Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1842
“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. 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.” John 14:24-26.
ALL through this thrice-blessed chapter, man cuts a very sorry figure. Whoever it is that speaks, whether it is Philip, or Judas, or Thomas, each one displays his own ignorance, either by asking an unwise question or by making a mistaken request. Yet, Brothers and Sisters, these Apostolic men were, by no means, inferior persons, but so superior that we sink into insignificance in comparison with them! Jesus made them heralds of His Gospel, master-builders of His Church and, if they displayed such ignorance, even when the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, had personally spoken to them, we must not wonder that we are apt to blunder. Neither should we despair if we find ourselves dull and slow. If those fathers of the Church so greatly needed to be taught of the Holy Spirit, how much more do we? If they could receive nothing except by the Spirit of God, how can we hope to be wise apart from His instructions? Our position should be sitting with Mary at the Master’s feet, varied with bowing into the dust before the Lord under a humble sense of our folly. The chapter before us is well watered with streams of comfort, but I confess it is always a valley of humiliation to me, as I see what poor creatures even the chief of saints are when left to themselves.
But, at the same time, how wonderfully, throughout this passage, do we see the loving kindness of our God in condescending to the weaknesses of His people. In one verse of our text, the 26th, we have the whole Trinity at work upon the Believer—“The Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.” There we have the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son, uniting Their sacred energies for the illumination of the chosen! Each Divine Person seeks to make the Other to be more fully known—the Son speaking what He hears from the Father—and the Spirit taking the things of the Son and revealing them to us! The whole Trinity working in us to will and to do according to the Divine pleasure. What we are, my Brothers and Sisters, is of small consequence compared with what He is who works all our works in us!
What if we are nothing but clay? The great Potter knows how to fashion us to His praise. The great item is not what the clay is, but what the Potter can make out of it. Let us not despond because of what we are by nature, but let us rejoice as we remember the wisdom and power of God who has begun a good work in us and will not cease from His working till He has perfected His design! We must comfort one another with these thoughts. Lie low and be more and more teach-able—but be hopeful, for you shall be taught. Confess your own ignorance, but confide in the Lord’s power to teach you. Rest assured that even for you there is a noble destiny—God shall reveal Himself to you and in you—and you shall not only know for yourself, but shall declare to principalities and powers in the heavenly places the manifold wisdom of
God!
In handling my text at this time, I desire to be entirely under the power of the Spirit of God. Not with enticing words of man’s wisdom would I preach. Not with the garnishing of oratory would I foolishly dream of lending power to the Omnipotent Word of God, but with all simplicity I would speak plainly that which the Holy Spirit teaches by our text.
It appears to me that there are three things, here, worthy of patient observation. One is, the test of a true Believer— “He that loves Me not keeps not My sayings.” A second is, the need of a true Believer—he needs to be taught of the Holy
Spirit and to have his memory refreshed by the same gracious Spirit—“He shall bring all things to your remembrance.” The best disciple needs help in his understanding and in his memory. Thirdly, let us think of the privilege of a true Be-liever—“The Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you.”
I. Let us begin with THE TEST OF A TRUE BELIEVER and let each one consent to be tested. Let each man put himself into the scale that he may know his weight, for the Lord ponders the heart. He who never judges himself will perish in the judgment of the Last Great Day.
I would draw your attention to the fact that in this passage and elsewhere in Scripture, men are divided into two classes and not a word is said of a neutral or intermediate class. The 21st verse says, “He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me.” And the 24th verse says negatively, “He that loves Me not keeps not My sayings.” Evidently there are two sorts of persons in that part of the world which is visited by the Gospel—he that loves Christ and he that loves Him not. If you once hear the Gospel, you can never be indifferent to it. You must either be its friend or its foe, its disciple or its opposer. If once the Lord Jesus Christ crosses the orbit of your life, you can never, again, be neutral. You must either reject Him or receive Him—believe Him or call Him a liar. I would urge home upon each of you that simple but solemn Truth of God, lest any person should think himself omitted from the range of my discourse. I would so spread the net that no fish may remain outside its meshes!