Street Meeting Fortieth

Musings from John 14:15-20

What glorious mysteries are laid open by the sovereign grace of God to the Bride of His only-begotten Son. Let every redeemed shout aloud for triumph—our precious Redeemer hath sent forth the Holy Ghost, the almighty Paracletos, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees him nor knows him. He is the very Spirit that hovered over the face of the waters in the beginning (Gen 1:2). The Spirit that spoke the universe into existence (Ps 33:6). The Spirit that empowered Samson (Judges 14:6). The Spirit that indwelt John the Baptist while yet in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). The Spirit that overshadowed the holy virgin to bring forth the eternal Son (Luke 1:35). The Spirit that descended upon Him at the river (Luke 3:22). The Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11). The Spirit that quickens every elect soul from the grave of sin (John 6:63). The Spirit that teacheth us all things and brings our minds in remembrance of Chist (John 14:26). The Spirit that maketh intercession for the saints (Romans 8:26). The Spirit that hath covenanted to keep the Bride pure before God. The Spirit that will not, cannot lose a single soul whom God hath taken up for Himself. This Spirit—He who proceeds forth from the Father and the Son—this most Holy Spirit, taketh up absolute, eternal residence in His people. What God hath done throughout redemptive history, He continues to do.

It is an hour for holy exultation, an occasion to strengthen weakened knees in the thick of the fight—for we are not abandoned as helpless, weeping orphans to wage this war without a Captain, a teacher, and a guide (John 14:18). Nay, even more so: not merely God with us, but Christ in us by the indwelling fire of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:11). In Him, we are shattered, cleansed, and built up into a living, impregnable temple of the Triune God through the Holy Spirit, never more to be cast down (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Ah, the poor, ungodly world remains utterly blind to this blessed, divine Advocate of the Bride; it knows Him not, neither can it know Him, for it lies dead to His holy presence (John 14:17). Yet the true, regenerated Bride is made alive unto Him, knows Him, feels the sweet quickening of His grace, and is indwelt of Him. And what is the true, unmistakable mark of this heavenly indwelling? Is it not a heart burning with holy love that delights to keep the commandments of Christ her Groom? For doth He not say: If ye love me, attend steadfastly and pay the strictest attention to my commandments (John 14:15)?

Away with dead, formal, hypocritical routines. They are but carnal husks that cannot feed a starving soul. Intimacy with the Son of God is authenticated only when His sovereign word is cherished, obeyed, and fiercely kept. Let every soldier of the Cross mark the wonder of this union well—look to that approaching day when we shall at last comprehend the depth of those holy words: ‘I in the Father, ye in Me, and I in you.’ (John 14:20) What a magnificent, unbreakable, impregnable bond. What a tender resting place for the soul. Tell me, can earth or hell ever separate a soul that is thus bound up in the life of the eternal God? In Christ we stand, and in the Holy Ghost shall we conquer.

Behold poor, fallen, ruined humanity—helpless in the dust, wandering from the way, wallowing in the mire of his lies, and smelling of the stench of his deathly trespasses and sins. Away with all human moralism and carnal striving—they are nothing but filthy rags that cannot cover our shame. The efforts of the flesh hath no power ever to produce life. But in Christ, through the absolute, perpetual residence of the Holy Ghost within the true believer, we are gifted with divine life that defies the grave itself—yea, and tramples all its filthiness underfoot. We shall overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Rev 12:11). The battle is the Lord’s, and we shall spend all eternity shouting praises unto Him who broke the power of darkness and conquered our enemy forever.

Let the heathens and all the powers of hell rage. The humble believer rests his head in sweet, divine assurance, knowing that nothing in time or eternity—no trial, no sorrow, no depth of affliction—can ever separate a poor child of the living God from the everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38). Because the Head lives, the Body lives also (John 14:19). We are kept in the hollow of His hand, anchored forever in His eternal grace.

This unconditional but exclusive love rests upon the bedrock of God’s sovereign initiative and Christ’s finished sacrifice—it owes nothing to human performance or carnal strength. Let the miserable disputers argue that man can sever himself from God’s love by his own unbelief or sin; the unbending Word of God emphatically declares loudly like the sound of a thousand waters, and with absolute authority: neither forces, nor principalities of darkness, nor death itself can ever break God’s unbreakable commitment. Therefore, the soldiers of the Cross need not cower in fear—we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).

To love Christ is to burn with a holy, unyielding jealousy for the glory of Christ. To love Christ is to be a warrior afire, zealous in shouting His name among all peoples. The blind heathen and the carnal world, knowing nothing of the Holy Spirit, tremble and fret over tomorrow (Matthew 6:32); but we are commanded to storm forward, pursuing the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We were once slaves, groveling worshippers of our own bellies and carnal appetites (Romans 16:18). But God—by His sovereign mercy, through the blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost—has shattered our chains and turned our hearts in awe and wonder unto Him who loved us, who gave Himself for us (Ephesians 5:2). What good will God withhold from us, seeing He did not deny us Christ (Romans 8:32), the supreme treasure of heaven? He hath redeemed us to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own blood-bought possession, that we might march forth to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His glorious light (1 Peter 2:9).

Let no believer mistake the assurances of God for a license to hide behind moralism or passivity. A proper understanding of Christ's assurance, borne from gratitude, will ignite an unquenchable zeal—a fierce, relentless drive for action to advance His kingdom. 

The servant is but a redeemed captive quickened from the dead, possessed by the Holy Ghost, held in the love of Christ, and deployed into the field of battle for one supreme end: to proclaim the King and make the sovereign Giver known.

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