Finding Comfort for Your Heart

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Finding Comfort for Your Heart. He will be in John 14: 7-14.

But if your focus is on your problems and your focus is on the people who frustrate you, and your focus is on all of your issues that you’re dealing with in your life, you will not experience the comfort of God, but rather you will experience the turmoil of the world.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders. We welcome you to the Hopeworth Having radio program. It’s definitely a delight to be able to be with you today. We’re looking forward to what God is teaching us. We’re gonna be in the Gospel of John chapter 14, and we’re gonna be studying verse 7 through 14.

And what I want to talk and share with you today about is finding comfort for your heart. There are many who are struggling, and it is the promises of God that continues to bring comfort to our heart in the times of adversity.

So let’s get into the Bible this day, and let’s start working through this passage. If you have your Bible this morning, we’re gonna be in the Gospel of John chapter 14 verse 7 through 14 is my main text.

I want to talk to you about finding comfort for your heart. Life is packed with trouble and trials. The Bible says that man’s days are full of trouble. We know that there is many trials that we walk through, and day by day we witness the trials of this world.

Instead of denying their existence, the Bible tackles them head -on. We’re given a promise in the Scriptures in 2nd Corinthians 1 -3. The Bible says, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

God promises comfort. For all those who believe in Jesus Christ, there is comfort in our times of adversity. When we come to our text this morning in John chapter 14, Jesus desires to comfort the hearts of his disciples.

We see this in verse 1, right at the outset of the chapter. Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God. Believe also in me. It continues in verse 18 of chapter 14. Jesus again says, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.

Verse 26, Jesus reminds us that that comfort is going to come in a person, but the comforter which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.

There is comfort for the believers as Jesus is preparing for his crucifixion. He is having his last conversation with his disciples and his disciples faith is wavering. They are struggling with doubts and disappointment in their life.

We see in verse 5 of chapter 14 that Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way? Verse 8, Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father. And it is, it’s sufficient.

They were struggling. Is Jesus really the one? Is he the Messiah that’s been promised? Is he the one who truly will bring forgiveness and peace in our lives? Will he restore the kingdom? We come to verse 7 of chapter 14.

And Jesus said, if you had known me, you should have known my father also. And from henceforth, you know him and have seen him. Again, Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us.

Jesus said unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet has thou not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father. Believe us not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.

Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.

And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Finding comfort in our heart. How is that realized in our life?

I wanna give you three things this morning from our texts that help us to understand how we can truly experience the comfort of God in our life. Number one, we must trust in the person of Christ. The cry of humanity is true.

what Thomas said show us the way the cry of humanity is truly what Philip said show us the father and Jesus’s answer to them is simply this he that seen me has seen the father and so I want you to understand this morning that Jesus is the way he said that in verse 6 he said I am the way the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the father but my me Jesus is the way because Jesus is God that’s what he’s trying to say to Philip that’s what he’s trying to say to Thomas he is saying that you believe in God believe also in me you believe in the Heavenly Father believe in me and so when Philip cries out and says we want to see the father show us the father Jesus is like I’ve been showing you the father because to see me is to see the Heavenly Father because I am sent from the father I do the works of the Father.

I speak the words of the Father. Jesus is letting them know that he is the full revelation of God. Again, Jesus says the Father dwells in me. He does the works. Believe in me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

Jesus is not just some crazy religious guy who’s gone rogue in that he’s declaring himself to be God. He is not some religious leader who is leading a cultic movement into a destination that is gonna lead from a separation from God.

But Jesus, unlike any other person of that time who had claimed to be God is letting them know that him and the Father are aligned together. They are in sync together. And to believe in the Father is to believe in him and to see him, meaning Christ is to see the Father and that Jesus is reminding them that everything that he does, it is the work of the Father in him and through him.

Everything that he says is a message from the Father to the people. These are not his own words. These are not something that he has just made up in times of meditations, but rather he truly is the full revelation of God and his words that he speak are God’s words.

I want you to note this. I want you to take your Bible and go back to John chapter one, because this has been woven. This truth of Jesus being the full revelation of God is woven throughout the gospel of John.

And it’s important for us to see its redundancy, to see the repetition of it. For the Bible is sending us a message. God himself is sending us a message. John chapter one, verse 18, note it, no man has seen God at any time.

I gotta stop there. People say, I saw God, no. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the. the father. He has declared him. Watch out for those who try to separate the father from the son.

The Bible tells us they are in unity. They are in sync. They are aligned. They are one. Look at chapter 5 verse 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him. They wanted to kill Jesus because he not only had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus was not ambiguous about who he was. He was very clear, so clear that the Jews got it and they wanted to kill him because it was blasphemous to claim that you are God or that you were equal or that you were sent from the father.

And yet the Jews recognized it and they desired for Jesus to be killed. But Jesus’ message was simply this. I am the full revelation of the jump over to chapter 8 verse 19. Then said they unto him. Where is thy father?

Jesus answered, yet you neither know me nor my father. If you had known me, you should have known my father also. Chapter 10, verse 30, I am my father. They are one, they’re not separate. Go over to John 12, verse 45, he that sees me, sees him that what sent me?

Chapter 14, verse one, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Now this is an important message. You and I as Gentiles, not a part of the Jewish nation, we may not fully grasp what is being said here, but he is making the case to his Jewish hearers.

I’m not calling you to a new religion. I’m calling you into a real relationship with the father. And that relationship is real only through faith and belief in Jesus Christ. And Jesus is letting them know that when you see my life, when you watch the life of the savior, when you see his miracles, when you see how he cast out demons, when you see how he heals people who are diseased, when you see that he can forgive people of their sins,

he is a manifestation and a revelation of the father and that the son and the father are one and they cannot be separated. So Jesus culminates that in verse one of chapter 14 and said, if you believe in God, believe in me.

And when Thomas says, we don’t know the way over and over in these three and a half years, Jesus has been telling his disciples who he is, how he is sent from the father, how he is connected to the father, how he speaks on behalf of the father, he serves on behalf of the father.

And then Thomas says, we don’t know where you’re going and how can we know the way? And then Philip says, show us, show us the father. That’s the frustration. But Jesus reaffirms to them again that he is God.

And the way the early church fathers put it is that Jesus is God made visible. God made known to see the son is to see the father. That is why the apostle Paul said in Colossians 1 .15 that he is the image of the invisible God.

You cannot divide the father from the son. Again, Hebrews 1 .3, who being in the brightness referring to Christ of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

I want you to know that Jesus is the express image of his person, the father. He is God himself. So I wanna take you back to what my point is. In the midst of understanding that Jesus is God. And as Jesus explains in verse seven and verse nine and verse 10 and 11, he explains that he is God.

All you gotta do is look at his works and listen to his words for they all align with what the Father had already told them in the Old Testament. But what I want you to get this morning is this, that if you’re gonna find comfort, you must trust Christ’s person.

You must trust who Christ is. For in him you will find the comfort you need from the Father. That’s why a study of who Christ is is so important in your life. Because the more you know Jesus, you’ll know the Father.

And the more you know the Father, you will experience God in your life. And people say, Mike, I’m not into religion, but I’m into spiritual experiences. If you’re into a spiritual experience, get to know Jesus Christ.

Because as you know him, you will know the Father and you will experience all that the Father has for you, including comfort in your life. Because he is the God of all comfort. He is the God who comforts you.

Again, the scripture says in 2 Corinthians 4 .4, referring to Christ that he is the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. If you want God the Father to shine into your life, you must turn to Christ and study his life and dig into his word.

That’s why a study of the gospels is essential in your spiritual walk with Jesus Christ. So many times we as believers, we want everything fed to us on a plate, ready for us. Because this is our life, we run through drive -throughs, we pop it in the microwave.

but here’s what God wants you to do. He wants you to dig. He wants you to research. He wants you to saturate your life with God’s word in the gospels, and he wants you to learn about the life of Christ.

Because listen to me, wherever you’re looking is not only where you’re going, but whatever you’re looking is what you are becoming. Wherever you’re looking is what you are becoming. And if you are looking into the glorious light of Jesus Christ, and you are letting his life shine into your heart and into your mind, you are becoming Christ -like.

You are becoming and being shaped into the image of Jesus Christ. But if your focus is on your problems, and your focus is on the people who frustrate you, and your focus is on all of your issues that you’re dealing with in your life, you will not experience the comfort of God, but rather you will experience the turmoil of the world.

But when you look at Jesus, and you turn your eyes upon him, and you see Him in all of His beauty and all of His bounty and majesty, then, my friends, the comfort of Christ will flow into your heart and into your life.

The second thing I want you to see this morning is that if we are to find this comfort, it is not only in the person of Christ, but we are to trust Christ’s power. Look at verse 12 of our text in John chapter 14, verse 12.

Fairly, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do, shall He do also, and greater works, these shall He do, because I go unto my Father. But here’s what I want you to note about this text.

This is a great promise that you should highlight in your Bible. It is a promise to you, it is a promise to me about God’s power working in us and through us. In this great things is the key phrase, this great, greater works.

God is speaking to us and telling us that as we see the great things that He has done in the life of Christ, that He is going to help us to do greater things. Now, the word greater can be confusing. So, you might think that somehow that God is saying that you will be able to supersede what Christ has already accomplished, but that’s not what He is saying.

But what He is saying is that the scope and the extent will be greater. That the inroads of the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to go farther and wider than what Jesus accomplished in those three and a half years.

That as we think about what Christ accomplished, that Jesus said this, go back to verse 12. He said, He that believes on me, the works that I do, shall He do also, and greater work than these shall He do.

Why? Why? Look at that last phrase, because I go unto my Father. Here’s what Jesus is saying, because I’m going to the Father. Because I am going to heaven. that I’m going to the Father through my death and through my resurrection to the Father to sit at the right hand that we already read about, the right hand where he sits down.

And why would he ever sit down at the right hand of the Father? Because Jesus being our high priest has already accomplished the complete work of salvation. The high priest was never allowed to sit down in the Holy of Holies.

But Jesus is allowed to sit down in the Holy of Holies. Why? Because it’s done. It’s completed. There’s no need to do anything else. You can’t add to salvation. You can’t improve upon salvation. There’s nothing you and I can do that would ever, ever do anything better than what Christ did for us in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, and his ascension.

And so what he is saying to us, that as he sits down at the right hand of the Father, that God the Father would send the Holy Spirit to give each one of us power. to provide the authenticity and to provide the verification that is needed for the miracles of regeneration and salvation in the hearts and the minds of those who have been moved by the Spirit of God to repent and believe upon Jesus Christ.

When he says you’re gonna do greater works, it’s not that you’re going to a cross, although we all must bear our cross. He is not saying that you somehow are going to exceed what Christ has accomplished on the cross and the resurrection.

Don’t misunderstand it, but he is saying the scope, the extent of what you will do for the kingdom of God in getting the gospel, the message. What is the gospel? It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

I am saved by his life, I am saved by his death, I am saved by his resurrection, and he is ascended into heaven, and he sits at the right hand of the Father, and the message is complete. The work is finished, and therefore, I am gonna take the message of the gospel to all the world, to the ends of the earth, to every person, whether it’s across the street or around the world, I am gonna do a greater work than even Jesus did,

and you must trust that it’ll be his power that will help you to do that. When you doubt, when you are struggling and facing adversity, it is his power that enables you and empowers you that you’re gonna stay on task, that you’re not gonna be discouraged by your problems, that you’re not gonna be frustrated when you find these obstacles in your life.

The devil is working 24 seven, how many of God’s people can say amen to that? And he’s always trying to discourage us, and let me tell you something, he will not only try to discourage us through the events and circumstances, but get this, through people.

And the devil will try to even use some of you to discourage God’s people. When Jesus was on a mission to go to the cross, Peter stood up and said, I’ll never let you go to the cross. His blind loyalty led to Him trying to frustrate the work of the Gospel of the Father in the life of Jesus Christ.

And you have to be careful that you and I in our good intentions don’t hinder the work of God of getting the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And that we recognize that we will not be the tools and the hands and the instruments of the devil to discourage God’s people or to discourage the work of Jesus Christ, but rather we will be all in, supportive and encouraging and doing everything that we can,

whether our part in the advancement of the Gospel, whether everybody notices it or no one ever knew what we did, whether our part is giving or serving, whatever our part is, that we just know that God has called us to do a greater work and we are ambitious and our ambition is not for self, it is for the glory of God and the advancement of the Gospel.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we trust in Christ’s power. This power is not something that’s anemic. It’s not something that’s just emotional. It’s not something that’s just circumstantial. But rather it is the power of God that flows in you and through you, through the Holy Spirit of God who comforts you, not just when you are grieving, but comforts you when you are disappointed, when you are set back,

when you are frustrated. It is the Spirit of God who comforts you. He is the encourager. In verse 26, the Greek word is paracletus. And it is the idea of someone who comes beside you, who is an encourager and picks you up.

As a matter of fact, it’s the same Greek word used to describe Barnabas, the son of encouragement. Barnabas was a believer who was known to be an encourager. He didn’t go in and try to discourage God’s people.

He went in to encourage God’s people. He didn’t come in and say, I had to be the person. He came in and said, how can I help who got his calling? How can I work with who God is calling? How can I be a team player?

That was Barnabas’ ministry. That’s what God had called him to do. And it was the Spirit of God that provided the power for Barnabas to be that encourager. We’re given an admonition from Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 6 .1.

He says, we then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. We do not work to earn salvation, but we work to celebrate salvation. We work because we do not want the grace of God to be vain in our life.

For God has transformed us. He has raised us from spiritual deadness into spiritual life. And therefore we work together. We strive together with him, with others, brothers and sisters. And we work tirelessly, relentlessly.

And yes, there are tough days and there are bad days and there are tiring days, but we do not receive the grace of God in vain. We are on mission and we are on tasks by trusting in Christ. power, that we might do greater works, that we may take this great message of redemption and salvation and forgiveness to even more people than Christ took to in His times on this earth.

My third point is that we must trust Christ’s promises. In verse 13 and 14, Jesus gives us a promise. I’m trying to find comfort. I look to Christ in His personhood. I look to Christ and know Him more.

As I’m drawn to Him, I experience the Father’s comfort in my life. I trust in His power, this power that enables me and strengthens me and sustains me even when the seasons are dry and the moments are tough.

It is the power of Christ that reminds me I will do greater works. But the promises, trust in Christ promises. Look at verse 13 and 14. These are amazing promises. Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do.

that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. To trust in Christ’s promises. Because of Christ’s promises, we can have confidence this morning that we are able to approach Him in prayer.

We are given an invitation to pray to God. We are given an invitation that He wants us to ask Him. We are given an invitation this morning that Christ is inviting us to come to the throne of grace and not only find help, but mercy and grace and help in the time of need.

And so this invitation is an invitation for us to pray. And as we pray, we experience His promises, which help us to experience His power, which help us to experience His personhood. And so how is it that we can trust Christ’s promises through our prayer time?

Let me give you four things this morning that’ll help you in your prayer life. Four things, they’re not spectacular, they’re not new, they’re just right there in the scriptures. But they’ll help your prayer life to be more meaningful.

How many of you right now in your life, you’re asking God for something that is beyond what you can do. You’re just asking God that He would do something in your life. The Bible tells us that He promises to do more than we ask or think according to the power that works within us.

Think about that. Anything that you’re asking God to do right now, God can not only do it, but He can do above and beyond what we ask or think according to the power that works within us. I mean, you’d be happy if God would do half of what you ask for.

You’d be ecstatic if you could just experience that in your prayer life, God would answer a prayer that you have extended to Him. Jesus said this in His promise to you this morning and to all who follow Him, whatever you ask in my name, that will I do.

What does He mean by that? First that we should… pray specifically whatsoever you shall ask. Again, Jesus would go on to say, ask anything. You see, God is not wanting you to just say, God bless aunt Susie.

No, God wants you to get specific. I want you to get specific. You have a burden for your grandchildren. You have a burden for your children. You have a burden. You have a financial need. You have a problem at work.

You have a problem in your marriage and your finances. You have a problem. Get specific with God. Do not be afraid to tell him. God is glad to do it when you get specific. Now understand, these are not blank checks, but God is promising to supply every need that we have according to his great will.

He is calling on us to pray specifically. If you’re not praying specifically, you are missing out on the power of God in your life. and the comfort of God as you pray. Some of you are burdened, you’re tossing and turning all night because of your family, because of your children, because of some issue in your life, and you are not able to find relief from this turmoil.

And I tell you, it’s because you are not telling him specifically. I want you to bring that request and tell Jesus all the details you need to tell him, every one of them. There is no request that is too big for God.

And there is no request that is too small for God. God hears every prayer and he cares about every prayer request. I want you to not only pray specifically, I want you to pray with God’s authority. Look again in our text, whatsoever you shall ask in my name.

Ask in my name. That’s what he’s telling us. He is saying, ask it in my name. To ask in the name of God corresponds to, we are asking in his character. We are asking in his name, in his authority, the character of God, the authority of God, the power of God.

We are asking in the name of Jesus. When we pray at the dinner table, we say we pray this in the name of Jesus. It’s not a catch phrase for a special formula. It’s not just something we say tritely to others, but rather it is meaningful to us.

For we know that if we prayed in our name, it would be crash and burn. And if we prayed in others names, it would not get any farther than the ceiling. But when we pray in the name of Jesus, it is immediately ushered into the presence of God by the spirit of God.

And Romans 8, 26 tells us that even when we cannot utter our prayers, when we cannot even articulate because the grief, the sorrow, the pain, the frustration is so much that the spirit of God takes our requests and lays them before God almighty on the throne of grace.

All my friends pray in his name. It is in the name of Jesus. that we gather. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. It is in the name of Jesus that we serve. It is in His authority. We come in the authority of our Savior.

Life is packed with troubles and trials, and instead of denying their existence, Jesus tackles them head on. And that’s what the Gospel of John chapter 14 is, is how that you and I can walk through the valleys and trials of life and still experience His comfort and peace as we continue to journey through this life.

And so it’s a great delight for us to be able to look to Christ and find that hope and strength that we so desperately need in these troublesome times. We also want you to know that our ministry is beyond teaching and it is praying and we want to pray for you.

So feel free to go to hopewithhaving .com hit that connect. button. Let us know your prayer requests. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.