_HIS ONLY SON OUR LORD_ ‘Believe in God, believe also in Me.’ John 14:1 Manifestly, everybody must believe in God before he can believe in Jesus Christ in any deep sense; for to say that ‘Jesus is the Son of God’ already implies a belief in God. This was clearly true of the Christian converts fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_TROUBLE AND ITS REMEDY_ ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.’ John 14:1 Of all the verses in the Bible there is none which has given so much comfort to the whole Church of God as this. Could you go through the world and enter into every sick room, and every cha... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE FATHER’S HOUSE_ ‘In My father’s house are many mansions.’ John 14:2 ‘In My Father’s _ house_’—the Greek rather means household, or home—‘are many mansions.’ And indeed the single word ‘home’ possesses magic power. I. IT IS A HOME OF PERFECT LIGHT.—‘Now we see through a glass darkly’ (1 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
_SUFFICIENCY OF REVELATION_ ‘If it were not so, I would have told you.’ John 14:2 There is something exceedingly gracious and affecting about this declaration. I. IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF PURE FRIENDSHIP AND OPEN-HEARTED CONFIDENCE.—‘If things had been darker than they are, if your difficulties gr... [ Continue Reading ]
_HEAVEN_ ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ John 14:2 Jesus Christ Himself is our home, our furniture, our resting-place all in one. I. WE LIVE IN HIM.—‘Thou art a place to hide me in.’ It was the bitter gloom of separation from Him that cast this fluttering dismay upon the Apostles. His words w... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE LIVING WAY_ ‘I am the way.’ John 14:6 To what does the way lead? I. IT IS THE WAY TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE of which He has just spoken, where God manifests His Presence to His people, and they are for ever with Him in glory. II. IT IS THE WAY TO THE FATHER HIMSELF, here and now. For only as... [ Continue Reading ]
_CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUTH_ ‘I am the truth.’ John 14:6 What does Jesus mean by this claim? What is the truth of which He is speaking? In order to understand this aright, we must understand what are the nature, the properties, the characteristics of the truth. I. THE WORD ‘TRUTH’ SPEAKS FOR ITS... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CHRIST LIFE_ ‘I am the Life.’ John 14:6 ‘I am the Life,’ Jesus said. How is this true of Him? I. HE IS THE PATTERN LIFE.—Never was a life of man lived like His life. All are agreed about this. As in the days of His flesh foes as well as friends recognised the perfection of His life, so in... [ Continue Reading ]
_ON KNOWING GOD_ ‘Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.’ John 14:8 Was it well or ill spoken, this word of St. Philip? It evidently came from his heart. It was no captious objection. Shall we then commend or blame him for his inquiry? We must blame him for the sad ignorance betrayed. But... [ Continue Reading ]
_POWER THROUGH CHRIST_ ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ John 14:9 This was the word of comfort in the ears of the disciples, and the new and added sense and joy in a certainty of personality beyond the grave strengthened their wills, purified their characters, and uplifted them with a sense... [ Continue Reading ]
_GREATER WORKS_ ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth 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.’ John 14:12 It is a mysterious saying; what did our Lord mean by it? I. WHAT WERE THE ‘GREATER WORKS’?—On the fir... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE MISSION OF THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH_ ‘If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth.’ John 14:15 (R.V.) It is very important to consider what the Spirit of truth is said... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE INDWELLING CHRIST_ ‘The Spirit of … truth shall be in you.’ John 14:17 How is it that so many well-meaning people are content to live according to a low standard of religion—to live on year after year as though, like the disciples at Ephesus, they had ‘never so much as heard whether there be... [ Continue Reading ]
_LIFE THROUGH CHRIST_ ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ John 14:19 There is only one law of life, and that law uniform, whatever the manifestation. Let us note three of the essentials of life. I. LIFE HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN.—Living matter we have; but the minutest examination failed to give a... [ Continue Reading ]
_COMING AND ABIDING_ ‘He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father … and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.’ John 14:21 Our Blessed Lord had been speaking of His own impending departure and of the comin... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE DIVINE TEACHER_ ‘The Holy Ghost … He shall teach you all things.’ John 14:26 I. MERELY HUMAN TEACHING WILL NEVER MAKE A CHRISTIAN.—The great difficulty of all teaching is to rouse attention. The scholar must co-operate with the teacher, (_a_) _ This is one reason why sermons are so often i... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE PEACE OF CHRIST_ ‘My peace I give unto you.’ John 14:27 The word peace in the Hebrew seems to have the idea of completeness—something which if a man has, he wants no more; it is a word in which all good is summed up; we should call it happiness. ‘My peace I give unto you.’ These are the Wor... [ Continue Reading ]