Sermon No. 2616: Christ's Care of His Disciples
Exposition: JOHN 17; 18:1-9.
John 17:1. These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You. Jesus is going forth to die and He knows it, yet He prays to His Father, "Glorify Your Son." There was no way of His coming to that Glory except by passing through tears, blood, agony and death. He only asks that He may be glorified in what He is about to do and suffer—and He is ready for it all—"Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You."
2. As You have given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. In that saying of our Lord's we have an explanation of what He did by His redemption. There was a universal aspect of it— "You have given Him power over all flesh." There was a special design in it—"That He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." Sometimes, two views of the same thing may appear to contradict each other, but when we are taught of God, we soon discover that they do not really do so, and that a grand Truth may be contained in the two descriptions of it. Christ had, by virtue of His death, power over all flesh, but it was for a distinct purpose—"that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him."
3. And this is eternallife, that theymight know You, the only true God, andJesus Christ, whom You have sent By this, then, dear Friends, we can know whether we have eternal life or not. Do we know the Father? Do we know Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Sent One? Are we resting in that blessed knowledge? If so, He has given us eternal life.
4. 5. I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work which You gave Me to do, And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the Glory which I had with You before the world was. In deep humility, Jesus had laid that Glory aside for a while. He had tabernacled in human flesh—and when He spoke these words, the time was approaching when—
"AllHis world and warfare done,"
He would go back to His pristine Glory with something more added to it.
6. I have manifested Your name unto the men which You gave Me out of the world. They had not, all of them, clearly seen that manifestation. Jesus had to ask the question, "Have I been so long with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip?" Still, that was not the fault of the manifestation. Christ had manifested the name—that is, the Character— of God unto those who had been given to Him out of the world.
6. Yours they were and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your Word. We might have expected that the verse would end, "and I have kept them." But their keeping God's Word is the evidence that Christ has kept them! Whenever a soul loves the Word of God, delights in the teaching of Christ, glories in those things which the world calls dogmas—as if they were so much dog's meat—when you and I can feed upon these things—when every utterance of Christ is dear and precious to us—that is good evidence of our being called out of the world and separated unto Christ! It is one of the marks of Divine Grace which Jesus works in those whom the Father has given Him. "Yours they were and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your Word."
7. Now they have known that all things whatever You have given Me are of You. The Father gives Christ the Truth which Christ gives to us. The Father gives Christ the souls which Jesus keeps until the day of His power. There is mutual communion between God the Father and His blessed Son—let us never say a word that might look as if we did not understand the Oneness, the everlasting and Infinite Oneness—which there is between the sacred Persons of the Divine Unity.
8. For I have given unto them the Words which You gave Me. You know how men talk against "verbal Inspiration." Yet Christ says, "I have given unto them the Words which You gave Me." Many are trifling with the teaching of God's Word as if it were of no importance at all. Not so Christ! "I have given unto them the Words which You gave Me."
8. And they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from You, and they have believed that You did send Me. Firmly do we believe this and in our heart of hearts we accept every part of the teaching of Christ, no matter what it is. I hear people say, sometimes, "Oh, but that is not essential!" There is a great deal of mischief hatched out of that egg! O Friends, it is essential that Christ's disciples should treasure whatever He has said! Never trifle with that part of the Word of God which seems to be less essential to salvation than another portion, for if it is not essential to salvation, it may be essential to your comfort, or your holiness, or your strength, or your usefulness. And if it be essential to God's Glory, let us never trample it in the mire, or in any way dishonor it. Who am I that I should say, "This which God has spoken is important, but that other is not"? It does not do for us to presume to judge the Word of God—we should rather let the Word of God judge us.
9. I pray for them.—Blessed Words! Christ prays for His own people. "I pray for them." I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given Me. In that last hour, just before His Passion, His thoughts were separating the precious from the vile and His prayer ascended for His own people. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given Me."
9, 10. For they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours and Yours are Mine; and Iam glorified in them. It is a wonderful thing that Christ should be glorified in His people! Can it be that He shall be glorified in me? Dear child of God, you sometimes sit in the corner and think to yourself, "How insignificant I am! The Church on earth would not miss me if I were taken away. And the choirs of Heaven cannot need me." Oh, but your Lord is glorified in You! If you are one of His chosen and redeemed people, in your very weakness and need He finds opportunity to glorify His strength and His fullness! He knows the truth about this matter and He says, "I am glorified in them."
11. And now I am no more in the world. He was going away. He has now gone.
11. But these are in the world. We know we are, do we not, Brothers and Sisters? We have a thousand things, some of them very painful and humiliating, to remind us that we are still in the world.
11. And I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are. Oh, what blessed keeping is that—to be kept in spiritual oneness! I do not expect to see the people of God in visible oneness, but as there was a secret, invisible Union, most real and most true, between the Father and the Son, so there is, at this time, a secret union in the hearts of all Believers, most deep, most real, most true! I may never have seen that good friend before, but as soon as we begin to talk of Jesus and His love, if we are the living children of the living God, the bond of unity is felt at once by both of us! "One is your Master, even Christ; and all you are brethren."
12. While I was with them in the world, Ikept them in Your name: those that You gave Me Ihave kept, andnone of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. What a blessed Shepherd is this who never lost a sheep! Judas crept in among the flock, but he was never truly one of the flock. He was never a son of God. He was "the son of perdition" all along. Christ has kept all His sheep and all His lambs—and He will do the same, dear Friends, even to the end.
13. And now come I to You and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. What an unselfish Savior! His heart is ready to break with His impending sufferings and yet He prays for us, that we may be filled with His joy! I suppose that it is true that the Man of Sorrows was the happiest man who ever lived. "For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the Cross, despising the shame." And, notwithstanding His boundless and bottomless grief, there was within Him such communion with God, love to men and the certainty of His ultimate triumph that kept Him still joyous above the seas of tribulation! He prays that that same joy may be fulfilled in us. May God graciously grant it to all of us who believe in Jesus!
14, 15. Ihave given them Your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as Iam not of the world. I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the Evil One. There is a reason for God's elect being allowed to remain in the world. They are never left like wheat in the field, to perish through the damp and cold, or to be devoured by the birds of the air. Oh, no! We are left for God's Glory, that men may see what the Grace of God can do in poor frail bodies. We are left for the service of Christ's Church, that we may be here for a while to carry on the cause of God, to be the means of comforting the little ones and to seek the conversion of sinners. We are to be like salt to prevent putrefaction. We are God's preventive men, to prevent as much of the evil as we can—and we are to fight with the evil that cannot be prevented and to seek to overthrow it in Christ's name.
16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Many, nowadays, say that we ought to blend the Church with the congregation and that it is a great pity to have any division between them. A great many good people are outside the Church—therefore try to make the Church as much like the world as you can! That is a silly trick of the devil which the wise servants of God will answer by saying, "To whom we give place for subjection? No, not for an hour!" There must always be a broad line of demarcation between the Church of Christ and the world—it will be an evil day when that line is abolished. The sons of God took to themselves wives of the daughters of men, but that kind of union brought mischief with it, and it will always do so.
17. Sanctify them through Your Truth: Your Word is Truth. We cannot afford to give up God's Inspired Word because it is a means of our sanctification. If this is taken away, it is not such-and-such a dogma, as they call it, put into the background, but it is the Truth of God that would sanctify us which is discarded, it is God's own Word that is flung to the dogs! And that must never be.
18. 19. As You have sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they, also, might be sanctified through the Truth. "I set Myself apart unto holiness, that they, also, might be set apart unto holy uses through the Truth."
20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them, also, which shall believe on Me through their word. Our Lord knew that the little circle around Him would grow into a multitude that no man can number, out of all nations, kindreds, people and tongues—so He prayed for all whom His Father had given Him.
21, 22. That they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me Ihave given them; that they may be one, even as We are One. The Church will never know her true Glory till she knows her perfect oneness—the One Church will be the glorious Church!
23. Iin them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the worldmay know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. That is a grand expression—"You have loved them, as You have loved Me." What? With the same love? It is even so—a love without beginning, a love without change, a love without bounds, a love without end! "You have loved them as You have loved Me."
24-26. Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My Glory, which You have given me: for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known You: but Ihave known You, and these have known that You have sent Me. And I have declared unto them Your name, and will declare it: that the love in which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. This blessed prayer was heard by the Father. All of it must be fulfilled—and untold blessings do and shall come to us through this intercession of our Lord. Blessed be His holy name!
John 18:1. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into which He entered, and His disciples. Our Lord could not cross that "brook Kidron" without being reminded of the time when David went that way in the hour of his sorrow, though He knew that He had to face a far greater trial than that of David. The very brook would remind Him of His approaching Sacrifice, for through it flowed the blood and refuse from the Temple.
2. And Judas, also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus often resorted there with His disciples. The place of our Lord's frequent retirement for private prayer was well known to Judas, who had often gone there with his Lord and his fellow disciples.
3. Judas, then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. How completely the traitor must have been in the power of Satan—and how hardened and callous he must have grown, that he could lead, "there," the men who were going to arrest the Savior! Truly it was by wicked hands that Christ was taken, crucified and slain! Yet, unconsciously, these evil men were carrying out "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." How strangely were they equipped for their deed of darkness! "With lanterns and torches and weapons." They were coming to the Light of the world bearing "lanterns and torches!" And armed with "weapons" that they might use against "the Lamb of God." If He had wished to deliver Himself, all their "weapons" would have been in vain—and their "lanterns and torches" would not have revealed Him, even with the help of the full moon, which was probably shining at the time.
4. 5. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, Whom do you seek? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. Notice, dear Friends, that the word, "He" is in italics, showing that it is not in the original. Our Lord here twice used the name of Jehovah, I AM—as He did on certain other memorable occasions. It was most fitting that, as He was going out to die, He should declare that it was no mere man who was about to suffer on the Cross, but that, while He was truly Man, He was also "very God of very God."
6. As soon, then, as He had said unto them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. The simple utterance of His name drove them from Him and drove them to the earth! What would have happened if He had put forth His almighty power?
7-9. Then He asked them again, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told You that I am He. If, therefore, You seek Me, let these go their way: that the saying might be fulfilled, which He spoke, Of them which You gave Me, I have lost none.