A Blessed Gospel Chain

A Blessed Gospel Chain

(No. 2895)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1904.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
2, 1876.

"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." John 14:23.

THIS is a blessed chain of Gospel experience. Our text is not meant for
the men of the world who have their portion in this life, but for the
chosen, called and faithful who are brought into the inner circle of
Christ's disciples and taught to understand the mysteries of His
Kingdom. It was in answer to the question of Judas ("not Iscariot") as
to how Christ would manifest Himself to His own and not to the world,
that these words were spoken. Christ explained that it would be
manifest who were His own people by certain marks and signs. They would
be those who love Him and keep His commandments and so win the
confidence of the Father–and the Father and the Son would come to
these loving and obedient disciples and make Their abode with them. God
grant that all of us may be able to take each of the steps here
mentioned so that our Lord may manifest Himself to us as He does not
unto the world!

The subject upon which I am about to speak to you is one which the
preacher cannot handle without the people. I must have God's people
with me in spirit to help me while I am dealing with such a topic as
this. You know that in the Church of England service there are certain
places where the clergyman says, "saying after me," so that it is not
simply the minister uttering the prayer or the confession, but he is a
sort of preceptor leading the rest of the congregation. In a similar
style, I want you people of God, as the Holy Spirit shall enable you,
to bend all your thoughts and energies in this direction and step by
step climb with me to these distinct spiritual platforms–ascending
from the one to the other by the Spirit's gracious aid–that your
fellowship may be with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

I. Our text begins with the first link in this golden chain, namely,
LOVE TO CHRIST–"If a man loves Me."

This, "if," seems to me to stand at the portals of our text like a
sentinel at the gate of a palace, to prevent anybody from entering who
ought not to enter. It is an, "if," that may be passed around the
present assembly, for I fear that all in this house do not love the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you cannot answer in the affirmative the question
asked by the lips of Jesus, Himself, "Do you love Me?" you have nothing
to do with the rest of this verse. Indeed, what have you to do with any
of the privileges revealed in the Bible, or with any of the blessings
promised there, as long as you are without love to Christ? Let that,
"if," stand, then, as with a drawn sword–like the cherubim at the gate
of the Garden of Eden–to keep you from daring to intrude where you
have no right to go if you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ! "If a man
loves Me."

Are you a lover of the Lord, dear Hearer? Put not that question aside,
but answer it honestly, in His sight, for there are some who only
pretend to love Him, but really do not–some who make a loud
profession, but their language is hypocritical, for their conduct is
not consistent with their profession. Do you love the Lord Jesus with
your whole heart? He is well worthy of your love, so let the question
go round the whole assembly and not miss any one of us, "Do you love

Me?"

For there are some, too, who are Christ's disciples only by profession.
All they give Him is a cold-hearted assent to His teaching. Their head
is convinced and, in a measure, their life is not altogether
inconsistent with their profession, but their heart is dead. Or, if it
is at all alive, it is like that of the church of Laodicea, neither
cold nor hot, but lukewarm–

and that is a state which Christ abhors! He must occupy the throne of
our hearts and be the best loved of all, or else we lack that which is
essential to true Christianity!

"If a man loves Me," says Christ. So, do you love Him? I do not ask
whether you love His offices, though I hope you do. You love the
Prophet, the Priest, the King, the Shepherd, the Savior and whatever
other title He assumes. Each of these names is music to your ears–but
do you love Christ, Himself? I will not ask whether you love His work,
especially the great Redemption which comprehends such innumerable
blessings. I hope you do, but it is a personal love to Christ that is
spoken of here. Jesus says, "If any man loves Me." Have you realized
Christ, personally, as still alive, gone into Heaven and soon to come
again in all the glory of His Father and of the holy angels? Say,
Brother, Sister, do you love Him? "If," says Christ, "ifa man loves
Me"–so it is right and wise for each one of us to put that question to
ourselves, even though we know that we can answer it satisfactorily and
say–

"Yes, I love You, and adore– Oh, for Grace to love You more!" And if
there should be any doubt about the matter, we ought to put the
question, pointedly, again and again and again and let not ourselves
escape till there is a definite answer given, one way or another! Heart
of mine, do you really love the Savior? Brothers and Sisters, put this
question to yourselves–and if you do love Him, let your love well up
like a mighty geyser–the hot spring that leaps up to a great height!
So let the hot spring of your love to Jesus leap up now–and let each
one of you say to Him–

"My Jesus, I love You, I know You are mine, For You all the follies of
sin I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior are You, If ever I loved
You, my Jesus 'tis now."

If you can do so, then you may add–

"I will love You in life, I will love You in death,

And praise You as long as You lend me breath

And say when the death-dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved You, my Jesus, 'tis now." Remember that if you do love
Him, He must have loved you first. Think of His ancient love–the love
that was fixed upon you before the earth was–when He saw you in the
glass of futurity and beheld all that you would be in the ruinous fall
of Adam and by your own personal transgression–and yet loved you,
notwithstanding all that! Think of Him when the fullness of time was
come, stripping Himself of all His Glory and descending from the Throne
of Infinite Majesty to the manger of humiliation and, being there, as a
Baby, swaddled in His weakness! Will you not love Him who became God
Incarnate for you? Think of Him all through His life–a life of
poverty, for He had nowhere to lay His head–a life of rejection, for,
"He came unto His own and His own received Him not"–a life of pain,
for He bore our sicknesses–a life of dishonor, for He was despised and
rejected of men! Will you further think of Him in the Garden of
Gethsemane? Will not your love be stirred as you watch the bloody sweat
and hear His groans and mark His tears as He pleads with God until He
prevails? Follow Him to the judgment seat and hear Him there charged
with sedition and with blasphe-my–if you can bear it!

Then see the soldiers as they spit in His face and mock Him while they
thrust a reed into His hand for a scepter and put on His brow a crown
of thorns as His only diadem! See Him tied up to be scourged till the
cruel thongs lacerate and tear His precious flesh and He suffers
indescribable agonies! And when you have followed Him that far, go
still further and stand at the foot of the Cross and mark the crimson
stream that flows from His hands, feet and side! Stand and watch Him
when the soldier's spear has pierced His heart and made the blood and
water flow forth for your pardon and cleansing. Did He suffer all this
for you and do you not love Him in return? May I not tell that, "if,"
to get out of the way and let you pass, that you may take the next
step? Track Him as He rises from the grave for you–as He ascends to
Heaven for you and obtains great gifts for you! Up there, before His
Father's face, He pleads for you and governs all things as King of
kings and Lord of lords–and governs all for you! Up there He prepares
many mansions for His own people and gets ready to come to earth the
second time that He may receive His people unto Himself, that where He
is they may be forever and forevermore!

As you think of all this, love the Lord, you who are His saints, you
who have been washed in His blood, love Him! You who are wearing the
spotless robe of His righteousness–love Him! You who call Him,
"Husband," love Him–you who are married to Him–united in bonds that
can never be severed!

II. If this is true of you, let us pass on to the next point–that of
KEEPING CHRIST'S WORDS. "If any man loves Me, says Christ, "he will
keep My words. "Let us see how far we have kept His words.

I trust that, first, we keep His words by treasuring them and prizing
them. Brothers and Sisters, I hope that we venerate every word that
Christ has ever uttered. I trust that we desire to treasure up every
syllable that He has ever spoken. There is not a word of His, recorded
in the Gospels, or in any other of the Inspired pages of Revelation, by
which we do not set more store than for much fine gold.

I trust that we keep Christ's words, next, by trying to knowthem. Are
you all diligent students of the Word of God? Do you search the
Scriptures? Do you live upon the Truths of God that the Lord has
spoken? You should, for every word that comes out of His mouth is the
true food of your souls! I must ask you whether you are doing these two
things. Are you keeping Christ's words by prizing them and by seeking
to be so familiar with them that you know what His words are?

Then, next, do you endeavor to lift the latch and to find your way into
the inner meaning of His words? Do you pierce the shell to get at the
kernel? Does the Spirit of God lead you into all Truth, or are you
content with the rudiments of the faith? This is the way to keep
Christ's words, namely, by endeavoring, to your very utmost, to
understand what the meaning of those words may be!

Then, when you know the meaning of them, do you seek to keep them in
your hearts?Do you love what Christ has spoken so that you delight to
know what it is and love it because it is His Doctrine? Will you sit at
His feet and receive the instruction that He is willing to impart? Have
you attained to that stage that you even love His rebukes? If His words
come home to you and sharply reprove you, do you love them even then,
and lay bare your heart before Him that you may feel more and more the
faithful wounds of this, your beloved Friend? Do you also love His
precepts? Are they as sweet to you as His promises, or, if you could do
as you wish, would you cut them out of the Bible and get rid of them? O
Brothers and Sisters, it is a blessed proof that Divine Grace has been
largely given to us when even the smallest word uttered by Jesus Christ
is more precious to us than all the diamonds in the world and we feel
that we only want to know what He has said and to love whatever He has
spoken!

"If a man loves Me, he will keep My words." This declaration of our
Lord suggests this question–Do we keep His words practically? That is
a most important point, for you will not be able to get any further if
you stumble here. Do you endeavor, in a practical way, to keep all His
moral precepts? Are you trying to be in your lives, as far as you can,
like He–or are you selfish, unkind, worldly? Are you endeavoring to be
like He who has left you an example that you should follow in His
steps? Come, answer honestly! Is this the objective of your life? Are
you seeking to be molded by the Holy Spirit in that way? And are you
practically keeping Christ's words as to the precepts of the Gospel?
Have you believed on Him? Believing on Him, have you been baptized
according to His command? Being baptized, do you come to His Table
according to His bidding, "This do in remembrance of Me"? Or do you
turn on your heels and say that these are nonessential things?

Beloved, if your heart is right with God, you will want to know all His
words and to put them into practice! What care I about the words of any
earthly church? They are only the words of men! But search and find the
words of Christ– and wherever they lead you, even though you are the
only one who has ever been led in that way–follow wherever He leads.
You cannot take the next step mentioned in my text unless you can
deliberately say, "Yes, Lord, 'Your words were found and I did eat
them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for
I am called by Your name, O Lord God of Hosts,' and I long to walk in
all Your statutes and ordinances, blamelessly, even to the end of my
days." You may err, you may make mistakes–you may even sin–but the
intent of your heart must be that having loved the Lord, you will keep
His words in those various senses that I have mentioned.

III. If you have been enabled to pass through these two gates, you may
now come to the next one which tells us of A HIGH PRIVILEGE AND GREAT
JOY–"He will keep My words; and My Father will love him."

What wonderful words these are–"My Father will love him"! It is quite
certain that He will do so, for when a man loves Jesus, he is in
sympathy with the Eternal Father, Himself. You know, my Brothers and
Sisters, that the Father's

love is fixed upon His only-begotten Son. One with Himself in His
essential Deity, He has loved Him from eternity! But since Jesus has
been obedient unto death, "even the death of the Cross," we cannot
imagine what must be the Father's complacency in the blessed Person of
our risen and ascended Lord! This is a deep subject and there is no
human mind that can ever fathom the depths of it and tell how truly and
how wonderfully the Father loves His everlasting Son! So, you see,
Brothers and Sisters, that if we love Jesus Christ, our heart meets the
heart of God, for the Father also loves Him! Have you never felt, when
you have been trying to praise Jesus, that you are doing, in your
feeble way, just what God has always been doing in His own Infinite
way? The ever-blessed Spirit is continually glorifying Jesus–and when
you are doing the same, God and you–though with very unequal
footsteps–are treading the same path and are in sympathy, one with the
other!

Then, besides the fact that you are in sympathy with the Father in
having one Object of love, you are also in sympathy with Him as to
character. Jesus said, "If a man loves Me, he will keep My words."
Well, when you are keeping Christ's words–when the Divine Spirit is
making you obedient to Jesus and like Jesus–you are treading the path
where your Heavenly Father would have you walk and, therefore, He loves
you!

Let me make a clear distinction here. I am not now speaking about the
general love of God towards all mankind– that love of benevolence and
beneficence which is displayed even towards the thankless and the evil.
Neither am I speaking, just now, concerning the essential love of God
towards His own elect whom He loves irrespectively of their character
because of His own Sovereign choice of them from eternity. I am
speaking of that complacent love which God, as a Father, has towards
His own children. You know that you often say to your child, "If you do
this or that, your father will love you," yet you know that a father
will love his child, as his child, and always must do so even if his
character is not all that the father desires it to be. But what a love
that is which a father has to a good, dutiful, obedient child! It is a
love of which he talks to him again and again, a love which he
manifests to him in many sweet and kindly words, a love which he
displays to him in many actions which he would not otherwise have done,
bestowing upon him many favors which it would not have been safe to
bestow upon him if he had been a naughty, disobedient child.

Never forget that our Heavenly Father exercises wise discipline in His
house. He has rods for His children who disobey Him and He has smiles
for His children who keep His commands. If we walk contrary to Him, He
has told us that He will walk contrary to us. But if our ways please
Him, there are many choice favors which He bestows upon us. This
teaching is not suggestive of legal bondage, for we are not under Law,
but under Grace. But this is the Law of God's House under the rule of
Grace–for instance, if a man keeps the Lord's commandments, He will
have power with God in prayer. But when a man lives habitually in sin,
or even occasionally falls into sin, he cannot pray so as to prevail,
he cannot win the ear of God as he used to do. You know right well that
if you have offended the Lord in any way, you cannot enjoy the Gospel
as you did before you so sinned. The Bible, instead of smiling upon
you, seems to threaten you in every text and every line–it seems to
rise up, as in letters of fire, and burn its way into your conscience!

It is certainly true that the Lord deals differently with His own
children according to their condition and character. So, when a man is
brought into such a state of heart that he keeps Christ's words, then
his character is of such a kind that God can take a complacent delight
in him and, in this sense can love him. It is in such a case as this
that the Father will let us know that He loves us, that He will assure
us of that love and shed it abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He
will give us special blessings, perhaps in Providence, but certainly in
Grace. He will give us special joy and rejoicing–our horn shall be
exalted and our feet shall stand upon the high places of the earth. All
things–even His trials–shall be blessed to the man who walks aright
with God–and the way to do that is to love Christ and to keep His
words! Of such a man, Jesus says, "My Father will love him."

IV. If you have passed through these three gates, you come to another
which bears this inscription, "WE WILL COME UNTO HIM."

This is a singular use of the plural pronoun–" We will come unto him."
It is a proof of the distinct Personality of the Father and of the Son.
Jesus says, "If a man loves Me," (do not forget the previous links in
this blessed Gospel chain), "he will keep My words; and My Father will
love him." And then follows this gracious assurance–"We will come unto
him." Does not this mean, first, distance removed?There is no longer a
gap between such a man's soul and his God. He feels heavy in heart,
perhaps, and thinks, "I cannot get near to God," but he hears this
comforting message, "We will come unto him" and, soon, over all the
mountains of division that there may have been in the past, like a roe,
or a young

hart, the Well-Beloved comes and the Great Father, when He sees, in the
distance, His child returning to Him, runs to meet Him and holds him to
His heart! What a wondrous Divine coming this is! Christ and His
Father, by the Holy Spirit, come to pay the Believer a most gracious
visit! Yes, Beloved, if you are living in love to Christ and keeping
His words, there will not be any distance separating you from the
Father and the Son, but the text will be blessedly fulfilled in your
experience–"We will come unto him."

And while it means distance removed, it also means honor conferred.
Many a great nobleman has beggared himself that he might receive a
prince or a king into his house. The entertainment of royalty has meant
the mortgaging of his estates! That is a poor return for the honor of
receiving a visit from his sovereign. But, behold, my Brothers and
Sisters, how different it is with us! The obedient lover of the Lord
Jesus Christ has the Father and the Son to visit him and he is greatly
enriched by their coming! He may be very poor, but Jesus says, "We will
come unto him." He may be obscure and illiterate, but Jesus says, "We
will come unto him." Do you all, dear Friends, know what this coming
means? Did you ever know the Son to come to you with His precious blood
applied to your conscience till you realized that every one of your
sins was forgiven? Have you taken Jesus up in your arms, spiritually,
as old Simeon did literally, and said with him, "Lord, now let you Your
servant depart in peace according to Your word, for my eyes have seen
Your salvation"? Has Jesus seemed, to your faith, to be as near to you
as one who sat on the same chair with you and talked with you in most
familiar conversation? It has been so with some of us–and it has often
been so.

This also has meant knowledge increased. Jesus has revealed Himself to
us by coming to us even as He came to the two disciples on the way to
Emmaus. Then, in addition, have you not known the Father come to you in
His Divine relationship, yet making you feel yourself His child and
causing you to realize that He loved you as truly as you love your own
children, only much more deeply and fervently than human love can ever
be? Have you not received at His hands such tokens for good and such
benedictions as only He could give–so that you felt the Divine
Fatherhood to be something coming very near to you and the Spirit of
God, operating within you, has made you cry, "Abba, Father," with an
unstammering tongue? "We will come unto him." The Savior will come and
the Father will come–and the blessed Spirit will represent Them both
in the Believer's heart!

So, "We will come unto him," means distance removed, honor conferred
and knowledge increased. And it also means assistance brought, for, if
the Father and the Son come to us, what more can we need? With Their
gracious Presence in our souls we have Omnipotence and Omniscience,
Infinity and All-Sufficiency on our side–and Grace to help us in every
time of need!

V. The last clause of the text, and the sweetest of all, is, "AND MAKE
OUR ABODE WITH HIM."

Can you catch the full meaning of that phrase? Jesus says that the
Father and the Son will visit us–they will come to us as the three
blessed ones came to Abraham when he was at the tent door and he
entertained the Lord and His attendant angels–but they did not make
Their abode with him. They went on their way and Abraham was left in
the plains of Mamre. God often visited Abraham and spoke familiarly
with him, but our Savior's promise goes beyond that. He says, "We will
come unto him, and make Our abode with him." To make your abode with a
person is for that person and yourself to have the same house and
home–and to live together. In this case, it means that the Lord will
make His people to be His Temple wherein He will dwell continually. "We
will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." I have turned that
thought over and over again until I have got the sweetness of it into
my own heart, but I cannot communicate it to your minds and
hearts–only the Holy Spirit can do that.

See what this expression means. What knowledge of one another is
implied here! Do you want to know a person? You must live with him–you
do not really know someone, however much you may think you know him,
until you have done so. But, oh, if the Father and the Son come and
live with us, we shall know Them–know the Father and the Son! This is
not the portion of carnal minds–neither is it for professing
Christians who have not fulfilled the conditions laid down by our Lord.
It is for those who love Christ and keep His words–those who
consciously live in the enjoyment of the Father's complacency and who
have fellowship with the Father and with the Son by the Spirit! To
these privileged individuals, God reveals Himself in His Triune
Personality–and to them He will make known all that is in His Covenant
of love and mercy!

This expression also implies a sacred friendship, for, when God comes
to dwell with men, He does not thus dwell with His enemies, but only
with those who love Him and between whom and Himself there is mutual
sympathy. O Beloved, if

God the Father and God the Son shall indeed come to dwell with us, it
will be to us a proof of wondrous love, dear familiarity and intense
friendship! If you go to live with an earthly friend, it is quite
possible for you to stay too long and to outstay your welcome. But God
knows all about the man with whom He comes to live and Jesus says, "We
will make Our abode with him," because He knows that His Spirit has
purified and sanctified that heart and made it ready to receive Himself
and His Father, too! You remember how Jeremiah pleaded with the Lord
not merely to be as a sojourner? "O the hope of Israel, the Savior
thereof in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the
land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night?"
But this is not the way that the Father and the Son deal with us, for
Jesus says that They will make Their abode with us! Does not this imply
a very sacred friendship, indeed, between God and our soul?

It also reveals the complete acceptance of the man before God, for,
when anyone comes to stay with you, it is taken for granted that you
exercise hospitality towards him. He eats and drinks in your house and,
for the time, he makes himself at home with you. "But," you ask, "is it
possible that God should accept the hospitality of man?" Yes, it is.
Listen to the words of Christ, Himself–"Behold, I stand at the door
and knock: if any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come
in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Oh, the blessedness
of thus entertaining the King of kings! Then will He drink of my milk
and my wine and eat the pleasant fruits that are grown in the garden of
my soul. Will that which I present to Him be acceptable to Him? It must
be, or else He would not live in my house! And when the Father and the
Son come to dwell in the soul of the Believer, then all that he does
will be accepted. If he is, himself, accepted, his thoughts and his
words, his prayers and his praises, his almsgiving and his labors for
Christ will be accepted by both the Father and the Son!

What a blessed state for anyone to reach! For then it shall come to
pass that this reception on God's part, from us, shall be followed by a
sevenfold reception on our part, from Him. You do not imagine, I hope,
that, when God the Father and God the Son make Their abode in a man
that the man will continue to be just as he was when they came to him?
No, my Brothers and Sisters, the Lord pays well for His lodging! Where
He stays, He turns everything that He touches into gold. When He comes
into a human heart, it may be dark, but He floods it with the Light of
Heaven. It may have been cold before, but He warms it with the glow of
His Almighty Love. A man without the indwelling of God is like the bush
in Horeb when it was only a bush–but when the Father and the Son come
to him, then it is with him as when the bush burned with fire yet was
not consumed! The Lord brings Heaven to you when He comes to you–and
you are rich beyond the intents of bliss. All things are yours, for you
are Christ's and Christ is God's, and Christ and God have come to make
Their abode with you!

Now, according to our Lord's promise, "We will come to him, and will
make Our abode with him," it is implied that there they mean to stay
Let me take your thoughts back, for a minute, to the earlier links in
this blessed Gospel chain and remind you that it is only, "ifa man
loves Me," and it is only, '"if he keep My words, "that the Savior's
promise applies. "We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him."
Have the Father and the Son come to your heart? Then I charge you, do
nothing that might cause them to depart from you even for a moment. If
you ever get into conscious enjoyment of the Divine Indwelling, be
jealous of your heart lest it should ever depart from your Lord, or
drive Him from you. Say, with the spouse, "I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my Love, until He pleases."

"But," perhaps you ask, "can we keep Him? Can we always keep Him?" I
believe you can. By the blessed help of the Divine Spirit who has
taught you to love Him and to keep His words, you may have near and
dear fellowship with your Lord by the month and by the year together! I
am sure that we have too low a standard of the possibilities of
Christian fellowship, Christian enjoyment and Christian living. Aim at
the highest conceivable degree of holiness and though you will not be
perfect, never excuse yourselves because you are not! Always aim at
something higher and yet still higher than you have already reached.
Ask the Lord to come and abide with you forever. You will be happy
Christians if you attain to this privilege and stay in that condition.
And we shall be a blessed Church if the most or all of us should attain
to it. I mean to go in for this blessing, by God's gracious help–will
not you, my Brother, my Sister? Can any of you be content to live a
lower life than is possible to you? I hope you will not be, but that
you will reach all of these steps that I have pointed out to you and
ask God in prayer to help you to surmount them. "Lord, help me to love
Jesus. Set my soul on fire with love to Him. Lord, enable me to keep
all His words and never to trifle with His Truth in anything. And then,
Father, look upon me with complacency. Make me such that You can take
delight in me. See the resemblance to Your

Son in me, because you have made me to be like He and then, Father, and
Savior, come and abide with me forever and ever. Amen." Such a prayer
as that, truly presented, will be answered and the Lord shall get glory
from it!

But, alas, many of you have nothing to do with this text because you do
not love Christ! And the first thing you have to do is not to think
about loving Him, but about trusting Him, for you know that the only
way of salvation is by trusting Christ. So, if you do not trust Him,
you are not in the way of salvation. Have you ever thought of what is
involved in being an unbeliever? The Apostle John says, "He that
believes not God has made Him a liar because he believes not the record
that God gave of His Son." Do you really mean to make God out to be a
liar? Surely you cannot! The very thought is too horrible to be
entertained for a moment! Well, then, believe His record concerning His
Son. That record declares that He is the Propitiation for our sins.
Then if you rely upon that Propitiation and trust to Him who made it,
you are saved!

I often have the remark made to me by an anxious soul, "But, Sir, I
cannot believe. I wish I could." This is the answer which I generally
give to the person who says that–"What? You cannot believe? Come, now,
let us have that matter out. You cannot believe God? Could you believe
me?" Of course, the answer is, "Oh, yes, Sir, I can believe you!" I
reply–"Yes, I suppose that is because you have confidence in my
character and believe that I would not tell you a lie. Then, in the
name of everything that is good and reasonable, how is it that you dare
say that you cannot believe God? Is He a liar? Has He ever given you
any cause to say to Him, 'I cannot believe You'? What do you mean? Give
me some reason why you cannot believe God! What has He done that you
cannot believe Him?"

Well, they do not quite see it in that light but, still, they return to
that sentence, "I cannot believe." Well now, Sinner, if Jesus Christ
were present and He were to say to you, "Trust Me and I will save you.
Believe My promise and you shall enter into eternal life." Would you
look Him in the face and say, "I cannot believe You"? And if He asked
you the question, "Why can you not believe Me?" What would be your
reply? Surely a man can believe what is true. There have been times,
with me, since I have known the Savior, when it seemed to me as if I
could not doubt my Lord–as if I could not find a reason, even if I
ransacked Heaven, earth and Hell, why I should doubt Him. I proclaim
that I do not know any reason why I should not trust Christ! I cannot
conceive of any. Well, will men continue this monstrous, unjust,
ungenerous conduct? Alas, they will.

"But," says someone, "if I do trust my soul to Christ, will He save
me?" Try Him and see. You have His own promise that He will cast out
none who come to Him. So, if you believes in the Lord Jesus Christ this
very moment–this very moment you are saved! What more need I say? May
the Blessed Spirit cause you to cease, by your unbelief, from
practically making God a liar and may you now come and trust in Jesus,
the Substitute and Surety for His people! So shall you rest your weary
hearts upon His loving bosom and it shall be well with you forever and
ever. May God bless you all, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 14:15-31.

Verses 15, 16. If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I willpray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with
you forever Is it not very sweet to think that the Spirit of God is
given to the Church in answer to the prayer of Christ? Prayer is a holy
exercise, for Jesus prayed. And what a powerful influence prayer has,
for His prayer has brought to us "another Comforter."

17. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it
sees Him not, neither knows Him. This poor world will not receive
anything which it cannot see. It is ruled by its senses–it is carnal
and fleshly–and minds not the things that are unseen. It cannot
discern them.

17, 18. Butyou knowHim, for He dwells with you, andshall be in you. I
willnot leave you comfortless: I will come to you. That expression, "I
will not leave you comfortless," might be rendered, "I will not leave
you orphans."

19. Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more; but you see Me:
because I live, you shall live also. What a wealth of meaning these
words contain! The sentences are very simple, but they are also
sublime. The gorgeous language in which some orators indulge is, when
the meaning of it is condensed, like great clouds of steam which
produce but a few drops of water! But here you have vast Truths of God
pressed into a small compass and those that seem most plain are

really the most deep. "Because I live, you shall live also." As surely
as Christ lives, so must His people! They cannot die, for He lives to
die no more–and they live in Him.

20. At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me,
and Iin you. Mysterious triple union– Christ in the Father, we in
Christ and Christ in us. This is a complete riddle to all who have
never been taught by the Spirit of God.

21, 22. He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is who loves
Me: and he who loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love
him, and willmanifest Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot)said unto Him,
Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself unto us, and not unto
the world? He really did answer the question, though perhaps not
directly. This is the process by which He manifests Himself unto His
people and not unto the world–

23, 24. 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. 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. There is Divine Authority at the back of every word uttered by the
Man, Christ Jesus. His message comes not from Himself, alone, but from
the Eternal Father as well.

20-28. 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. Peace I leave with you, My
peace I give unto you; 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 truly so He was, for Christ had, for a while, laid
aside His own greatness and taken the position of a Servant.

29, 30. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it
is come to pass, you might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with
you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me. His
words must come to an end, for He was going to perform His mightiest
deeds. He could converse no longer, for He was going from converse to
conflict. He must meet His great enemy now and leave His dearest
friends.

31. 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. And
so He went to the Garden of Gethsemane–a brave, gentle, confident,
victorious spirit "straitened" till He had accomplished the great work
of our redemption!