Consolation and deliverance in trouble (Quality: Average)

[0:00] the Lord helping us I ask your attention to the chapter we read the 14th chapter of the gospel as recorded by John and I'll read the first three verses the 14th chapter of the gospel as recorded by John verses 1, 2 and 3 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 it was said of Christ that no man spake as this man and we have in these words such that are suitable if ye should be pleased to speak them into the hearts and lives of the Lord's dear people this day the context just for a moment was a time of trouble in the 13th chapter in the 13th chapter

[1:45] Judas went out and we read and it was night and he went out to sell the Lord Jesus Christ to his enemies for 30 pieces of silver the day of trouble and it was a day of trouble for that man's soul but it was an eternal day of trouble because the record of scripture and the words of Christ was that he was a devil dressed in religious clothes speaking religious things preaching and yet he was a devil it was his day of trouble the church of Christ the disciples these 11 disciples believers and followers together of the Lord Jesus Christ those who were the subjects of his grace and mercy those who followed him because they loved him was walking in a day of trouble they knew that before them and before this glorious one was a season of separation they didn't understand it it was far from understanding he had warned them in these three years of his earthly ministry that he should lay his life down and that he should suffer these chapters and those that followed were the last sermon discourses of this gracious saviour before he turns to Gethsemane's garden from his birth he had set his face steadfast to go to Jerusalem and it was to be accomplished the cup which my father hath given me shall I not drink it but in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ was this concern was this concern to his people and respect in the future days which they would not understand until it was revealed his concern was for them that these words and words that follow and words of sweet consolation that would fall on troubled hearts they were words of peace words of love words of sympathy and words of compassion they were words also of direction of which this word is the beginning of it until the close of the 16th chapter and then we read his intercessory prayer before his father and then we read of him entering into those unbelievable sufferings sufferings which can never be fully entered into by us sufferings which were not for himself but for his church and to the day of sorrow that he was now entering upon the day when he would be burdened with the sin of the church of Christ to the day when they nailed him to the tree the day that he laid his life down and gave up the ghost it was the day of trouble

[5:33] I remember once I was in the Netherlands at a wedding and the servant of God spoke and then he turned his attention to the bride and bridegroom and to my surprise they were weeping and I asked somebody why they were weeping his text that day was this call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me and I asked them why the bride and bridegroom on their wedding day was weeping and the man said because he's speaking of the day of Christ's trouble that is why they were weeping well it is a day of trouble then now here are words which if the Lord should put power into them if he should be pleased to apply them they will take the trouble out of your trouble but I want to look at some of these troubles which the

[6:40] Lord's people come into and I was going to say the remedy is before us it is not that we can direct you only by word it is that the Lord may direct you and the Lord may be pleased to come and apply the remedy to the trouble of your heart let not your heart be troubled it's not circumstantial trouble it's spiritual trouble it's soul trouble and that's the burden of these disciples and it may be that the Lord's dear people have soul trouble and they may have providential troubles and it may be that they may have circumstantial troubles but the word is spoken to the troubled people of God to those who carry something within which is a trouble to them and we have these sweet words from the lips of Christ I have no power I'm just poverty but the Lord put power in these words and apply them to your heart and apply them to your pathway and you'll go home in a way of rejoicing let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me my friends what troubles that we may as enabled as the

[8:09] Holy Spirit to bring them unto this glorious one oh my friends there isn't a circumstance nor a trial nor an affliction nor an impossibility that we're not able as the Spirit will teach us and help us so to do to bring us to bring it to this sacred place even to Christ let not your heart be troubled they had reasons to be troubled you have reasons to be troubled if you're a child of grace you have various things which constitute trouble and it was we could spend them all in service describing or cataloging if that's the right word to use the things which are a trouble to the people of God but the remedy is this is before us let not your heart be troubled the poet said didn't he cast he said on me thy care tis enough that I am nigh

[9:14] I will all thy burdens bear I will all thy needs supply and I do believe this you know that he is able to do just what he said he will do and as though you and I may suffer with unbelief and I'm sure you do if you've got grace that these troubles which that he may be pleased to sanctify them to this point that it may bring us to Christ you know we have the example in the scriptures of the various afflictions and the various complaints of those that came to Christ they were they were believers in this respect that they knew that if they could but draw near to the saviour with their troubles that he was able to deliver them they knew that his ability was such that he had but to speak the word I thought this morning in my prayers earlier this morning of the centurion what a faithful man he was what a faithful man he was he was a believer in the ability of Christ and he came to the Lord and he sent this message

[10:34] I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed oh I pray that we might have that same humility but the Lord calls that the troubles of our hearts heart troubles soul troubles those inward troubles those burdens within those things which only the Lord knows between your heart and him that it might bring you unto this blessed one ye believe in God believe also in me now why did the Lord Jesus say this well these eleven disciples we must obviously believe were believers they would have known and they had it revealed to them also of the Godhead but this blessed one to them was their saviour and their friend he was the one who stood in between as it were he entered into this world dressed in a body like our own now he came to be the burden bearer of his people the troubles of his people were such that they were brought to him when here below and I believe this my friends as the disciples entered into this time of trouble he was to remind them that he was not absent from them we read in our reading as we went down there

[12:12] I will not leave you comfortless but I will come to you and so it was so let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me my friends here is a place here is a refuge to the poor and afflicted people of God those who were troubled with their sins those who were troubled with sorrows those who were troubled with their pathway this is the direction and blessing which the Lord Jesus gave to them believe also in me my friends let me try to describe some of the troubles the sin trouble you know if you haven't got soul trouble you'll never know what real trouble is you may have family troubles you may have circumstantial troubles you may have providential troubles you may have afflictions trials it doesn't matter what you have my friends but the greatest trouble that a child of God shall know is soul trouble that which is within because there's no remedy for soul trouble but in this blessed one my friends we must begin with the greatest of troubles the troubles concerning our sins and the

[13:28] Holy Spirit will reveal that trouble and he will show it to you and he will make you to feel it also such a such a thing you know as giving lip service to sin you know I believe in some of these responses in the services of the Church of England they speak of themselves as being sinners my friends the Lord's people are taught what it is to feel to be a sinner when the Lord Jesus walked this earth there was brought a man brought unto him a man with a palsy now that man was laid before the Lord Jesus Christ now the first thing the Lord Jesus Christ did was to remove his sins and he said unto him son thy sins be forgiven thee my friends it took the Pharisees by surprise because they said who can forgive sins but God only and I suppose the critics of the Lord

[14:29] Jesus Christ would have said well he came with he was brought to the Lord Jesus with his palsy why did the Lord Jesus speak about his sin because that's the root and the foundation and the cause of all affliction my friends sin is the cause of all the woe the world has ever seen and it is in the lives and walk and pathways of God's dear people my friends we must begin with the greatest trouble your own soul and the knowledge of your own sins mine inclusive let not your heart be troubled believe in God in their presence stood the saviour what the Lord Jesus was about to do was as he describes in these words in my father's house there 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 you may be also my friends he was describing to them in those few words that intense pathway of suffering and crucifixion that derision that spite of of Satan and of

[15:42] Satan's agents and the ultimately of the laying down of his life but also of the day of resurrection and so there was the remedy in a few words let not your heart be troubled you believe in God my friends if you know yourself and you will know if grace is within you will know what it is to suffer inwardly by reason of the knowledge of sin my friends here is the words of the Savior here is the one who was about to go to redeem his people from their sins he was about to fulfill what his name meant thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins oh that not your heart be troubled oh that we might and I say this in the utmost reverence and may it not be not from a sense of that one can do anything but may the Holy Spirit direct sinners unto this glorious one those burdened with their sins those troubled with guilt on the conscience those that have to say that say with the poet here on my heart the burdened lies and past offenses pain my eyes sins of the yesterdays of your lives sins by birth and sins by practice the backsliding conditions of the Lord's people the far offness the hardness of heart the indifference the rebellious heart you know there is one thing certain you know one of the sins within of the children of God is a rebellious heart how it would indeed turn the very words and will of

[17:30] God contrary to what he would do for them and in them let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me my friends there was one man that came to him as a sinner there was a woman that came to him as a sinner the woman in the house of the Pharisee as she washed his feet with her tears and dried them with the hairs of her head my friend she was burdened with sin it broke her heart it distressed her but she came where she would find remedy she came where she was to find comfort she couldn't go to the priest he would bring no comfort he was no good going to a Pharisee because he wouldn't understand her condition but she came to the Saviour and she was brought there she was drawn there Jesus draws the chosen race by his sweet resistless grace my friends are now coming to Christ and that's not free will that's free grace it's drawn to

[18:30] Christ as the only remedy my friends she obtained remedy she obtained the remedy daughter go in peace oh my friends what wonderful words that is let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me as a sin bearer as one who by authority can speak words of peace and consolation to your soul who by his own work upon the cross of Calvary delivered his church from their sins and from the condemnation of those sins my friends oh I would exalt this blessed glorious one because he's a sin bearer because he opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness and that fountain was his blood my friends there's no other remedy do what you like do what you can and you won't find the remedy in anything you have done my friends reform if you will if you're so able to do so you'll never change your old heart and you may change your old habits but you'll never change your old heart my friends there it is within you a natural spirit it inclines to sin and you can do nothing but sin but all this blessed one has provided a way ye believe in God believe also in me in that intercessory prayers

[19:58] I've often reminded you there are those words of Christ where he says before his father and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent my friends that is the essential that is the needed blessing oh you say well all I seem to know is the justice of God my friends you'll know the mercy of God one day if you know the justice of God the justice of God it will be spent eternally upon the wicked but they'll never know mercy but if the Lord has so worked in your heart to seek the mercy my friends you'll know one day the mercy of God and that through Jesus Christ oh the provision that he's made in himself and through himself unto worthless worms of the earth dust which is sinful dust but my friends those who have heart trouble let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me

[21:04] I'm not setting aside for a moment my friends that there are various troubles in which the Lord's people come into the church of Christ in the history of it has these twofold troubles spiritual and providential circumstantial my friends they all make up the pathway of the Lord's people but the greatest trouble is the trouble within the trouble of your heart as many a person you know have got a providential religion and as many a person is satisfied with it well I used to have an old pastor when I was young that used to say this great mercy if you call on God in providence but farther than this you yet must go and my friends this is the place you must come to soul trouble sorrow over sin distressed by reason of the sins within you look at that case of the prodigal as he left his father's house he must have left it with some inward pleasure to be free from the restraints of his father's house and he had the means to spend to enjoy himself and he spent his substance in righteous living the world was all he wanted and the things of it you know but there came a day when he began to be in want my friends not only naturally because he said he would have fain have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat but no man gave unto him but my friends he knew sin within that was the substance of his want that was the substance of his prayer

[22:40] I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him father I have sinned against heaven he was aware of the frown of god he was aware of the chastening of god he was aware also of the sins against his own father I will arise and go unto my father and will say unto him I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son let not your heart be troubled ye believe in god believe also in me and my friends there is also to be reminded of the dying thief divine sovereignty is at calvary mercies at calvary a brand you say plucked from the burning indeed it was but one who was able as grace in the heart and faith in exercise took him to this glorious one oh you know when I hear people speak about doing this that the other in religious things and resting upon the works my friends he couldn't lift a finger because his hands were nailed to the tree but his eyes were on this glorious one and faith within looked at Christ and oh that longing desire was for Christ to speak those words of comfort to his soul and so he did let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me believe in this that I am sent to save his people from their sins believe in his precious blood oh may you and I be unable to plead the precious blood that was shed at calvary the efficacy of that blood the power that's in that blood and the cleansing experience of that blood may be known in your heart and mine ye believe in God believe also in me as

[24:36] God's beloved son my friends and also this when you and I gather around the throne of unchanging grace when you come to offer your petitions in secret or in public before the Lord believe also in me my friends that is the way in which that is the only way upon which our petitions poor as they feel to be shall ascend into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth as it is upon this precious person my friends here he is the mediator of the new covenant he is the one who intercedes I looked at the word Friday night in the 24th Psalm and there we have described very simply the way in which the Lord has provided for his praying people the 24th

[25:39] Psalm we find these words who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place he that hath clean hands and a pure heart my friends there is the person of Christ who else has got clean hands and a pure heart and who else can ascend to that holy place who shall stand in glory as the mediator the intercessor whose name will you speak before God my friends but this precious person's name let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me believe in his holy name spread that holy name before the Lord remember what we've read in this word and whatsoever there it is it's comprehensive and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the father may be glorified in the same if ye shall ask anything in my name oh we do my friends perhaps we lose sight of the value of that name perhaps we lose sight of the power of that name it's a name that prevails with God not your name nor mine but his name prevails with God in glory my friends there's a power in that precious name and there's a way and through that name we may come to him oh not for thy sake oh house of Israel will I do these things but for my holy name sake now there is the way my friends where mercy shall flow let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me but then

[27:26] I want to also speak of the circumstances of your lives and mine and those inward trials and troubles and outward ones also the needs my friends our pathway it is all divinely appointed every one of the children of God has an appointed pathway to walk my friends and he will lead you in that pathway he will guide you in that pathway he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation now my friends there will be times in that pathway when your needs will be great you believe in God believe also in me oh I can tell you this and I know it my friends there's a pathway I've had to walk I've had to tell the Lord what he's told me in the word of truth I've had to remind him of his promises the gold and silver is mine the cattle upon a thousand hills my friends there is nothing that is not in his hands that is not under his control you believe in God believe also in me plead the promises lay them before the

[28:40] Lord ask in Jesus name oh we close I sometimes think we we live aside to the value of that name you know as we pray we ask for Jesus sake we ask for Jesus sake my friends but that is one of the greatest blessings that we've got let not your heart be troubled you believe in God those inward those secret inward things those trials that only you know of those things which make up your way those things which you have to daily and perhaps hourly bring before the Lord the crooked things the impossible things the hard places the days of adversity these things which the Lord has seen fit that you shall walk in them and through them my friends here is the way in which comforts may abound ye believe in God believe also in me and the apostle you know had a pathway which is described very simply as a thorn in the flesh and a messenger of sight and above it and we read that this dear apostle

[29:54] I would believe this of him that he prayed in Jesus name that he may be delivered from it my friends he came to this conclusion but he said unto me my grace is sufficient whose grace not Paul's grace my grace my friends what does it say of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty may become rich my friends what is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ what is this grace that the apostle was so blessed with his trial his affliction his trouble was not to be removed but my friends that was given in the place all sufficient grace grace to walk on grace to continue in the path of tribulation grace to bow to the will of

[31:05] God my friends how often absent is that grace from our prayers how often we have to well we seem to ask in demand we also seem to believe that whatever our trial is the Lord will remove it my friends he can remove it but will he remove it you remember the blind man when he came to Christ and Christ said to him what wilt thou that I should do unto you and he said that that I may receive my sight now he was he was blessed with sight but you know there was another man came to Christ and he was one I believe that had that dreadful disease which is so describing sin with me my friends and he came to Christ he said if thou wilt thou canst make me clean my friends there was no other one could do it but he was brought to see and brought to pray in willingness to the

[32:10] Lord's will in other words he knew the ability of the Lord to do it but whether it was his will to do it let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me my friends in this pathway that you are called to walk and I am called to walk here we have the remedy here we have the comfort here we have the consolation my friends there will be a time in our pathways when we shall feel forsaken and alone but we aren't you know my friends look beyond these things look to the promises the Lord open to your eyes and to your heart also the sweet promises that the Lord Jesus has promised his people now he's not promised them that they shall walk alone he has promised his presence with them let not your heart be troubled you may feel to be alone you may feel that none understands your case you may you may say I remember how suitable

[33:13] I thought those words was in the psalmist no man careth for my soul oh I remember many times coming into those places where I felt that no man cared for my soul no one understood it no one understood the desires or the needs of my soul my friends the scriptures are full of promises which speak of the presence of the Lord with his people when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest in the fire thou shalt not be burned my friends these are spoken to those who feel that thou walk in a pathway which is personal and alone and solitary but not so let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me plead the promise his presence how many times did we come up to this chapel I remember during winter before last winter yes 1995 96 winter there used to be three here at a prayer meeting three here at a prayer meeting my friends it only brought me to pray that the promise of his presence might be known where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst and I believe I'm right in saying we never come lower than two sometimes there was only three of us but oh that promise was so suitable then the Lord knew the gatherings of his people down to the end of time and he knows whether there's the twos or threes but there he's promised his presence my friends

[34:59] I was once very encouraged when I read the words of a dear servant of God he said better a few and Christ than a multitude without him let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me these things of your past these trials within these circumstantial trials these providential troubles but above all things those that you carry within between the Lord and your soul those that grieve your spirit those that lay you low those that cause you to seek the mercy seat you know how often as a child of Gronach to say before the Lord Lord thou knowest these things inward trials nobody else sees them nobody else knows them who was it many many years ago had an imbecile child I can't remember what it was Kershaw one of those old dear ministers my friends no one saw him and somebody said to him one day where's your cross where's your cross and he drew the curtain aside and he said there is imbecile son my friends these are the things which are carried within by the people of

[36:14] God and the Lord knows them let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me but then he speaks of what's provided for them what's provided for them there's a very sweet promise here you know it's the comfort of the Lord's people in life and at death my friends where is the comfort in death to an unbeliever there's no comfort there's an eternal there's an eternity stands before them an eternity without God a Christless eternity one under the condemnation and wrath of a holy God forever and forever but the consolation here and the comfort here is spoken to the believers and my friends these are those comforts which are a strength to them and a consolation in the day of death as well as of course in the way that they walk through their wilderness 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 to prepare a place for you I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also now if the

[37:28] Lord has prepared a place for all his people my friends time is used by the Holy Ghost to prepare that people for that place and it may be that you may wonder sometimes of the way in which the Lord is leading and teaching you and bringing you but my friends what he's doing is preparing you for this place you know when the Lord lays his hand of affliction upon his people affliction is a means in the Lord's hands to prevent the walking into the world and the things of it my friends what is before the people of God let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me heaven heaven Emmanuel's land that blessed and sacred place where Christ is where the gathering of the saints will be one day forever with the Lord where there's no more going home where there's no more Sabbath no more time but one eternal Sabbath in my father's house and many mansions that glorious place that is laid up in heaven where these redeemed ones shall be found my friends oh you think you have and you have indeed these trials and troubles of the way I think it was recently we sang that hymn

[38:48] Lord pardon my complaint I follow at thy call the joy is prepared for suffering saints will make amends for all my friends that will be found in his father's house but that will be found in Christ also we must draw to a close the time's gone let not your heart be troubled I may not have mentioned your trouble but I do pray my friends I ask the Lord this week to give me a text to preach today that might be for the purpose of his honour and glory and for some encouragement to a poor sinner here now if this is the word the Lord grant that you might be able to believe also in him to lay that trouble that soul trouble that distinctively your trouble whatever that is troubles which you won't find people understand troubles that you've got troubles that the Lord put in your pathway may it not be a trouble that separates you but rather draws you to the saviour let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me

[40:00] God will end us a prayer meeting on Wednesday and I hope to be here next Lord's Day we close in hymn 721 to him that loved us ere we lay concealed within the passive clay to him that loved us though we fell and saved us from the pains of hell to him that found us dead in sin and planted holy life within to him that taught our feet the way from endless night to endless day 721 toÉ

[41:15] Now he has been on stage, and now he has been on stage.

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[45:13] Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Take the trouble out of our trouble.

[45:33] By thy sweet presence. Lord, Bless thine own holy word. Pardon and forgive what has been said amiss. Bring us together, Lord, for this night in this house of the Lord.

[45:48] And grant us, Lord, The continued help of the Spirit. Be with us, Lord, And those that leave. Lord, And return, Each of us has returned to our own homes.

[46:00] Grant journey and mercies. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, And the love of God the Father, And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Remain with us now and always.

[46:14] Amen.