John 14:1 Consider the connection between believing in God and believing in Jesus Christ. I. Note first that the difficulty which men find in their way when asked to believe in Christ arises from the supernatural character of His manifestation and working. Take this away and there would be no diffi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:2 The truthfulness of Jesus Christ I. These words were an appeal to the disciples' knowledge of Christ. Had He ever painted His discipleship in false colours? Had He kept back any hard terms? Had He softened down any harsh conditions, that He might parade among His followers as One whom it... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:3 With Christ for Ever I. This whole passage is beautifully calculated to place in their right proportions that hope which every one feels of meeting again in heaven those that are gone before us, and the one all-satisfying anticipation of being with Christ. I feel persuaded that many are... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:6 Christ the Way I. If it be asked where this way begins, and whither it goes, the answer is evident. It begins in the cold, dark, desolate region, into which sin has thrown the moral and material condition of every living man. And it goes along a course of ever-nearing communion with God... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:9 The Surprise Christ felt I. To Christ, that He was the revealer and the image of the Father was the one foremost truth of His life. Ever since He had sense, He had felt that, and it had grown with His growth and been the one proclamation of His ministry. The blind and the deaf in heart mi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:15 The Christian the Temple of God I. This is the misery of sin, that it brings what is so unholy, so close, into the Presence of the All-Holy. Sin begins in thought, yet thought is of the soul, and in the soul dwelleth God the Holy Spirit. Thought goes on to consent of the will. No deadly... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:16 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 be... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:16 I. The Holy Spirit is promised as another Comforter. This surely indicates, not a new office to be discharged, but an old one, or one already subsisting, to be discharged by a new person. The term "Comforter" is common to the Holy Ghost, and to the incarnate Son. In its highest and holie... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:19 I. Christ lives. In Him was life. He was the Prince, the Author of life. He submitted to die for the sin of the world. But it was impossible that He should be holden of death. He has resumed the body of His humanity, but it is now a glorified body, a body freed from the laws to which He... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:19 Waiting for God in Christ I. Wait for Christ, for we are privileged to do so; wait for Him, wait at the outer gate, though the gate may be fast closed, and we can see nothing of the glory within; yet wait, for so Christ bids you. Within that gate is your home, if you will not turn your b... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:22 Observe: I. The harmony we may trace between the Spirit's working and the working of our own hearts and minds, according to the ordinary laws of thought and feeling which regulate their movements. Here, as always, it may be seen that grace and nature are not antagonistic but concurrent,... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:23 Consider: I. The connection between Christ and His words. (1) Christ and His words are both very fully made known to us. (2) There is a perfect harmony between Christ and His words. II. The connection between loving Christ and keeping His words. The way in which our Lord states this br... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:27 These are musical words, but the music is not of earth alone. They touch a strain above the world. In their Divine consciousness of vast spiritual power, in their farness from the strife and trouble of men, they are of that true supernatural which abides in the secret of God. I. What wa... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:28 Present Relations of Christ with His Followers The great change of administration to be introduced by the going away and coming again of Christ, includes several points that require to be distinctly noted. I. That Christ now institutes such a relationship between Himself and His follow... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:30 Consider: I. Christ as meeting the prince of this world. (1) The prince of this world comes as an accuser. When the willing Surety took our place, and submitted to the treatment which we deserved, the prince of this world could lay nothing to His charge. He could find no fault in Him, ei... [ Continue Reading ]
John 14:31 Let us go hence. What was He leaving? Whither was He going? He was going to Gethsemane, to the kiss of the traitor; to the tribunals of Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate; to His shameful and bitter Cross; to the unknown agonies of His last great conflict with the prince of this world. He had a... [ Continue Reading ]