LivePrayerSermon 3378. God's Prison, Warden and Prisoner
(No. 3378)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 4, 1866.
"Keep yourselves in the love of God." Jude 1:21
THIS exhortation is not addressed to all who are here present. It is only addressed to those who "are sanctified by God theFather, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." It is, in fact, addressed only to the true Christian who has passed fromdeath unto life-who is a new creature in Christ Jesus-and in whom dwells the Holy Spirit. To such persons the Apostle Judesays in the text, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." To other persons we have this to say-You cannot keep yourselves inthe love of God, for you never knew what it was to be in it. You have lived-with shame and sorrow be it spoken-you have livedall this while in a world that is full of God and yet you have never perceived Him! You have been a pensioner upon His bounty,clothed by His charity, protected by His Providence and yet you have been altogether forgetful of the God whom you ought tohave loved with all your heart, soul and strength! Ah, little do you know what you have lost by living without the love ofGod! The love of God is that which fills our mortal existence with the brightness of Heaven and makes us feast on immortaljoys, even in this vale of tears! If some men were born and bred in mines, where they saw not the light of day, I can supposethat they would think themselves possibly better off than those who had lived above and who had walked abroad in the light.I can suppose them to be even conceited because they found themselves better able to find their way about in the gloomy cavernsbelow than those would be whose eyes had been used to the light-more at home there in the gloomy bowels of the earth thanthe sons of light who had lived above. I can imagine their getting much conceit to themselves because of their enjoying thedarkness which is beneath. But still, what a miserable life would it always be to live in that gloom-and what a change tobe taken suddenly and for the first time from the dark pit out into the light-to look upon the green fields, the god of day,the flashing waves of the sea and the glories of the starry night! So I can conceive many of my hearers having lived so longin the dark world where there is no light, that they have acquired the art of living in this gloom until they are "wiser intheir generation than the children of light." They can do a thousand things better than God's people can do and they, therefore,perhaps despise the Christian. But oh, my Friends, if you could but be brought out into the world of love, the world of light,where God, the blessed Sun of Love who floods the earth with peace and blessedness could shine upon those darkened eyeballsof yours- if you could but "know the love of Christ which passes knowledge"-you would think that you had never lived beforeand would pity yourselves to think you could have spent so many years without knowing what true life means! May that cometo pass with some tonight! Pray, Christian, pray for those who know not God, that He may be found of them. Ask for them thatmighty Grace may come and meet with them and that they may also begin to understand what "the love of God" means!
But the text is spoken to Christians and we must keep it to them and come at once to apply it to the Believer.
The word, "keep," which is used here, has in it, in the Greek, the idea of keeping under a guard, or of keeping a prisonerin custody. There is the thought of watchfully regarding one who is likely to escape-and so we are told to keep ourselvesin the love of God as the warden keeps his prisoner in his cell. I do not like to use such a metaphor in connection with sosweet a text, and yet I must, and so we will have three thoughts. First, we will speak a little about this prison- oh, thatwe may be always shut up in it!-"the love of God." Secondly, about the earnest warden who is told to keep the prisoner Andthen, thirdly, about the free prisoners, "keep yourselves in the love of God. "Keep yourselves i n heavenly custody, beingnever so free and never so happy, as when shut up in this Divine enclosure!
I really do not like to use the text with such a meaning, but I cannot very well bring out the meaning of it in any betterway. Let us speak, then, first of-
I. THE HEAVENLY PRISON OF "THE LOVE OF GOD."
There is no restraint about this prison. He who gets into it finds, for the first time, true liberty! Then his mind is freefrom all its bondage. Then his faculties find themselves in a sea where they may swim. Then are his purest longings gratified.Then are his passions allowed to take wing and mount as they will. Then the soul has space to float onwards and when it comesfully to the love of God, the new-born soul is in its element!
But what is the meaning of this "love of God," in which we are to keep ourselves? It means, first, Believer, that you areto keep your mind in the remembrance of the love of God to you. We, alas, forget too often what a Friend we have above. Keepup, Christian, the recollection of what the Father did for you when He chose you before all worlds! Be continually mindfulof what the Son did for you when He poured out His precious blood upon the Cross and gave His life a ransom for many. Neverbe unmindful of what the Holy Spirit did for you when He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. About the neckof memory let the glittering pearls of God's mercy always hang! Take care, whatever else you may forget, that you forget notthe love of God to you! As the Krishna said-
"Let every idol be forgotten, But oh, my Soul, forget Him not." Let your ear be bored to this doorpost of God's love to you!Set this as a seal upon your arm and as a ring upon your finger. Brand it into your inmost heart and let your soul's corealways wear in it the thought of God's love to you. Queen Mary said that when she died they would find the word, "Calais,"written upon her heart, for the loss of that town had grieved her so. But while the Christian lives-for he shall not die-thereshall always be engraved upon his heart the name of Christ, for the love of Christ shall abide there! Yes, we will rememberYou-"we will remember Your love, for Your love is better than wine!"
The Apostle means, too-Keep yourselves in the assurance of the Divine Love. Brothers and Sisters, you have known that Christloves you. You have had it proven to you as clearly as a mathematical demonstration, that God loves you. You have even beenable to speak in the singular, and say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." There have been blessed moments when no rippleof doubt disturbed the glossy surface of your calm and peaceful soul. Oh, keep that assurance! Pray that no evil doubt maycome in to make you think that God does not love you. Ask that you may be always able to say, "This is my Beloved: my Belovedis mine, and I am His." Do not sometimes climb the mountain and then slip down into the treacherous mists of the valley, butask that you may always bathe your forehead in the sunlight of the Divine Assurance of the love of God to you! And so keepyourselves in the love of God.
It means next, keep yourselves in the enjoyment of the love of God. No one knows what the enjoyment of the Divine Love isbut the man who has experienced it. Oh, the calm which a sense of that Divine Love will bring to the heart! Our Lord saidto the noisy billows of the lake, "Be still," and they quickly hushed their raging and there was a great calm! But the loveof Christ is more than peaceful-it is joyful, it is inspiring! The man who has it has a cup filled to the brim and runningover! And he who drinks of that holy chalice can say, "There is none like it." Like the water of the well of Bethlehem bythe gate, if any of God's people should not be able to get at it, they will sigh for it and say, "Oh, that one would giveme a drink of that water again!" Some of us know what mirth means-we are of a genial nature and can enter into the commonjoys of men. We can sit around the social hearth and feel the joys of childhood's prattle and the glee of the little ones.We thank God we are not stoics-we can share the joys that are common to mankind, but oh, we do proclaim and bear our witnessthat all the joys of earth heaped together are as nothing compared with the bliss of having the love of God shed abroad inthe heart! The others are but common joys, but the love of God is Heaven's own joy! They are but husks, which are well enoughin their way, but the kernel ofjoy lies in a full understanding of the love of God in the soul. Oh, that we could always liveupon it! That this manna dropped from Heaven every morning, that we gathered our omer of it as soon as the sun dawned andfed on it till the sun went down! Happy Christians, seek to keep yourselves thus in the love of God!
But, Brothers and Sisters, this is not all. The Apostle also means, "Keep yourselves in the power of the love of God." Oh,the power of the love of God has in governing and influencing a man! Nothing can master a strong temper, a forceful will,an obstinate disposition, or a wayward heart like the love of God! Even God's Law is but a frail reed compared with
God's love, which is the rod of Omnipotence. If the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, the idols will soon depart andthe love of sin will take its flight-and the wickedness which you and I could not conquer without it will be driven out withthis two-edged sword of the power of the love of God manifested in the soul! I love to feel myself bowed down under this poweruntil I would sacrifice my own interest, relinquish all self-seeking, abandon all care of being obedient too my own will andbe passive in the hand of the Omnipotent Ruler to mold me, rule me and govern me just as He wills! We are not like the horseand the mule that have a bit in their mouths and that require the rod, but when love impels us, our willing feet in swiftobedience move and we feel it to be a blessed thing to obey His commandments, or even His gentle leadings by His graciousSpirit!
Brothers and Sisters, I pray you take this exhortation in its practical, as well as its experimental form. Keep yourselvesin the love of God, in the manifestation of it Love the souls of your fellow men! Pity the poor and needy. Have compassionupon the ignorant and the wicked. Let no strangeness nor excess of sin prevent your loving the sinner-and let no extravaganceor unkindness prevent your forgiving one another even unto 70 times seven! Keep yourselves in the love of Christ under provocationsas multiplied as those which fell upon your Master's shoulders and so prove that your charity suffers long and is kind, hopesall things, endures all things because it is not mere human charity, beautiful as that is, but is the love of God reigningand commanding your heart! "Keep yourselves in the love of God" in your relations one to another. May no root of bitternessspring up in this Church, nor in any other. Love one another as one happy family. Love one another, for you will have to dwelltogether forever in Heaven! Bear with each other, as you hope to be borne with by your loving Savior. Be knit together inbrotherly love! Be as one man-be forceful like a phalanx of soldiers marching on to victory. Let the love of God reign inyour hearts! Let it gleam from your eyes! Let it flash radiantly from your countenance! Let it bedew your lips and let itssavor sweeten your words! Let it give a holy blessedness to your deeds and your thoughts!
Keep yourselves, in all these senses, in the love of God. It is a wondrous prison for a man to be in a blessed paradise forhim to walk in. Paradise had a gate and once Adam never wanted to get out of it-just in that sense keep yourselves in thisblessed paradise of the love of God and wander not from it. And now, secondly and briefly, let us say two or three words about-
II. THE EARNEST WARDEN WHO IS TO KEEP HIMSELF IN THE LOVE OF GOD. This warden is not the minister. The minister has to preachand assist me, but the minister is not to take care of my soul as though I had nothing to do with it. I do not believe inany such nonsense as that you can be responsible for other people's souls, so that others may assist you with their vigilance.Never, I beseech you, Englishmen and Englishwomen, never be such fools as to put yourselves at the feet of a priest! Believethat you have as much prevalence with God as these pretenders have and that if you go to God, and take your burden of sin,you will get it taken off-but if you go roundabout to seek relief and pardon through them-you will never get it, for you insultGod in the way by which you go to work! Oh, may God grant that we may never live to see our countrymen so befooled as to puttheir necks under the Romish yoke once again! May England never be beneath a Pope's feet, but may we always have too muchmanliness ever to fall to the snare of this cunning fowler! May we always be kept from it and so may always keep ourselvesin the love of God.
And now, Mr. Warden, we are to say a word or two to you. See, then, your prisoner. He is one, alas, who is very apt at escapingfrom the gracious prison. So infatuated does he become with worldly joys that he will oftentimes let his God, his Savior,go. And besides this, there are many who are prison breakers and who will break his prison bars for him. Shall I tell youtheir names? There is one fellow called sin. Sin will soon prevent your enjoying the love of God. Let the Christian hesitateto walk disorderly and he will soon begin to talk lightly of his wickedness, and this, again, will soon stop his communionwith God. Though the Christian shall not perish, yet many of his joys shall-though God will keep him so that he shall notbe utterly destroyed-yet the gladsome sense of the love of God will soon depart when sin comes in to lead astray!
And so it shall be when another breaks the prison, namely, those under the command of idolatry. Let your hearts begin to idolizean earth-born creature and very soon you will not be able to keep yourselves in the love of God. Father, that dear child ofyours may become as much an idol to you as even the golden calf was to the Israelites! Husband, wife, friends, acquaintances,brothers, sisters, our goods, our persons, our fame, our reputation-any one of these may be-
come our idol-and when this is the case, there is no keeping the heart in the love of God, for the prison doors are openedand the prisoner, unhappily, comes out.
Warden, if you would keep your prisoner, remember he cannot well come out except through the doors, and, therefore, watchwell the door by which he has communications with the outward world. If you would keep yourself in the love of God, Christian,watch yourself well when you are in business! Watch yourself when you are in the family. Watch the door in private. Watchthe communications which you have with the ungodly-and as it is here that you would be apt to fritter away your joys and losethe richness of your communion-be the more watchful here. And, Warden, watch in the night, when it is dark in your soul, formany a prisoner has made his escape at nightfall. Watch well when trouble comes, lest doubts and fears should come in. Andif you would lock your prisoner securely in and keep him from escaping from the all-surrounding love of God, watch yourselfcarefully at all times, lest by any means you slip from this good way!
And, Warden, I would recommend you to take care that every bolt in the prison door is securely fastened. God has given youcertain Gospel ordinances and if you would keep yourself in the love of God, read His Word, for it will stir you up to bindyourself to Him! Be much in private prayer, for this has a force like a bolt to keep out the world and keep you in.
Come to the Communion Table, for at the time when Christ is known in the breaking of bread, another bolt is put between youand the world! In fine, whatever He says unto you, do it, for in keeping of His commandments there is great reward.
And, Warden, since you have a prisoner to keep who needs much watching, load him well with chains. Do you think this is ahard suggestion? The chains are such that the more of them the prisoner wears, the more free, light, and happy he will be!Shall I tell you how to forge them? Forge them on the anvil of meditation! Think of what God did before the earth was. Thinkof eternal love before the day star had begun to shine. Think of what Jesus did for you in the Covenant and in the suretyshipengagements of eternity! Bind about your soul the chain of the Savior's pangs and griefs. If you would keep your heart a blessedprisoner in the love of God, nail it with nails which pierced the hands of Christ and bind it to the pillar where the Lordwas scourged! Make every drop of blood which Jesus sweat in the Garden and shed upon the Cross, to be a course of mighty networkbound about your heart to hold it a fast prisoner forever!
Oh Brothers and Sisters, we have indeed enough to bind us to Christ if we were not the most willfully forgetful men and womenin the world! Oh, what has Jesus done for me? Rather, what has He not done for me? He is All-in-All and being to me more thanall, let me bind the sacrifice with cords, even with cords to the horns of the altar! Let the hands of a man and the cordsof love be cast about this prisoner so that he may never get out of the Divine enclosure of the love of
God!
I cannot set before you as I would, nor with all the earnestness I want to command, the necessity of thus binding your heartto the love of Christ, but I will add this. Warden, take care to call in help and remember there is One who can help you veryefficiently. It is the Holy Spirit. You keep yourself in the love of God? Indeed, you cannotdo it unless you call in DivinePower. If ever you get the love of God in your heart, go down on your knees and ask the Holy Spirit to always keep it there!You shall never catch this bird and shall never be able to keep it unless the Holy Spirit helps you. Oh, to be crucified withChrist! We may well desire it-to be fastened to His Cross so that we shall never again desire to wander, but feel ourselvesthe happy bond-slaves, the free servants of our Lord Jesus Christ! And now, time flies and we have, thirdly, to say a wordor two about-
III. THE FREE, THE HAPPY AND THE BLESSED PRISONER who is thus exhorted to keep himself in the love
ofGod.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, if by the help of God we shall be able to do this, how happy we shall be. I would make no stipulationof any kind if God would grant me one request, namely, that He would keep me in His love. If I might but have this requestgranted, I am sure it would be equal to me whether He may have appointed me life or death, or whether He may have appointedme weal or woe! It would make no difference where one lived, if one lived in the love of God!
It would make no difference, either, whether one were in wealth or poverty, if the love of Christ had consumed all care aboutself. When once the love of God, like a devouring flame, has consumed and destroyed all care about self, then we are perfectlyhappy. It is impossible to then be miserable-all that the heart wants is to be kept in the love of God-
for then it would always be in a state of true blessedness! Dear Brothers and Sisters, how important it is that we shouldbe happy! Moses, without the brightness of his face, would be little more than other men. And a Christian without holy joy-whatis he? I am certain that nothing has done more mischief to Christianity than the loss ofjoy of some professors. Why, thereare some of you that only dishonor your religion by your constant moans and groans! If we are not happy, who ought to be?Children of God, heirs of Heaven, accepted in the Beloved-all our sins forgiven and we ourselves on the way to Heaven-if wedo not sing, who can sing? If there is no holy mirth in our hearts, no joyous songs set to glorious tunes in our souls aswe go along our pilgrimage to Heaven, then it must be a miserable world indeed! But a happy Christian entices others to Christ.His very face and bearing are a Gospel ministry of invitation to others. And those otters say, "We will go with you, for weperceive that the Lord is with you."
And there is another thing. If you are kept in the love of God, besides being happy, you will be so useful. If we do not enjoythe love of God, ourselves, we cannot do much good to others. You will be blessed to your families. You will be blessed tothe ungodly and you will be blessed wherever you are if you are kept in the love of God. I can conceive that a man with thelove of God in his heart, if he saw a stranger here, would be pretty sure to have a word with him and, perhaps, the strangerwould be very glad. I am sure there are here every Sunday a great many people who would be quite willing to have a littletalk about Divine things and to whom a little private conversation might be far more useful than any sermon that I could deliver.You who have the love of God in you will look after such-you cannot help it. You love, and God loves. God is blessing youand you want to bless men-and you will pine and pant to bring others to the Savior! I need you, the members of this Church,particularly to have the love of God in your hearts just now, so that these daily Prayer Meetings of ours may be seasons ofgreat and miraculous power! When a cold heart comes into the Prayer Meeting, if it does not hinder, at any rate it bringsno help-but every warm and loving heart that comes increases the general fire. You each bring your bundle of wood, as it were,and put it on the hearth, and so it makes one great blaze! Oh, when a thousand hearts that are full of love come together,then prayer is sure to speed!
If your heart is full of the love of God, it will keep on going up to Heaven in prayer, even when you are at your businessor your work, as well as when you are in the House of God. Brothers and Sisters, we shall yet have great times! God is goingto bless us and we shall see greater things than the world has ever beheld since the day of Pentecost! I trust we are seekingfor it and expecting it-and if so, we shall get it! Let us seek to have the blessing in ourselves and ask to be kept in thelove of God!
It would not do for the farmer to have his men ill in harvest time-they must be strong and hearty and robust when they haveto reap. Oh, that you and I may be made strong to reap here! At such times they bring out the big bottle and though some ofus do not think that that is the best thing that could be done for the workman, yet I would like, tonight, to bring out amongyou the big bottles of the promises of God of which you may drink without any fear of getting intoxicated! Oh, that you coulddrink of such a promise as this, "I will be with you," and then, full of strength, go out into the fields and work for Christwithout weariness! When Heaven begins to open its golden gates and throw open its windows, and cast out its blessings, then,at all events, let us open the doors of our hearts, throw them wide open in expectancy and open the doors of our mouths widethat God may fill them! Let us come up to this House and go to our own houses, too, with the love of God plenteously shedabroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and let this be always our prayer-
"Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,
With all Your quickening powers.
Come, shed abroad a Savor's love,
And that shall kindle ours."
Now, to many here I am afraid I have been saying some things which are no more understood by them than Latin or Greek wouldbe! You could not understand it, but there is one thing I want you to understand before you go tonight, and that is this,"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlastinglife," and whoever here believes in Him-that is, trusts Christ to save him-shall not perish, but have everlasting life! Whateverhis past life may have been, however black his character may be, if he will but come to the Heavenly Father, through Christ,trusting in Christ who bore the punishment for sin, such a man or woman or child shall be forgiven! They shall be saved, shallbe made a new creature, shall go on their way rejoicing! And they will be
filled with the love of God and, with all the blood-washed, shall pass through the pearly gates-and in Heaven shall join withthem in singing of the love of God, world without end! May you and I have a portion there, for Christ's sake.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 14.
Verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. You will be troubled-that cannot be helped.But let not your heart be troubled. You are like a ship and all the water in the sea cannot hurt a ship if it is kept outsideof her. Let not your heart be troubled. How are you to prevent it? Faith is the remedy. You already be-lieve-believe more."You believe in God, believe also in Me." "You have a trust in the infinite power of God-believe in Me as the Incarnationof His infinite love."
2. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Thereis no room for you on earth-there will be in Heaven. If troubles should so multiply that it seems impossible to live in them,you shall be carried away where you shall live above them. "In My Father's house are many mansions." You may depend upon thelove of Christ, Beloved, for if there were anything dark, mysterious, or distressing which would lead you to despair, He wouldnot have kept it back. He treats you frankly. "If it were not so, I would have told you. I go and you are sorry that I go.It is one source of your sorrow. But I go to prepare place for you."
3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you maybe also.Oh, this is ground for sweet comfort, and it ought to yield it to us tonight! He has gone, but He will come again.He has not left us forever. Space divides us for awhile, but, skipping over the mountains like a roe and a young hart, Hewill come again, even to this poor world and to us, His waiting Church, He will come again. Therefore, have patience. Letnot your heart be troubled. Jesus Christ will come very soon.
4. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. You know where Christ is gone. You know how to get at Him. The Throne onwhich He sits is the Throne of Grace. He is gone to the Father, and your prayers will find the Father. You know the way. Thenfrequent it and though as yet in your bodies you cannot reach Him, yet in spirit you can. "Where I go you know, and the wayyou know."
5. Thomas said unto Him, Lord, we know not where You go; and how can we know the way?Which was a contradiction of His Master,which Thomas ought not to have uttered! He should have put it much rather in the form of a question for explanation, thanof such a flat denial. His Master said, "Where I go you know." Thomas said, "We know not where You go." We must take carethat we do not contradict Christ! Our unbelief would be shamed out of us if we were to look at it and examine it. I am persuadedthat your faith will be justified the more you examine it, till you will discover that faith in God is nothing, after all,but sanctified commonsense! So unbelief will appear to be more shameful the more you examine it, till you discover at lengththat it is nothing but garish folly. An outrage upon the first principles of wisdom is distrust of God!
6. 7. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me. If you had knownMe, you would have known My Father also: and from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. This, then, is the main point ofknowledge with us-to know Christ. All the studies in the world are vain compared with the study of Christ Crucified! Thisis the most excellent of all the sciences. He that knows Christ, knows the way, the truth, the life, yes, and God Himself!
8, 9. Philip said to Him, Lord show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long timewith you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; and why do you say, then, Show usthe Father? The best view of God we can ever have is Christ! In the Person of His Son there is more seen of God than in allNature-yes and in all history added to Nature! God has given us a full-length portrait of Himself in Jesus, while in all Hisworks, we have no more than a mere miniature of Him. Oh, that we knew Christ more! Then should we know the Father.
10-12. Believe you not that Iam in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that Ispeak unto you Ispeak not of Myself:but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works. Believe Me that Iam in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believeMe 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 to My Father Oh, what strength there is in faith!These are the same people who are not to be troubled. They are to rise so much above trouble of heart that they are to becomeperformers of works like Christ's! Yes, and since Christ has gone and He has endowed us with the Holy Spirit, we are to doyet greater works than He did! Oh, to know the possibilities of our nature-to know what God can do by us! What appears tous as we are, as unable to be done, we may be enabled to do through the spirit of God which is in Christ Jesus.
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 askanything in My name, I will do it. It does not mean that every prayer will be answered. The power to ask a thing in Christ'sname is not given to everybody. It is not merely to say at the end of your prayer, "for Christ's sake." It is another thing-itis to be able to feel that as Christ stood in your place, so you dare stand in Christ's place-and what you have asked, youhave asked in His name, feeling that what you have asked is such that Christ would have asked it. Now, when you can feel that,and can feel that Christ puts His seal on what you have asked, then you ask in His name! A person cannot always speak in thename of another-cannot do it at all unless he has received an authorization to do so. Then he stands as that person's deputy-standsin his place-speaks in his name. I am sure that nine out of ten of the prayers of Christians are not offered in the name ofChrist and could not be! It would be a sin against Christ for such prayers to be supposed to be the prayers of Christ! Butwhen we talk of the Spirit of God, and we dare ask in the name and use the seal of Christ-to set His signature at the bottomof our petition, then, Brothers and Sisters, depend upon it-Christ will do it!
15. If you love Me, keep My commandments. Oh, some of us would have liked Him to have said, "If you love Me, give all yourmoney! Go into a convent! If you love Me, perform some wonderful action. Go into the streets and preach where you will behooted. Go to some foreign country and get yourself made a martyr." No, no! "If you love Me, keep My commandments. Stay athome near your father and mother. If you love Me, love My disciples. Let love rule you. And in that place in life in whichI have set you, try to honor My name by exhibiting My Character. If you love Me, keep My commandments."
16-19. And 1 will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever Even the Spiritof Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him: for He dwells withyou, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world sees Meno more; but you see Me: because I live, you shall live also. "Yet a little while and the world sees Me no more; but you seeMe." Now, when the world does not see Him, we still see Him. He is present to our faith, though passing from our sight. "BecauseI live, you shall live also." Is He a dead Christ? Then He has a dead people for His Church. He is a living Savior! He hasa living people and they shall no more die than He shall die, "for He, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death hasno more dominion over Him." "Because I live, you shall live also."
20. At that day you shallknow that Iam in My Father, and you in Me, andIin You. What a wonderful union this is-Christ in theFather, the saints in Christ and Christ in the saints! These are riddles which are not meant for the children of this world-butthey who are the children of God shall understand them, shall live upon them!
21. He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me. Not He that preaches about them, talks much aboutthem, boasts about a higher life and all sorts of things, but, "He that has My commandments and keeps them, He it is thatloves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him."
21, 22. And He that loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. Judas saidunto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself unto us, and not unto the world?If you do manifestYourself to us, who are only a few poor fishermen, You do not extend Your Kingdom much. But if You would manifest Yourselfto the world in all Your Glory, surely they would be surprised and overwhelmed, and Your Kingdom would thus come." But thatis not Christ's way. His manifestations are for His own: not for glitter, but for edification. He comes to bless them-notthat He may be ostentatious among men.
23. Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will comeunto him, and make our abode with him. Oh, what an honored man that-for the Father and the Son to be his guests-to make anabode in his heart!
24-28. 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 Fatherwill 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 wouldrejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for My Father is greater than I. Christ had stooped to take a lower place forour sakes.
29-31. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it is come to pass, you might believe. Hereafter I willnot talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I lovethe Father: and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.