the Word of God, He will return. That's what His disciples struggled with, maybe more than anything. Our Messiah is leaving, our King, our Lord. Three years of our lives we've given everything and we've followed after Him, but He's leaving things that Christians need to hear that these disciples desperately needed to be at home with is that he went to prepare a better place. That he was coming and is coming to bring us into that glorious promise. Firstly, you need to know Jesus is coming again. And I want to tell you that's not all he says. Praise be to God. He says, not only I will come again, but I will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also. that in the day of Christ's return, we will not have been forgotten. We will not have been a distant memory. But when He comes, when He comes on clouds descending, we will be His and He will come to us and take us for His own. We will be in His embrace, the bride in the arms of the bridegroom, beloved of God and near to Christ, and that we will be in His house forever. Praise be to God that my Redeemer, after the insult and the pain of His cross because of my sin, wants me still in His promise to bring me near to Him. What comfort that brings the souls of the people of God. Hear the word of God as one of these saints, the Apostle John, lived under this truth and how it comforted him in the midst of his life. And first John chapter three verse two. Beloved, what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see Him as He is. May it be the truth of our belief, the veracity of our doctrine, the character of the eternal God, our hope in His Word, in our expectation of a life in heaven, and His coming that sustains us till He comes. Let's pray. Lord, our God in heaven, we give praise to You for the ministry that You have to Your people. Lord, You know us in our weakest. Lord, You don't abandon us. Lord, You direct us after all things that will settle the storms of our hearts and our souls. Lord in heaven, Help us to be a people that fix our eyes on You, Your promises, and the Kingdom that is coming. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.