Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 130, 1909

Sermon/Thoughts on John 14

Elgin, Illinois

August 7, 1909

Portions of this manuscript are published in the NIRec 08/17/1909.

John 14. “Let not your heart be troubled.” To verse 3. Let us remember that. While Christ is gone, or going, to prepare a place for every one who shall comply with the conditions, He expects that every soul of us shall be interested in our own eternal interests. Having a knowledge of the infinite sacrifice that our Saviour has made in our behalf, shall we not comply with every condition that He has made that we can co-operate with Christ and Christ with us? It is a mutual work. On our part it is implicit obedience; on Christ’s part it is to stand before the Father in His eternal light, having purchased us with His own blood. Therefore the work is mutual. We have no right to be indifferent; we have no right to be careless. We must show that we have an interest in this world that is of the highest order, in order to give to the world and evidence that we are to be transformed to the higher courts where we shall dwell with our Saviour who has purchased us with His blood. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 1

Verse 3. “I will come again.” Now He did not leave us helpless. “I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also, and whither I go ye know and the way ye know.” [Verses 3, 4.] Thomas, one of the doubting ones, saith, verse 6. We shall know that it was with a tremendous price that He has paid for every soul that is in this congregation, that they might be transformed through a living obedience to the requirements of the Word of the living God to the higher courts, that we might have a right to the tree of life, that we might have the gates thrown open before us. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 2

Parents should educate their children. If they devote that interest in their children that they should devote, it will be the work of a lifetime to prepare their children for a heaven that measures with the life of God. There can be no indifference here; there can be no carelessness in this matter; there can be no supposition that if we let our children do just as they pleased that they will come up with an education prepared for the higher courts. We are to study the Word of God and we are to work with intense interest to educate every one, high or low, that is in our family, by our influence and example, living the Word of God, that they shall have a place with us in the kingdom of God. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 3

Verses 6-9. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” It is said that He is in the express image of His Father’s presence. Verse 10. Now bear that in mind. Verse 11. What a statement is that! How high, how broad, how deep, how full! “The very works’ sake.” Did He go, like the priests and rulers, from place to place with a noble and exalted opinion of Himself? He went as a man of poverty. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 4

He walked from place to place and the multitudes followed Him as He walked, until thousands were added to His congregation, and then He pitied them and He said to them: “Now,” He says to His disciples, “these people are weary, they have been listening to the teachings I have been giving and they are weary and they are hungry.” “Well, what shall we do?” “What have you here to eat?” “Well, we have a few loaves and two small fishes.” “Well, bring them along.” And they brought them. There they divided this little food and He says, “Give to the multitude that they may eat.” And after they were all satisfied He says, “Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost,” and they gathered up, I think it was, five or seven bushels. [Mark 6:38; John 6:5-13; Matthew 16:9, 10.] 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 5

Now we can see what it means to be connected with Christ. You can understand that you must do your best. It may not be much but do your best, and when you have done your best cast your helpless soul upon Jesus Christ as your Saviour, as your Redeemer, and then just have that faith. What kind of a faith? A faith that works by love and purifies the soul. That is the faith. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” [John 14] Verse 12. Do you bear that in mind? 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 6

Do we show our faith by works that Christ approves? Verse 12. Why what a word is that for Him to speak? “Because I go to the Father.” [John 16:16.] And these are the last lessons that He was leaving with His disciples. “And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it.” [John 14:13, 14.] Now, there must be a faith that is carried out in that. There must be a faith that claims the Word. What a wonderful thing it is—our salvation! What a wonderful work! 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 7

He wants them to take it all in—the connection that He has with the Father, that when He shall go away, why, there they have an advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous. “Verily, verily, I say unto you.” Verse 12. Did He deceive you in that? Then why not have that simplicity of faith that takes God at His word? Why not believe that He will do just as He said He would? Why, if we will carry out our faith now, right from this meeting, from the advantages that you have had here, and if you walk in the light that God has given you, is it you that does the work? No, He does it. Why, here is Jesus that has given His life for you, that you might be a partaker of the divine nature, He does the work although He has ascended into heaven. He has angels all around, angels that are working upon human hearts right here today. This very present day, the very time that angels of God are right here in our midst. Are they the only ones? No; Satan’s angels are here to turn your minds away from the truth and godliness, that you shall not hear intelligently and that you shall not understand, and he can lay stumbling blocks in your way. Now, don’t let him. How will you prevent it? In prayer. We have not half the simplicity and trust. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 8

Some people think they must sing. Well now, it is right to sing if that brings souls to the knowledge of the truth in Christ Jesus. That is what we want, living faith. “And these things shall you do, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father that He shall give you another Comforter and abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” [Verses 12-17.] 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 9

That is what we want. Satan is advancing at the present day in knowledge that he will bring into every church in existence, for them to accept, and when you accept it, any of you, then he has gained his point. He can lead you on and on until when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven He will not acknowledge you, and why? Because you have listened to the influence of Satan. “Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive.” Why? Because it does not know Him. There I fear exaltation of self. Now, the very humblest position that we can take is that position that relies upon the “Thus saith the Lord.” Don’t let any satanic influence come in. “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.” Now what an assurance. Will we believe it? Why, He gave His life for us. “At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you.” “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them.” [Verses 17, 18, 20, 21.] Now be sure and find out what these commandments are. It would not do to guess at it and be far off. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 10

Verses 21-23. Can you take in that? Can you accept that promise and say, “I will walk and I will work in harmony with one that laid off His royal robe, that laid aside His royal crown, and took upon Him humanity that humanity might touch humanity and divinity combined with humanity would bring humanity in harmony with God if the human agent would humble his heart to obedience.” 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 11

Verse 23. “If a man love Me.” 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 12

Verses 24-31. Well now then, this the next lesson, Chapter 15:1. Now He is explaining, trying to make it so clear that you can understand that the Father and himself are working in co-partnership. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 13

Verse 2. “Every branch in Me.” Now bear in mind the conditions. “That beareth not fruit.” 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 14

Verse 3. Now here is our work. “Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away.” What does it mean? It means that you should work out His teachings in truth and righteousness to the world. It is not enough to have your name on the church book. It is enough to go down into the water and be baptized, to come up out of the water with a solemn pledge that you are dead to the world. Now, do you keep that pledge or imitate the fashions and habits of the world? Confess Him to the world. I have seen sights since I have been on this journey, and my heart is stirred to its depths. I said to myself, What can I do, what shall I do to make people understand that there are souls round about them to be saved? They are to work to deny self, to make sacrifices on the right and on the left. Here is Christ as an example. What an example has He given us! 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 15

“Every branch that beareth not fruit should be taken away.” [Verse 2.] Do you want to be taken away? What part do you bear? What evidence have you that you belong to Jesus Christ? What evidence do you bear to the world around you? What sacrifice did you make to save the shillings and the dollars? It will all be counted just as it is. I want everyone to understand it. Christ will make no mistake in this matter. The heavenly angels, Christ, and the Father are perfectly united. They that will not create a second rebellion in heaven will be there. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 16

Those who have worked in harmony with the heavenly angels can join Him in the heavenly courts. And if we are of that number, we can glorify God in the heavenly courts. We must cot complain that it is too much to require. Not one will be there who does, for it will be another rebellion if they should. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit,” not in harmony with Christ. [Verse 2.] Every branch that bears fruit, He will purge, that it may bear more fruit. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 17

When you have a hard time, do you give right up to it and say, It is no use. I have tried to be a Christian and I have met with disappointment and losses, and all this. What did Christ suffer? He came down to this world to be a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Will you consider this? “Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it.” [Verse 2.] When you unite yourself in company that has no interest in the truth and you do not try to create an interest, you will not become helpers with Jesus Christ. Every one of us have a work to do. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 18

It is truth that sanctifies the soul. The truth that purifies the soul, you know, belongs with God. Sit right down and study the Word with your companions. Do not exalt yourself. Study it together. Everyone can be helpers together, helpers together with God. “Every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bear more fruit.” [Verse 2.] They will seek the Lord in their perplexity and tell Christ all about it. You must pray in humility with your family, and you tell your family when in perplexity not to complain, not to tell it outside the family, but work in your household before God. “Now are ye clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you.” [Verse 3.] 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 19

“Abide in me and I in you.” Verse 4. Now just look at that. Verse 5. Will we unite with consecrated, devoted workers for Christ, for it is only a little while to save souls that are ready to perish. We cannot afford to take a haphazard course; we cannot afford it. There are souls to be lost or saved through our influence. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 20

Verse 4. Now, we want at this meeting, if it is possible to understand what true conversion is. It is simply taking God at His word and it is following out the teachings of Jesus Christ, lest you should make a mistake, to follow His Word, study it with your family, study it with your children, lest some of your children shall not understand it. Then never speak a cross word because that is of the devil. You want to deal with them just as Christ deals with them. Verse 4. Now consider this. Verse 5. Will you bear that in mind? Verse 6. Well now, that means if you are not connected with Christ, why, you will act just as the world acts; you will fall into temptation and you will do just as the world does. But you cannot afford to do so. It is the living religion you must have way down here in the last end of time. We want to bind off our experience with the likeness of Jesus Christ. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 21

Now let us see the result. Verse 7. Because you will ask nothing amiss—if you abide in Christ. Christ came from the heavenly courts to help and strengthen, to bring to you, in the form of humanity divinity, the divine Son of God. He came from the heavenly courts, that you might be a partaker of the divine nature having overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust, and you never can do it unless you take right hold of the divinity of Christ by prayer and then claim the promise. You must have a soul-saving experience. We must be a people that thinks more of saving souls that of putting money into dress and into various worldly enterprises to make money. One soul saved is worth a world. You just consider it. I feel it to the very intensity of my being or you would never see me here, nearly eighty-two years old, and yet I feel such an intensity I cannot give up the work. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 22

Verse 7. You want to study the words. It shall be done unto you because your humanity—the simplicity of a living faith—grasps the promises of God and those promises are laying hold of the divinity of Jesus Christ. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 23

Verses 8-10. Now you find out these commandments are: “Ye shall abide in my love.” Verse 10. Now the commandments declare that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God. If we accept the man-made sabbath we teach other people error. Now we have found out what is the true Sabbath; now we are seeking to get that before those who do not know it. Verse 10. Now you see the representation. He represents your life in connection with Him and His life in connection with the Father. You just see the sacrifice represented. Verses 11-12. Be sure and bear that in mind. Verse 13. And that is what Christ was doing, that He might bring every soul who was in that position so that they can save their souls through obedience to the Word. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 24

Now in a family the example of the father and mother in respect to the Word runs through that family. The Word of God is to be our counsellor. That Word brings into that family a kind spirit and works for their salvation. That is what we want to do, “Do these things if ye keep my commandments.” Verse 11. Yes, it will be without an exception; it will be without a blot. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 25

Are we preparing for the grand review that will take place? We cannot tell just when, but it is very nigh. We want to ask you, Are you preparing for that review? Verse 13. Now I want to say to everyone here: Take this whole chapter—I will not read the remainder of it—but you take it and you take these two chapters that I have dwelt upon and when there is any special conflict that any one expects is going to come up in the church, you just take these two chapters and you read these two chapters, and you will see that they will do in that church if it is a church with humility and the fear of God before them. They will understand that it is no place for them to be in contention in the church. It is not right at all. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 26

When you come up out of the water you pledge yourself in Jesus Christ to be in harmony with heaven, to be in harmony with Christ and then live your pledge by baptism. I want that every soul of us shall understand there is a work for each of us to do. We are not to be idlers in the Lord’s field. We are to become helpers with Jesus Christ. That is what you should be, to help lift the burden. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 27

One of the disciples who was in love with his Master’s teaching said, “I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” He turned to him and knew just what to say, “Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” [Luke 9:57, 58.] Night after night He was upon the ground, sleeping without any good mattress. He was sleeping there. The next day He wanted to reach certain people, and His humanity reached that humanity so that He might win souls to Himself. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 28

Now we want to say to you, let us have the Word of God to guide us in its simplicity and prize that simplicity in our own lives. You may come to meeting and put on a certain appearance in meeting, but that it is not what Christ wants. He wants a religion that goes through and works in the family with power. Pray and believe and in doing that you can bring a reformation in your homes. You can bring soul after soul to Christ through the very family influence that can be exerted on others. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 29

What we want is heaven at the cost of all things. What we want is eternal life. What we want is to see souls saved and to know that we have acted a part in their salvation. It is nothing to be preached to all the time and you not do anything particularly yourself. Every man has a work and to every man it is declared that the Lord has given his work, therefore let every influence be exerted to win souls. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 30

I pray that the blessing of God may rest upon this attentive audience and pray that the glory of God may be revealed in your lives. Why? Because Christ laid off His golden crown, He laid aside His royal robes. He is willing to do that—the great Teacher, the Son of the living God. He laid off His royalty and came down and was willing to be a little child to help His father at the carpenter’s trade, and then the young around Him laughed at Him being so particular. That did not affect Him. He began singing some of the Psalms. He did that with His beautiful voice, and they joined with Him and soon they found it would not amount to anything to have Him try to do His work carelessly. If He was building, He would build surely and safely. That was His work. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 31

He calls upon every man and every woman to form characters upon His divine similitude, and there it is that humanity grasps divinity. You know it is your business to be a laborer, that is your work, and if you work in harmony with God you will have a church that is a power. Our churches will become a force, not merely the ministers that carry the message, but you will feel that you got a message at home to carry to your neighbors. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 32

I have seen these houses in America set close together, and if they have any outdoor air and exercise they set right on the front steps. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 33

Now here we are in possession of a truth that will bring us into possession of an immortal inheritance, eternal substance, and we will never know pain, disease; we will not be grasping around for tobacco or any of these indulgences, but we will have that company, that society in the heavenly city, so that crowns can be placed on our heads as overcomers. And then those crowns will be laid at the feet of Jesus, and then you will greet your friends that have helped you, that have spoken a word in season and you know they turned the scale at a certain time when you needed their words. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 34

We have a battle to fight. We have got a heaven to gain, we have got a crown to gain, and may God help every one of us. I know something about this matter. Again and again has it been presented to me that just as a soul was about to decide, there was someone who would come in and present an objection. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 35

Now remember, you can help us save souls. You can help me. You can help me so that I shall realize that there is a work being accomplished for those that need it. And you can take your children with you to the heavenly city. Are you educating them for this? We want to act as though it were a reality with us. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 36

I cannot afford to lose my soul. I am going about at my age because people do not understand how to save the souls about them. I want to say to everyone of you, for Christ’s sake do what you can. If you are converted to Christ, have His words and His Spirit. Lay hold of Christ’s life and that divinity and humanity combined will bring you an experience where you will have a rejoicing in the heavenly courts. You will have a golden harp and crown and then everlasting salvation. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 37

Not a one shall enter into that city that is not an overcomer. Everyone must overcome in this world. The devil himself is to be destroyed in time and heaven will stand free. We want everyone to have an eternal weight of glory. We want you to see the King in His beauty. We want to sing the song of glory. Can you determine yourself that you will walk and keep His commandments just as is written in regard to the Sabbath commandment and everything else that God has given us? Will you not stand before God as those walking for an eternal reward, transformed and going no more out forever, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more pain? 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 38

What will you do? How many of you will start on this work and decide that you will have heaven? Christ died, Christ suffered upon the cross, and He was taking the sins of the whole world upon Him. He was separated from His Father and the great bloody sweat came from His brow and moistened the sod of Gethsemane. He said, “If it be possible let this cup pass by Me, nevertheless not My will but Thine be done.” [Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42.] He staggered and the cup trembled in His hand and it seemed that the destiny of a lost world was upon Him. It was balanced, and a strong angel came from heaven and there he strengthened the Son of man. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 39

There He hung upon the cross and there it was that there were two thieves, one on the right hand and another on the left hand of Christ. One said, “Save yourself and us if you can.” The other rebuked him, “He does not deserve it.” He said, “Lord Jesus.” There was a suffering Saviour with the nails through His hands and feet. There he asked that he be remembered when He came into His kingdom, and what did He say? “Verily I say unto you today,” being executed as a criminal as He was, “Thou shalt be with me in paradise.” [Luke 23:39-43.] Now we can see how fully He can impress the sinner. God loves the sinner. And now I will ask you, who of you will be willing to endure the sufferings of Christ? 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 40

Who of us will take the Saviour and leave your pride behind? What does He want? He wants co-laborers, helpers together with God. He wants human agents. He wants you to sacrifice. He wants you, if possible, to cast your influence with His, and it is possible if you make it so. God will help us that we may walk to the front. Who will stand up here and be determined that they will walk to eternal life? Life and immortality will be brought to light to help save souls. Rise right up whoever will. 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 41

(All the congregation stood up.) 24LtMs, Ms 130, 1909, par. 42