1. Twice in this chapter, our Lord says something wonderful: "Let not your heart be troubled" (John 14:1,27).
2. It is not difficult to understand why the apostles were troubled. Our Lord had just announced that one of them was a traitor (14:21,22). Also, He warned Simon Peter that he was going to betray Him three times (13:36-38).
3. Probably the most difficult announcement was our Lord’s statement that He would soon leave them (13:33). They did not understand where He was going, or why He was going. As a matter of fact, they didn’t understand how He was going – they were perplexed. They were troubled.
4. I know there are some folks here today who are troubled – some are troubled because of family problems, unsaved loved ones, there are single people hoping to get married, and married people wishing they were still single.
5. Some people are looking for work, some are working too much and have no time for God. Poor health, financial pressures, conflicts at home or on the job, etc. Remember these words: "Let not your heart be troubled…" (14:1).
6. Today I would like to give you three good reasons why you should not be troubled:

1. JESUS IS COMING BACK TO EARTH AGAIN
2. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN
3. JESUS IS GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH

1. According to our Lord Jesus Christ, heaven is a real place. It is not some fantasy land, it is not some figment of your imagination, and it is not a myth.
2. According to our Lord, heaven is the place where God dwells (14:1,2). Jesus called it "my Father’s house" (14:2).
3. He said that in His Father’s house there were "many mansions" (14:2). The NIV says, "there are many rooms." But Jesus said, "there are many mansions." Why settle for a little room when our Lord has already said there are many mansions?
4. How beautiful heaven must be! What will it feel like when we first enter one of those mansions? And just think – no rent, no property taxes, no mortgage, etc.
5. Jesus said that He went back to heaven to prepare a place for us (14:2). So why be troubled?
6. Someone has said, when we think of heaven we don’t think of a place so much as we think of a Person. And that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "where I am, there ye may be also" (14:3).
7. The apostle Paul, "so shall we ever be with the Lord. WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS" (I Thess.4:17b,18).
8. We used to sing in Bible college, "This World is Not My Home." Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled."
9. One preacher said: "Heaven would be merely a change of locale if Jesus were absent, but with Him in the midst it will be the acme of bliss." I like that – "the acme of bliss."
10. Think about this – there will be generation of Christians who will never have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death – they will be alive when the Lord returns. We could be that generation!

II. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN (14:6).

1. Thomas wanted to know the way to heaven (14:4,5). Jesus replied by saying that HE WAS THE WAY (14:6). He is not a way, He is the way; He is the only way.
2. Either you have Christ or you do not. He is the only way. Today there are many religious people who insist that as long as one is "sincere," or as long as one "does the best he can," than all will be well. That is not what our Lord said (John 14:6).
3. We have politicians who have proven over and over that they simply cannot and will not tell the truth. Thank God we have a Saviour who is "the truth" (14:6).
4. Sometimes a Christian friend will ask me to go to talk to an unsaved loved one – perhaps a mom or dad, brother or sister, etc. Oftentimes the unsaved relative will say about their Christian loved one, "I am happy for them. I know they are searching for the truth." And I have to stop them right there and say, "No. They are not searching for the truth – they have the Truth. And that Truth is the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Also, Jesus not only imparts eternal life – He is "the life" (14:6).
6. Unsaved people often complain that fundamentalists are "too dogmatic." My friend, John 14:6 is probably one of the most dogmatic statement in the Bible.
7. I had a teacher in Bible college who used to say, "I’m not only dogmatic, but when it comes to certain doctrines I am bulldog-matic!
8. Some times you have to be dogmatic. If one of the children in our academy puts down in his homework that 2 plus 3 equals 4, one of our teachers has to be dogmatic and say, "No – it is 5."

III. JESUS IS GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH.

1. Jesus said, "ye believe in God, believe also in me" (14:1b). This is a clear-cut statement of our Lord that He is equal with God.
2. Many people say they believe in God – but do they believe in Jesus? And many people say they believe in Jesus but are they born again? (3:1-16).
3. To "believe" in Christ means more than agreeing to a few facts about Jesus. One has to put his complete trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins.
4. Many people say that they are trusting in Jesus when they are really trusting in their good works or their church membership.
5. Jesus is not saying that He and God are the same Person (as the cults say when they attempt to misrepresent us).
6. Later our Lord said to Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (14:9). God the Father is invisible – He is a Spirit (John 4:24; cf. 1:18).
7. Paul said that Christ was the "image of the invisible God" (Col.1:15; cf. II Cor.4:3,4; Heb.1:1-3).
8. He is "God manifest in the flesh" (I Tim.3:16). Jesus said that if you saw Him, you saw the Father (John 14:9; cf. 10:30,31).

CONCLUSION:

1. As a pastor, I know that some of our people are going through some difficult times. Our Lord is speaking to us today: "Let not your heart be troubled" (14:1).
2. The apostle Paul said that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom.8:18).
3. I read an interesting story about a preacher from Scotland who was conducting a service at an inn. There was a young lady at the meeting who was very dirty and unkempt.
4. At the close of the meeting, the preacher said to the girl, "I want to teach you a prayer. Every day, pray this prayer: ‘Lord, show me myself.’ Will you pray this every day?" She promised him she would.
5. After a few days, the innkeeper told the preacher that the young lady was very distraught and that she was crying all day long. She was crying so much that she could hardly do her work at the inn.
6. The preacher asked to speak to her. When she came to see him, he said: "Now I want to teach you a different prayer. Every day pray this prayer: ‘Lord, show me Thyself.’ Will you promise to pray this prayer every day?" She promised him she would.
7. The preacher left town and never went back to that inn. A few years later he was preaching in a church in Glasgow, Scotland. At the end of the service, a neat, attractive lady came up to him and said: "Do you remember me?" He said that he did not.
8. She reminded him of the service at the inn, and told him that she was the young woman he had taught to pray, "Lord show me myself" and "Lord, show me Thyself."
9. She explained what had happened. She said: "I asked God to show me myself and He showed me what a wicked dirty sinner I was. I was so overwhelmed with grief I could hardly sleep at night. I had a difficult time even working during the day.
10. "Then when you came back the second time and told me to pray, ‘Lord, show me Thyself.’ God gave me such a view of Himself, of His love, of His compassion, and of His grace. I saw Jesus Christ dying on the cross for my sins, and I repented of my sin and asked Jesus to save me. And all the burden of my sin rolled away. And now I’m saved."
11. Let me ask you: Are you saved? If you are not, you can be. If you are – "Let not your heart be troubled."