It is precisely because Jesus was troubled in spirit and all that that meant for him to bear the burden of our sin, the burden of our shame, the burden of our guilt, the burden of our death because he was troubled in spirit. It is possible for Christian disciples to live without being troubled in spirit. Is your heart troubled? Are the storms of life hitting you hard in this season?
Perhaps you look at the world and the news of tragedy upon tragedy coming in, not just locally but globally, and it causes you anxiety. Or your own sin feels particularly weighty and you feel acutely aware of your own weakness and frailty. If that's you, then I'm glad you're with us today for Renewing Your Mind as Sinclair Ferguson examines Jesus' counsel for the troubled heart. God is not silent. He didn't leave us without his word to guide us as we live the Christian life as pilgrims. There is so much for the believer to glean from Jesus' words in what is often referred to as his farewell discourse or upper room discourse. Dr. Ferguson will guide us through much of this discourse this week, but you can study the entirety of John 13 through 17 when you request this series and study guide with your year-end donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. To thank you, we'll also send you Dr. Ferguson's Advent devotional in which he reminds you daily that love came down at Christmas in the person of Jesus Christ.
Sinclair Ferguson is the vice chairman of Ligonier Ministries, a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He'll be with us all week and today, here he is in John chapter 14. I think we've probably come to the best known verse in John's Gospel. Some people might say, well, isn't the best known verse John 3.16? And that may be true among evangelical Christian people, but the place where you're most likely to hear the first words of John chapter 14 is on those occasions that most people are compelled to be present at funeral services, where characteristically John 14 and verse 1 will be read, let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.
And it may never have crossed your mind that those words are usually read out of context. If you asked even keen Christian people as they left the service, tell me what happens before John 14 verse 1. My guess is the majority of Christians might not be able to give you the answer. Why is Jesus saying to his disciples, don't let your hearts be troubled? And when you read it in context, the words are even more amazing because John has just told us that Jesus' heart has been troubled.
There's something paradoxical about this, isn't it? That we've just been told that Jesus was troubled in spirit. John chapter 13 verse 21, and now he turns to his disciples and says to them, so don't you be troubled in spirit? They incline us to say to Jesus, shouldn't you be practicing what you're preaching?
And of course, the resolution of this paradox is this. It is precisely because Jesus was troubled in spirit and all that that meant for him to bear the burden of our sin, the burden of our shame, the burden of our guilt, the burden of our death because he was troubled in spirit. It is possible for Christian disciples to live without being troubled in spirit. And so what we've got here in a rather marvelous way is, first of all, Jesus' counsel for the troubled heart. And then secondly, as the passage begins to open out in the first 14 verses, Jesus' response to the questions of two troubled disciples. So Jesus' counsel for the troubled heart and Jesus' response to two particularly troubled disciples. What is Jesus' counsel for the troubled heart?
And again, the language here is fairly strong language. He's speaking about occasions when our spirits are agitated, when we feel our world is falling to pieces, when things feel as though they are about to overwhelm us, where we have no control over the situation in which we find ourselves. And Jesus is saying, it is possible for you under these circumstances to have an untroubled heart. Indeed, I think one of the things he is teaching his disciples here in the context of the whole of the New Testament is this is one of the things that distinguishes Christian disciples from those who are not Christians. That in the midst of chaos and confusion, it's possible for Christian disciples to have a heavenly poise that marks them out as different from others. One of the beautiful illustrations of that in the New Testament is, of course, the Apostle Paul.
Remember that occasion when they are on the Mediterranean and there is this tremendous storm and the ship is actually breaking up? And as you know, Paul's avocation was to make tents, not to sail seas. He was not a naval officer.
He was a rabbi and a tent maker. And the Apostle Paul is the only person on the ship who has this sense of heaven-given poise. And the marvelous thing is that, I don't know how much he knew about sailing, but he takes the thing over.
He becomes the captain of the situation and people look to him because they recognize that here in the midst of the storm, there is a likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ when he was in the midst of the storm. And this is what we aspire to as Christians. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Now, what is the problem in the Christian disciple who has a troubled heart? It's very simply this, isn't it? That this Christian has allowed circumstances to seem greater and stronger than resources. And our great need here, and this is what Jesus is teaching his disciples, is to understand that the resources we have in the gospel are greater than the troubles we have in the world.
In this very context, Jesus will say, in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Every time you get into an airplane, you have this sense of this great metal beast, and perhaps if you're like me, you think, how is it that these things get off the ground? It's not because they are lighter than air. It's not because the law of gravitation is destroyed.
It's because they have power and energy that is greater than the laws of gravitation, and so they overcome. And the same is true of the Christian. It isn't that we are cocooned from trials and difficulties and perplexities and deep sorrows.
It is that we have resources that are greater than our tribulations. That's why Jesus rebuked the disciples, you remember, when there was the storm in the Sea of Galilee. He didn't say to them, you foolish disciples, you should have known better because you are fishermen. He said, oh no, you foolish disciples, because you didn't trust in me. They looked at their circumstances and saw that they were overwhelming, instead of looking at the Savior and realizing that He was the Lord of all their circumstances.
They were being engulfed by the storm, but He was the Lord of the storm. And it's the same kind of counsel that Jesus gives to His disciples here. Don't let your hearts be troubled, first of all, because God is your refuge. God is our refuge and our strength, our very present help in time of trouble.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous can run into that name and be secure. And so, first of all, He's encouraging them to see God as their refuge. And then He goes on, He's encouraging them to see Himself as their Savior. He is the one who has come into the world and He is going to heaven to prepare a place for them. And if He's going to prepare a place for them, then of course, He'll come back and take them to the place that He's prepared for them. And you see what confidence this gives to the believer.
It means that no matter what happens to the believer, the big issue of life is settled. We are immortal until our work for Jesus is done. He has prepared a place for us. He is waiting for us. And the day will come when He will bring us home to Himself.
And the implication is pretty obvious, isn't it? He's going to keep us between the time He goes to heaven to prepare the place for us and the time when He comes from heaven to take us to the place that He has prepared. He is the Lord and Master of all of our circumstances. And then Jesus adds another reason why our hearts do not need to be troubled. And that is that as His people, we know the way to heaven. And it's this that begins to turn the wheels of the minds of two of His disciples.
And now we find a kind of interruption to the conversation. Up until this point, they have listened quietly to Jesus' teaching. Peter's had a little outburst, and now there are two further little outbursts, and I want us to think about both of them as we see that Jesus not only gives counsel for the troubled heart, but He also in particular makes a gospel-centered response to two troubled disciples. Now, the first of these you will see in verse 5.
Jesus said, I'm preparing a place, I'm going to come back for you, and you know the way to the place that I'm preparing. And here we encounter the question of Thomas in verse 5. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we don't know where You are going, how can we know the way? We often refer to this Thomas as Thomas the Doubter. Perhaps it would be fairer to him to say that he is Thomas the Pessimist. You know, he's not a half-full glass kind of fellow.
He's a glass, largely empty kind of fellow. He seems to take a pessimistic view of everything, and we find this in earlier parts of John's gospel. We'll find it later on in later parts of John's gospel. But his question evokes this famous response from Jesus. He says, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus says, you're looking at the way.
Just see what you're looking at. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me. Now, what does Jesus mean here? The answer to that question is found in the context of John's gospel. What would the way have meant to these Jewish disciples of Jesus? Actually, what it would have meant was the law. The law was the way. They referred to the law of God as the way. So, you see what Jesus is saying is, the way to the Father is not to be found in the law, but in the one to whom the law points.
Remember how John put it this way in the prologue to the gospel. He said, the law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Did he mean there was no grace in the Old Testament law? Actually, the Old Testament law was full of grace. It was grounded in grace.
I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. It showed grace there was a sacrifice for the sins of the people. So, in a sense, the law did not lack grace, but the law itself was not the grace to which it pointed. The grace to which it pointed and on which it depended was to be found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, John says the law came through Moses, but the real grace and the reality to which the law pointed to the truth came through Jesus Christ.
And how did John know that? Because he heard Jesus say it in the upper room as he responded to Thomas and said, Look, I am the way. I am the way to the Father. I am the one through whom the forgiveness the law shows you you need and symbolizes is possible for you to experience is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The law, as you remember Hebrews says, was just a shadow that was cast backwards into the Old Testament by the reality of Christ. So, Jesus is not only the way, he is the truth.
Do you remember how part of the Old Testament law, indeed the heart of the Old Testament law, was choose this way and live? And Jesus is saying, But the law was pointing you forwards to me because I am the one who alone can give life. And in that context you notice how Jesus is emphasizing that he alone can do this.
No one can come to the Father except through me. I think it may be true in its own understanding of Jesus' words because these are much loved words in the world in general. I think it would be true that people can make their own interpretations of Jesus saying he is the way, the truth and the life and they are relatively happy with that. It's when Jesus comes to say, No one comes to the Father except through me, that modern man finds a stubborn resistance to this exclusive statement of Jesus and says there are many ways to the Father apart from Jesus.
I think I can understand why people who have never read the Bible might say that. But think about it this way. Think about yourself appearing before the judgment seat of God and God saying, In whose name do you appear before me and anticipate entrance into my heavenly presence? And imagine yourself saying to him, Well, I found my own way. And I'm saying, But did you not read in John chapter 14 that my son said he was the only way and the truth and the life that no one came to the Father except through him?
Yes, I say I understand that, but I thought that's a bit exclusive so I found my own way. And don't you think the Father will say, Do you mean that I who am the Lord of all who allowed my son to be sacrificed on the cross, who bore with that moment when he cried out as I laid the sins of the world upon him and turned my face from him and allowed him to cry out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Do you think I would have done that if I thought there was another way? And haven't you read in your gospel that my son actually said to me in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, if there is another way apart from the cross, please take this cup away from me. And I said to him, My son, there is no other way. The only way is if you drink this cup and bear my judgment against their sin.
That's the only hope for them. There is no other way. Do you not think that if there was another way, the Heavenly Father would say, I certainly would have found it?
How dare you despise my son in this way? And you see, this is the real issue. It's not just a matter of, as worldly people say, I respect Jesus as a teacher, but this exclusivity that I find in Jesus, we can all find our own way to God. Well, in a sense, that's true, but the real issue is not so much how are you going to find your own way to God. The real issue is what way do you go when you have discovered yourself face to face with God? And what Jesus is saying here, what the Gospel testifies to here, is if there were another way, the Father would have spared his son and found that other way.
But the Gospel tells us that God did not spare his own son, but delivered him up to the cross for us all. And it's this that confirms us in understanding that there is no other way to the Father except the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Thomas's question is answered.
Show us the way. Thomas, I am the only way. But then there's another disciple of whom we read occasionally in the Gospels who has his own question. In verse 8 of chapter 14, Philip now speaks and he wants to see the Father. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. And Jesus responds, don't you think it's tinged with a little sadness and disappointment? Philip, he says, have I been so long with you and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Now, Philip is a disciple who tries to work things out on his own without reference to Jesus.
It's very interesting. Earlier on in the Gospels, you remember, Jesus had been teaching a huge crowd of people listening to him and they're getting hungry. And he goes to Jesus and he says, Jesus, the people are hungry. And Jesus says, well, good pastoral tactic, isn't it? So, you know, he's saying to Jesus, what are you going to do about this? And Jesus says to him, well, you do something about it. Get food for them. And he says, two-thirds of my salary wouldn't buy food for these people. And here we are stuck out.
There are no supermarkets to buy the bread in. And the interesting thing is that John tells us that Jesus spoke this way to Philip, although he knew exactly what he was going to do. He was just testing him to see whether Philip looked at situations and thought, what will Jesus do here? Or whether Philip looked at situations and thought, how can I work it out?
And he's trying to work it out here. He's trying to answer the question, well, but what about the Father? If Jesus would just show us the Father, I need to know the Father.
And Jesus is saying to him, look, Philip, you're doing it again. You're trying to think about the Father without thinking about me because I have come to reveal the Father. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. What does Jesus say?
He's not confusing himself with his Father. What he's saying is this, that I am the one who has come to reveal the Father. John had said that at the beginning of the Gospel. The only Son of the Father, he has made him known. As we sometimes say, what Jesus is saying is this, there is nothing un-Jesus-like in the heart of the Heavenly Father. So whoever has seen me has seen everything they need to know about the Father.
And actually when you think about it, that's a kind of stunning thing to say. You and I as Christian people are pretty much accustomed to this notion that we can call God Father. But if you pick up your Bible, as I sometimes do just to illustrate this to myself, and turn to the left-hand part of my Bible, go on a couple of pages, and then take Matthew chapter 5 and 6 and 7 and hold them up.
I think my Bible can take the strain of this. In those two pages I hold between my thumb and my forefinger, there are many more references to an individual knowing God as their Heavenly Father than there are on everything on this side of the page. And this is the wonder of the coming of Jesus that through Him we know the Heavenly Father and are able to call Him our Heavenly Father. That's one of the most wonderful blessings of the Gospel. Gospel truths today for the troubled heart. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, and I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham.
As the shadow of the cross loomed, Jesus shared His final hours with the disciples to prepare them for His death, quiet their troubled hearts, and intercede on their behalf before the Father. And in His series, Lessons from the Upper Room, Sinclair Ferguson walks us through these intimate moments to encourage us on our own pilgrimage. Own this series and study guide for life when you make a year-end donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. And this series will be unlocked for you in the free Ligonier app, but we'll also send you Dr. Ferguson's Christmas devotional, Love Came Down at Christmas.
Over the course of a month, this devotional walks through 1 Corinthians 13, phrase by phrase, showing us that love is the Lord Jesus Himself. Request this series, study guide, and devotional when you donate today at renewingyourmind.org or by using the convenient link in the podcast show notes. Would you like to share today's episode with a friend? Don't forget that each episode is now available on the Renewing Your Mind YouTube channel. Simply search for Renewing Your Mind, subscribe, and turn on notifications. Your engagement with our YouTube channel encourages their algorithm to push each episode to new people. So thank you for subscribing, liking, and commenting whenever you can. Jesus will tell His disciples that it is to their advantage that He is going to leave them. That seems hard for us to wrap our heads around, so what advantages are there to Jesus leaving and sending the Holy Spirit? So don't miss tomorrow's episode here on Renewing Your Mind. .
