Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Note what we have to do--to bear witness; not to argue, not to adorn,
but simply to attest. Note what we have to attest--the fact, not of the
historical life of Jesus Christ, because we are not in a position to be
witnesses of that, but the fact of His preciousness and power, and the
fact of our own experience of what He has done for us. Note, that that
is by far the most powerful agency for winning the world. You can never
make men angry by saying to them, 'We have found tho Messias.' You
cannot irritate people, or provoke them into a controversial opposition
when you say, 'Brother, let me tell you my experience. I was dark, sad,
sinful, weak, solitary, miserable; and I got light, gladness, pardon,
strength, companionship, and a joyful hope. I was blind--you remember
me when my eyes were dark, and I sat begging outside the Temple; I was
blind, now I see--look at my eyeballs.' We can all say that. This is
the witness that needs no eloquence, no genius, no anything except
honesty and experience; and whosoever has tasted and felt and handled
of the Word of Life may surely go to a brother and say, 'Brother, I
have eaten and am satisfied. Will you not help yourselves?' We can all
do it, and we ought to do it. The Christian privilege of being
witnessed to by the Spirit of God in our hearts brings with it the
Christian duty of being witnesses in our turn to the world. That is our
only weapon against the hostility which godless humanity bears to
ourselves and to our Master. We may win men by that; we can win them by
nothing else. 'Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servants
whom I have chosen.' Christian friend, listen to the Master, who says,
'Him that confesseth Me before men, him will I also confess before My
Father in heaven.'
WHY CHRIST SPEAKS
'These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father,
nor Me. But these things have I told you, that, when the time shall
come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said
not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go My
way to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou?
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your
heart.'--JOHN xvi. 1-6.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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