Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him." Sermons
I. UPON CHRIST'S DEPARTURE THE WORLD CEASED TO SEE HIM. 1. Whilst Jesus was upon earth, the unenlightened and unspiritual saw but little of him. It had been foretold that men should "see no beauty in him." "His own received him not." They saw in him a Friend of sinners, a carpenter's son, One unlearned. But they saw in him no Divine glory, for they had no spiritual eyesight with which to discern it. Some there were who wished to behold his form and features, e.g. Zacchaeus, Herod, the Greeks, etc. But generally speaking, the Jews, because there was no sign such as they desired to witness, cared not to see anything of him. In his humiliation Jesus disappointed the expectations of the carnal, and offended their prejudices. 2. After Jesus was crucified, he was not - to the apprehension of the world. Those who had seen but little of the Lord during his ministry, after his departure saw nothing of him. His enemies thought they had succeeded in altogether expelling hint from the world he came to save, and they had no further concern with him. And ever since, to the irreligious, Jesus is invisible and as it were non-existent. Perverted by prejudice and self-sufficiency, their minds are open to what interests them, but are closed against any communication with the Savior and the Lord of men. II. WHEN CHRIST WAS HIDDEN FROM THE EYES OF THE UNSPIRITUAL, HE WAS SEEN BY HIS FRIENDS MORE CLEARLY THAN BEFORE. There were those who learned to see in Jesus after his departure more than they had seen during his residence on earth. Just as the sailor can see a distant ship which the landsman's eyes cannot discover; just as the scholar can read a difficult manuscript which is unintelligible to the unlearned; just so there were those who, during Christ's ministry of humiliation, saw him to be full of grace and truth. Lowly, penitent, devout souls recognized his authority and felt his love. And after his departure, taught and illumined by the Spirit, they beheld indeed their Friend and King. Like the blind man whose eyes Jesus opened, they saw their Benefactor, believed, and worshipped. Stephen saw him in the hour of martyrdom; Saul saw him by the way. Christians see their Lord, in all the glory of his moral attributes, in all the adaptation of his mediatorial grace, in all the authority of his world-wide rule. Christians see their Lord so as to correct their views of all beside, and especially to moderate their earthly affections by the recognition of his superior excellence. Christians see their Lord as the Guide of their present course, and as the Object of their aspiring hope. He is now discerned by the eye of faith, and this vision is the pledge and the preparation for a vision fuller, clearer, and immortal. Faith shall give place to sight. The confident expectation of the Christian is that expressed by the apostle in the simple but soul-stirring words, "We shall see him as he is." - T.
He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. I. THE REASONS WHICH JUSTIFY ITS EXERCISE. If we love an object, it is because of something amiable in that object.1. And is there not real excellency in Jesus Christ — "the brightness of His Father's glory," etc. "He is altogether lovely!" 2. Is He not nearly related to us (Hebrews 2:11; Matthew 12:48-50)? 3. Is He not our Friend, our kindest and best Benefactor? "He gave His life a ransom for us." II. THE PROPERTIES BY WHICH IT IS DISTINGUISHED. It must be — 1. Sincere (Romans 12:9). 2. Supreme. Love to any object should rise according to its worth. 3. Constant. III. THE TEST BY WHICH IT IS ASCERTAINED. It is good to have the commandments of Christ, to be born in a land of Bibles; but this is not enough. He that hath them, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Him. And what is this keeping the commandments of Christ? Do they keep them — 1. Who are ignorant of them, and who discover little concern to become acquainted with them? 2. Who have no relish for them? 3. Who do not obey them? IV. THE REWARD WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED. 1. The favour of the greatest Father. 2. The affection of the kindest Saviour. 3. The presence of the best Friend.From the whole, learn — 1. The insufficiency of external privileges. 2. The honour which attends real Christianity. 3. The proper use of religious ordinances, and the spirit in which we should attend them. (T. Kidd.) I. THE OBEDIENCE WHICH IS THE SIGN AND TEST OF LOVE. The words are here substantially equivalent to ver. 15. Only the former begins with the root and traces it upwards to its fruits, love blossoming into obedience. Our text reverses the process. Note —1. How remarkably our Lord here declares the possession of His commandments to be a sign of love to Him. "He that hath," etc. There are two ways of having: in the Bible, and in the heart; before my eye as a law that I ought to obey, or within my will, as a power that shapes it. And the latter is the only kind of "having" that Christ regards as real and valid. Love possesses the knowledge of the loved one's will. Do we not all know how strange is the power of divining desires that goes along with true affection, and how the power, not only of divining, but of treasuring, these desires is the thermometer of our true love. Some of us, perhaps, have laid away in sacred, secret places tattered yellow old bits of paper with the words of a dear one on them that we would not part with. "He that hath My commandments" laid up in lavender in the recesses of his faithful heart, he it is "that loveth Me." 2. Obedience: There are two motives for keeping commandments, one, because they are commanded, and one because we love Him that commands. The one is slavery, the other is liberty. The one is like the Arctic regions, cold and barren, the other is like tropical lands, full of warmth and sunshine, glorious and glad fertility. 3. The form of the sentence suggests how easy it is for people to delude themselves about their love to Jesus Christ. That emphatic "He," and the putting first of the character before He states its root, are directed against false pretensions to love. The love that Christ stamps with His hallmark is no mere emotion, however passionate and sweet; no mere sentiment however pure and deep. The tiniest dribble that drives a mill is better than a Niagara that rushes and foams and tumbles idly. And there is ever so much so-called love to Jesus Christ that goes masquerading up and down the world; from which the paint is stripped by the sharp application of the words of my text. II. THE DIVINE LOVE AND MANIFESTATION WHICH REWARD OUR LOVE AND OBEDIENCE. Note — 1. The extraordinary boldness of that majestic saying: "If a man loves Me, My Father will love him." God regards our love to Jesus Christ as containing in it the germ of all that is pleasing in His sight. And so, upon our hearts, if we love Christ, there falls the benediction of the Father's love. 2. Of course, our Lord here is not beginning at the very beginning of everything. "We love Him because He first loved us" digs a story deeper down than the words of my text. That being understood, here is a great lesson. It is not all the same to God whether a man is a scoundrel or a saint. God's love is a moral love; and whilst the sunbeams play upon the ice and melt it sometimes, they flash back from, and rest more graciously and fully on, the rippling stream into which the ice has turned. God loves them that love Him not, but the depths of His heart and the secret sacred favours of His grace can only be bestowed upon those who love Christ and obey Him. 3. If, then, we seek to know that dear Lord, the path is plain. Walk on the way of obedience, and Christ will meet us with the unveiling of more and more of His love. To live what we believe is the sure way to increase its amount. To be faithful to the little is the certain way to inherit the much. He gives us His whole self at the first, but we traverse the breadth of the gift by degrees. The flower is but a bud when we get it, and as we hold it, it opens its petals to the light. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) I. SOME WHO THINK THEY LOVE JESUS ARE MISTAKEN AS TO THE GENUINENESS AND SINCERITY OF THEIR LOVE TO HIM. There is an emphasis on "He it is," singling Him out as the only real lover. Men may be misled as to the reality of their love.1. By regarding strong, keen and frequent feelings of sorrow and compassion for Christ as an innocent sufferer, as evidence of true love. Such an emotion is an element in, but is not love. 2. By substituting an intellectual and moral admiration of Christ. But many infidels evince this. 3. By counting sufficient an outward and decorous attention to His laws and institutions. This is sufficient to keep from sins of a gross nature; but at the bottom it may be self-love, a bid for the world's good opinion. II. THEY ONLY WHO HAVE AND KEEP CHRIST'S COMMANDMENTS TRULY LOVE HIM. 1. Having Christ's commandments implies —(1) A recognition of them as of binding authority being enforced by His love.(2) An intelligent appreciation of their meaning and spirit.(3) Treasuring them in the head and heart. 2. Keeping them. We may have without keeping them. Practice and knowledge must keep step. 3. Here is —(1) A test of Christian profession (1 John 2:3-5; 1 John 5:1-3).(2) A ground of comfort to doubting Christians. Their Lord does not insist on warm feelings which are fluctuating, but on obedience.(3) An inducement to obedience. (A. Warrack, M. A.) A king in ancient times made some wise laws for his people, and most of them loved and reverenced him as a father, but not all. Some who professed a great affection for him were very unwilling to obey him; and a few complained that his laws were too strict, and, whenever they could do so without fear of punishment, they broke them. Now the king had a country far off where troubles and tumults bad arisen, and the governor wrote to ask the king to go and visit his discontented people, and try if his own presence would win them to obedience and love. The king promised to go; but before he left, he gave every family a copy of the laws. He was away a long time, and on his return there were loud rejoicings. But when he came to his council chamber, there were some sad stories of rebellion and disobedience, not among the poor alone, but among the nobles, who had been louder than all the rest in their professions of love and songs of welcome. But when the king, having discovered the offenders, asked for a copy of the laws, and one by one read them to the rebels, they were confused and silent. Some, indeed, had lost the paper he had given them; some had wilfully burnt it, and declared that they would not obey; many had broken one or more of the rules. He was a gentle king, but firm and just; and so he gathered his disobedient subjects together, and looking sorrowfully at them, he gravely asked each, "If he loved his sovereign?" They all answered "Yes," but on holding up a copy of his laws, they all hung down their heads. "He that hath my laws and keepeth them," he said, "he, and he only, loves me." So with Christ's laws.(Mrs. Geldart.) Homiletic Monthly. I. WE CANNOT KNOW CHRIST THROUGH THE INTELLECT. The intellect has tried for ages to find out God, and after all its investigations it has pronounced Him unknowable, "The world by wisdom knew not God."II. WE CANNOT KNOW CHRIST THROUGH THE IMAGINATION. Imagination has filled the world with myths, superstitions and idols, but has never, unaided by the heart, found Christ. III. WE CANNOT KNOW CHRIST THROUGH AN EXCITED CONSCIENCE. Conscience has formulated a god of vengeance. Christ is God and reveals Himself to the loving. (Homiletic Monthly.) I. THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF TRUE CHRISTIANS.1. They love Christ.(1) They love Himself — (a) (b) (c) (d) 2. They have His commandments, words, sayings. These are not to be confined to what was preceptive in our Lord's teaching; they include all His communications.(1) To "have" is something more than to possess the Bible, or even to have a general knowledge of its contents. It is to have it in the mind and the heart.(2) They who receive our Lord's words cannot but love Him, for they, in the degree in which they receive them, know and believe Him to be the proper object of supreme affection. 3. They keep His commandments. As it is by having the words of Christ that men come to love Him, so it is by keeping His words that they manifest and prove their love to Him. They must be kept —(1) As He gives us them. We must not detract from them, nor add to them, nor modify them (Deuteronomy 4:2).(2) In the mind. There are men who find it disquieting to them, and seek to get rid of it as soon as possible. There are others who, ceasing to give it any attention, suffer it to "slip out of their mind." And there are others who permit, who invite, "the wicked one to come and take away what was sown in their hearts." But the lover of Christ "lets the word of Christ dwell" in his heart, and often reviews it as his most precious treasure.(3) By our having no other opinions on the subjects to which they refer than those unfolded in them, and by fashioning the whole system of our sentiments and judgments with a reference to them. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) II. THEIR PECULIAR PRIVILEGES. 1. They are loved of the Father and the Son.(1) As elected in sovereign love to eternal life.(2) As actually united to Christ by believing.(3) As transformed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 2. This love is discovered in the Son's manifesting Himself to them, and in the Father and the Son coming to them, and making their abode with them. III. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO. 1. He only who possesses the character can enjoy the privilege. 2. He who possesses the character must enjoy the privilege. 3. The measure in which the character is possessed is the measure in which the privilege is enjoyed. The more a man loves Christ, the more must both God and Christ love him. (J. Brown, D. D.) Here is the secret of self-consecration: in our being "possessed" by the love of Christ; and feeling — He loves me more than I love Him. Possessed by this love, I yield myself wholly and joyfully to Him. My hand is His, redeemed by Him, sacred to Him, and cannot do unholy work; my foot is His, and cannot go on unholy errands; my ear is His, and cannot listen to unholy words; my eye is His, and cannot look upon unholy deeds; my tongue is His, and cannot utter unholy speeches; my mind is His, and cannot think unholy thoughts; my heart is His, and cannot cherish unholy feelings and desires; my whole being is His, redeemed by Him, sacred to Him, and is surrendered to His will.(J. Culross, D. D.) Since a vestment ornamented with gold is a beautiful and conspicuous object, but seems much more so to us when it is worn upon our own persons, thus also the precepts of God are beautiful when but praised, but appear far more lovely when they are rightly observed, and conspicuous in our own life.(T. H. Leary, D. C. L.) People Jesus, Judas, Philip, ThomasPlaces JerusalemTopics Clearly, Commandments, Commands, Disclose, Keepeth, Keeping, Keeps, Laws, Love, Loved, Loves, Loveth, Loving, Manifest, Myself, Obeys, RevealOutline 1. Jesus comforts his disciples with the hope of heaven;5. professes himself the way, the truth, and the life, and one with the Father; 13. assures their prayers to be effectual; 15. requires obedience; 16. promises the Comforter; 27. and leaves his peace with them. Dictionary of Bible Themes John 14:21 2212 Christ, head of church Library Paul a Pattern of PrayerTEXT: "If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it."--John 14:14. Jesus testified in no uncertain way concerning prayer, for not alone in this chapter does he speak but in all his messages to his disciples he is seeking to lead them into the place where they may know how to pray. In this fourteenth chapter of John, where he is coming into the shadow of the cross and is speaking to his disciples concerning those things which ought to have the greatest weight with them, the heart of his message … J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot May 22 Evening August 7 Morning May 22 Morning January 14 Morning August 13 Morning December 26 Evening June 23 Morning September 21 Evening June 29. "He Dwelleth with You and Shall be in You" (John xiv. 17). November 9. "Because I Live Ye Shall Live Also" (John xiv. 19). May 21. "We Will Come unto Him and Make Our Abode with Him" (John xiv. 23). November 1. "We Will Come unto Him and Make Our Abode with Him" (John xiv. 23). May 3. "My Peace I Give unto You" (John xiv. 27). Faith in God and Christ 'Many Mansions' Christ's Peace Love and Obedience Christ's Works and Ours The Comforter Given The Absent Present Christ The Forerunner The Gifts of the Present Christ Who Bring Christ Links John 14:21 NIVJohn 14:21 NLT John 14:21 ESV John 14:21 NASB John 14:21 KJV John 14:21 Bible Apps John 14:21 Parallel John 14:21 Biblia Paralela John 14:21 Chinese Bible John 14:21 French Bible John 14:21 German Bible John 14:21 Commentaries Bible Hub |