LivePrayerSermon 2483. The Objective of Christ's Death
(No. 2483)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1886.
"Who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and ourFather: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Galatians 1:4, 5.
THE Apostle Paul, in his writings, is notable for the fact that he scarcely ever mentions the name of the Lord Jesus Christwithout pausing to praise and bless Him. There are many benedictions and hallelujahs in Paul's Epistles which might have beenomitted so far as the run of the sense is concerned, but not one of them could be omitted because his heart was so aglow withlove to his Divine Master that he only needed to mention that dear name and out burst his praises in a second! Brethren, letus all try to keep a heart like the Apostle's-so full of love to Christ that we have only to come across His track and weshall at once fall down and worship and adore Him or, upon the wings of holy love mount up nearer to His Throne.
I am quite sure that when Paul was writing the Epistle to the Galatians, he was eager to get at his task. The Galatians hadturned aside from the Gospel of God's Grace and Paul was in dead earnest to bring them back to the grand Truth of the doctrineof salvation and justification by faith in Christ. He was burning to get at his work of trying to win them back to the oldpaths, but it seemed necessary and courteous to begin with a salutation. In that salutation occurred the name of our LordJesus Christ, so off went the Apostle! Earnest as he was to get to the special subject on which he was about to write, hefelt that he must tarry a while and write a little to the honor of his Divine Master. So we read, "Grace be to you and peacefrom God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this presentevil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Then He gets at the businesshe has in hand-"I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the Grace of Christ to another gospel:which is not another; but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ," and so on.
He is red-hot upon that subject, yet he must stop a minute or two to pen some few words of praise to his glorious Lord andSavior. The old proverb says, "Prayer and provender hinder no man's journey." And to stop a little while, to praise and blessthe name of Jesus Christ, hinders no man's argument! Whatever it is that you have to do, if your Master shall cross your path,pause a while and praise Him as best you can. When Mary sat at Christ's feet, she was not wasting her time, she was employingit then to the highest possible profit! And when you and I get away from the Master's work to think of our Lord, Himself,and to praise Him and commune with Him, we are by no means wasting our time! We are gathering strength and laying it out tothe best possible purpose with regard to our future work and warfare.
I can see the great wisdom of the Apostle in acting in such a fashion as this. He is about to write to these Galatians concerningtheir leaving the Gospel-what is the best way to make them sorry for turning aside from the faith? Why, to set before themJesus Christ, Himself, who is the very essence and glory of the Gospel! I have heard of one who preached much against certainerrors, but there was another servant of the Lord who never preached against those errors, but who always proclaimed the Gospelright out straight-and when one asked him why he did not attack the errors, he said, "I do preach against them most effectually.If there is a crooked stick about and you want to show how many crooks there are in it, you need not do anything except laya straight one down by the side of it-and the crookedness of the other stick will be detected at once." So the Apostle admires,extols and adores the Lord Jesus Christ and thus, in the best possible manner, introduces what he has to say concerning theerrors of the Galatians. Oh, for a burst of sunlight from the face of Christ! Then would the shadows of today soon fly away!They who have never seen Him may love modern novelties and falsehoods, but if they have beheld His face and have been wonby His charms, they will hold that He who is the same yesterday, today and forever, is infinitely to be preferred to all theinventions of men! I could say no less than this when I noticed the position in which our text is placed.
But now let us come to the text itself. To my mind it contains four things. First, what our Lord Jesus Christ aimed at withregard to His people-"that He might deliver us from this present evil world." Secondly, what our Lord has done to secure thisend-"Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world." Thirdly, why He did it- "Accordingto the will of God and our Father." And fourthly, what we shall say concerning it-"To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
I. First, then, WHAT DID OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AIM AT WITH REGARD TO HIS PEOPLE?
To preserve them from going down into the Pit? To rescue them from Hell? To bring them to Heaven? Yes, all that, but morethan that! His great objective with regard to His people is to deliver them from this present evil world. We are living inthis present evil world and, as Paul called it by that name, we need not alter the phrase, for we cannot help knowing thatit is still an evil world. And in it are God's redeemed and chosen people, by nature part and parcel of that world, equallyfallen, equally estranged from God, equally set on mischief, equally certain to go down into the Pit of destruction if leftto themselves. The objective of Christ is to carve out a people from this great brook of stone-it is His purpose to find Hisown people who were given to Him before the earth was-and to deliver them from the bondage and the slavery in which they arefound in this Egypt, of which they seem to form a part, though to the eyes of Christ they are always as separate and distinctas the Israelites were when they dwelt in the land of Goshen.
What does the Apostle mean by saying that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from thispresent evil world?
First, Christ came that He might deliver His people from this common condemnation of this present evil world. This is theCity of Destruction which is to be burned with fire and Christ's business is to fetch His people out of it. Therefore He sendsHis Evangelists to cry to them, "Flee from the wrath to come! Tarry not in the city, but escape for your lives- you are ina doomed world which will certainly be destroyed-therefore, flee to the only Shelter from the coming storm." The Lord desiresthat we should be so clear of this world that when it is condemned we may not share in the condemnation. It is Christ's purposeto bring us into a state of justification before God, through His blood and righteousness, that we may not perish in the commonwreck in the day when the world shall be consumed with fire, but that we may have our ark wherein, as righteous Noah was preservedfrom the deluge of water, we may be saved from the fiery floods of Divine Wrath. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the worldthat He might deliver us from that condemnation which now rests upon all the race of Adam except those who have fled for refugeto lay hold on the hope set before them in the Gospel.
But He came with this further purpose, to deliver us from the condition in which the world is found. In Paul's day the worldwas in a horrible state. Then the slave was chained to his master's door, like a dog, and slept at night in a hole under thestairs-and the slave's master indulged in all kinds of debauchery and sin. The cruelty of the Romans satisfied itself withgladiatorial shows where men murdered each other to make a public holiday. Christ came to gather out a people even from amongthese abominations-and He did gather them out-a holy people who could not and would not live as the rest of the world lived!They did not go away into the deserts, or hide themselves in caves, living as hermits, but they went up and down in the earth,attending faithfully to the duties of daily life, yet everywhere marked as differing from other men. Their moral tone-theirwhole thought about the things of this world and the next-was altogether different from that of the rest of mankind, for Christhad come to draw them out of the kennel of iniquity in which others lived like beasts, to lift them up out of the bog of sinand make them to be a pure-minded, holy, kind, generous, loving people who should be like their Master, Jesus Christ!
For this purpose, the Savior died. He thought it worth His while, even, to die upon the Cross that He might thereby make abetter, purer, nobler, more unselfish, more devout people than as yet had appeared in the Roman or Jewish world. And thisis what He is still doing in this present evil world! He is lifting up men and women out of the filthiness in which they havebeen wallowing-making them love holiness, purity, temperance-and hate all that is evil in the sight ofGod.
This, then, is the great objective of Christ's death-to deliver us from the world's condemnation, and to deliver us from theworld's condition.
He also came to deliver us from the world's customs. There are many things which a worldling does which a Christian cannotdo. I need not enlarge upon the tricks in trade which are all too common in the present day, but if you are Christ's own,I charge you, do not even think of them, but let your course be straight as an arrow's and let your conscience be clean asthe driven snow! It is not for God's people to say, "It is the custom of the trade, so we may do it." What have you to dowith that? It is the custom of the trade to ruin men's souls, but the Churches of God have no such custom, nor have thosewho follow closely after the Lord Jesus Christ. He has come on purpose that we may not conform to the sinful fashions of men,but that we may have a way of our own, or rather, that we may make Christ's way the way of holiness, to be our way.
Hence, He has come to deliver us from the spirit of the world. The spirit of the world is, "I can swim. So, if everybody elseis drowned, there will then be the more room for me." "I fight for my own hand," says the worldling, "and if, in the process,I crush the widow and the fatherless, I cannot help that-they should not get in my way." The rules of political economy donot permit of anything like mercy-they are as inflexible as the laws of nature. They are something after this fashion-"Grinddown the poor and get as much as you can out of them for as little money as possible. Care for nobody but yourself. Mind themain chance. Make money, honestly, if you can, but if not, make it anyway, only keep clear of the law, for it would be a mistaketo fall into its clutches." Now, Christ has come to gather out of the world a people who will not be possessed with this detestablespirit, but who will resolve to live for others rather than for themselves. We are to consider those who are around us andto think what influence our conduct will have upon them. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, strength,and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to love even our enemies. We are to do good to the unthankful and to the evil.We are, in all ways, and according to the measure of our ability, to copy the example of our Father who is in Heaven, whomakes His sun to shine and His rain to fall upon the evil as well as upon the good. O Friends, look what Christ has come todo-even to separate to Himself a people like Himself out of this present evil world!
Yet once more, He will do this by delivering us from all fear of this world. What a great many of you there are who dare notdo anything but what society agrees should be done! If society says, "This is the right thing to do," you call it "etiquette,"and you do that particular thing. Then all the people around you are very respectable and you want to be counted respectable-andthe consequence is that you dare not call your souls your own, and you do not act as you would wish to until you have firstasked your neighbors' permission. There are multitudes of people still in the condition of abject slavery to those who arearound them! But when Christ came into the world, He gathered out of the world a people who were not afraid of anybody. AfterHis good Spirit had renewed them, they walked about fearless of the greatest earthly potentates! There was the great Emperorof Rome, for instance, and who dared ever contradict what the Emperor of Rome said? The man who wrote our text did!
And Paul before Nero is a vastly greater man than the cruel tyrant upon the throne. When they bring the saints before thejudgment seat, the Roman consul says, "Offer sacrifice to idols. You know the law-take that incense and put it on the altar,this very moment." One of the guards says, "Sir, this man is obstinate and rebellious. I have told him what he is to do, buthe refuses." The consul says, "Do you, impious wretch, refuse to worship Jupiter? Put that incense on the altar this moment,or you shall be torn in pieces with hot irons." The man before him replies, "I am a Christian." "Is that your answer?" "Yes,Sir, my only answer. I am a Christian." "Then tear him with the pincers! Let him learn what my hot irons can do." They doit and the brave saint bears it. Perhaps a groan escapes his lips, for flesh is frail, but when he is asked again, "Will youworship Jupiter?" He replies as before, "I am a Christian." "To the lions with him, then! To the lions with him," cries theenraged persecutor, and he is taken off to the amphitheatre. But as that poor simple peasant walks across the arena, the wildbeasts, themselves, seem cowed before him and, though he is soon torn in pieces, everybody goes home from the amphitheatresaying, "What a strange being that man was! He seemed utterly devoid of fear!"
Yes, the early Christians were without fear and without reproach, for Christ came to set them free from fear of this presentevil world.
O Brothers and Sisters, were the martyrs as brave as this, and are we going to yield to whatever laws and rules the worldlives to lay down for us? Do we mean to believe its current theology, or philosophy, and do or not do as it may dictate? Formy part, "I would as well not be as live to be in awe of such a thing as I myself." Since Christ has given me my liberty,I am His servant, and whether I am in fashion or out of fashion is no concern of mine so long as I please Him! Dear Friends,let it be so with you, I pray you, and may the Lord daily divide you more and more from the world so that, at home or abroad,everybody can see that you are not of the world! Love men, seek their good and in the highest and best sense be far more lovingto the world than the world is to itself, but still, fear it not. Why should you? It is "the present evil world" which "liesin the Wicked One." It is for you bravely to bear your protest against the world every day you live, for to this end did Christcome to this earth, "that He might deliver us from this present evil world."
II. We have seen what our Lord aimed at by His death. Now, secondly, WHAT DID CHRIST DO TO THIS END- to deliver us from thispresent evil world?
The answer of the text is, "He gave Himself" I will not say that He gave His royal crown, that diadem which did outshine thesun. I will not say that He laid aside His azure vest and hung it on the sky as He came down to earth. I will not say thatHe gave up for us the thrones and royalties of Heaven. You know that He did all this and far more-nor need I remind you that,when upon earth, He gave up all that He had, even to His last garment, for they parted His raiment among them and for Hisvesture they cast lots. I need not say that He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair,nor that He gave His hands to the nails and His feet to the cruel iron. I need not say that He gave His body, His soul andHis spirit, for you have it all in these three words-"He gave Himself."
"He gave Himself for our sins." That is the wonder of Christ's death! Our sins could not be put away except by His dying inour place. There was no expiation of our sin and, consequently, no deliverance from its condemnation except by Christ's bearingin our place, that wrath of God which was due to us-and He did it. "He gave Himself for our sins." I need not say more uponthat point except just this. Do not, I pray you, let us permit Him in any sense or measure to fail in His supreme objective."He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world," therefore, out of gratitude to Him,if for no other reason, let us not be of the world, or like the world, servants of the world, slaves of the world. What? DidChrist die to deliver us from the world and do we go back to it and deliberately put our necks under the world's yoke, wearthe world's yoke and become, again, the world's slaves? I am ashamed of myself and of you whenever we, for a moment, act asthe ungodly world acts and become as the world is-self-seeking, rebellious against God's will, living contrary to the DivineLaw of Christ. Oh, let every drop of blood He shed on Calvary purge you from all resemblance to the world! Let the dying Savior'scries move you to hate the sin which the world loves! From Calvary, hear Him cry, "Come out from among them and be you separate,says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." By the blood with which He bought you, be you not of the world, seeing thatHe has redeemed you from among men that you might be altogether His own!
How does the death of Christ deliver us from the world? It does this by removing from us the condemnation of our sin. Havingborne our sins in His own body on the tree, Christ has forever freed us from the penalty that was our due. You know that isthe very essence of the Gospel and you also know that I preach this Truth of God every time I stand here, so I need not enlargeupon it now.
Christ has also delivered us from the world by making sin hateful to us. We say to ourselves, "Did sin kill Christ? Then wecannot play with that dagger that stabbed our Lord! How can we be friendly with the world that cast Him out and hanged Himon a tree? O murderous sin, how can I give you lodgment in my heart when you killed the Altogether Lovely One?" Men speakhard things of regicide, but what shall I say of deicide And sin is that deicide which slew the Christ of God! Yet, marvelof marvels, by that death on the Cross He has crucified us to the world and the world to us and so He has delivered us fromthis present evil world!
I may add that Christ has also delivered us from the world by the splendor of His example in giving Himself to die for Hisenemies and by the Glory of His infinite merit whereby He purchased back that image of God in Adam which sin had obliterated.He gave Himself, the very image of God, and more than that, God Himself, that He might give back to us that image of God whichlong ago we had lost. Thus has Christ delivered us from this present evil world. Judge, Sirs, whether He has thus deliveredyou.
III. Time flies, therefore I must hasten on to the third question which is, WHY DID CHRIST DO THIS?
First, because our holiness was included in the purpose of God. The text says, "According to the will of God and our Father."Mr. Charles Simeon used to say that there were some, in his day, who thought that the very word, "predestination," soundedalmost like blasphemy. And I have no doubt that there are some left who cannot bear to hear of the will and the purpose ofGod! But to us these words sound like sweetest music! I do not believe that there ever would have been a man delivered fromthis present evil world if it had not been according to the will, the purpose, the predestination of God, even our Father!It needs a mighty tug to get a man away from the world. It is a miracle for a man to live in the world and yet not to be ofit-it is a continuous miracle of so vast a kind that I am sure it would never have been worked if it had not been accordingto the will of God our Father. Yet so it stood in the Divine Decree, that there should be a people chosen from among men-apeople who would be called out from among the mass of the ungodly, who would be drawn by supernatural power to follow afterthat which is right and good and holy. A people who would be washed in the blood of Jesus and renewed by the Holy Spirit inthe spirit of their minds and, therefore, should be a peculiar people in the world but not of it-the people of God set apartto Himself, to be His, now, and His, hereafter forever and ever! I delight to remember that this is the will of God, evenour sanctification, our separation from the world!
Now I want to push home this Truth of God into your very hearts. If this is, indeed, the purpose of God, let us see to it,my Brothers and Sisters, every one of us, that we fulfill that purpose in our daily lives. Let us come out from the worldmore clear and straight than we have ever done. I believe that there would be much more persecution than there is if therewere more real Christians. But we have become so like the world, that the world does not hate us as it once did. If we wouldbe more just, more upright, more true, more Christ-like, more godly, we would soon hear all the dogs of Hell baying with alltheir might against us! But what of that? It would just be the fulfillment of the Divine Purpose and God would be well pleasedwith us. Come, then, and let us fall back upon the Omnipotent strength which always slumbers within the Divine will. Lord,if it is Your will, fulfill it in me! If this is Your purpose, accomplish it in me! Oh, what brave men and women those earlysaints were! I do not wonder that our friend cried out, just now, when I depicted the martyr-but there were tens of thousandsof such holy men and women in the days of persecution!
Have you never heard of her whom they set in a red-hot iron chair because she would not turn away from Christ, or of thatother poor feeble woman who was tossed on the horns of bulls, but who, nevertheless, spoke up right bravely for her Masteras she came to die? Yes, and there have been boys and girls, who, for Christ's sake, sooner than sin, have braved the mostfearful deaths! Remember John Bunyan when he refused to give up preaching? They put him in prison and said to him, "Mr. Bunyan,you can come out of prison whenever you will promise to cease preaching the Gospel." He said, "If you let me out of prisontoday, I will preach again tomorrow, by the Grace of God." "Well," they said, "then you must go back to prison," and he answered,"I will go back and stay there, if necessary, till the moss grows on my eyelids, but I will never deny my Master." This wasthe stuff of which the godly were made, then! May the Lord make many of us to be like they-men and women who cannot and willnot do that which is evil, but will, in the name of God, stand to the right and the true, come what may!
IV. Lastly, WHAT SHALL WE SAY CONCERNING IT ALL? Why, just this, "To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
First, God is glorified in Christ's death. Has the Father given His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us? Then there is Gloryenough in Jesus Christ upon the Cross to last throughout eternity! Fix your eyes upon that bleeding Savior- behold the gloriousJustice of God in laying guilt on Him, punishing it on Him and behold, also, the inconceivable love of God in thus puttingHis Only-Begotten to death that we might live through Him! You need not range the world around to see the Glory of God innature, though that is a delightful employment, for there is enough Glory in the Cross of Christ to last throughout all eternity.The Apostle says, "To whom be glory forever and ever." How long that is, I cannot tell. "Forever" is without any end, butPaul says, "Forever and ever," and there is Glory enough in the Cross of Christ to last forever and ever, as long as the EternalJehovah, Himself, exists!
Well, then, has Jesus Christ delivered us from the world? Have we fled to Him and been pardoned? Are we accepted in the Beloved?Then let us begin to glorify God now. Let us glorify His dear Son. Let us praise Him. Let every beat of our heart proclaimour joyous thankfulness and so continually yield sweet music to God. I would that every breath were like a verse of a Psalmand our whole life an endless hallelujah to His Glory!-
"I would begin the music here, And so my soul should rise! Oh for some heavenly notes to bear My passions to the skies,"
for it is, indeed, a subject of great praise to be separated from the world, and to be made holy to the Lord.
But, Brothers and Sisters, when you once begin the music, never stop because, as the Apostle says, Glory is to be given toGod, "forever and ever." I saw, last week, a Brother from the backwoods of America, and he said to me, "Twenty years ago Iwas in your vestry and you did me much good by something that you said to me." I asked, "What did I say?" And the good manreplied, "You said, 'Brother, as a minister, there are two occasions upon which you ought to preach Jesus Christ.' I enquired,'What are those two occasions?' You answered, "In season and out of season.'" Well now, there are two occasions upon whichwe ought to praise God-"in season, and out of season!" Praise Him when you feel like praising and when you do not feel likeit-praise Him till you do! When you can say-
"I feel like singing all the time," then sing! And when you say, "I do not feel like singing," make a point of singing justto let the devil know that he is not your master! It is a good thing to praise Christ in the presence of His friends. It is,sometimes, a better thing to extol Him in the presence of His enemies. It is a great thing to praise Jesus Christ by day,but there is no music sweeter than the nightingale's-and she praises God by night. It is well to praise the Lord for His mercywhen you are in health, but make sure that you do it when you are sick, for then your praise is more likely to be genuine.When you are deep down in sorrow, do not rob God of the gratitude that is due to Him-never stint Him of His revenue of praisewhatever else goes short. Praise Him, sometimes, on the high-sounding cymbals-crash, crash-with all your heart and being.But when you cannot do that, just sit and give Him praise in solemn silence in the deep quiet of your spirit.
To be redeemed from a dying world, to be fetched out from a condemned world, to be brought out from slavery, to be made achild of God is enough to make you emulate the angels and even to excel them! They cannot rise to so high a pitch of gratitudeas you ought to reach, even now, and ought to keep up all the days of your life-and then, "forever and ever" in the Presenceof the King.
O you poor souls who are still in the world, God help you to get out of it! O you who are lost and ruined, there is no hopefor you but in Jesus Christ our Savior! Tell all men about Him, Brothers and Sisters! You who are saved, talk about Christeverywhere! Let no man whom you ever meet be without a knowledge of the way of salvation. "I do not know what to say," saysone. "I do not yet know much about it myself." Do not say it, then, if you do not know it! But, if you do know it, proclaimit! If you have tasted and handled it, proclaim it as best you can-in broken English, if in no other style-
"Proclaim to sinners round What a dear Savior you have found." So, even through you the purpose for which Christ bled shallbe accomplished, that is, the severance of His elect from the great mass of mankind among whom they lie, and this shall beto the praise of the glory of His Grace forever and ever! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 17.
This matchless chapter contains that great intercessory prayer of Christ for His people which may most properly is called"the Lord's prayer."
Verse 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 also may glorify You. What a sight it must have been to see the Divine Intercessor in this, His last great prayerbefore He poured out His soul to death! We can never read this chapter so as fully to enter into its meaning, for there mustalways be in it a depth far greater than our experience can fathom. A man must die and enter Heaven before he can fully realizeall that Christ meant when He said, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may 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. Notice thedoctrine of this verse. Here is the mention, both of a general and a particular relation to Christ. "You have given Him powerover all flesh." Never think of setting a limit to the value of Christ's atoning Sacrifice! Never dream that you can understandall its influences and all its bearings. By His death, Christ has power over all flesh. But notice, also, the special purposeand objective of redemption. Observe how it applies particularly to the elect of God. The motive for the Father's giving Christpower over all flesh is this, "that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him."
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. The knowledgeof God and the knowledge of the Messiah, the Sent One-this is not only life, but it is life that can never die-"This is lifeeternal." Have you, dear Friend, received this eternal life? Do you know the only true God? Do you know Jesus Christ whomHe has sent? Then, at this very moment, you possess eternal life and you shall never perish, for eternal life is a life thatcannot possibly die!
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 togetherwith Yourself, with the Glory which I had with You before the world was. This is such a prayer as never could have been prayedby a mere man and you cannot understand this prayer at all apart from the Manhood and the Deity of Christ combined. No humanbeing could have written such a prayer as this even if it had been proposed to him to write a prayer that would be equallysuitable to God and man. It is only suitable to Christ, the God-Man, and it is, in itself, one of the best evidences of theInspiration of Scripture! I dare take my stand upon this chapter, alone, and say that here we have the finger of God, thewriting of the Holy Spirit-and here we have the very Words of Him who was God and Man in one Person.
6. I have manifested Your name to the men which You gave me out of the world: Yours they were, and You gave them to Me; andthey have kept Your Word. How gracious it was on our Lord's part to say the best He could of His disciples! These 12 men hadlearned but little of the Divine Word, but they had believed what they had been taught, so Jesus could say of them to HisFather, "Yours they were, and You gave them to Me; and 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 to them the Words whichYou gave Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from You, and they have believed that Youdid send Me. I want you to notice how the Lord Jesus Christ makes no boast of being "an original thinker." On the contrary,He says to His Father concerning His disciples, "I have given to them the Words which You gave Me." I would rather repeatthe Word of God, syllable by syllable, than I would dare to think for myself apart from the revealed will of God! What aremen's thoughts, after all, but vanity educed from vanity? But the Word of the Lord endures forever-it shall abide when evenHeaven and earth shall pass away! Hence our Savior lays great stress upon this fact, "I have given to them the Words whichYou gave to Me." Brother minister, may you and I, when we come to die, be able to say to the Lord concerning our people, "Ihave given to them the Words which You gave to me."
9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given Me; for they are Yours. In this, our Lord'slast great intercessory prayer, He was especially engaged in petitions for His own people. There is a sense in which He intercedesfor all mankind, but in the higher and more special sense referred to in this verse, Christ's own chosen ones occupied allHis thoughts-"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which You have given Me; for they are Yours."
10-11. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but theseare in the world, and I come to You. Christ is God and, therefore, looking into the future, He can speak of His approachingdeparture as though it had already happened.
11. Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are. See the plaintivepower of this prayer of a tender heart. First, our Lord shows His love by praying for us and then by dying for us. Noticewhat importance He attaches to the unity of His people-"that they may be one, as we are." Let us all try to "keep the unityof the Spirit in the bond of peace." I suppose that while we are in this world, we shall never all think alike, but let usall think alike about our Lord-and gather to His name and feel a holy unity through His Spirit! When shall it be again saidthat all Christ's disciples have "one Lord, one faith, one Baptism"? Alas, they tore His seamless robe and it still remainstorn through the schisms and errors which divide His people, one from another!
12, 13. 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 themis lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to You. These are sweet Words withwhich to die. Oh, that you and I might have them in our hearts, if not on our lips, in our expiring moments! "And now comeI to You." Our Lord thinks nothing of the bloody way by which He was to go to the Father.
What though the Cross, nails and spear are in the road? He thinks comparatively little of all those terrible things, for Helooks beyond them. And He says, "Now come I to You."
13. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. Have you ever obtained thisblessing, Brothers and Sisters-Christ's joy in you-what is more, Christ's joy fulfilledin you? God grant to all of us to know,by happy experience, the meaning of this wondrous expression!
14, 15. I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not ofthe world. I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the Evil One. ' 'Do notlet the world so besmear and defile them as to do them mischief. Let them keep on as lamps burning in dark places. Take themnot out of the world, but keep them from the Evil One."
16-18. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Your Truth: Your Word is Truth. AsYou have sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. As the Father took Jesus out of the bosom ofHis love and bade Him go as His missionary to men, so does Jesus keep us, for a while, away from the bosom of His Glory thatwe may stop here to be missionaries among our fellow men. Are we fulfilling our calling? Are we justifying the commissionwhich Christ has laid upon us? Oh, that we were doing so to the fullest extent that is possible!
19. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself-"For their sakes I set Myself apart."-
19, 20. That they also might be sanctified through the Truth. Neither pray I for these alone-This little handful of followersgathered about Me-
20, But for them, also, which shall believe on Me through their word. In the glass of prevision, Christ saw us, my Brothersand Sisters, and He saw all the myriads, yet unborn, who are to be gathered to His Cross and to bow before His feet-and Heprayed for them all-"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them, also, which shall believe on Me through their word."
21, 22. That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, andIin You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world maybelieve that You have sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One.Let us, more and more, lay aside everything that divides, especially that evil heart of unbelief, and pride, and self-seekingwhich is the great sect-making faculty. May we get rid of that evil and come more and more to realize that all men who arereally in Christ are, and must be, one. If we are members of one body, one blood courses through our veins and gives us life!One Spirit is in the one body of Christ. There cannot be two lives. There cannot be two beings within the one body of Christ.All true Believers must be one and truly, if we speak the Truth of God to one another concerning our Lord-and especially ifwe speak much to God together in prayer-we straightway perceive that we areone!
23-26. I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that You have sent Me, andhave loved them, as You have loved Me. Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am; thatthey 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 I have known You and these have known that You have sent Me. And I have declared to themYour name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. Here the Master endedHis sweet prayer and went off to His terrible passion in Gethsemane.