Heaven’s Cure for Our Troubled Hearts—Part One

March 1, 2024

William MacDonald

["Bill" MacDonald was involved with The Berean Call as a great friend, a former TBC board member, and a gifted teacher of God's Word. He is now at home with the Lord. We are confident that this talk he once gave at Calvary Chapel Modesto will truly bless you.]

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

—John:14:1-6

As I read these verses of Scripture, I can't help thinking of the vast number of people who will be in heaven singing the praises of the Lord Jesus for all eternity because of verse 6—how the Holy Spirit of God used that verse to bring light to darkened souls. They came to Christ depending on Him and Him alone for their soul’s salvation.

I think of people going through trials, and difficulty, and trouble—pain, sorrow, tears—and I think of the comfort that these verses have brought to them.

“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.”

I think of how God has used these verses at times of bereavement when loved ones have been taken away, taken to heaven, and the comfort that has come to troubled hearts through these wonderful verses of Scripture.

So I'd like to look at this chapter with you to see if the Lord might have something for your heart, especially if you have a troubled heart.

The Lord Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Why did He say that? Well, of course, chapter 14 is closely linked with chapter 13. I'll never get famous for saying that, but it's true just the same. You know that the chapter breaks are rather artificial. They're not part of the inspired text, so it might be good if you read chapter 13 and then immediately read chapter 14. And you'd find that there are several reasons in chapter 13 why their hearts might be troubled.

If you’d just turn in your Bible and look back over chapter 13, you'll see, first of all, that the Lord Jesus said He was going away. Well, that's one reason for a troubled heart. He was going to leave them! There was going to be a time of separation.

He also said that one of the disciples was going to deny Him—Peter. And if that wasn't bad enough, He also said that one of the disciples was going to betray Him—Judas. And it says there that when He thought of Judas and of that betrayal, His heart was troubled.

So there are four reasons in the preceding chapter why the hearts of the disciples might be troubled. And so He says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” And in the chapter that follows, in chapter 14, it's just full of reasons why our hearts shouldn't be troubled. They're going to pop out at you at almost every verse that we read.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

To believe in God means to trust God. There's a cure for a troubled heart: trust God. God doesn't do anything but what you yourself would do if you had His wisdom, love, and power. Around every one of His people there's a hedge, and Satan can't get past that hedge (as we learned in the Book of Job) except by the Lord's permission. Everything that comes into our lives is filtered through the love of God.

The Lord Jesus says, “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

Let me just pause there to say that the chapter is also filled with many statements concerning the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, statements where the deity of the Lord Jesus is implied, and this is one of them. To believe in Christ is the same as believing in God. To believe in God—same as believing in Christ. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” And I like to substitute the word “trust” there. Trust in the Lord. No matter what your circumstance may be, no matter what trial you may be called on to go through in the home, at work, in school, in college, the answer is “trust in the Lord.”

When the Lord Jesus said, “Ye believe in God, believe also in me,” He claims equality with God. To trust Him is the same as to trust God, and He claims to be the sole revealer of God in this chapter. And this verse tells me that the Lord Jesus is just as much to be trusted as God the Father is. That's wonderful, isn't it? “Let not your heart be troubled.”

It's good that he didn't stop after the word “troubled.” He went on to tell them why they shouldn't be troubled, and gave many reasons. Let's go down the chapter and look at some of the reasons.

He was going to the Father's house of many mansions. That's good news! He was going back to heaven. The cross wouldn't be the end, would it? He would rise from the dead, He would ascend back to heaven, and He was going to the Father's house of many mansions. Verse 2: He was going to prepare a place for them. It's getting better all the time, isn't it? Not only that He was going to the Father's house, He was going to prepare a place for them. Verse 3: He would come again and take them to be with Him. Does that make your heart rejoice? It should. Verse 6: He himself was the only true way to heaven, only true way to the Father. Verse 12: They would do greater works—after He went back to heaven and the Holy Spirit was given, they would do even greater works than He had done when He was here on earth. He would answer any prayers that were offered in His name. My, it’s really just a wonderful collection of promises that He makes here.

Then verse 16: Another helper would come and abide with them forever. Of course, that was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was going to come, and He would stay with His people forever…and that's what happened after Pentecost.

Verse 18: Jesus would not leave them orphans. He would come to them—that is, He would come back to them in the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came to them, in a sense, the Lord Jesus came to them at that time. Verse 19: They would share His endless life. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. And verse 20: They would understand in a coming day that they shared oneness with God the Father and with the Lord Jesus His Son.

I like verses 21 and 23—He said that obedience to the Lord would result in a special bond of fellowship between the Father, the Son, and believers. God loves obedient people. He loves everybody, but there's a special way in which He loves His people who are obedient to His Word. And then verse 27: He promises peace to His people.

“Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin? The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.”

“In my Father's house are many mansions….” Well, He doesn't tell us all that we would like to know about those mansions. Maybe we wouldn't be able to take it in if He told us, you know?

Somebody has said we have five senses now, perhaps we'll have 50 senses when we get to heaven. I wouldn’t be surprised. To take in all the beauty, the majesty, the fullness of that scene, we probably would need more than five. If the joy that will be ours then were poured into us now, we would burst!

“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.” I like that. “If it were not so, I would have told you.” What does that mean? It means the Lord Jesus tells us everything in the Word of God that we really need to know. That's a comfort, isn't it? A lot of us have a lot of questions. I’d like to ask Paul a lot of questions when we get to heaven. But I like those words: “If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” That's wonderful!

You know, I said that the chapter is filled with implications of the deity of Christ. Here's something that's really wonderful: we read it, we’re so familiar with it, and we read it kind of as a matter of fact. But when He says this, He's claiming the ability to go instantly throughout all the universe—throughout all the universe—to go to the Father's house, to go to heaven, and to prepare a place for you.

If I were to say that to you, what would you ever think? If a mere man ever said, “I'm going to heaven to prepare a place for you,” you’d think, Let's get the little man in the white jacket to come and take him away to the psychiatric ward, you know. But in the lips of the Lord Jesus, they sound absolutely perfect, don't they?

“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's wonderful, how very personal the gospel is—how very personal. Imagine receiving worms unto Himself, huh? Receiving people like ourselves unto Him, saved by His marvelous grace. “…that where I am, there ye may be also.” That's wonderful, isn't it? The Lord Jesus wasn't satisfied just to deliver us from going to hell. He wasn't satisfied to just give us a long life on earth. He never will be completely satisfied till He has us with Him in glory—with Him and like Him forever. I think that's wonderful. Salvation could have done less than that.

“And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Well, He had already told them where He was going, and they knew the way as well. But, you know, the disciples were just like ourselves—they'd hear a thing, and sometimes it didn't register with them. He told them many times that He was going to go to the cross. He was going to be delivered to the Gentiles. He was going to die, He was going to be buried and rise again. And it seemed at the time that they took it in, and then they would go on and seem to be completely forgetful of it all. And we're like that, too, and that's why the truths of God's Word have to be repeated to us over and over again.

Well, Thomas speaks up at this point. He said, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” Thomas might have thought he was going to Tyre or Sidon or Damascus in Syria. I don't know what Thomas thought. “We don't know where you're going, Lord. How can we know the way?” And then the Lord Jesus came out with those immortal words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

“I am.” When the Lord Jesus said, “I am,” He took one of the Old Testament names of God to Himself, didn’t He? God the Father is known as the I AM, the ever great I AM. Seven times in the Gospel of John these words are ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the I AM. It really means, “I was, I am, I always will be.” It comprehends all tenses of existence.

“I am the way.” He's not just a sign showing the way, He is the way. And I want to tell you: if you have the Lord Jesus as your own, you're as sure of heaven as God can make you. That's wonderful, isn't it? If your only hope for heaven is the Savior, you're saved. He is the way. He's the truth—He's the true way, and He's the embodiment of truth, as well. People go to colleges and universities and they have great philosophical arguments about, “What is truth?” Well, I'll tell you what truth is: truth is what God says about something. That's true. And the Lord Jesus is truth. He's the embodiment of truth, and everything He says is true.

“I am the life,” as well. He not only is the way, He gives us the life to go the way. So I read this in a way: “I am the way, the true way, and the living way. No man comes to the Father except through me.”

I would suggest to you that those words I just read—“No man comes to the Father except through me”—are some of the most hated words in the world today. People don't like that. They don't like to hear that there's only one way of salvation, that the Lord Jesus is the way, that there's no other way. Nobody else can ever get to heaven in any other way. And that, of course, excludes all the great world religions except Christianity. That's one reason why we have such an increase of anti-Christian bigotry in the world today. They hate that truth. It's the truth just the same, and you can fight against it, but that doesn't change it a bit.

God sent His Son to die on the cross for mankind. He presents Himself as the way. There is no other way. Verse 7: “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also….” Another clear statement of the deity of the Lord Jesus. To know the Lord Jesus is to know the Father. You say, “How is that? They’re separate persons.” Yes, they’re separate personalities. If you look at the words carefully, there's “Me” and there's “My Father.” Separate personalities, yet to know one is to know the other.

It reminds us of John:1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“In the beginning was the Word,” the eternity of the Lord Jesus. “The Word was with God [His distinct personality] and the Word was God [His absolute deity].” All great truths concerning the Savior.

And here He says, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also….” And, of course, He came to tell us what God the Father is like, didn't He?

There was a little girl that was afraid of being in the dark in her bedroom, and her mother came in to comfort her. And her mother said to her, “Don't worry now, the Lord is here.” But she said, “I want a God with a face.” And that's what the Lord Jesus is: He's our God with a face.

If you go to Trafalgar Square in London, there's a column there, and on the top of the column is Lord Nelson. But honestly, Lord Nelson is so high up there that nobody can see him but the pigeons. And so, one year they were going to have a great exposition in Britain there, and they made a duplicate of Lord Nelson, and they brought it down to street level so people could see what he was like. And, you know, that's what God did when He sent His lovely Son down to this world. The Lord Jesus came down, and He fully declared what the Father is like. So if you want to know what God is like, look at the Lord Jesus, and He'll tell you exactly what God the Father is like.

“And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him [that is, in the Lord Jesus].” There is a question whether we will see God the Father in heaven, and I'm not sure we could solve that problem tonight. It says, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew:5:8). And Job had the hope of seeing God—“Yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job:19:26). Other people say, “Yes, well, they'll see Him as revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus. God is spirit, and you can't see spirit with these eyes.”

I was once at a junior high camp speaking and we had a question-and-answer period, and one of the fellows said to me, “Will we see God in heaven?” And I went through quite a long theological discourse that, our eyes being what they are, we cannot see spirit, you know, and went through quite an elaborate explanation. He said, “I know, but will we see God?” And he wasn't at all satisfied. And so I repeated myself again, hoping that the mere repetition would help me, but he wasn't satisfied. He said, “Maybe when we get to heaven we'll have bigger eyes.” And I think he was absolutely right. When we get to heaven, we'll have bigger eyes.

Verse 8: “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” “Show us the Father.” Dear Philip—he had been living with One who revealed the Father! He was one of the earliest disciples, Philip, and all that time he had been traveling with the Lord Jesus, and he had seen His miracles and heard His marvelous words, and now he says, “Show us the Father and it is sufficient. That'll be enough for us—just give us a glimpse of God the Father.”

“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you [referring to the fact that Philip was one of the early disciples, the earliest disciples, and yet the truth had not dawned on him as yet], and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father….”

Once again, I mentioned to you at the outset how many statements are in this chapter which, if you put them in the mouth of a mere man, they're absolutely ludicrous—absolutely ridiculous! And this is one of them: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

The Lord Jesus perfectly represents the Father down here. “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John:1:18). So we don't really have to be in darkness as to what God the Father is like. We see Him perfectly expressed in the life, words, and character of our blessed Savior. “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” Once again, separate personalities, but wonderful union of personalities in the Trinity, in the Deity.

“The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself [on my own authority]....” That's a wonderful thing! When the Lord Jesus came into the world, He came in perfect subjection to God the Father. He always did those things that please the Father. He never did anything through willfulness, through the exercise of His own will apart from God the Father. The miracles He performed, He performed in the power of the Holy Spirit and in obedience to the Father. And that's a tremendous lesson for us. It should teach us that the greatest glory that any of us can have is subjection to the Lord, to have our wills completely in accord with Him. My, it would save us a lot of misery!

It's so easy for us even in Christian work to decide we're going to do this. We can lay out goals for next year and have everything planned and mapped out; but, really, our calling is to be so in touch with the Lord that we do what He wants us to do. How do you do that? Well, by prayer, by study of the Word of God, and just by yielding our wills to Him day by day, and letting Him reveal His plan to us. The good works that we’re to perform have been foreordained for us, and it's just for us to find out what they are and to do them.

So the Lord Jesus was the subject Son of God. “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

You’ve got the words of the Lord Jesus, and you’ve got the works of the Lord Jesus as well. He says, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.”

The best way, the best faith in the Lord, is to believe something because He says it. But here He seems to say, “If you can't do that, then believe because of the works that I do.” I would say that's a lesser form of faith. People say, “Well, if I could just see a miracle, I would believe.” Well, God is not pleased, really, with the kind of faith that demands a miracle. He's not pleased with that kind of faith. Unbelievers say, “Well, if I could see somebody raised from the dead…” but the Word of God says, “No, you wouldn't. You still wouldn't believe…[if] one should rise from the dead…” (Luke:16:31).

[To Be Continued]

TBC

Printer-friendly version