“Comfort For Troubled Hearts”
John 14
Sermon Series: “Getting Acquainted With Jesus”
Introduction: A famous preacher from the past said, “Preach to broken hearts and you will never lack an audience.” There is a lot of truth in that statement because “man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). Fortunately, our God is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Let me set the scene for John 14. Jesus had just told His disciples that He was going to be betrayed, denied, and crucified. They should have been ministering to Him, but He had to minister to them. I am sure they were confused, afraid, and upset. Their hearts were troubled. Against that backdrop, Jesus said to them, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Troubled literally means agitated or stirred up.
That is also God’s word for us today. The source of the feelings may be different than the apostles, but all of us struggle sometimes (maybe a lot) with having troubled hearts. Jesus told us that we would have tribulation in this world (John 16:33). Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest pastors who ever lived, said in a sermon in 1866, “I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.” If this great man of God was not immune, we certainly are not. We certainly get agitated and stirred up and need comfort.
How can our troubled hearts be comforted? Well, our Scripture text answers that question for us. God offers His comfort for troubled hearts through trusting Jesus. Let’s look at five specific, interconnected blessings that God gives us through Jesus that can bring comfort to our troubled hearts.
The Blessings
1. A Permanent Place in Heaven (v. 2-4): In the midst of this sinful, decaying world, our hope is that Jesus is going to come back and take us to the permanent and perfect place of God’s presence, heaven.
2. Prayer (v. 12-15): It is a great comfort to be able to talk to God and have Him graciously work on our behalf. Here are three keys:
Faith (v. 12)
Praying in Jesus’ name (v. 13-14)
Obedience (v. 15)
3. Personally knowing God as our loving Father (v. 7, 19-24): He not only promises us a home in heaven but also promises to come and make His home in us now (v. 23).
4. Presence of the Holy Spirit in us (v. 15-18, 25-26): It is horrible to be going through a difficult time and feel alone. However, we are never alone because God lives in us through His Spirit.
5. Peace of God (v. 27-31): Peace is the word, “shalom,” and it refers to harmony, wholeness, and well-being.
The Source of these Blessings
The source of these blessings is Jesus because these blessings come out of a relationship with God, and Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God the Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus makes some astounding claims in this chapter. He said in verse 1, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” He said in verse 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Christians are often berated for making the claim that Jesus is the only way to God, but in reality, He made the claim, and we are only repeating what Jesus said. He said in verse 7, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know him and have seen Him.” All of these are astounding claims of deity. The point is that we can be connected to God only through Jesus and can only have these blessings by being connected to God. Without Jesus, you are headed to hell instead of heaven, cannot really connect with God in prayer, are separated from God and have Satan as your spiritual leader, are on your own without the Holy Spirit, and cannot have the peace of God. We need Jesus because of who He is and what He has done for us, but we also need Him to experience God’s comfort. Do you believe in Jesus?
