What's keeping you awake at night? What are you worried about today? Oh, that's right. We're Christians. We don't worry because worry is a sin, so we're not supposed to worry, so I'll reword it. What are you concerned about today? Well, up to this point in our study, if you've been with us for the last few weeks, you know that Jesus has dropped a ton of stuff on his disciples. And these men are troubled. What are you troubled about? What has Jesus dumped on these men? What has he said to these men? Let me just give you a few of them. Number one, one of you will betray me. Two, the way I'm leaving and you can't follow me three I'm going to die Peter you will deny me so what's troubling you today let's start with a text chapter 14 verse 1 John writes or Jesus said do not let your heart be troubled our hearts get old and They can develop a disease. That's common. It happens. All types of people today have heart trouble. Heart trouble is real, folks. But Jesus is now saying, do not let your heart be troubled. The disciples are discouraged. They've had a number of things to be discouraged about. They thought that they would spend the rest of their life with this man Jesus. They would live with him, and now he's saying, I'm leaving. One of you is going to betray me. So in light of all this, to just simply say, it's going to be okay, that's not enough. In fact, that's useless. The disciples are about to live through and experience the three worst days in the history of the world. Every foundation they have, every anchor they have, is about to be ripped out from under them. Jesus, the man they plan to spend their future with, is going to lie cold, still, and dead in a tomb. And his body is going to be torn apart. He's going to be subject to torture. And after all that, there will be silence. Now today, we all need to be honest about our troubled hearts. That's one thing we try and do on Sunday night is encourage people to just open up, be yourself, share your heart trouble with God's people as we can pray through that with you. We need to be truthful about the condition of our hearts. The Greek word troubled here is the same word that Jesus used in chapter 13 verse 21. I'll read it. When Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit. We talked about that a few weeks ago, saying if Jesus was troubled, obviously, then you can be troubled and not sin. Because Jesus didn't sin, and he said that his heart was troubled. Now here, it's the same word. In verse 21, Jesus said, I am troubled, but don't you be troubled. the disciples getting hit with bad news over and over again boom boom boom and now Jesus says don't let your heart be troubled so folks it's a challenge for each and every one of us if the disciples can remain calm in the face of such difficulties so can you and so can I worry is a sin I don't care how we dress it up I I don't care how we spin it, worry is a sin and it shows a lack of trust. Let's just hear a few words from our buddy Job. And after spending so much time with Job, I just feel like I've gotten to know the guy. I feel like he is my friend. So let's listen to our buddy Job. What does Job say in chapter 14, verse 1? Man who is born of woman is short-lived and full of turmoil. Our lives are packed with trouble. Don't be surprised. Again, Job, in the middle of all of his problems, in chapter 5, verse 7, he said, For man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward. Do sparks fly upward? You bet they do. How about another great man of God who at times had difficulties? How about Jeremiah? Jeremiah, in chapter 20, verse 18, Jeremiah said, Why did I ever come forth from the womb? But to look on trouble and sorrow so that my days have been spent in shame Jesus knows that you will face trouble Now when we go back to our text in John chapter 14 in verse 1 where he said do not let your heart be troubled I want to say it as nicely as I can but folks and the Greek that is not a suggestion That's a command. Your commander-in-chief is commanding us, do not let your heart be troubled. Or another way we could translate it, stop being troubled. Troubled, meaning to shake or to stir up. Is your heart stirred up today? And I know there are times when mine is. This command is for me too. Stop being troubled. The problems of the disciples are just as real as your problems and my problems. Well, let's look at the cure for heart trouble, and we find it in verse 1. Do not let your heart be troubled. Now, believe in God. Believe also in me. Here is your prescription. Jesus is the doctor. He's writing out a prescription for you. The cure is faith. Exercise it. Now I'm not the best example here, but I go to my doctor and he says, Steve, you need to exercise. Well, we need to exercise our faith. So Jesus said, believe in God, believe also in me. So there's a balance here. Believe in God, believe also in Jesus Christ. Heart trouble is real. What's the answer? Believe in God and believe in me. So Jesus can give you relief from heart trouble. When sorrows like sea bellows roll, Jesus can give us relief. So the cure for heart trouble is belief. Not just belief in God, but belief in me, Jesus Christ. The Jew believes in God the Father, but the Jew has no relief for heart trouble. So believe more, trust me more. Now there are degrees of faith. Your faith can be weak or your faith can be strong. Weak faith will get you into heaven, but weak faith will not help or comfort your troubled heart. Believe in God and believe in me. Now this is the verb that he's using here. It's in the present tense, which means a continuous asking for help. Keep on believing. Believe, the word means to trust, rely on in Christ's ability and his willingness to care for you. Now, some of us in the church may have the ability, but we may not care. Someone else may care, but not have the ability. Jesus Christ has both. He has the ability and the willingness to care for you. So trusting Jesus can fix our heart trouble. So faith is the key folks and there's just no substitute for it. There's no generic drug here. This is it. There's only one. Now sometimes things happen in our life and we have one or two reactions. God, why did you allow this to happen to me? Or Lord, where are you in my life? Jesus is saying to you, and he's saying to me, trust me, I know what I'm doing in your life. Now you also have a reason not to be troubled. In fact, you have a greater reason not to be troubled than to be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. So Jesus is God, he knows you, and he knows your trouble. He's dealing with your problem right now, trust him with it. So Jesus is saying, believe me, I know what I'm doing in your life. Believe. Trust me in what I am doing. I don't make mistakes. So Christian today, are you going to believe in Jesus or not? There's no middle road here. Will you trust Jesus with your family? Will you trust him with your health? Will you trust him with your money? Will you trust him with your job? Will you trust him with your death? Now think about what these troubled men have seen on the positive side. In John chapter 2, they saw Jesus turn water into wine. In chapter 5, they saw Jesus heal the nobleman's son from afar. The son wasn't even there. Jesus said, go home. Your son is healed. They saw him heal the man beside the pool who couldn't get in the water fast enough. Chapter 6 they saw him feed upwards of 20,000 people they saw Peter walk on the water. They saw Lazarus raised from the dead Believing in Jesus is how you deal with heart trouble. It's how you deal with the problems in your life count your blessings so folks we are to be a confessing people Are you a confessing Christian today? Let's reverse it. He's continuing to tell us how to deal with heart trouble in verse 2. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, what would have told you? For I go to prepare a place for you. In my father's house are many dwelling places. Now this is another cure for heart trouble. So think about your future. Think about what lies ahead for you. You may be dealing with struggling with some disease, whatever it may be. I want you to think about your future right now. a Christian your future is in good hands not all state hands that could be a free commercial but not all states hand but your future is in God's hands now the King James translates this word mansions that's fine but I think a better translation is dwellings so the Greek means to abide remain dwelling in place permanent dwelling The Eastern culture had something that they did with families and marriages that I think is really neat, and it ties in here very well, and I hope this will encourage you. In the Eastern culture of that day, a child gets married, and the parents would add a new wing onto their house for that newlywed couple to live in. Now, Jenny, I don't know how much room you have in your backyard, but You'll make room. Okay, but this is what they do They would add on to their house for this newlywed couple and just extend the family That's the idea here folks The idea of a suite being prepared for you not a room not a broom closet But a suite so folks Jesus has a wonderful future for you regardless of what you're dealing with today in my father's house The word father is used 53 times in chapters 13 to 17. Heaven is my father's house. It's home for Jesus, which means it's not only home for Jesus, it's your home. God's children are going home to heaven. There was a school that had a contest and they asked the students to define the word home. Here's the winning answer. Home is the place where you're treated the best and complained the most. Now, isn't that true? Isn't that true? Robert Frost said, when you come, they have to take you in. That's true. So heaven is home. It's the home of Jesus. It's the home of Christians. So here's a point. There's room in heaven you. If you're a Christian today, there is room in heaven for you. Also, we see that heaven is somewhere. I don't know where. Maybe another planet, maybe another dimension, it may be right here around me, I don't know. But heaven is somewhere, and it also isn't a small place. Think about how many people have lived and died for Christ. Heaven is a big place. Jesus said there are many dwelling places, which means there's a lot of space there. This is a big place. It's home. Everyone wants to go home. If you visit someone in a hospital, you talk to them long enough, sooner or later, They want to go home. If you go visit someone in a nursing home, wherever they may be, sooner or later they're going to tell you, I want to go home. Will you take me home? Everyone wants to go home. Now notice what else Jesus said. If it were not so, I would have told you. Throughout the Gospels, we see that Jesus is very honest. Very, very honest. Blatantly honest. And if he's this honest about heaven, then I think he also must be honest when he talks about hell, which is not our subject today. But he's blunt to his people about giving up comfort. Listen to Luke 9, verse 57. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But he said to him, allow the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. In Matthew 10, he was blunt about his people facing persecution. And that seems to be coming our way more and more today in this country. Don't be surprised if it happens. Jesus said, be ready. He was blunt about the cross, that he was going to the cross. He was blunt about telling his people that we must be ready to pick up our cross and follow him. So right here when Jesus said, if it wasn't so, I would have told you, he's putting his reputation on the line. Either you will believe him or you will not believe him. In Job chapter 14, Job said, in all of his struggles, he said, shall a man live again? He wanted to believe it, but he was questioning it. And Jesus is saying, if it were not so, I would have told you. If a loved one dies, it stabs you in the heart. We've all been there. Will she live again, Lord? Will he live again? And Jesus said, if it were not so, I would have told you. So by the way, who do you want to meet in heaven? Who do you want to see up there? Do you want to see your family? Alive? Healthy? To people that are dying, Jesus is saying, if you're a Christian, and my father's house are many dwelling places." So here, folks, is effective medicine for heart trouble. Believe that Jesus is preparing a place for you in heaven. Notice how personal this is. He's preparing a place for you. We aren't talking about academic pie-in-the-sky theory here. This isn't some seminary lecture. This is personal. This is for you. We all need a place, and you'll recognize that the older you get. The older you get, the more this will mean to you. I know people that are there. You know people that are there. I think about the people I know there, and I know you do too. As a Christian, you should be interested in heaven. Did you have a home in heaven? Is the Lord preparing a home for you there in heaven? And it's as if Jesus is saying to these men that are struggling so much, my going away has nothing to do with your failures. Yes, they've failed and they will continue to fail, but Jesus is going to use them anyway. My going away, I am going away to make things better. So Jesus is focused on the work that he has to do when he gets there, and he wants us to be focused on the work that we have to do while we are here. Jesus, as you know, when he grew up, was a carpenter. So Jesus knows a lot about building. I don't. He does. So when Jesus gets there, he's going to go to work. He has a job to do. Because home isn't where you are. Home is who you are with. Think about it. Would you rather be in a mansion by yourself or in a tent somewhere with the people you love? I know the answer. Home is who you are with. He's going to prepare. When you go on vacation, You prepare for your vacation. You plan for your vacation. The farther you're going, the more people that are going with you, the more you plan, the more you get ready for it. We all need to prepare for our heavenly home. Your large suite is being built. Your reservation is guaranteed. And as if that wasn't enough, Jesus said, Oh, by the way, one more thing. will come and get you and you will be there with me John the same man that wrote this gospel wrote the book of Revelation as an older man and he's looking back and the chapters 21 and 22 he's talking about heaven and he just runs out of words to describe heaven so at that point he starts talking about what's not there so what's not there death sorrow, crying, pain, heart trouble, night. So folks, here's medicine for heart trouble, right here. Jesus is going to take you to be with Him. And we see more reason not to be troubled. So Jesus is coming again. You will be with Him forever. We find that in 2 Thessalonians 4. Let me just ask this question and throw it out. Will we recognize our loved ones in heaven? Well, I think the easy answer to that we find in the transfiguration where the disciples are there and Moses is there, Elijah is there, and they recognize those two men. They didn't know them. They died years and years, a long time before these men, but they recognize them. also it's a matter of priorities and a need to help us set our priorities straight first of all you will see Jesus and you will be satisfied you will be satisfied with that but God doesn't make a stop there he allows us our joy to overflow because heaven will be a family reunion extended family so will I know you will you know me let me give you some biblical answers to that would just I just start in the first book of the Bible in Genesis chapter 25 Genesis chapter 25 verse 8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age an old man satisfied with life here we go and he was gathered to his people Same book, Genesis 35, verse 29. 35, 29. Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people. On and on I could go. Chapter 49, Luke 9, Luke 16. Folks, you will know your loved ones in heaven. You will see Jesus and you will be satisfied, but the Lord will also allow your joy to be overflowing and see each other. And not only that, we're going to see each other as we were meant to be. As I said during the baptism, there are no perfect parents. All parents fail. We do a lot of things right. We're weak in certain areas. That loved one that's already gone on to be with the Lord, you miss him, you miss her, you can talk about all their great qualities, but at the same time, if you wanted to, you could list the weak areas. You know what? Next time you see him, next time you see her, there won't be any weak areas. Because we will all be like him. We'll all be like Jesus. will all be like him. Right now, whatever weak areas your loved one had when they were walking this earth, if they're in heaven now, they are stronger spiritually than you are. They're stronger spiritually than I am. Because now they're perfect. They have all the answers. We don't have that. Now let's go back to our text. Verse 4 please. John chapter 14 verse 4. Jesus said, and you know the way where I am going. Now this is what we call a hanging statement. He's saying, listen guys, you know the way to heaven. All right, verse 5. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way? So Thomas grabs this hanging statement and he says, wait a minute. Now, Thomas is a very open, honest man. He's a skeptic, but he's also very honest and very open. Now he's the first one to ask. A lot of these guys are slow, and I'm slow too, and I'm encouraged by the fact that they're slow. Jesus is saying, look, I've told you guys over and over again how to get there, but notice how honest Thomas is. Lord, we don't know. Now the good news is, Thomas wants to know. So don't be ashamed of having doubts. Don't be ashamed of asking questions. So is Jesus talking about universalism? Where God will find a way to save everyone? No. The answer is in verse 6, look at it. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. So you know the way, you know the path. Jesus talked a lot about the path, the idea of a path. Jesus said, I am the way. If you're lost in a strange town, what do you do? If you're a woman, you probably ask for a direction. Men just don't like to ask directions. Men are going to stumble around. We run out of time. Finally, we might break down and say, okay, ask for directions. The direction is going to be where you go down here, turn right, take the second left. That's not what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying, follow me. I am the path. So in closing, what do you do when your faith is weak? What do you do when you're dealing with a lot of problems? Jesus is telling us, make a choice. Choose to use your mind and remember these great truths. Jesus didn't say, well, just tell me all about it. didn't say well dwell on your problem think about your problem no he gave us a command do not be troubled or do not go on being troubled so today as a Christian if you're not a Christian this doesn't apply to you you can become a Christian and it will but if you are a Christian today you do not have to have heart trouble. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for the honesty that we find in the Lord Jesus Christ, but yet also the love that's there. What an example for all of us. Be open, honest, maybe even blunt at times, but cover it with the love and the fruit of the Spirit that's found in Jesus Christ. I pray that you would help us all this coming week that we remember this as we battle the struggles of this world in the week to come when Jesus said, do not let your heart be troubled. So I pray that you'll work in your people and encourage them today with the words of Jesus Christ. We pray and ask in His name, Amen.