Sermon Bible Commentary
John 14:16-17
Consider how in His residence with the Church the Holy Spirit has verified this title, "The Spirit of Truth." What reasons have we for concluding that this Comforter who descended at Pentecost, has acted among men as the Spirit of Truth?
I. We cannot say that the Spirit's work has yet been complete in the largest possible extent; but what has been done, however partial in amount, is sufficient as an earnest of the unlimited sovereignty which truth shall yet acquire. It is curious and interesting to observe how truth of every kind has advanced hand in hand with religion. Not, indeed, that it was the office of the Holy Ghost to instruct the world in natural philosophy, to teach the motions of stars or to lay open the mysteries of the elements. He came to unfold Redemption, and so to strengthen the human understanding, that it might be able to bear the vast truths of the mediatorial work. But nevertheless it did come to pass, and there is nothing which should surprise us in the result that the understanding which the Holy Spirit strengthened to receive redemption, found itself strengthened also to investigate creation. The Christian era has been distinguished by a rapid advance made in every branch of science; by the emancipation of mind from a thousand trammels; by the discovery of truths which seemed to lie beyond the scope of human intelligence. Assign what you will as the cause, the fact has been that the progress of Christianity has identified itself with the progress of natural philosophy.
II. The Holy Ghost was "the Spirit of Truth," to the Apostles. Through His unerring influence it is that we possess most accurate annals of the Redeemer's life that we can trace His footsteps as He went about doing good, and listen to His voice as He preached the gospel to the poor. If the Spirit were thus the Spirit of Truth in regard of apostles, is He not still such in regard of every real Christian? It is the office of this Divine person an office whose discharge must be experienced by every man who will enter heaven to rectify the disorder of the moral and mental constitution, and thus to communicate that sort of inner light in which alone can be discerned the great truths of religion.
III. There remains much, very much, for this Spirit to teach. How great still is our ignorance. But observe what our Lord says in the text, "that He may abide with you for ever."Things which we cannot bear now shall not always be too vast for our comprehension. We may be led on from degree to degree of intelligence, and trained and taught by the Spirit; eternity shall be one continued growth, immortality one accumulating treasure.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 2206.
I. As our Lord had created and stimulated and developed the spiritual life of His disciples, so would the Holy Spirit further develop, and finally perfect it. He would move in them. He would encourage and stimulate them. He would create the hungering and thirsting after righteousness which has the promise of being filled, and so absolutely has the Holy Spirit taken the place of Christ as the fountain and wellspring of the life of the soul that the indwelling and inworking of the one are stated by St. Paul to be the same as the indwelling and inworking of the other.
II. Observe that as our Saviour prayed to the Father for them, so now they would pray for themselves by the grace of the Advocate. Much of our Saviour's work among men was teaching them to help themselves. Through the grace of the Holy Ghost they would be enabled to plead for themselves as earnestly and successfully as Christ had done for them; which would be a clear spiritual gain. Prayer heralded every fresh enterprise for the diffusion of the Gospel, and was the great support on which they leaned when they had to endure persecution for the Gospel's sake. Truly they learned under the teaching of the new Advocate who was within them how to make full use of their privilege of access to the Father in the name of His Son.
III. As Christ had led His disciples into truth, so would the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, continue to lead them. The presence of Jesus must have been most stimulating to the disciples because of the constant flashes of light and truth that emanated from Him. He never spoke platitudes. The commonest truths were adorned with fresh beauty when they fell from His lips. At the prospect of losing such a Guide into the realms of truth the disciples might well feel as if their onward march would be stayed. The loss of Christ would be as the setting of the sun and the coming on of a great darkness over the soul. But they were assured by Christ Himself that even in this respect they should be no losers; in the other Comforter, the other Advocate, would be the Spirit of Truth who should guide them into all truth. They possessed in the words of their Lord the seeds of truth which would burst into bloom when the Holy Ghost began to shed His light upon them, and other and higher truth would be brought to their hearts.
J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxi., p. 355,
Christ's Absence Quiet Times
I. Our state at this moment is exactly that of the rich man's brethren in the parable. We have Moses and the prophets, and should hear them. We have the ordinary means of grace in our hands, with no peculiarly awakening call, so far as we can foresee, to arouse us to make use of them. What a state of heart does it show, that the absence of all especial calls to God should be a relief to it! If we feel it a relief not to be forced to think upon God, it is a relief which we shall continually enjoy more plentifully a relief which the heart will make for itself, when it cannot readily find it. Let it be that we find these quiet and ordinary seasons a relief to us, and we shall soon become insensible to seasons of excitement; great festivals, solemn occasions, the most touching accidents of life, the celebration of the Christian communion, will all pass over us without making any impression; nothing will break the deep rest of averseness to God which we so dreaded to have disturbed. Our hearts' desire will indeed be gratified; we shall see Christ's face, we shall hear His words, no more, so long as heaven and earth endure.
II. Most dreadful indeed is the faintest show of that feeling which rejoices to escape from Christ's call. But others do not rejoice to escape from it, but dread to think that it will not force them to listen to it. Do we desire some stronger religious excitement than usual? some solemn occasion to oblige us to think and to pray? some event that may break through the unmoved current of our daily life and not allow it to stagnate? It is a natural desire, but a vain one. Life will have its tranquil hours, its unvaried days, its ordinary and unexcited feeling. How precious are these quiet moments, when we may show our love to God's call by listening for and catching its softest sound! With the world all around us; with death and sorrow and care seemingly at a distance; on the plain road of human life, so far from the edge of the hill that we can enjoy no prospect of the distant country, none of the far-off horizon where earth and heaven meet have we not God's light to guide and cheer us, and God's air to refresh us, and God's work to do? If the period now before us is indeed to go on quietly, let us be awake ourselves, and then we may be sure that its quiet will have nothing of dulness; that God will be near enough, and the aid of His Spirit abundantly ready, and our progress in grace marked by no obscure or doubtful signs.
T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. iii., p. 62.
References: John 14:16; John 14:17. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. i., No. 4.; H. Melvill, Voices of the Year,vol. i., p. 503; E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation,vol. ii., p. 315; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times,"vol. ix., p. 167.