John 14 Verses 15-21  

John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” 

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  I am pretty sure that most people who are born of the Spirit of God would confess that they love the Lord.  However, confessing our love for the Lord is not the same as showing our love for the Lord.  To show our love for the Lord, we need to keep his commandments.  As a husband if I tell my wife I love her, but never do anything to show my love to her, then she would have right to question whether I really love her or not.  However, if I tell my wife I love her and then show my love for her by doing what I should do for her, then she really would have no right to question whether I love her.  By keeping the Lord’s commandments we are showing him that we love him. 

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever”  The phrase “another Comforter” indicates there is a previous Comforter.  Christ was that previous Comforter for the disciples.  The word, “Comforter,” comes from the Greek word, “parakletos,” meaning advocate, intercessor, consoler, and comforter.  The Lord did all these things for the disciples while he walked on the earth during his ministry with them.  All the things that we are told that the Comforter shall do for the disciples, the Lord had been doing for the disciples.  Now, however, the Lord is in the process of once again telling the disciples that he is going away, however, he will send another Comforter that will abide with the disciples for ever.   

“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”  Now the Lord reveals to the disciples that this other Comforter is the Spirit of truth.  We are also informed that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth.  The reason the world under consideration cannot receive the Spirit of truth is because this world has not been born of the Spirit of God.  According to 1 Cor. 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 

A person who is not born of the Spirit of God cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, thus the world of the unborn spiritually cannot receive the Spirit of truth.  However, this is not the case with the disciples, for they have been born of the Spirit of God and can receive the Spirit of truth, for they know him.  They know him because as we read in Heb. 8:10, 11: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.”   

The Holy Spirit dwelled with the disciples while Jesus walked the earth.  Moreover, when the Lord ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit dwelled in their midst as their Comforter.  The Lord comes to the disciples in the person of the Holy Spirit.  For instance, every time we meet for worship the Lord comes to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. 

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”  When we show our love to the Lord by keeping his commandments, he manifest and shows his love to us as well as the Father shows his love to us. 

“And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  By this dialogue between Jesus and Thomas, we are made to understand that the only way that we can come into a righteous standing with the Father is by the Lord and his work on the cross, because he is the way, the truth, and the life. 

John 14 Verses 22-24 

John 14:22 “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.”

“Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”  Judas question is a valid question and one in which we all need an answer to.  How is it that the Lord manifest himself to the disciples but does not manifest himself to the world?  The Lord gave the answer when he said, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”  If we examine our relationship with the Lord, we should note that when we have problems and pray for the Lord to help us, that we find that he comes to us and gives us the help we need.  Likewise, when we pray for guidance, the Lord comes to us and gives us guidance.  Moreover, one of the great blessings in life for the disciples is that the Lord makes his abode with us.  Often this is felt in our heart and in our meditations.  In addition, the Lord very often manifest his presence with us in our worship services. 

“He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.”  The world that does not love the Lord does not keep his sayings.  He does not come to them as he does the disciples, nor does he make his abode with them.