Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled
John 14:1–31 – That You May Believe
Fifth Sunday in Eastertide – May 18, 2025 (am)
Reading though all of the rich instruction and imagery in this chapter we might well ask: Why would we ever try to cover it all in one sermon? That’s a fair question. But it also has an easy answer. When I was a first-year graduate student, Carl Henry, the American theologian of the twentieth century, a champion of Evangelicalism, and one of my personal heroes (I spent most of my week in those days studying at the Carl F. H. Henry Library at TEDS), preached from this text at Moody Church. It was Sunday PM, 14 April 1985. There were less than a 150 people in that dark, 4,000-seat sanctuary. And his title was: The Legacy of Christ. You can hear a recording of that sermon (under a slightly different title) online days. But I’ve never done so until this past week as I was preparing for today. Since then, I’ve only wanted to treasure the memory of being in the same room as such a brother just feeding on God’s Word together. I took notes on the page in my Bible—that’s all the help I’ve had to remember that evening—but I’ve referred to them often since. On the Henry Center website, you can read an abstract: … Henry proclaims that comfort in the midst of anxiety and stress for all followers of Jesus lies in the abundant legacy he has left to us. Preaching from John 14:1-27, Henry encourages Christians to consider how this bequest differentiates them from those who have no such legacy, to acknowledge the joy that accompanies Christ’s gifts, and to live faithfully in acknowledgement of their inheritance. …
We heard from Nick what state the disciples were in here. After Jesus’ stunning, almost incomprehensible display of humility and love, washing their feet ([13:1-17] to be surpassed only by the equally incomprehensible cross), they received three straight body blows from Him. They heard of a betrayer among them (13:18-30). They heard that Jesus was leaving and they couldn’t go with Him (13:31-35). And they heard that Peter, their voice, was going to deny Jesus three times (13:36-38). The confusion, the darkness, even despair—it had to feel utterly overwhelming. In that setting, Jesus’ very next words were: 14:1 Let not your hearts be troubled…. What Carl Henry wanted the church to hear was that, while Jesus’ words were spoken to His disciples, they were also meant for all His followers in every generation as they live in days of knee-buckling trial, excruciating tragedy, breathtaking evil, waiting for His return on the far side of the cross, resurrection, ascension—the return He promises here (3).
The legacy of Christ in this passage is expressed in seven assertions, promises really, that are intended to ground, to support, sustain, to enable the disciples to experience what He urges them toward here in v.1: let not your hearts be troubled. This urging is repeated in v.27 to finish the thought and confirm His central message. All Jesus’ instruction in between is intended to help them, and us, not to be troubled or [fearful] (27).
What’s happening in your life that presses you in that direction, that won’t let you escape the clutches of trouble and [fear]? What is it that can tempt you not to trust God, or to believe that His grace won’t be sufficient for today’s trouble or [fear], right here and now? Maybe it’s not the trouble itself, but the circumstances: you’re facing what you’re facing due to your own sin, your own failure, your own foolishness. Let me remind you that Jesus spoke these words to His disciples right on the heels of telling Peter he was going to deny Him! (13:36-38)
We’ve heard throughout John that it’s those whom the Father has given to the Son who’ll hear [His] voice and recognize Him as their [shepherd]. This doesn’t make them sinless. It provides for their forgiveness and grants them life in Christ—life that can’t be taken away (10:27-29). That’s what makes the difference between Judas and Peter in c.13. So, where [Judas] went out and it was night (13:30), Peter was left looking forward to the coming day of resurrection (cf. 13:36) when he’d remain with Jesus forever, and to a productive season of life and ministry between now and then (cf. c.14). That’s the good news Jesus gave to Peter and the others in today’s text. And it’s also a word from Jesus to you personally, my friend, if your trust is in Him for reconciliation to God. This passage as a unit gives us that instruction, that same reassurance, for our own days of trouble and [fear]. Let’s look at His seven promises (the legacy of Christ).
I go to prepare a place for you. – 2 (1-4)
1 Let not your hearts be troubled, Jesus says. How’s that even possible given the disciples’ present circumstances? Believe in God; believe also in me. You trust God. Trust Me as well. Or, this may even be a charge to trust both. [Just trust Us]. We work together. [We’re] one (10:30). 10 … The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. We’ve seen from the start of John’s Gospel that these are evidence that Jesus is from the Father (cf. 5:36). Now, to His first promise: 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms (dwelling places, think suites [Carson 1991 489]). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? It’s stated as a question, but it’s no less an affirmation. Jesus is going away, but He’s doing it for their good. He won’t forget about them. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, He says, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. Later He adds: 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. They’re going to be reunited with Him! Think of what that would mean to them right there and then! But, friends, it should mean just as much to us. We have that same future! And we’re reminded of it in some pretty desperate times. We need to hold on to this assurance in such times of trouble.
Greater works than these will [you] do. – 12
They have a purpose to achieve while He’s away. He gives them a task, a mission, a divine vocation. They will continue to be coworkers together (Henry). 12 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. So, they won’t be doing greater works than His coming work of redemption on the cross, or than the signs He’s preformed. But they’ll be carrying this good news they’re receiving to the very ends of the earth—preaching Jesus, the way, and the truth, and the life (6). Later He’ll say: As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (20:21). And right here He adds: 15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Then later: 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. …
Ask me anything in my name, I will do it. – 14 (13-14)
And in that work: 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You’ll have my resources available to you whenever you need them. Just ask. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it—anything that’ll bring glory to the Father. That’s a promise. They won’t be alone in their mission. As He said elsewhere: I [will be] with you always, to the very end of [your assignment] (Mat.28:20).
I will ask the Father [to] give you another Helper. – 16 (16-18)
And that help will come in a pretty special way. 16 … I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever (You’ll never be alone in this life!), 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because [it doesn’t receive Me,] it neither sees him nor knows him. But [y]ou [will] know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. He’ll live in you—God’s very presence, like in the Temple, but in your mind and in your heart!
As Jesus is talking here, we might almost hear the disciples worrying whether what He’s saying this will be enough for them, whether this really is an adequate exchange (Henry)—it was Jesus Whom they’d come to know and love. But the answer is, yes. Not only will He be back for them, He won’t even leave them alone while He’s gone! He Who is one with the Father and the Son will take up residence with them and provide them with the power need to fulfill their assignment (20:22-23; cf. Act.1:8). Truly [He] will not leave [them] as orphans (18).
You [will be] in me, and I in you. – 20 (19-24)
19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. In short: They [will] know the realities of the risen Christ in their own lives (Henry). 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Even with the stunning Gift of the Spirit, another Helper (παράκλητος) really seems to mean an additional Helper beyond Himself (Carson 1991 500). Yet Jesus will still be attending to them as well, as their advocate (παράκλητος) before the Father (1Jo.2:1), yes, but even in additional ways as needed (cf. 20:11-21:23; Act.9:4-16; Rev.1:12-5:13).
But that’s not yet His full meaning here. In response to Judas (not Iscariot) (22), Jesus speaks again of the intimacy with God that’s tied to the obedience of love. 23 … If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The full Trinity comes along with the indwelling Holy Spirit! (Carson 1991 504)
[The Spirit] will teach you all things and [help you remember] all that I have said. – 26 (25-26)
Then in summary Jesus adds: 25 These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But more communication will follow: the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. We can think of this as some sort of internal prompting at the right moment, recalling things Jesus or Scripture has said. But Carl Henry believed Jesus was referring to the Scriptures themselves, that the source of teaching and remembrance will be the inerrant record of Jesus’ life and ministry and teaching spread out to and through the early church. So, we’re studying from His teaching and reminders right now, here, today.
What an amazing collection of blessings are listed here: a place in the Father’s home together with the assurance that Jesus will bring us there; an assignment of divine importance to occupy us until He does; His promise to hear and address any need we have along the way; His own Spirit to be/go with us until He returns; along with He and the Father; His authoritative Word to teach and remind us, to reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness (2Ti.3:16) for our work and our walk. This is an amazing legacy, inheritance! Now for the perfect capstone, the final blessing:
My peace I give to you. – 27
27 Peace I leave with you; not only is this the defining quality of the promised messianic kingdom throughout the OT (Num.6:26; Psa.29:11; Isa.9:6-7; 52:7; 54:13; 57:19; Eze.37:36; Hag.2:9), fulfilled in the NT (Act.10:36; Rom1:7; 5:1; 14:17) (Carson 1991 505), it’s the Jewish greeting fully realized, shâlōm, that settled, satisfying, flourishing of all things working together in perfect harmony as they were designed by God to do. This is bequeathed (Henry) to the disciples by Jesus in downpayment form: my peace I give to you—the Prince of Peace (Isa.9:6). This will be His trice-stated greeting to them when He appears to them after His resurrection (peace be with you [21:19, 21, 26]). Not as the world gives do I give to you—promising peace, but unable to deliver. This is a reliable peace, a peace that produces His core charge in this passage: Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (27, cf. 1). This will be enough for them in their circumstances, and so for any of us in any circumstances.
Conclusion
The world around us has none of these things to offer; yet, they are all ours in Christ, and precisely because of what He was preparing to do for us on the cross. As we proclaim His legacy to our world that so desperately needs to receive it, as part of our very blessing in it, we should make sure we intentionally enter into every single aspect of it ourselves. As Carl Henry put it, we should take the whole of it as our legacy in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Resources
Arnold, Clinton E., gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 2, John, Acts. John, by Andreas J. Köstenberger, 2-196. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Barclay, William. 1975. The Daily Study Bible Series. The Gospel of John, Revised Edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. John, by Andreas J. Köstenberger, 415-512. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Bruce, F. F. 1983. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
, Gordon D. Fee, & Ned B. Stonehouse, gen. eds. 1995. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Gospel According to John, Revised Edition, by Leon Morris. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Calvin, John. 1553. Commentary on the Gospel According to John, trans. by, William Pringle. Logos.
Carson, D. A., gen. ed. 1991. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. The Gospel According to John, by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. John, by Donald Guthrie, 1021-1065. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.
Clendenen, Ray E., gen. ed. 1996. The New American Commentary. Vol. 25, John, by Gerald L. Borchert. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.
Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 4, The Message of John: Jesus, the Son of God, 101-122. Wheaton: Crossway.
Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on John, 2015-2072, by Andreas J. Köstenberger. Wheaton: Crossway.
Henry, Carl F. H. 1986. The Legacy of Christ. The Moody Church: https://moodyaudio.com/products/legacy-jesus-christ.
Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Luke-Acts. John, by Robert H. Mounce, 357-661. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Martin, Ralph P., & Lynn Allan Losie, NT eds. 1999. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 36, John, Second Edition, by George R. Beasley-Murray. Dallas: Word.
Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 2003. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 4, John, by Colin G. Kruse. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.
Osborne, Grant, ed. 1993. Life Application Bible Commentary. John, by Bruce B. Barton, Philip W. Comfort, David R. Veerman, & Neil Wilson. Wheaton: Tyndale.
Tasker, R. V. G. 2000. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Vol. 4, John. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.
Tenney, Merrill C. 1976. John: The Gospel of Belief. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
NEXT SUNDAY: Abide in Me, John 15:1–17