Something Worth Seeking
(No. 2515)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 21, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 27, 1885.
"But seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33.
THERE is just as much need of this exhortation today as there was when
our Savior first uttered it. These are times in which fretful care is
very apt to enter into the hearts of Believers and if our Lord were
here in Person, now, He would admonish us to be rid of such care, for
fretful care is not becoming in a child of God. It is so opposed to
faith and to the life of God in the soul, that it ought to be struggled
with and driven out. None of us who are trusting in Christ ought to
allow ourselves to become the victims of it.
Fretful care is altogether unnecessary in a Believer. Our Lord says, in
this very chapter, "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much better than they?" "Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet
I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these. Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much
more clothe you, O you of little faith?" If, therefore, God will do it,
why should you worry about it? If you saw a farmer feeding his
barn-door fowls plentifully, you would not believe a slanderer who said
that the man starved his children–and as long as you see God providing
for the baser creatures, and even the wild beasts that He has formed,
rest assured that He will take care of His children! Therefore fretful
care is unnecessary.
And, further, it is useless. Even if you feel yourself bound to fret,
of what possible service will all your fretting be? Would the fowls of
the Heaven be better fed if they sullenly moped on the boughs in winter
time, or if they croaked and cried out against the God who created
them? And if you begin croaking, what will you gain by it? Can you, by
complaining, add a cubit, or even an inch, to your stature? If there is
no rain, will the fretfulness of the farmer compel the clouds to come
and empty themselves on his meadows? If the husbandman should fancy
that it is raining too much, will his grumbling seal up the bottles of
Heaven? If your trade is dull, will it be made any brisker by your
murmuring? If your business yields you no profit, will you get any
profit out of your complaints? This worrying is a poor business–it
cannot bring any good results. Carking care, therefore, is as useless
as it is unnecessary.
Our Savior dissuades us from it by a third argument. He says that it is
heathenish. "After all these things do the Gentiles seek." We need not
wonder if those who have no knowledge of God, no Savior, no Father in
Heaven, should try to get all they can out of this world, for they have
no other! Well may they make gold their god, for they have no God who
can give them any pleasure or delight. But it should not be so with you
who are the twice-born, the immortal, the God-descended. You who have
eternal life within you, you in whose bodies the Holy Spirit is
dwelling as in a temple–and it is so with you unless you are
hypocrites and are making a pretense to that which is not true–you
should not be fretting and stewing about what you shall eat, or what
you shall drink and how you shall be clothed! Endowed with such a noble
nature, called to higher things than the heathen have ever dreamed of,
descend not to the trifles which content them, but let your spirit rise
above these earthly things!
To help you to do so is the objective of the present discourse and,
first, dear Friends, I shall try and show you the proper sphere of
care–"Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." Then,
in the second place, I shall try to tell you of the proper quietus of
all anxious care–"All these things shall be added unto you."
I. Here is first, then, THE PROPER SPHERE OF CARE. There is nothing in
man but has its special function and end. And there is in all of us, to
a greater or less extent, the propensity to care. There are some men
and some women, especially, who are very careful souls. It would not
matter in what station of life they might be placed, they would always
be very thoughtful, much given to looking ahead and possibly much
inclined to look on the dark side of everything. Now, dear Friend, if
this is your propensity, here is a way of turning it to good
purpose–let your deepest, most intense, and most thorough care be
exercised in this direction–"Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and
His righteousness."
What is it that we are to seek? The text says, "Seek you first the
Kingdom of God." God has set up His Kingdom in this world–inside the
kingdoms of men, there is the Kingdom of God, wherein He rules. It is
of another kind from all earthly kingdoms, for Christ said, "My Kingdom
is not of this world." It is a purer, higher, truer, more durable
kingdom than any Caesar has ever been able to set up.
Our desire should be, first of all, to enter into the Kingdom of
God–the Kingdom of the new life, the Kingdom of perfect liberty, the
Kingdom of faith in Christ, the Kingdom of union to Christ, the Kingdom
of the power of the Spirit of God. Have we all entered it? If we have
not, let us seek that Kingdom immediately. Before we seek our own door,
let us seek first this Kingdom of God, that we may take up our
citizenship in it and become loyal subjects of the great King. The way
of admission into the Kingdom is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall be saved." "As many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name." Seek thus to enter the Kingdom of God.
Once in it, then seek to enjoy its privileges. When you have become the
subjects of the great King, ask Him to fully rule in your spirit and
therein to set up His throne of righteousness. Ask that you may have
all the peace that appertains to that Kingdom, all the holiness which
is the characteristic of that Kingdom, all the rest, all the joy, all
the spiritual wealth and all the sacred ennobling which come to men who
are brought under the sway of the Lord's Christ, whose gracious Spirit
brings every thought into captivity to His Sovereign will.
Further, being in the Kingdom of God, and enjoying its privileges, then
seek to extend that Kingdom. Go forth every morning, conquering and to
conquer! With the weapons of love and kindness, seek to win men to
Christ. Enlisted in this holy army, carry on a constant crusade for
Christ. From your earliest waking thoughts, till you fall asleep at
night, be intent, first and foremost, to win other hearts to Christ.
Let all your care go in this direction–to serve God, to live for God,
to glorify God! Seek this as earnestly as the merchant seeks more
trade, as the miser seeks more gold, as the sick man seeks a return of
health–"Seek you first the Kingdom of God."
Together with this, there is another thing to be sought–"His
righteousness." It may mean, seek that righteousness which God has
prepared for us through His dear Son. Seek to be justified by the
imputed righteousness of Christ. But I do not think that is what is
meant in this place. Seek God's righteousness, that is, seek a holy
character–seek first of all to be right, not to be rich. Seek first of
all to be just, not to be wealthy. Seek first of all to obey God, not
to become the master of others. Seek not to be great, but seek to be
good. Let this be your one ambition–"Seek you first the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness." The one aim of the life of a Christian should
always be to do the right. It may sometimes seem expensive and involve
sacrifice, but it is always safe and, in the long run, it will prove to
be the most profitable to do that which is according to the mind of
God. Keep you to the King's Highway–never get off of it by trying the
devil's "short cuts." Act not according to human policy, but remember
that ancient advice, "I counsel you to keep the King's Commandments."
You shall find it to be the lodestar of your life if you seek the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
You and I are bound to seek God's righteousness in our own lives, but
we should also seek to spread that righteousness in the world. Is there
anything that tends towards temperance? I am a Christian, so I am on
that side. Is there anything that helps to make men honest? I am on
that side. Is there anything that is for the real liberty of mankind?
Is there anything that puts down oppression? Is there anything that
rectifies social wrong? Is there anything of purity left under Heaven?
I am on that side, Sir! We remember the statesman who was known to say
that he was on the side of the angels. That is the side on which every
good man ought to be–on the side of everything that is pure, right,
holy and heavenly. I cannot understand the indifference of some people
to the crime that flows in black torrents down our streets. It seems to
me that if I am a Christian, I am to seek to promote the Kingdom of
righteousness everywhere! And that the side I ought to take in social
life, politics and everything else, is the side of righteousness.
"Stand up, stand up, for Jesus," everywhere, because Jesus stands up
for that which is true and right, both towards God and towards man–and
never fear the consequences! The right harms nobody except those who
ought to be harmed and if, for the moment, the right should seem to
bear hard upon certain special interests, yet taking the world all
round, and taking God's ages in their length and breadth, the right
will prove to be best for all who follow it. The Christian man is
bound, first, to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness!
The text says, Seek it. But how are we to seek it? If you are not in
that Kingdom, seek it at once by prayer, seek it by earnest cries to
God. Seek it specially by faith in Jesus Christ, that you may enter
into that Kingdom now. But if you are in it, then seek it by
continually being watchful that you are not overtaken by
unrighteousness, that you are not led to do anything which would injure
the Kingdom of your God and Savior.
Seek the Kingdom of God as a man seeks goodly pearls. Seek it as the
traveler in an unknown land seeks to find its rivers and its streams.
With your whole heart seek after God, His Truth and everything that is
right!
Notice that the text says, "Seek you frstthe Kingdom of God." That is,
first in order of time. Young men, seek God first. Get your hearts
right with God first. The highest should come first and the highest is
God! The most enduring should come first and God is eternal! That which
concerns your highest part should come first and your soul is more
precious than your body! Your body will soon become food for worms, but
your soul will outlast the stars. "Seek you first the Kingdom of God,"
for this is the first thing. And take things in their proper order, for
so shall you take them aright. Seek the Kingdom of God first while yet
the blood leaps in your veins, before you are sluggish with approaching
age, or even death itself. While yet your eyes are bright and your mind
is clear, "Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness."
Seek this first in the week. Be always observant of that first day of
the week–give it all to God. "Seek you first the Kingdom of God." Seek
it first in each day. Give God the first few minutes of every opening
morning. Always begin your day with God. Seek first in order of time
the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness.
And then seek it first in order of degree. If you need health, seek it,
but seek first the Kingdom of God. If you desire knowledge, seek it,
but seek first that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom.
If you want wealth, seek it in that moderate way which is allowable to
you, but first of all let your treasure be in Heaven. Seek your God
first, before everything else. You may seek to have the love of those
about you, but seek first the love of God. You may seek a wife, and you
shall not do ill if you seek aright, but seek first your God. You may
seek a house and seek to build up a family and be a blessing to those
about you, but first seek your God. Let your rule be, first an altar,
then a tent. First seek God and then that which is nearest and dearest
to you of earthly things.
Then, again, should it ever come to the alternative of God or earthly
things, seek first the Kingdom of God. Let all other things go, but
seek you first your God. Look at the martyrs when they had to choose
between Christ and death, or dishonor to Christ and life–they never
deliberated, brave spirits that they were! They were never anxious
about their answer to their accusers, for it was given unto them what
they should speak. And they reckoned not with lions, or with the fierce
flames, or with the cruel rack. They sought God first, never counting
any cost, for no cost could be great for such jewels as they had to
conserve! They flung their lives away without a sigh, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection–and they
were no fools, they were gainers by their losses! The ruby crowns they
wear today and forever are the full reward of all their suffering.
"Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness." Let that
override everything. Let it, like Aaron's rod, swallow up all other
rods. Be this your passion that shall consume you. Be this, if
necessary, called of men, "your fanaticism"–better still, your
enthusiasm–for the Spirit of God within you shall make all other
things as dust and ashes in your esteem!
Before passing to the other part of the subject, I must just notice who
ought to do this. They especially ought to do it who call themselves
followers of Christ. "Seek you first." These are the people whose
Father is in Heaven. "Your heavenly Father." "Seek you first the
Kingdom of God, and His righteousness." They are the people for whom
God most graciously provides and the people who yield obedience to Him.
It is of them that the Lord Jesus Christ said that His Father would
take care. "Shall He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
Provided for by God, seek you first the Kingdom of God! You wear His
livery, you eat His bread, you drink from His cup, His broken body is
your meat, His shed blood is your drink, He, Himself is your hope, your
all! Therefore, "Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His
righteousness."
You who aspire to be among this favored band, unless you throw away the
hope of the adoption into the family of God, unless you refuse to have
God for your Father and your Friend, you, I say, must be included in
these to whom Christ says, "Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness." You young men and women who are beginning life, I
charge you, lay this text to heart! You, Sirs, who are just about to
enter upon new businesses, take care that you soil not your consciences
when you unpack your goods! See to it that, from this day and till your
last day, it is first, God, and then yourself. No, not so! First God,
then your neighbor, and thenyourself! See that you have a higher motive
than mere greed of gain, or honor, or comfort! Now say within yourself,
"God helping me, I will obey this command of my redeeming Lord, 'Seek
you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness.'"
There, dear Friend, is sphere enough for your care. If you want to
care, care away! Care for God and care for nothing else. If you want to
fret, fret at your sins! If you want something that is worth agitating
for, agitate for righteousness! If you want something that shall
consume your faculties with zeal, here you have it! If you want
something worth seeking, "Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His
righteousness."
II. Pause just a moment for solemn thought about this matter and then
let us notice the proper quietus of all other care.
Child of God, do you believe your Father? You will not tell me no. Do
you believe your Father? If so, listen. "And all these things shall be
added unto you."
"All these things." So first, if you make God your care, all things
necessary for this life shall come to you. Listen– "Trust in the Lord,
and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be
fed." "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." "Just
now," says one, "I do not see how I am to make ends meet." Then,
Brother, there is all the more reason why you should leave all to God.
Remember how the hymn puts it–
"In some way or other, the Lord will provide. It may not be my way, it
may not be your way And yet in His own way, 'the Lord will provide.'"
Rest you sure of that! David said, "I have been young, and now am old;
yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread." If you will care only to seek your bread, yourself. If you will
make your gain your great objective in life, then you may provide for
yourself. But if you will serve God. If you will mind His business, He
will mind your business! And as surely as He lives, He will provide for
His own.
"All these things." Notice what they are. It is what we shall eat, what
we shall drink and with what we shall be clothed. It does not say that
we shall have the best broadcloth, or silks and satins. It is not
dainties, not the fat of the land, not wine and strong drink that is
promised–but you shall have what you may eat, what you may drink and
with what you may be clothed. If you will only trust in your God, and
serve Him, alone, it shall be with you as it was with Jacob at Bethel,
for God fulfilled His Covenant that He made with him there. The Lord
will take care that "all these things" shall be added unto you. See to
it, then, that you care for Him, and He will care for you.
But, next, "all these things" shall come by way of promise. To the
ungodly man, "these things" come, but they come by way of hard work. He
says they come by way of chance, but to you who believe, they shall
come by way of promise. When you eat bread, you shall say, "Blessed be
the Lord who has given me this bread which He promised me." When you
drink water, you shall say, "Blessed be the Lord who has given me this
refreshing draught which He promised me." And when you put on your
clothes, though they are, by no means dainty, but of the more common
kind, yet you shall feel that it is the livery that God has sent His
servant and, as you put them on, you shall say, "This comes from the
hand of the great Universal Provider, even the Lord God." "All these
things shall be added unto you." It is not so much the thing you have,
as the way in which you have it that brings you the blessing!
I spoke, the other Sunday night, about the old Scotch woman and her
porridge. She said that she liked her porridge, but she rejoiced and
blessed God that she had a Covenant right to the porridge, for the
Covenant had given her a right to what she should eat and what she
should drink. It is a great mercy to see the mark of the Lord's hand on
the common blessings of every day and to say to yourself, "It has come
true as my Lord said, 'All these things shall be added unto you.'" They
come by way of promise! You do not have to seek them, for they are
added unto you!
And, further, they come to us in a way of Infinite Wisdom. Dear child
of God, your bread and your water and your clothes are all measured out
by God. If you have but little, God knew that you could not do so well
with more. There are some children you know who must not have too much
dinner–they would be ill if they did. If you sometimes are placed in a
condition of poverty, it is because only by poverty can some of you
ever get to Heaven. I do not doubt that there are some men who behave
grandly in their sphere of life, who, if they were placed in another
sphere, would conduct themselves in an unseemly manner. Many a man has
tried to scramble up a rock to see whether he could get to the top and
he has come down again a dozen times because he was always safer down
below. His was not the head that could bear the dizzy height and,
therefore, the great Lord would not let him go there. Do you want to
have what God knows would hurt you? Do you want doubtful blessings? Is
it not better to say, "My times are in Your hands"? If you are a child
of God, and you care for Him, He will care for you. He will measure out
your cloth. He will measure out your water. He will measure out your
food. He will give you what you should have–so let the prayer of Agur
be your prayer, also– "Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me
with food convenient for me."
Again, if we thus look to God and trust His promise, "All these things
shall be added unto you." Then these things will come to us without any
fretting or fuming. If God makes us rich, we shall say, "Well, I never
asked for wealth, but now that it has come, I only long for Grace to
use it aright." And if it does not come, you will say, "Well, I never
expected it. I thank and praise His name for what I have, and ask for
Grace that I may know both how to abound and how to suffer loss." That
which comes with fretting and fuming has often lost all the goodness of
it before you get it. Too often men are like boys who hunt butterflies.
See the boy with his hat off, dashing after the fly. It has gone and he
pursues it here and there and yonder and, at last, he has caught it,
but in catching it he has crushed it to atoms! It is good for nothing.
So have men pursued wealth–they have toiled and labored till, when
they have gained the wealth they sought, their health has gone, or
their mind has failed them–and they have not been able to enjoy it.
But that which comes to us in the golden ship of infinite mercy,
brought across the sea by a better Pilot than our prudence, comes most
sweetly, and we bless and praise and magnify the Lord for it all!
And, once more, that which God adds to us thus shall come to us without
absorbing us. ' 'All these things shall be addedunto you," so that, you
see, you yourself will be there, and all these things shall be added
unto you. To some men wealth has come like the massive shields in the
Roman story. When the vestal virgin agreed to open the gates to the
soldiers, they promised to give her as her reward that which they
carried on their left hands. She meant their golden bracelets and she
dreamed that she would be rich. But as each man came in, he flung his
shield upon her, and so she was killed and buried beneath the weight!
So has it often been with the gains of this world–they have come to
the man, but they have buried him–and there has been no man left.
According to The Illustrated London News, he has left a good deal of
money, but there has been no manleft–the man has been gone long ago.
The man was all absorbed, crushed, doubled up under his money–and he,
himself, was gone.
I have used before an illustration which I cannot help using again.
When you go to a shop and buy some goods, you will get the string and
the brown paper in which what you buy is wrapped. So, when a man lives
for God and for eternal life, he will get all the things he needs
without seeking for them. "Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." When a
man gets his string and brown paper, well, they are very useful, but he
does not begin crowing about them! The string and brown paper are
nothing but the wrappings of something that is more valuable. Yet there
are some fellows, who are really nobodies, who have not anything of the
highest value, but they have such a lot of string and brown paper that
they expect us all to fall down and worship their string and brown
paper! And, what is perhaps worse than that, they fall down and worship
their own string and brown paper themselves. But the child of God does
nothing of the kind. He says, "I needed this blessing and it has come,
thank God, but I do not live for this, I do not live for this."
Dr. Johnson said to one who showed him his beautiful garden and park,
"These are the things that make it hard to die." Oh, but it is not so
for a Christian! Good Mr. Gurney, one day walking through his beautiful
garden, said, "This paradise helps me to think of what the Paradise
above will be–and makes me long to be there." And I know that it ought
to be so and willbe so with us if we are, first of all, seeking the
Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, it will be safe to trust us with
wealth and it will be equally safe to trust us with none at all! Having
grasped the nobler thing, we shall neither be over-balanced if we gain,
nor despairing if we lose.
So I leave with you both the precept and the promise of the text–"Seek
you first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you." May this be true of all of you, dear
Friends, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 14.
I suppose that many of you know this chapter by heart. I notice that in
all old Christians' Bibles, this leaf is well worn–sometimes worn out.
We have here our Lord's homely talk to His disciples. It is full of
sublimity, yet it is blessedly simple. There is a sort of unveiling of
Himself in this chapter. It is not so much like a public discourse as a
private conversation and this tends to make the Savior's speech appear
the more condescending, and yet, also, the more sublime.
Verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe
also in Me. There is no cure for heart-trouble but heart-trust. "You
believe in God"–you trust in Divine Providence, now trust in the
Savior's great Atonement. You have come close to God already, come
closer to the Incarnate God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear Him say to
you, "You believe in God, believe also in Me." Your faith already deals
with some things. Now let it deal with more things. Your past troubles
have been endured by faith. Now endure the presentin the same way.
2. In My Father's house are many mansions. You are at home in Christ
even now if you are a Believer in Him. Wherever you are, you are your
Heavenly Father's own child, and you have realized the Truth of what
David wrote in the 23rd Psalm, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." Usually, when we are singing that sweetly solemn hymn,
beginning–
Forever with the Lord,"
we are thinking about Heaven. That is quite right. But "forever" means
nowas well as the future! It covers time hereas well as eternity in
Heaven. We are with the Lord even now–whether we are down here or up
there!
2. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. So that, when you go from this earth, you need not fear that
you will be launched into space, or that you will have to plunge into
the great unknown.
3. And if 1 go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. "I
will come to you by My Spirit. I will come to you, by-and-by, if my
Father shall purpose it, in the hour of death. Or if not, I will come
in Person at my Second Advent. But, in any case, I will be sure to
come. My dear children, I am going away, but it is only for a little
while. I am coming again, so be not troubled as though you had said,
'good-bye' to Me forever. 'I will come again,' and when I do, I shall
never go from you again."
4. And where I go you know, and the way you know. Yes, we do know where
Christ has gone and we also know the way.
5. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we know not where You go and how can we
know the way? I like to hear Thomas talk, even though his is a very
unwise speech. I wonder when you and I ever made wise ones! We never do
unless we borrow them, for all that comes of us naturally is childish
and foolish, "for we know in part, and we prophesy in part." When the
child becomes a man, he will put away childish things, but meanwhile
our speech betrays us. We seldom speak even of any of the great
mysteries of the Gospel without uttering some words of our own which
show that we have never really understood them. I think the Lord likes
us to display our ignorance, first, that we may know it, and then that
He may remove it.
6. Jesus said unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man
comes unto the Father, but by Me. Christ has gone to the Father's upper
house to make it ready for all the redeemed family. We could never have
entered there if He had not gone in first. And even now there is no
coming to the Father in faith or in prayer except by Christ. We must
not even dream of communion with God except through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Luther used to say–and to say very wisely, too–"I will have
nothing to do with an absolute God! I must come to God by Christ
Jesus." "No man comes unto the Father, but by Me."
7. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father, also, and from
henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him. All of the Father that we
can know is visible in Christ, "for in Him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily." And if we truly know Christ, we also know the
Father. Christ always seems to be knowable, for He brings Himself down
to such a nearness to us that it seems easy to know Him. Well, then,
knowing Christ, we also know the Father and have seen Him!
8. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for
us. Thomas spoke just now like a babe in Grace. Now here is Philip
talking like another baby! Yet how bold his speech is! "Lord, show us
the Father." Why, no man can see the Father's face and live! Yet here
is a child of God apparently forgetful of that fact.
9. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have
you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; and
why say you, then, Show us the Father?'s not this a homely talk between
the Master and His disciples? Said I not rightly that Christ, here,
seems to unveil Himself? He lets these children of His talk away much
at their ease–and I think we ought to be at ease when we are talking
with Christ. Some like a very stately service in their worship,
something very grand, that makes ordinary worshippers stand afar off.
Let them enjoy it if they can, but as for us, we prefer something which
permits us to come very near to our Lord.
10. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
Yes, Lord, we do believe that. Your eternal and inseparable union with
the Father is a doctrine about which we have no question whatever!
10. The words that Ispeak unto you Ispeaknot ofMyself but the Father
that dwells in Me, He does the works. Notice, dear Friends, that even
the Lord Jesus Christ did not profess to teach doctrines out of His own
mind! He says, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself."
Now, if it is so with the Master, how much more ought it to be so with
the servants! But have you not noticed how it is with the great men of
the pulpit in these days? It is, "What I have thought out, I make known
to you." It is, "What has come to me by the spirit of the age, the
culture of the period, I tell you." God save us from this kind of talk!
It is no business of mine, I know, to ever come to you merely with a
message of my own, for if the Lord Jesus Christ did not do so, what a
fool His servant must be if he pretends to do it! No, if it is not
revealed in this Book, neither shall it be taught by us, nor ought it
to be received by you! So Jesus says to His disciples, "The words that
I speak unto you I speak not of Myself." He glories in His union with
the Father, and in the fact that He does not come as an independent
teacher of thoughts of His own inventing, but He tells out to us what
is in His Father's heart.
11, 12. 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 We
cannot do Christ's redeeming work–it would be blasphemy to suppose
that we could, for He said of it, "It is finished." But we can do the
kind of work that Christ did in instructing men and in being the means
of blessing men. Many of the Apostles brought to a knowledge of the
Truth of God more souls than their Lord did by His personal ministry.
He was pleased, after the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of
Pentecost, to bring great multitudes to the faith by some of His
servants, while He, Himself preached, comparatively speaking, to but
few, only journeying up and down that little land of Palestine and
scarcely traversing all of it. And if we will but trust Him and seek to
imitate His wondrous life, we, also, shall do the works that He did,
and do them on an even larger scale, and do them with even greater
results.
13, 14. And whatever 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 Observe the breadth of prayer–"If you shall ask
anything." Yet observe, also, the limit of prayer–"If you shall ask
anything in My name." There are some things which we should not ask in
Christ's name, as we have no promise about them, or because we have
indications that they would be contrary to God's usual method of
procedure. We must not ask, in the name of Christ, for what would be
absurd or outrageous for us to expect God to grant. Neither dare we use
that sacred name in pleading for things which would only be for the
satisfaction of our own will. We must let the will of God rise above
all! But, subject to that will, we may ask anything in Christ's name
and He will do it.
15. If you love Me, keep My Commandments. Obedience is the truest proof
of love. Some, out of supposed love to Christ, have attempted or
committed acts of fanaticism. They have been enthusiastic and, in many
cases, doubtless, very sincere. But they have also been very unwise.
Here is the best thing that you can do out of love for Christ–"If you
love Me, keep My Commandments."
16. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever– "One who will not need
to die and so to be separated from you, but who, once coming to you,
shall tarry with you throughout the ages."
17. Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with
you, and shall be in you. Do you not notice how this verse contradicts
the current thought of the period about, "the spirit of the age" being
so much in advance of the Spirit of all past ages? Listen again to
these words of our Lord–"The Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot
receive." The world is always receiving one form of falsehood or
another. Tossed to and fro and never abiding long in one plac3, it
cries, "This is the truth," or, "That is the truth," or, "Now we have
it; this is the truth." But Christ says, "The Spirit of Truth; whom the
world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but
you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you."
18. I will not leave you comfortless. Or, "orphans," for that is the
meaning of the original. "I will not leave you orphans."
18-20. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no
more; but you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. At that day
you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
This is all very simple. The words are nearly all words of one
syllable, yet there are depths here in which a leviathan might plunge
and lose himself!
21-23. He that has My Commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves
Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love
him and will manifest Myself to him. Judas said unto Him, not Iscariot,
Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself unto us, and not unto
the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves Me, he will
keep My Words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him,
and make Our abode with him. Only holy men can see the holy Christ, and
it is only as we walk in obedience to Him that we can have the Son of
God walking with us, and the Father and the Son dwelling with us.
24. He that loves Me not keeps not My sayings: and the Word which you
hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent Me. Notice, again, that
important Truth of God, and observe what weight and what stress Christ
lays upon it.
25, 26. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with
you. 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, whatever I have said unto you. Brothers and Sisters,
ought we not to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, since the
Father, Himself, does everything in that name? Even concerning the
sending of the Comforter, Christ says, "whom the Father will send in My
name." Then He would certainly have the Father and the children acting
upon the same principles–the Father glorifying Christ by sending the
Spirit in His name–and ourselves glorifying Christ by presenting our
prayers and praises in that one adorable name!
27. Peace I leave with you. "I told you not to let your heart be
troubled. Now I go further and I leave you this precious legacy of
peace–'Peace I leave with you.'"
27. My peace I give unto you.–"My own deep peace, which even My
sufferings and death cannot disturb."
27-29. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said unto you,
I go away and come again unto you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice,
because I said, I go unto the Father: for My Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that, when it is come
to pass, you might believe. Oh, what numbers of things which Christ
foretold have come to pass already! Have you, dear Friends, believed
all the more because of them? How many answers to prayer, how many
deliverances out of trouble, how many helps in the time of need have
you had! Surely, when all this has come to pass, you ought to believe.
30, 31. Hereafter I willnot talkmuch with you: for theprince of this
world comes, andhas nothingin Me. But that the world may know that I
love the Father; and as the Father gave Me Commandment, even so I do,
Arise, let us go hence. So the Savior went forth to His passion and His
death that all might know the supremacy of His love to the Father and
His love to His people. And so let us, in our measure, be always ready
to say, "Arise, let us go hence," to service or to suffering, since our
Savior leads the way.