John 13:36-41: Good News for Troubled Hearts

Scripture Reading

Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

Intro

What is the answer for troubled hearts?… Hard times… heartache…

What is the answer for when you face a world of uncertainty?

Where do you go?

How do you deal with anxiety?

Days that seem dark… a future that seems uncertain and on a razors edge.

Where do you turn?

Usually when our hearts are troubled, we are tempted to rely on ourselves.

To make it through.

To depend on our own strength and resources and live as functional atheists when we face the troubles and cares of the world?

And those cares start to weigh us down.

But how can we have that weight lifted?

When our hearts are troubled where can we go for rest?

That’s our Big Idea for today…

Let not your hearts be troubled, trust in the Lord.

This is based off Jesus words to His disciples who were struggling with troubled hearts in their own time…

And Jesus spoke to their troubled hearts saying trust in the Lord.

Believe in God, believe also in me.

What I hope for you to see this morning, is a God who loves you and cares for you even in the most troubled and difficult of times.

A Savior who died for you, and promises to never leave you or for sake you.

And when those times come… when your heart is troubled… to encourage you to put your trust in Him all the more and surrender all of your life and all of your troubles to Him in an active day-by-day, step-by-step joy-filled faith.

A holy confidence, trust, and dependance that says:

1. God loves me

2. God cares for me

and 3. He’s in control.

God has me and the whole entire world safely in His hands.

A Faith that is the answer for troubled times and troubled hearts.

What does it look like to worship… and love… and trust the God of all comfort who gives peace that surpasses all understanding? (Philippians 4:7)

Let’s start with…

John 13:36–38 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”

Allow me to set the scene.

We are in the Upper Room the night Jesus is about to be betrayed.

Judas has just gone out and night has now fallen.

Darkness and the hour of crucifixion is drawing near.

And with His last few hours Jesus spends the time with His disciples to give them His parting words.

His final instructions… all the warnings, promises, comforts, and commandments they would need in the coming hours and ultimately while He was away.

He had just told them Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ (John 13:33).

In context Jesus was talking about returning to the Father.

He was looking forward to returning to the glory He had with the Father before the foundation of the world (John 17:5).

And this understandably caused a lot of confusion for the disciples.

Where was Jesus going?

Why couldn’t they follow Him?

They had given up everything and followed Him for three long years, and He was leaving them now?

And so Peter asked, Lord, where are you going?

And Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

A little bit later Jesus says I go to prepare a place for you, that you may be with me where I am. (John 14:3).

I’m going away for a time, but you will be with me again.

What a comfort this is.

Jesus was going away but He was not leaving or forsaking them.

He was dying for them to save them for their sins.

This was the exact opposite of what Jesus had told the Jews.

He had said to them in John 7:34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.

And John 8:21 I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.

In rejecting Christ, they would lose all hope of salvation.

There is no other Savior who can save us from our sins.

But all who believe, Jesus says you will follow me afterward. You can’t come now, but you will be with me where I am, with the Father in heaven with all our sins forgiven and the joy of eternal life.

But Peter didn’t get it.

He said Lord, why can’t I follow you now?

I’ve followed you these past three years!

I’ve gone everywhere with you.

All over Galilee and Judea.

And when everyone else walked away, I said Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! (John 6:68).

You can almost hear the distress in Peter’s heart.

Lord I’ll follow you anywhere! I will lay down my life for you!

To which Jesus said Will you lay down your life for me?

And there’s some irony in Jesus words.

When Peter says I will lay down my life for you they almost the exact same words as Jesus when He said I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Will you lay down your life for me? Peter I’m going to lay down my life for you.

Love and Grace

In these words, we see the love and grace of Jesus.

Peter doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s going to run away like a coward.

Jesus even says, “Peter, you say you’re going to die for me but Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”

And even knowing that Jesus still lays down His life for Peter.

Despite all His sins and failures Jesus loved Peter to the uttermost (John 13:2).

The same kind of love He has for us.

Christ’s love is greater than our failures… its greater than our weaknesses.

His love is so powerful that nothing can separate us from the love of God we have in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

If Christ can love a failure like Peter, He can love failures like us.

His love is stronger than even our weak faith.

Trouble

But these words sent shockwaves through the disciples.

Just think about everything they’ve just heard.

Betrayal

One of you will betray me (John 13:21).

And at this point none of them knew it was Judas.

When He left they thought he was going to get something for the feast or give money to the poor.

They were all very sorrowful asking Jesus, “Is it me?” (Matthew 26:22).

Am I going to be the one that unknowingly betrays Christ?

Leaving

And then Jesus says I’m leaving.

Yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ (John 13:33).

Denial

So one of them was going to betray Him… Jesus was going to leave… and then they hear Peter… the leader of the Disciples!… was going to deny Christ before the sun even rose?

Peter was the bold one!

He was the first to confess You are the Christ! the Son of the Living God!

And Jesus said Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:16-18).

If Peter was going to deny Christ… what did that mean for all of them?

What was about to happen that would make everything change?

For the Disciples, their whole world was falling down.

The last three years gone.

Everything falling apart.

Their hope for the future vanished into thin air.

Our Troubles

We have all kinds of reasons for troubled hearts.

I worry about the future.

I worry the world will be like for my children.

My marriage is falling apart.

My health is failing.

I’m depressed. I’m anxious. Or always in pain.

I’m so lonely.

Maybe you’re drowning as a Mom and feel like a failure as a Dad and the head of your home.

We have all kinds of troubles and all kinds of things that make us feel like we are sinking and in over our head.

What does the God of All Comfort have to say to you? (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

Let not your hearts be troubled.

John 14:1 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Let not your hearts be shaken… disturbed… violently stirred up within you.

In other words Do not fear!

Believe in God, Believe also in me.

Jesus here, gives us the answer for troubled hearts.

Its Believe!

Faith… exercising an active trust and dependance on God.

What causes our hearts to be troubled in the course of life?

Its when our problems or circumstances seem bigger and stronger than we can bear.

That life is going to swallow us up and we can’t get out of it.

We look at our wisdom, our strength, our endurance and we say I don’t got it.

But that’s precisely the problem.

We are looking to ourselves.

This is the danger and sin of self-sufficiency.

We think its all on us and it all depends on ourselves and so we look to ourselves and rely on ourselves instead of turning to the Lord.

We look at ourselves and our circumstances and we stop living out a life of faith.

But that’s not the life of a Christian.

The life of the Christian is meant to be lived in total faith and dependance on the Lord.

The righteous shall live by faith (Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38).

That doesn’t just mean we have eternal life by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the book of Hebrews, it uses that phrase to talk about perseverance and trusting the Lord (Hebrews 10:32-39).

This constant trust and dependance on God.

When our hearts are troubled or stirred up or anxious within us, its not that our problems don’t exist.

Its that we are trusting in ourselves more than our Savior.

We don’t believe in God’s promises to watch over us and carry us through.

That’s He’s sovereign and in control… and always, always, always good.

This is where the rubber of our faith meets the road.

Do we face the problems and troubles of our life… the uncertainty of our future… with fear and trepidation?

Given into anxiety or only relying on ourselves to just grit our teeth and bear?

Or do we have trust in the Lord?

A joyful confidence and commitment that God is for us and with us come what may.

That’s what worry is… its trust in yourself more than a sovereign God… its a lack of faith.

Calm the Storm

When Jesus calmed the storm in Mark 4, the Disciples were afraid.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat (Mark 4:37).

Most of these guys were fishermen.

They’d seen storms before but this was beyond them.

They were only looking at their own strength and resources.

And so they woke Christ up and said Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?

And Jesus calmed the wind and the waves and He said Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith (Mark 4:39).

They had forgotten that someone greater than the wind and the waves was with them.

Walk on Water

On another occasion there was another storm and Jesus came to the Disciples walking on the water Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid (Matthew 14:27).

And so Peter said Lord if it is you, tell me to come out on the water.

And the Lord said come.

So Peter got out of the boat and walked towards Jesus.

But then the Bible says when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and began to sink (Matthew 14:30).

Well what happened?

He took his eyes of Jesus.

He looked at the wind and the waves… his circumstances and lost sight of Christ.

But when he cried out Lord save me, it says Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying O you of little faith, why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:31).

Jesus was right there.

So it is in the storms of our life.

When we take our eyes off Christ we start thinking.

The Christian life is lived in total faith and dependance on Him.

And not just in the storms but in all things.

Its a life of total faith.

Lessons

Look at what Jesus has said so far in the Upper Room.

Remember, these are Christ’s parting words.

His final instructions… the things He wants to shape and define His disciples while He is away.

The things He wants to shape and define us.

The first was washing the Disciples’ feet.

If I do not wash you you have no share with me (John 13:8).

The only way to be cleansed is through faith in Him.

And then He said as I’ve done to you, you also do for one another (John 13:14).

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you and By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love for one another (John 13:34-35).

Love is the thing that defines the community of faith.

So we’ve looked at the Gospel… we’ve looked at love…

And now Jesus calls us to active abiding faith.

A complete trust and dependance on Him, while He is away.

Fixing our eyes on Christ (Hebrews 12:2).

Not just in the troubles but in all of life.

Holding fast to the Lord.

Active Faith

We too often look at faith as something passive.

You believe in Jesus and that’s basically it.

But faith is active.

Its a constant daily dependance on the Lord.

Its what Jesus says in John 15: Abide in me!

Dwell with me… Hold fast to me… Walk close to me!

For apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

The righteous shall live by faith… total trust and dependance on Him.

The answer for our troubled and anxious hearts… and the answer ultimately for a godly life a whole… is exercising… working out… living out an active dependent faith in God and His promises and fixing our eyes on Christ.

Its living a life where we stop relying on ourselves, and our strength and our resources but we rely entirely on Him.

That’s what Jesus says Believe in God; believe also in me.

And those are going to be our two points today.

The Answer for a Troubled Heart is Faith in God

And The answer for a Troubled Heart is Faith in Christ.

And what I want to do in these next few minutes is to show you how God in Christ loves and cares for you.

And in seeing HIs love and care for you… hopefully inspire you to greater faith and trust and dependance on Him.

The kind of faith that would lead us to consecrate more and more of our lives to Him.

Point number 1…

1. The Answer for a Troubled Heart is Faith in God

Jesus says Believe in God...

Now Jesus could be saying here depending on how you translate it, you believe in God as in a statement of fact but whether its you believe in God or believe in God as a command the point is the same.

God is the God of all comfort and we look to Him with our troubled hearts.

So the answer is not to look at whatever is troubling you but to look to God and His promises.

So here’s the questions: Why can we trust God wholeheartedly and devote all of our lives to Him?

Strong Tower

Do not let your hearts be troubled first because God is your security… comfort… and strength.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 46, where Luther got A Mighty fortress…

Psalm 46:1–2 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.

This is who God is to all who trust in Him.

As Paul said, if God is for us who, or what, can possibly be against us? (Romans 8:31).

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord… they will not be moved (Jeremiah 17:7, Psalm 125:1).

For the Lord upholds the righteous (Psalm 37:17).

And this true for all who trust in the Lord.

He hides us in the shadow of His wings… this picture of a mother bird caring for her young (Psalm 17:8).

That’s the Lord’s love and care for all of us…

This close… watchful and attentive care that says I am always good and I am always in control.

Do Not Be Anxious

In my own personal life those are the two truths I always come back to.

When anything looks uncertain… when anything is fearful…

God is always good… God loves you… and God is always in control.

It is precisely those truths that Jesus tells us not to be anxious.

Cycling

Anxiety is a massive problem in our day.

Maybe you struggle with anxiety and you find yourself cycling constantly giving into anxious thoughts.

Cycling is what I call when you are anxious about something and you talk yourself into an answer and then you start questioning that answer and so you come up for an answer for that and you just keep going and going and going.

And not matter what anyone says you can’t get out of your head that something’s wrong.

If you don’t struggle with anxiety you think “That sounds crazy!”

And if you do struggle with anxiety you would say, “Yeah it is.”

So what’s the answer for anxiety?

Believe in God.

Look what Jesus says.

Matthew 6:25–27 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Matthew 6:28–30 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Good

The first thing we see is that God is good and cares for even the smallest aspects of His Creation.

Does He not feed the birds and does He not clothe the fields?

Then God will also take care of you.

This same point comes up elsewhere…

In Matthew 10:29 Jesus says Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

If God notices and sees a sparrow fall to the ground that’s only worth half a penny, is His watchful eye not on you?

And if He’s numbered all the hairs on your head so that not on of them can fall to the ground without the knowledge of the Father, what do you have to be anxious of? (1 Samuel 14:45).

If God is not looking out for the hairs on your head is He not looking out for you?

And notice Jesus even says O you of little faith indicating that the root of anxiety and troubled hearts in our lives is a lack of trust in God.

Father

From here Jesus says do not be anxious because God is your heavenly Father who loves you.

We saw this already… your heavenly Father feeds them… but in verse 31…

Matthew 6:31–33 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Gentiles in this context are unbelievers… people outside the covenant family of God.

And they are anxious about the things of this world… What shall we eat?… What shall we drink?… What shall we wear?

And Jesus says that kind of anxiety is more characteristic of an unbeliever than it is a Christian.

A Christian has a heavenly Father that loves them… cares for them… provides for them.

If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11).

Christians are anxious for nothing because there is a heavenly Father who loves us.

And He doesn’t just love us or want good for us… He actually has the power to bring it about.

And that’s the third thing Jesus says.

In Control

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Not only is God good… Not only does God love us… But God is in control.

He is sovereign and powerful over all things.

His love and care for us is not wishful thinking… it is within His power to bring it about.

Jesus says do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious about itself.

So not only are we not to be anxious about today, we are not to be anxious about the future, because we don’t control the future.

Rather, sufficient for the day is its own trouble meaning our job and our only job any given day and any given situation is trust the Lord and follow the Lord as best we can.

We control what we can control and we leave the rest in the Lord’s hands.

Ephesians 1 says that God works all things according to the counsel of his will…

According to His infinite wisdom and purpose.

And what that means is that absolutely everything God has ordained perfectly serves His glory and our good.

We can trust Him.

One of the greatest drivers of anxiety is that we start to believe that our life is chaos.

That its out of control.

That we are walking a tight rope one wrong step away from falling off either side.

But does that not functionally say God is not sovereign over my life?

That He is in control of all things but this one particular situation or fear?

Instead we need to believe the promises of God: That God works all things together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28-30).

Assume Providence

We should not question the providence of God but assume it.

Assume God is working on our behalf for our good in every situation in our life.

Assume God is working in your life to bring all His good promises to pass.

Trust His word and His character more than your fear or circumstances.

Summary

Notice three times Jesus says do not be anxious and then gives a reason for it.

Do not be anxious… Let not your hearts be troubled… because:

God cares for you.

He’s your heavenly Father that loves you.

And He’s in control.

Those are the truths we need to put to death our anxiety.

And if you are sitting there thinking… I want to believe… I just don’t know if I can.

I don’t know if God will ever free me from this…

God has already proved it in giving His only Son.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

How will He not care for us?

Love us?

Work all things together for our good?

I’ll tell you the life verse that’s always helped me.

The one that encapsulates all these truths into one.

Memorize it… Preach it… take it to heart.

Psalm 25:10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness.

Let not your hearts be troubled… Believe in God.

And then Jesus says believe also in me.

And that’s point number 2…

2. The Answer for a Troubled Heart is Faith in Christ

John 14:1 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Now one of the first things I want you to notice is Jesus puts Himself on par with God the Father.

In the same way you believe in God, believe also in me.

Jesus is the eternal Son of God incarnate in human flesh.

One with and equal to the Father in every way.

In other words Jesus is God.

Another thing we need to see is that believing in Christ is trusting in God the Father.

John 12:44–47 Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.

Trusting in Christ, following Christ, is trusting in God the Father because all the promises and blessings of God flow to us through Him.

He is the Mediator who stands between us and the Father to make peace for all our sins.

But what Jesus is calling us to here is ongoing faith.

Believe in me and keep on believing in me.

Trust in me and keep on trusting in me.

He’s talking about living a life of faith in trust and dependance on Him.

And there are two ways in which we can trust in Christ with every detail of our life and to find comfort for our troubled hearts.

Number 1… we can trust in Him as the Good Shepherd and Number 2… we can trust in Him as our Great High Priest.

And both of these are related to directly to Peter and how Jesus answers the troubles of His troubled heart.

1. As the Good Shepherd

Remember how Jesus said Will you lay down your life for me?

Its the same language from John 10:11: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

We can trust Jesus wholeheartedly with every aspect of our life… all our cares… all our concerns… every burden… because He laid down His life for us.

He carried our greatest burden carrying away our sin and showed us Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

As the Good Shepherd we can take our cares and our burdens to Jesus because the Good Shepherd:

Loves the sheep…

Cares for the sheep….

Heals the sheep…

Leads the sheep…

Protects the sheep…

And watches over the sheep so that not one goes missing or is lost.

When we exercise active, dependent faith in Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd… Psalm 23 isn’t just a nice Psalm with a pleasant picture…

It becomes a promise we can bank our lives on no matter how dark the world or our life gets.

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me… Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

We can trust in Christ as the Good Shepherd.

2. As Our Great High Priest

We can also trust in Christ as our Great High Priest.

As our High Priest not only did He lay down His life for us in His once for all perfect sacrifice, but He intercedes on our behalf.

Paul says…

Romans 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Therefore…

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

What was the difference between Peter and Judas?

Jesus interceded for him.

Knowing he would deny Him, Jesus said Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, [that He might crush you… destroy you… shake you violently so that you might fall!

but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31-32).

We are weak in ourselves and while Satan might be able to overcome our weakness he cannot overcome Christ’s intercession.

Christ intercedes for you… He prays for you…

We can always go and run to Him for help.

Hebrews 4:15–16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Conclusion

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, Believe also in me.

Faith is the answer for troubled times and troubled hearts.

When the hard times come… when the difficult times come… when it feels like you are pressed down hard set and crushed… Trust in the Lord.

God loves you and cares for you.

Jesus Christ laid down His life for you and intercedes for your faith and all your weaknesses.

Exercise an active dependent faith in Him.

Believe in Him… Trust in Him… with all your life and all your heart.

Let not your hearts be troubled, trust in the Lord.

You know one of the most oft repeated commands in the whole Bible is very similar to what Jesus says here.

Do not fear for I am with you.

Do not be afraid… I am by your side.

I will never leave you or forsake you, I will carry you home.

Do you live a life of faith and confidence in God?

A life of total dependance on God?

A life consecrated and devoted to Him entirely for His glory?

Complete faith and trust in His promises depending on Him day-by-day in every moment with active, persevering faith?

Let not your hearts be troubled…

Deuteronomy 31:8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Let’s Pray