Jesus Death Delivers Troubled Hearts
Notes
Transcript
ME
ME
I don’t know if you are like me but the more I look at the world that we are living in the more unsettled I become. And let me just specify and kind of get to the bottom of this, every four years my heart becomes more and more unsettled… every four years we are electing new leaders and we become so divided in this country, everyone knows the right answer, everyone knows the right man, and it is a hard place to be. As someone who sits and realizes this world is only going to be saved by Jesus, that Jesus is the hope this world needs I hear what the left is saying and accusing the right of, and i hear what the right is accusing the left of and I am like, Yes, yes… I see all of that… that’s why none of these people are my answer to how we are going to get the place we need to get.. I realize in those few months more than ever how much the world needs Jesus. And its not that I am not going to vote… I could wax eloquently about Christians and voting, and talk about how the lessers of two evils is still evil, and talk about how it is our duty… I get all of it… but thats why my heart is so troubled… because we need jesus. He is the answer…
And its not just these four years that leave me troubled… I remember when Jenn was pregnant with Josiah all those years ago… and she started bleeding badly really at an early time… and I couldn’t help but be upset… see, I was a young dude, and all I could think in that moment is I am about to lose my wife and son… and I did the only thing I know… I called every praying person I knew, and my mentor, the man that I looked up to that took me under his wing had just left town to pastor a church in south georgia.. and I called him… and he didn’t just tell me he would pray… he didnt just say he had it and hang up, he said, Adam let me pray… and driving down the highway with my eyes open he prayed and he didn’t just pray for Jenn and Josiah but he prayed for peace into my life… and he was reassuring in that conversation and assured me of the promises of God and that He had this…
WE
WE
And maybe you are like me and you have some moments like that… you can look back to a time when you were restless and troubled and someone reassured you and gave you the comfort and the peace you needed… or maybe you are at a place in your life right now where you need someone to reassure and comfort you… and I am hoping today you will see that Jesus can deliver your troubled heart… that in the middle of the turmoil he can give you peace and comfort…
EXPOSITION
EXPOSITION
See, this is exactly where we find the disciples and Jesus in the story this morning… they are troubled… it has been laid before them that he is going to a place they cannot come and he has tried to explain to them he must die and fulfill the prophecy… but in the middle of this he is going to give them this reassurance..
Think about what just transpired… and its important to remember that all of this happened in the same dinner and conversation… I know we switched chapters.. but there was no real reason for that to happen, and I know this is weird but I have always wanted to study why there are breaks where they are in the Bible… Like why they decided this was a chapter and this was a verse… my guess is it has something to do with the original language it was being translated in and how it was broken up, but there are no books on it that I have been able to find. anyway,.. this is the same conversation as we have been looking at the last few week, and Jesus has told them he was troubled because of what Judas was about to do, then he told them he was leaving and they couldn’t follow him, and then he told them Peter would deny him…
Talk about Panic mode… and can only imagine what they are thinking… Judas has walked out… and they know something is coming.. I can only imagine they were wondering why Peter would deny him THREE times.. whats going to be happening… what is going to be next… why not just once why is he going to have the opportunity to deny him THREE times…
and look what Jesus says… its almost as if he knows their hearts
John 14:1 (ESV)
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled.
Don’t let your heart be troubled… and its so interesting to me… because Jesus in this very moment his heart is troubled… he is feeling the pain of what is about to happen… and he is telling them do not be troubled…
And I want you to know he tells you the same… it was in him to take their sorrow into himself and not allow them to feel everything he was feeling… his care and his attention even knowing what was coming for him and the pain of the cross was to take on the pain and fear of his people…
But this is great… because he doesn’t just do what we do so many times when we are trying to comfort and console people… he doesn’t just say Don’t worry… he gives them a new direction to go… he says
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
And he is pointing them in a direction… he says the reason and the answer to their hearts being troubled is belief in him… this is faith! This is amazing!
And I want to stop there for just a moment… think about this… these men have scripture memorized… they would understand Psalm 46:1
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
And he is telling them.. I get it… you believe in God… believe in me.. trust in me… put your faith in me… I am there for you… and you have grown up knowing and believing in this god who will be with you always, who you believe will protect you.. who you believe will wipe away the tears… who you believe will setup this kingdom on earth to take away the rule of the Romans… and I am telling you You must also believe in me… I have told you over and over again that he and I am…
He is telling them to remember everything you have seen… you have waited for God’s glory and you have seen it in me and you will see it even more clearly very soon… I am about to die and give my life and return for you… believe in everything I have told you and all of this displeasure… all of this troubled heart will be made well… and belief in this sense is not just a small idea its a matter of clinging to him and if we do… if you do… you will find rest…
Do you believe that this morning? Are you calling upon him in your darkest hour and believing the promises he has given you and the life he gave for you to find your rest?
In times of turmoil and strife and anxiety and despair what we tend to do is look to ourselves… we try to reason our way out of it… we try to find a way out its our human nature to look at ourselves…
Some of us see people sick and dying around us and our hearts are so troubled because we want to fix it… we want to make it better… and we let ourselves be troubled… and we probably should if these people don’t know Jesus…
Or our daughter in law, or co worker, or someone says something nasty to us so we get all up in our feelings and hurt and we hold on to it and figure out how we can lash back…
Or we have a illness ourselves and we try to figure it out and we allow the thoughts of its horribleness to put us into despair… and to all of us Jesus says…
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
And I’m not saying that when he says that that he is going to fix all of those problems… I am not saying that all of a sudden he is going to make you healthy, wealthy and cute… :) but what i am saying is he is the answer… whatever he wants for you… whatever he has for you… is better than what you have for yourself…. and we should find rest in that…
We no matter how hard we try will ever be able to find rest in ourselves… we must look to Jesus… and there are some of you here this morning who have known this for a long time… the question is do you live like you believe it… I know that is a problem for me sometimes… really trusting in the times of trouble and trial…
And Jesus goes on from that thought and says…
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?
And listen… he just adds on to what he told us in verse 1… don’t worry… put your faith in me… and I know you are sad because I am leaving you and you cannot follow me right now, but know this… I am going to a place to prepare for you and I will take you to this place… and we like to think of his father’s house in heaven… and we cannot really fathom the picture of this…
Its not that we will have individual homes and mansions as the jokes often go about the fans and the flags on the front porch… but he is going to prepare a room for us… in his father’s house… can you imagine what that would look like.. of course not.. a room in a house a place for all of us… and I think this is what the main idea of what is going on and what he is trying to convey that there is room for plenty of us… we don;t have to worry that he is going to run out of room for any of us… there will be plenty…
ANd we cannot even begin to understand what he is doing to prepare a place… as I child I think I thought about him building all the stuff and having to gather all the wood and get it ready for us to be there I was a little silly… but the whole point is if you put your faith and belief in him there is room for us…
3 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.
And this just shows us there is no other place for us but with HIM… if we beleive in him he will return for us and take us back to himself… there is no other way friends… there is no new age theology… there is no other belief system that will get us to the place that we want to me…
ANd here what he says… it doesn’t say IF i come again… he says I WILL Come again.., and my friends that is a promise to us all in the dark times… Jesus is coming… no matter the darkness… no matter how hard this life is, there will be a time when Jesus returns for us… and I think about it and I realize that life in relation to eternity… whether 20-80-120 years… is all the blink of an eye… and while that isn;t always a comfort to us… it should be…
And I think we have to stop here and realize what Jesus is saying… He says he will take us to him… and that is the best part about heaven… its not those streets we talk about or the thigns we think about… the best part of heaven is we get to be with Jesus…
let me end with a quote by AW Pink
“Here then, is the Divine cure for heart-trouble; here, indeed, is the precious consolation for one groaning in a world of sin. First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, the assurance that the Father’s house on high will be our eternal home. Third, the realization that the Savior has done and is doing everything necessary to secure us a welcome there and fit that home for our reception. Fourth, the blessed hope that He is coming in Person to take us to Himself. And finally, the precious promise that we are to be with Him forever…Here is solid ground for consolation, conclusive arguments against despondency and depression in the present path of service and suffering, the Savior lives and loves and cares for us! He is active, promoting our interests, and when God’s time arrives He shall come and take us to Himself!”
YOU
YOU
Can you imagine how much freer our lives and world would be if in the middle of our stressors in life we relied on this as truth…
WE
WE
If you are here this morning and don’t know Jesus you may be feeling like you are without hope because you have no where to look forward to… this morning I want you to know that Jesus is calling you home… he is calling you to himself… so you can place your faith and belief in him and have eternal life in him and he can prepare you place with him as well…
