Sermon No. 3151: The Lord's Supper—simple But Sublime!
Exposition: JOHN 17; 18:1-9.
Chapter 17:1. These words spoke Jesus, andlifted up His eyes to Heaven, andsaid, Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son; that Your Son also may glorify You. Christ's great intercessory prayer begins with His appeal to His Father to glorify His Son. Christ knew all that He would have to suffer during that "hour" to which He had looked forward to from eternity, but His eyes could see beyond the gross with all its shame, the crown with all its glory! The Son being glorified, He would also glorify His Father and there is a wondrous Glory that comes to the Father through the death of His Son upon the Cross.
2. As You have given Him power over all flesh, that He shouldgive eternallife to as many as You have given Him.
[See Sermon #566, Volume 10—GENERAL AND YET PARTICULAR.] Some people seem unable to see that there is perfect harmony between the general and the particular aspects of Christ's Atonement. As the one Mediator between God and men, He has absolute power over all men, to do with them as He wills, yet that power has a special relation to those whom His Father gave Him before the foundation of the world. And they are those who come to Him in accordance with His declaration, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and He that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out."
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sen [See
Sermon #2396, Volume 41—ETERNAL LIFE!] So that the only way to obtain eternal life is to know God the Father and God the Son—and the best way to know them is to ask God the Holy Spirit to teach us what is revealed concerning them in the Sacred Scriptures which He inspired holy men of old to write.
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 You Me with Yourself with the Glory which I had with You before the world wa. As Christ had carried out His Father's will and done the work He had been sent to do, it was but right that He should go back to the Glory which He had, for a season, voluntarily laid aside. You notice that although He had not then died upon the Cross, He was so certain that He would there complete His great mediatorial work that He spoke of it as being already "finished."
6. I have manifested Your name unto the men which You gave Me out of the world: Yours they were, and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your wor. No one but Christ could or would have borne such a testimony concerning His fickle, feeble followers. Happy will it be for us if He can also say concerning us who profess to be His disciples, "They have kept Your word."
7, 8. Now they have known that all things whatever You have given Me are of You. For I have given unto them the words which Yougave Me, and they have received them, andhave known surely that Icame out from You, and they have believed that You did send M. You see how the Truth reached these disciples. The Father gave the words to His Son in His mediatorial capacity. And He gave those words to His disciples—and they received them and believed that Christ was indeed the Sent One from the Father.
9, 10. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given Me; for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; andIam glorifedin thei.. [See Sermon #2331, Volume 39—christ's pastoral prayer for his
PEOPLE.] See what perfect union there is between the Father and the Son, and note their mutual relationship to the chosen people, "They are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine."
11, 12. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, 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. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name: those that You gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfille. So it is clear that Judas was not among those who were given to Christ by His Father—if He had been, He also would have been "kept."
13. And now come I to You Christ looked beyond all that was to happen to Him before He could return to His Glory and, as He saw His Father waiting to welcome Him, He cried "And now come I to You." These might be appropriate words in the mouth of a dying Believer: "And now come I to You."
13, 14. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Never did anyone more thoroughly mix with men than Christ did—and never had anyone greater sympathy with human beings than He had—yet everyone knows that He never was "of the world." He was distinct from all who were round about Him and He says that His disciples were as He was. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Christ's people have a life that others have not. They have a relationship to God that others have not. They are swayed by motives which others understand not and they are journeying onward toward a perfection to which others do not even desire to attain! So they are not of the world and the world treats them as speckled birds—and hates them even as it hated their Lord and Master.
15. I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil. [See Sermons #47,
Volume 1—CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE; #2355, Volume 40—CHRIST'S NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE PRAYER and #2703, Volume 46—THE PRESERVATION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE WORLD.] Christ did not pray that there might be monasteries and nunneries where His servants might be shut away from the world, nor even that His followers might die in early youth and go home to Heaven! He prayed that, remaining in the world for gracious purposes—to be its salt and its light—they might themselves be kept from the evil that is in the world. It would be a dreadful thing, indeed, if the chosen people of God were to be overcome by the world. So Christ prayed that His Father would keep them from the evil, for He well knew that they could not be kept from it by any power that was not Divine. There is no less power needed for the preservation of a Believer than for his regeneration. The sustaining of a Saint is a constant miracle which can only be worked by God Himself.
16, 17. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Your Truth: Your Word is
Truth. [See Sermon #1890, Volume 32—OUR LORD'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE'S SANCTIFICATION.] Some men tell us that the Truth of God is in the Word, but that the Word is not the Truth. I read, the other day, that we might regard the Bible as a casket which contained the jewel of the Truth, but was not itself the jewel. Christ did not talk in that fashion, for He said to His father, "Your Word is Truth." This shows that God's Word is not merely the casket of Truth, but is the Truth itself!
18. As You have sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the worl. They are sent ones, even as Christ was the Sent One. As He is the Christ, they are Christians, anointed with the same anointing as He Himself is and they should endeavor to be in all respects missionaries to the world, even as Christ was God's great Missionary to the lost.
19. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the Trut. "I set Myself apart wholly for them, that they also may be set apart for holy uses."
20. Neither pray I for these alone. "For these who are already saved by My Word."
20. But for them also which shall believe on Me through their wort. And so His blessed arm encircled not only the converts gathered to Him by His own personal ministry, but also those who should, in later days, be converted under His servants' ministry! And it always seems to me to have been great condescension on His part to have said, "I pray for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." We should have expected that He would have said, "through My word," and indeed, it is His Word that leads sinners to repent and to believe! Yet Christ puts this honor upon those who speak His Word out of the fullness of their hearts. They have by experience made it their own, so He calls it theirs and gives them this honorable position as the messengers of the Gospel of salvation.
21. 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 MM. I wish that we could see more of this blessed unity, yet it does exist, even if we cannot see it. Wherever there is any true spiritual life—it matters not how much it may be marred by denominational divisions—there is and there always will be, an essential unity. All Christians are one family in Christ. I do not mean all who call themselves Christians, but all who really are Believers in Christ. The inner life is one, the source of that life is one, the nourishment of that life is one and the end of that life is one—so that all who possess it must be one—one in Christ and one with one another, even as Christ is One with the Father.
22. 23. And the Glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one. That is the real secret of the saints' unity—"I in them," together with the everlasting Union of Christ Jesus with the Father—"and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one."
23. And that the world may know that You have sent Me, andhave loved them as You have lovedMt. [See Sermon #1472,
Volume 25—THE GLORY, UNITY AND TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH.] This is a great deep—the words are very simple and clear—but their meaning is unfathomable. Is it really true that the Father has loved His chosen ones as He has loved His only-begotten Son? It is such a wondrous thing that one might be willing to lie awake at night to meditate upon the amazing Truth here revealed in our Savior's words—"You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
24. 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. [See Sermons #188, Volume 4—the redeemers
PRAYER and #1892, Volume 32—WHY THEY LEAVE US.] Some foolish folk talk about the saints being put away for a while into some purgatorial "limbo" in order that they may be made ready for Heaven but Christ speaks not so! He says, "I will that they...be with Me where I am." We care not to answer curious questions about the disembodied state—it is enough for us that Christ knows all and that we shall be with Him forever!
What shall be the occupation of those who are with Christ? "That they may behold My Glory." There will be something worth looking at, something to be delighted with forever and ever! "The glory which You have given Me: for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." So God must have loved His people before the foundation of the world, for He has loved them as He has loved His Son! There was no beginning and there shall be no end to the Father's love to His people! He says to each one of them, "I have loved You with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn You." Here are waters to swim in—plunge into them and revel in the bliss they are meant to convey to all who are in Christ Jesus!
25-26. O righteous Father, the world has not known You: but I have 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 with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. [See Sermons #1378, Volume 23—THE RIGHTEOUS FATHER KNOWN AND LOVED and #1667, Volume 28—"LOVE AND I"—A MYSTERY.] How rich is this language! How musical! Surely, never did any human poem match this peerless prose of the Divine Teacher! And now, what a descent it is as we pass on to the next scene in His life!
John 18:1, 2. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which He entered, and His disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place. [See Sermon
#2767, Volume 48—JESUS IN GETHSEMANE.] He was familiar with the
Master's place of retirement for private prayer and he had, doubtless, heard the Master pray there. Yes, and many a Judas knows the place where the saints meet for worship and knows the Communion Table, too, and knows some of the most hallowed gatherings of God's people where they pour out their hearts in private prayer. And the pity is that knowing all that—the ancient Judas and the modern one do not savingly know the Master Himself!
2. For Jesus ofttimes resorted there with His disciple. If ever any man might have lived without prayer, it was our Lord Jesus Christ! His Humanity was perfect, yet He abounded in prayer. And the nearer we grow to Christian perfection the more shall we pray. I heard of one who said that she was so perfectly acquiescent in the will of God that she had left off praying, she had got beyond that! What a fearful delusion! God save all of us from ever falling into it! Here is One who could say from His heart, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as You will." He expressed in prayer His perfect acquiescence in His Father's will. Did Christ, our Lord and Master pray so, and will any who profess to be His followers speak so presumptuously as to say that they can live without prayer? God forbid!
3. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. What strange paraphernalia they brought with them to the Garden of Gethsemane— "lanterns" to show them the way to the Sun of Righteousness. "Torches" with which to find out the bright Morning Star and, "weapons" with which to overcome the Lamb of God, who had nothing to oppose them with but His own innocence!
4. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, Whom do you seek?It is a wonderfully suggestive thought that Jesus knew everything that would happen to Him. Martyrs and other sufferers for Christ's sake have had some measure of foresight of what they had to endure, but none of them could have so exquisite a foretaste of everything as our blessed Lord had. He knew it all—every single atom of pain, anguish and heartbreak. He knew it all, yet He calmly "went forth" to meet it and said to those who came to drag Him away to His death, "Whom do you seek?"
5. 6. They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. As soon, then, as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward and fell to the ground. "Jesus said unto them, I Am," as though appropriating to Himself the name of Jehovah. And "they went backward, and fell to the ground," astounded and confounded! Even though He restrained His Omnipotence, He claimed the Omnipotent name, I AM, and before the majesty of that name they prostrated themselves upon the ground!
7-9. Then asked He 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 have I lost none. [See Sermons #2368, Volume 40—THE LIVING CARE OF THE DYING CHRIST and #2616, Volume 45— CHRIST'S CARE OF HIS DISCIPLES.] That was a very gracious saying of
Christ's, "If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way." This is what Christ says on His people's behalf to death and to the Law and the justice of God. And though this saying does not excuse the disciples' flight, it does make some sort of apology for their going away, every man to his own home. Christ knew that they would be safer there. One of them followed Him afar off instead of going his way—and you know what came of it. There is a time for openly following Christ, but there is a time when Jesus says, "Let these go their way." So, right to the end He takes care of His sheep and bids them scatter for a while now that the sword is about to enter their Shepherd's heart.