Christ's Care of His Disciples
(No. 2616)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 2, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING, EARLY IN
THE YEAR 1857.
"If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go their way." John 18:8.
WE need but hint at the circumstances under which these words were
uttered. Our Savior was in the Garden of Geth-semane with His disciples
when a multitude came with the officers commissioned by the High Priest
to seize Him. He went boldly towards them and asked, "Whom do you
seek?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." At His words, "I am He,"
"they drew back and fell to the ground," and then Jesus said to them,
"I have told you that I am He. If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go
their way."
Now, in a very simple manner, I shall try, first of all, to draw a few
lessons from this occurrence and then, secondly, to bring out a great
Truth of God which I think is foreshadowed in this utterance of our
Redeemer.
I. First, let us CONSIDER THE LESSONS OF THE OCCURRENCE ITSELF. Our
Savior said to these people, "If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go
their way."
In this incident, our Master proved His own willingness to die. This
word of His was a mandate so powerful that none of the disciples were
seized, much less put to death. There was Peter, who had drawn his
sword and cut off the ear of the High Priest's servant. We should
naturally have expected that he would have been arrested, or smitten to
the earth, but so powerful was the command of Christ that not a finger
was laid upon His hasty-tempered disciple. Peter and John later went
into the judgment hall–into the very teeth of our Lord's enemies–but,
with the exception of a few jeers, they were allowed to go their way.
John did even more than that, for he went within the range of the
spears of the Roman soldiers and stood at the foot of Christ's Cross
and wept–yet not a finger was laid on him, nor on any of Christ's
disciples–not for lack of will, for, you remember, they seized a young
man who left his garment in their hands, and fled naked–evidently
supposing him to have been a disciple of Christ. This shows, then, the
power of Christ's mandate that, in that hour of darkness, not so much
as one of His disciples was maltreated, but all were allowed to go
their way. If Christ, then, by His simple word, delivered His
disciples, how much more could He have delivered Himself? And in His
not doing so, you cannot fail to see how willing He was to die. One
word threw them to the ground. Another word would have hurled them into
the arms of death! But our Savior would not speak the word which might
have saved Himself, for He came to save others, not Himself.
There is something very courageous in the Savior's saying, "If you seek
Me." You know that when Adam sinned, God had to seek the culprit, but,
in this case, when Christ stood as the Surety for His people, instead
of being sought, He seemed to seek His executioners! "If you seek Me,"
He said–and He put in an, "if," as though it were not so much their
seeking Him as His seeking them–for He had come into their very midst
to die. Our blessed Lord was well acquainted with the circumstances of
His own death. He sat at the table, at the institution of the Lord's
Supper on that memorable evening–why could He not wait and be seized
there? But no, dauntless, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" steps out
and boldly faces His enemy! He does not wait to be attacked, but goes
forth to meet death, to give Himself up for us. Scarcely any martyr has
done such a deed as this! God has helped them to die when they have
been delivered into the hands of their enemies, but our Savior goes to
His enemies and says, "Here I am. If you seek Me, I have come to give
Myself up. I will put you to no trouble in searching for Me. There is
no necessity to hunt through the length and breadth of Jerusalem to
find Me. Here I am. If you seek Me, I am ready to die. Take Me, I have
no opposition to make. 'If you seek Me,' all I have to say is, 'Let
these go their way.' As for Myself, I am willing enough to die!"
Learn, then, Christian, the readiness of your Master to suffer for you.
He was no unwilling Savior. You have, sometimes, borrowed money from a
friend and when you have taken it from him, it was a grief to you to
accept it, for he looked upon you as a beggar, or even as a robber who
had demanded spoil of him. But when you take Christ's favors, there is
this sweet consideration with them, that they are all given willingly!
The blood that you drink and the flesh that you eat, spiritually, is no
dole of a strained benevolence, but the voluntary, munificent gift from
the heart of Jesus to you and to your brethren. Rejoice, then, in the
willingness of Christ to suffer for you!
In the second place, upon the very face of our text we read the care of
Christ towards His people. "If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go
their way." Oh, the agony of the Savior's heart at that moment! A
friend in trouble is frequently forgetful–expect not a man in great
grief to remember you–the heart is then so full of its own bitterness
it has no time to think of others. I would pardon any man for not
noticing me in the street if he were ill. I would easily forgive anyone
for forgetting anything when loaded with pain and sorrow and surely,
Beloved, we might have thought it not hard of Jesus if He had forgotten
His disciples in His hour of grief! But mark how kind His heart
is–"'If you seek Me'–I say nothing about how you should treat Me–but
'let these'–these disciples were the only ones He cared about. He
cared not for Himself–'let these go their way.'"
Like the mother in the snowstorm who takes off her own clothes to wrap
around her cold shivering baby–what does she care though the cold
blast should find out her inmost soul, and though her body is frozen
like ice, if her baby but lives? Her first thought, after she is
restored to consciousness, when she has been well-nigh benumbed to
death, but chafed to life by kindness, is concerning that baby! It was
even so with Jesus. "Let these go their way."–
"When Justice, by our sins provoked,
Drew forth its dreadful sword,
He gave His soul up to the stroke
Without a murmuring word.
This was compassion like a God,
That when the Savor knew
The price of pardon was His blood,
His pity ne'er withdrew.
Now though He reigns exalted high,
His love is still as great.
Well He remembers Calvary,
Nor lets His saints forget."
They are all remembered, all borne upon His heart and still cared for.
Therefore you are cared for, you lamb of the flock! You are cared for,
poor Ready-to-Halt! You are remembered, Miss Despondency! You are
regarded with the eyes of love, timid Mr. Fearing! Though you stumble
at every stone, yet your Savior's love fails not! He remembers you, for
He cared for His disciples in His hour of greatest sorrow.
In the next place, learn from this incident our Savior's wisdom. When
He said, "Let these go their way," there was wisdom in it. How? Because
they were not prepared to suffer and it would have been unwise to have
allowed them to suffer, then, even if they had been prepared–for if
they had suffered, then, it would have been thought that at least they
shared the honor of our redemption–therefore Christ would have none
but thieves upon the mount of doom, lest any should suppose that He had
a helper! He tread the winepress alone and of the people there were
none with Him. Besides, these disciples were but infants in Divine
Grace–they had not received the plenitude of the Spirit. They were not
fit to suffer. Therefore Christ said, "If you seek Me, let these go
their way." These raw recruits must not yet bear the brunt of the
battle. Let them tarry until, by a greater experience and by greater
Grace, they shall be made brave to die and shall, each of them in his
turn, wear the crown of martyrdom. But not now. Christ spared His
people at that moment since it would have been unwise to have allowed
them to die then.
Learn also, Christians, from your Master's example, the duty of putting
yourselves in the way of suffering when you can save your Brothers and
Sisters. Oh, there is something glorious in the spirit Christ
manifested in placing Himself first. "If you seek Me, let these go
their way." That is the spirit all Christians ought to have–the spirit
of heroic selfsacrifice for the disciples' sake. The mere professor
says, "Let me go my way, seek another to be put to death." But if we
were what we should be, we would, each one, say, "If you seek me, let
these go their way." How many of us would be ready to escape martyrdom
and allow our Brethren to be burned! That would not be the spirit of
our Master. How frequently you are ready to allow ridicule and shame to
fall upon the Church if you can but be spared! How very frequently you
will allow a Brother to perform a duty, at much inconvenience, which
you could do without any trouble to yourself! Now, if you were like
your Master, you would say, "'Let these go their way.' If there is
sufficient ground for it, let me suffer. If there is a painful duty,
let me do it. Let others escape, let them go free–lo, I will be,
myself, a willing substitute for them in this matter." Oh, we need,
everywhere, more of this spirit to be able to say to the poor saint,
"Poverty is seeking you. I will, in some degree, bear the inconvenience
that you may be spared. You are sick. I will watch you. You are in
need. I will clothe you. You are hungry. I will feed you. I will stand
in your place as far as I am able, that you may go your way."
These seem to me to be the lessons to be learned from our Savior's
words, "If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go their way."
II. Now I come to notice, secondly, THE GREAT DOCTRINE WHICH THIS
INCIDENT SEEMS TO FORESHADOW.
Will you please observe the next verse to the text? "That the saying
might be fulfilled, which He spoke, 'Of them which You gave Me have I
lost none.'" If I had quoted this passage in such a connection, you
would have told me it was a misquotation. You would have said, "Why, my
dear Sir, that has nothing to do with the disciples going their way or
not!" Ah, but you would be quite in error if you talked like that!
God's Spirit knows how to quote, if we do not. Very often we refer our
hearers to a text which we think is exactly adapted and pertinent to
the point before us when it has really nothing to do with the matter.
And, often, the Holy Spirit quotes a text which we think unsuitable,
but, on closer examination, we find that the very gist of it bears
directly upon the subject. This was the beginning of Christ's
deliverances which He would, through eternity, vouchsafe to all His
children. Inasmuch as He then said, "Let these go their way," it was
the foreshadowing, the picturing of the greet deed of Substitution
whereby Christ would be able to say, "If, therefore, you seek Me, let
these go their way." This point will appear dearly if we look at how
Christ treats His people in Providence and at the bar of Justice.
It has always seemed to me as if Christ had borne the brunt of
Providence for His peopleso that now all things work together for their
good! When Christ came into the world, He did, in spirit, say something
like this, "You wild beasts of the field, you are against My
people–come, now, be against Me and, then, let these go their way."
This was according to the ancient prophecy–"I will make a covenant for
them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of Heaven, and
with the creeping things of the ground." Christ seemed to say, "Stones,
you are enemies to My flock–take Me for their Substitute and be at
enmity against Me. And then it shall be written, 'The stones of the
field shall be in league with them.'" Christ, as it were, said to
Providence, "Your black and bitter face shall look on Me. Your quiver,
full of fiery darts, shall be emptied, and they shall all find their
target here in My bosom. Your dread aspect shall be seen by Me, but,
'Let these go their way.'"
Providence has indicted its evils on Christ and has now only good for
God's people! "What? Only good, Sir?" you say, "why, I am poor, I am
sick!" Yes, but it is only good, for that is good which works good.
"All things work together for good to them that love God." Christ even
says to kings, "Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm." "Let
these go their way." The kings of the earth have been seeking Christ's
Church, to destroy and to devour it, so Christ lets them find Him and
put Him to death! And before He dies, He turns round to the kings, and
says, "Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm." He speaks to
trouble, to trial, to grief, to accident and to peril as He says, "You
have sought Me, now let My people go their way." We would never have
known the sweetness of the Psalm–
"He that has made his refuge God, Shall find a most secure abode"– if
Christ had not died! The only way that you and I can have a refuge is
by Christ bearing the brunt of our trouble. How does a shield save me?
It saves me by bearing the blows, itself. The shield does, as it were,
say to the swords of the enemy, "If you seek me, let this warrior go
his way." So Christ, our Shield and God's Anointed, bears the brunt of
Providence, the evil and the woe, thereof, and He now says to the
mysterious dispensations of God concerning all the children of the
Lord, "'Let these go their way.' Never, never work ill to them, but let
them have only good."
The other thought is, Christ has said this ofHispeople even to Justice.
Before the Throne of God, fiery Justice once drew his sword and went
out after sinners, to find many and to cast them into the Pit. His
sword thirsted for the blood of all that had sinned. But there stood a
chosen multitude, reserved by love and chosen by Grace, and Justice
said, "They are sinners. I will have them, I will sheathe this sword in
their hearts, for they are sinners and they must perish." Then Christ
came forward and asked him, "Whom do you seek?" "Sinners," answered
Justice. Then Jesus said, "They are not sinners. They were sinners,
once, but they are now righteous, clothed in My righteousness. If you
seek the sinner, here am I." "What?" said Justice, "are You the
sinner?" "No, not the sinner, but I am the sinner's Substitute. All the
sinner's guilt was imputed to Me. All his unrighteousness is Mine and
all My righteousness is his. I, the Savior, am the sinner's Substitute.
Take Me." And Justice accepted the substitution, took the Savior,
crucified Him, nailed Him to that Cross whose agonies we commemorate at
the Communion Table. In that hour Jesus cried, "If you seek Me, let
these go their way." Who are they that are to go their way? Why, the
very men whose former way was one of iniquity and whose end would have
been destruction if the curse had not been made to fall upon the head
of Jesus!
"Let these go their way." Oh, that a wonderful sentence! I never knew
its sweetness till I found the Lord, but I did know something of its
power. Do you ask, "How was that?" Why, long before you know the Lord,
you have some of the power of the blood of Christ resting upon you.
"How so?" do you ask? Why, do you not know it to be a fact that–
"Determined to save, He watched o'er our path, When Satan's blind
slaves, we sported with death"? And so, some of the benefits of
Christ's death were ours before we knew Him and before we loved Him!
The reason why I was not damned before I knew the Savior was that He
had said, "Let him go his way. I have died for him." You would have
been in Hell these 20 years, Saint, for you were then unregenerate. But
Christ said, "Let him go his way. If you seek Me, he shall go his way,
sinner though he is." And now, when gloomy fears arise, and dark
thoughts roll over our mind, let this be our comfort! We are still
sinners–guilty and vile–but the same voice says, "Let these go their
way." It is the "let" of command–and who can hinder when God lets in
this sense? "Let these go their way." You are going up Bun-yan's Hill
Difficulty and there are lions at the top. Christians remember this
message, "Let these go their way." You will, perhaps, get into Giant
Despair's dungeon. Here is a key that will fit the lock–"Let these go
their way." You will be tumbling about in the Slough of Despond–here
is a stone to put your foot on to help you to get out–"Let these go
their way." Why? Because they pray? No. Because they serve God? No–the
mandate was given before they did either the one or the other. "Let
these go their way" because Christ died in their place!
The day is coming, and shall soon be here, when you and I shall stretch
our wings and fly away to the land that is very far off. I think I
might picture in my imagination the soul when it has left the body. The
Believer speeds his way up to his native city, Jerusalem, "the mother
of us all." But at the gate one stands and he says, "Have you a right
to admission here? It is written, 'He that walks righteously, and
speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes
his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of
blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high.'
Are you such an one?" "Ah," says the soul, "I hope by Grace I have been
made so; but I cannot claim to have always been so, for 'I the chief of
sinners am.'" "Then how came you here? This gate gives no admission to
those who are sinners." While the angel is thus parleying, I hear a
Voice crying, "Let these go their way" and, forthwith, the gates of
Heaven are opened and every soul for whom Christ died enters into
Paradise!
Come, Saint, close up this simple meditation by looking yonder. See
Christ, with Justice, Vengeance, Wrath, all seeking Him. Lo, they have
found Him! They have slain Him! He is buried! He has risen again! Oh,
see them seeking Him and, as you sit down at His Table, think, "When
they sought Him, they let me go my way." And what a sweet way it is! I
am allowed to come to His Table of Communion. Why? Because they sought
Him. I am invited to hold fellowship with Jesus. Why? Because they
sought Him. I am permitted to have a good hope through Divine Grace
and, more than that, "I know that when this earthly house of my
tabernacle is dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Why am I to go that way? Why? Because they sought Himand found Him!
Otherwise, where had I been now? My place might have been on the
alehouse bench, or, perhaps, in the seat of the scorner. And what would
have been my prospect? Why, that, at the last, I would be in Hell among
the fiends and the lost spirits of the Pit! But now I tread the paths
of righteousness and the ways of Grace. Oh, let me remember why I do
so–it is because they sought You, O precious Lord of mine! They sought
You, my dear Redeemer and my God! They sought Your heart and broke it!
They sought Your head and crowned it with thorns! They sought Your
hands and nailed them to the tree! They sought Your feet and pierced
them! They sought Your body, they slew and buried it! And now, though
the roaring lion may seek me ever so much, he cannot devour me! Never
can I be torn in pieces, never can I be destroyed, for I carry with me
this sweet passport of the King of Heaven, "Let these go their way."
O child of God, take this with you for your safe conduct everywhere!
When men travel abroad, they carry with them a permit to go to this
town and the other. Take this little sentence, Brother or Sister in
Jesus, and when Unbelief stops you, draw it out, and say, "He has said,
'Let these go their way.'" And when Satan stops you, hold out to him
this Divine Mandate, "Let these go their way." And when Death shall
stop you, take out this sweet permit from your Master, "Let these go
their way." And when the Throne of Judgment shall be set and you stand
before it, plead this sentence, plead it even before Your Maker, "My
Master said, 'Let these go their way.'"
Oh, cheering words! I could weep them all out, but I will say no more.
I hope many of you will enjoy the sweetness of them while we gather
around the Lord's Table, in obedience to His gracious command, "This do
in remembrance of Me."
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 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.