The Living Care of the Dying Christ

The Living Care of the Dying Christ

(No. 2368)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, JULY 8, 1894.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
15, 1888.

"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 those which You gave Me have I lost none." John 18:8,9.

THE two remarkable miracles which our Lord worked in the Garden of
Gethsemane ought not to be lightly passed over. The first was the
falling to the ground of the soldiers and the servants of the priests.
Jesus did but speak to them and there was such power and majesty about
His Presence and His voice that, "they went backward, and fell to the
ground." They were quite unable to seize Him. Here was a display, in
some measure, of Christ's Divine Power. These men would have fallen
into the grave and into Hell, itself, if Jesus had put forth the full
force of His strength! He only spoke a word and down they fell–they
had no power whatever against Him. Beloved, take comfort from this
miracle! When the enemies and foes of Christ come against Him, He can
easily overthrow them. Many times have there been crises in the
Church's history when it seemed as if the Truth of God would be
destroyed. Then has come the opportunity for Divine interposition. A
word from Christ has vanquished His enemies! They that were waiting,
like lions, ready to leap upon their prey, have been disappointed.
Jesus has but spoken and they have fallen backward to the ground.
Therefore, take heart and be not dismayed even in the darkest hour. Let
Christ only utter a word and the victory is certain to be with

Him!

The other miracle was this, that seeing the company that came together
to take Him, He should be able, at pleasure, to screen His disciples so
that not one of them was injured. The ear of the High Priest's servant
was cut off–it was the opposite party that received the wound–but no
ear of Peter or finger of John was struck. The Apostles escaped
altogether unharmed. The were not able to protect themselves, being a
very small number compared with the posse that had come forth from the
High Priest, yet their Master preserved them! From this we learn that
the Lord Jesus Christ is able to take care of His own. When they seem
to be like so many lambs in the midst of wolves, He can keep them so
that no wolf can devour them. He has done it and He will continue to do
so! "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you the Kingdom." He will preserve you by His own miraculous power
and you need not be dismayed at any force that is arrayed against you.

Think, then, of those two miracles. You may need to remember
them–there may come a time when it shall be a great joy for you to
think of Christ, all ruddy from the bloody sweat, yet driving back His
adversaries with only a word, and rescuing the little handful of His
disciples from anything like harm.

But in my text I notice something which seems to me very
remarkable–"If, therefore," said Jesus, "you seek Me, let these go
their way: that the saying might be fulfilled." After such an
expression, you naturally expect some Old Testament text–something
said by David in the Psalms or by one of the Prophets–but it is not
so! It is, "that the saying might be fulfilled, which He spoke, "Of
them which You gave Me have I lost none." It is but an hour or two
since Jesus uttered this sentence, but it is already among the Inspired
Scriptures and it begins to take effect and to be fulfilled at once! It
is not the age of God's Word, but the Truth of it that constitutes its
power! What Christ had said that very night in prayer was as true and
as much the Word of the King as that which God had spoken by His Spirit
through holy men ages before!

Beloved, learn this lesson–the Word of Christ is to be depended upon!
You may hang your whole destiny upon it! What Christ has said is full
of the Truth of God. He is, Yes and Amen, and so are all His
Words–they stand fast forever

and ever, like His own eternal Godhead. Therefore, since this Word of
Christ, which had only just been spoken, must be fulfilled, believe
that every Word of His will be carried out to the utmost! Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but not one Word which was spoken by our Savior
shall ever fail–it shall not fail even the least of us in our worst
hour of peril! I read this Truth of God in the text with very great
delight. We might have expected to find an Old Testament Scripture
quoted here, but the New Testament Scripture is put upon the same level
as the Old and, coming from the lips of Christ, we are pleased to see
it so soon fulfilled.

The soldiers and officers from the chief priests had come forth that
night especially to arrest Christ. Peter, James, John, Bartholomew,
Thomas and the rest of the Apostles are all there, but Judas has come
to betray, not the servants, but their Master. And they who are with
the traitor have come to take not the disciples, but their Lord. To me,
there is something encouraging about this fact, although it is a dismal
one. The fight of the great adversary is not so much against us as
against our Master. Satan's emissaries are very furious, sometimes,
with the faithful defenders of the Truth, but their fury is not so much
against them as against the Truth and against the Christ who is the
center of that Truth. In olden times, they hated Luther, Calvin and
Zwingli, and the rest of the Reformers, but the main point of attack
was the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And at this day the great fight is around the Cross. Did Jesus die as
His people's Substitute? That is the question and there are some, I
grieve to say it, to whom that text is applicable, "He that despised
Moses' Law died without mercy, under two or three witnesses: of how
much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has
trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the
Covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done
despite unto the Spirit of Grace?" This is the chief aim of the enemy's
assaults–to get rid of Christ, to get rid of the Atonement, to get rid
of His suffering in the place of men! They say they can embrace the
rest of the Gospel, but what, "rest," is there? What is there left? A
bloodless, Christless Gospel is neither fit for the land nor for the
dunghill– it neither honors God nor converts the sons of men!

This is our consolation, that the attack is, after all, against the
Master, Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ is still the great target for
the archer's arrows. Though His enemies do not always let His disciples
go their way, yet they do seek Him–it is against Him that they rave
most of all. As it is the quarrel of God's Covenant, He will fight it
out to the end! And so far as your part in the battle is concerned, as
it is for His Truth, His eternal power and Godhead and His great
Sacrifice, you may safely go through with it, for he who fights for
this cause shall surely have God with him.

Now let us come to our text and try to learn some lessons from it. I
notice here, first, Christ's dying care for His disciples. Then, next,
I see that His care extends to their bodies. And, thirdly, I observe
that His care offers Himself instead of them. He thrusts Himself upon
the edge of the adversaries' sword and says, "If, therefore, you seek
Me, let these go their way."

I. First, then, I call upon you to notice in our text CHRIST'S DYING
CARE FOR HIS DISCIPLES. Let me correct what I have said and put it, THE
LIVING CARE OF THE DYING CHRIST, for you see He is occupied, first of
all, with His disciples' safety. The soldiers have come to seize Him,
but He does not seek to escape. They bind Him, but He does not burst
His bonds. They will take Him to prison and to death, but He has not a
word to say in His own defense. He utters no curse against His
persecutors. His one thought is for His disciples! His ruling passion
is strong in death–His love still masters Him.

This was the more wonderful because He was in the first brunt of the
danger. He had been betrayed by Judas and the High Priest's servants
were gathering about Him to capture Him, yet He was calm and quiet, and
His one thought was concerning the 11 who were with Him. Usually, we
become quieter when we get used to a trouble–it is in the first
fluster of it that we are disconcerted and thrown off balance. I
suppose it is so with you. I know it is so with me. We learn, after a
little while, to look calmly around us. We gird up the loins of our
mind and we begin to think as we should think–but at first we are like
birds driven out to sea by a rough wind–that have not learned, yet, to
manage their wings in the gale. It was not so with our Savior. In that
first moment of attack He still thought of His disciples. Oh, the
splendor of that love which could not be disturbed! Many waters could
not quench it even at their first breaking out, nor could the floods
drown it when they were swollen to their highest! Beloved, Jesus never
forgets you who are His own. Never does anything happen in this world
or in Heaven that leads Him to forget you. He has engraved your names
upon

the palms of His hands–they are written upon His heart! So be it, the
first brunt of your battle or of His own, He still thinks of you and
cares for you.

But it is more remarkable, still, that Jesus thought of His disciples
in the faintness of His agony. All crimson from the bloody sweat, He
rose from under the olive trees, came forward and stood there in the
torchlight before His persecutors. But the light that fell upon His
brow revealed no care for anything but the safety of His followers. His
whole soul had gone out to them. That crimson sweat meant a heart
flowing out at every pore with love for those whom His Father had given
Him, and whom He had so long preserved. I doubt not that He was faint
with the dreadful agony. He must have been brought to the very lowest
point of endurance by it, yet He still thought of His disciples!
Beloved, when you and I are sick and faint, other people do not expect
us to think of them. We grow a little selfish when we are weak and
ill–we want someone to moisten our lips, we expect our friends to
watch over us and wipe the sweat from our brow. It was not so with our
Master! He came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister! And He
does so by saying to the rabble throng, "If, therefore, you seek Me,
let these go their way."

And mark, dear Friends, that our Lord Jesus was not only in the brunt
of danger, and in the faintness of His agony, but He was in full
prospect of a cruel death. He knew all that was to be done to Him. When
you and I have to suffer, we do not know what is before us–it is a
happy circumstance that we do not. But Jesus knew that they would
buffet Him, that they would blindfold Him, that they would spit in His
face, that they would scourge Him. He knew that the crown of thorns
would tear His temples. He knew that He would be led forth like a
malefactor, bearing the gallows on His shoulder. He knew that they
would nail His feet and hands to the cruel Cross. He knew that He would
cry, "I thirst." He knew that His Father must forsake Him on account of
the sin of man that would be laid upon Him. He knew all that! These
huge Atlantic billows of grief already cast their spray in His face.
His lips were salt with the brine of His coming grief, but He did not
think of that–His one thought was for His Beloved, those whom His
Father had given Him. Till He dies, He will keep His eye on His sheep
and He will grasp His Shepherd's crook with which to drive the foe from
them. Oh, the all-absorbing, self-consuming love of Christ! Verily, it
was like coals of juniper which have a most vehement flame! Do you know
that love, Beloved? If so, let your hearts reciprocate it–loving Him
in return with all the strength of your life and all the wealth of your
being! Even then you can never love Him as He has loved you.

I must add that it was all the more remarkable that Jesus should
continue to think of His disciples at such a time when He knew what
they were. They had been asleep, even while He was in the bloody sweat!
Even the three whom He had chosen as His bodyguard and stationed within
a stone's throw of His terrible agony, had slept! Jesus also knew that
the 11 would all forsake Him and flee, and that one of them would even
deny Him. Yet He thought of them. O Lord, how can You think of such
sinful creatures as we are? I feel glad that these Apostles were not
perfect. We must not rejoice in anything that is evil, but still, it is
some comfort to me that though they were such poor creatures as they
were, Jesus cared for them, for now I can believe that He loves me!

Though I sleep when I ought to wake and watch with Him, yet He loves
me. Although, under the brunt of a strong temptation, I may flee–He
still loves me! Yes, and even if I should deny Him, yet I can
understand that, as He loved Peter, He may still love me. O faulty
saints, you who love Him and yet often fail Him! You who trust Him and
yet are oftentimes dismayed! Gather strength, I pray you, from this
wonderful love of Jesus! Is not the love of Christ a mass of miracles,
all wonders packed together? It is not a subject for surprise that He
should love, but that He should love such worms as we are–that He
should love us when we were dead in trespasses and sins, that He should
love us into life, should love us despite our faults, should love us to
perfection–and should love us till He brings us to share His Glory!
Rejoice, then, in this wondrous care of Christ–the dying Christ with a
living care for His disciples!

II. But now, secondly, HIS CARE EXTENDS TO THEIR BODIES.

I will not be long upon this point, but I want you to note some of the
sweetness there is in it. When I was reading to you, just now, you must
have noticed that our Lord said, "Those that You gave Me, I have kept,
and none of them is lost." Surely He meant that He kept them from
wandering into sin, did He not? Did He not mean that He kept them unto
eternal salvation? Undoubtedly He did, but the greater includes the
less. He who keeps a man, keeps the whole man– spirit, soul and body.
So our Lord Jesus, here, interprets His own prayer, which dealt with
the souls of His people. He mainly interprets it as to their bodies,
for He bade those who came to seize Him to let His disciples go,
saying, "If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go their way."

You say to me, "That is a small interpretation of a great utterance." I
know it is and that is the comfort of it, that if there are small
meanings to the promises, you may quote them and pray for them, as well
as believe in and pray for the greater and immeasurable meaning of the
promises! I like to believe that He who loves me as an immortal spirit,
loves me as a mortal man. He who loves me as I shall be before His
Throne in Glory, loved me as I was when I hung upon my mother's
breast–and loves me as I now am–with many a weakness and infirmity
clinging to me! He who takes care of the soul, takes care of the body,
too.

Notice that this care of our Lord was effectual. Is it not amazing that
none of those soldiers and servants of the High Priest touched one of
the eleven? Is it not remarkable that Malchus, having lost his right
ear, did not feel it his duty to thrust at Peter? But the Savior
interposes and just touches the wounded ear, and it is healed! And
Peter is allowed to go. That act of Peter was enough to bring on a
battle royal all round and we know that the whole eleven had only two
swords between them. They could have made only a very feeble stand
against a band of armed men, yet not one of them was injured. How well
does Jesus protect His own!

What is more remarkable, the Apostles were not harmed at the time of
Christ's death. It would not at all have surprised me if the mob that
cried, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," had also said, "Here are some of His
disciples, let us also put them to death! Let us increase the agonies
of the dying Nazarene by the slaughter of His disciples before His
eyes." Yet not a dog moved his tongue against them! And when it was
reported that Christ had risen from the dead, why did not His enemies
pounce upon Mary Magdalene and the rest of the women? Forty days was
Jesus on the earth and I do not find that in all that time there was
any hindrance to the coming or going anywhere of any of His disciples!
After the Holy Spirit had been poured out, there came a time of
persecution, but until then it was not in the Savior's mind that the
Jews should touch one of His disciples–and they could not. The devil
cannot go any farther than his chain permits–and the worst enemies of
Christ can do no more than Christ allows. What an effectual care was
this of the Master which held the broad shield of His Divine protection
not only over the eleven, but also over all the rest of the faithful!
He was at His lowest when they took Him, bound Him and led Him away,
but even then, with His Sovereign Word, He protected His people from
all harm–as to their bodies as well as their souls.

Notice, also, that it was necessary that they should have special
protection. Jesus meant them all to remain alive to see Him after His
death, that they might be witnesses of His Resurrection. They were a
little handful of seed corn and He would not have one grain wasted,
because it was by that precious wheat that His Church was to be fed and
the world was to be sown with spiritual life!

Besides, they were not ready, yet, to bear persecution. Afterwards they
bore it manfully, joyfully–but just now they were poor feeble children
until the Spirit of God was poured out. Brothers and Sisters, the Lord
Jesus Christ can shelter us from sickness and from every kind of bodily
affliction until we are fit to bear it. And He can also preserve us
from death till our work is done. It is a good saying, though it is not
a Scriptural one, "We are immortal till our work is done." If God has
given you anything to do, get to the doing of it! The time is short,
but dream not that you shall be cut off too soon! You have a work for
your time and you shall have time for your work. Believe it and you may
go between the jaws of behemoth without a fear, while God has work for
you to accomplish for Him! Therefore, be not afraid, for Jesus says,
"Let these go their way."

Once more, the care which the Lord took of His people was much better
than their own care. See, Peter is going to take care of his Master,
but he makes a poor mess of it. But when his Master took care of him,
that was a very different affair. Peter is going to fight for his
Brothers–out comes the sword–off goes the ear of Malchus! And Peter
probably regretted that he had not cut off his head. But what good did
Peter do? He only increased the danger they were in and made the men
feel the more furious against them. But Christ's Word was ample–here
was sufficient defense for all the Apostles, "Let these go their way,"
and go their way they did! Brothers and Sisters, we would do a deal
better in many things if we did not do anything at all! There is many a
man who is drowning and makes his drowning sure by his struggling. I am
told that if he could but lie still on his back, he would float! And I
believe that in many a trouble we make the trouble 10 times worse by
our kicking and plunging.

"O rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." Especially do so if
it is a matter of scandal. If anybody speaks evil of you, do not answer
him. I have had a great deal of experience of this kind–perhaps as
much as anybody–and I have always found that if I get a spot of mud
anywhere on my coat, and I proceeded to brush it off, it is much worse
than be-

fore. Leave it alone till it is dry–then it will come off easily.
Perhaps even then you had better leave somebody else to do your
clothes-brushing and your boot-cleaning–you cannot do it nearly so
well, yourself, as somebody else can do it for you. I say again, we
should do better, often, if we did nothing. These 11 Apostles did best
when Peter had put up that ugly old sword of his and left off fighting
and, at His Master's Word, went away safe and sound from the armed men
who had arrested His Lord.

Beloved, you are all right if you are in Jesus Christ's hands–right
for your body, right for your estate, right for your character, right
for little things as well as for great–if you just leave all in those
dear hands that never fail, because they act for the dear heart that
never ceases to beat with infinite affection towards all those whom the
Father has given to

Him.

III. I have continued longer than I intended, so I am coming, now, to
the third and last point, which is this– CHRIST'S CARE LED HIM TO
OFFER HIMSELF INSTEAD OF HIS PEOPLE.

Jesus said, "If, therefore, you seek Me, let these go their way." This
was as much as to say, "You cannot hurt both Myself and My people."
This is a great Truth of God, though I put it very simply to you. When
the judgments of God are abroad, it is not possible that they should
fall on both Christ and His people. Was Jesus Christ the Substitute for
His people? Grant that, then, if the punishment of sin fell on Christ,
it cannot fall on those for whom Christ died! It is not according to
natural justice, much less Divine Justice, that the Substitute should
suffer first, and then the person for whom He stood as Substitute
should also suffer. That cannot be! Why have a Substitute at all unless
that Substitute, by His suffering, clears those for whom He was
substituted?

I will give you a very simple illustration. You will find it in the
Book of Deuteronomy. There is the old Divine ordinance that when a man
found a bird's nest and there were young birds in the nest, if he took
the young, he must let the mother bird go free, he must not take
both–that was contrary to the Divine Law. So, Christ may die, or His
people may die–but not both of them. Justice will not have it that
they shall both suffer. And the Lord Jesus Christ gives a tongue to
that great Law when He says, "If you seek Me, here I am, but let these
go their way, for you cannot take us both." That were contrary to the
sacred Law and to the Divine equity which lies at the bottom of
everything that is true. Did Christ, my Ransom, die for me? Then I
shall not die. Did He pay my debt? Then it is paid and I shall not be
called upon to pay it–

"If You have my discharge procured, And freely in my place endured The
whole of wrath Divine. Payment God cannot twice demand– First at my
bleeding Surety's hand, And then, again, at mine."

Did Jesus suffer in my place outside the city gate? Then, turn you, my
Soul, unto your rest, since He died for you! Justice could not claim
both the Surety and those for whom He stood as Substitute! And,
Beloved, it was the Master who died. They did seek Him, they did take
Him, they did crucify Him–He did bear it all as His people's
Substitute. "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Do not
be deceived about this matter, but grip it as a fact most sure that the
Lord Jesus Christ did bear His people's sins in His own body on the
tree. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes
we are healed." Brothers and Sisters, I am not making this up and
telling you words of my own. These are the precious Truths of Holy
Writ, Divinely Inspired. Oh, that all would believe them!

Christ has suffered in the place of His people. What then? As I have
said to you, before, both cannot suffer, therefore, as Jesus suffered,
you who are His people are clear. Perhaps you will go down to the
grave. Unless the Lord should speedily come, we shall die, but, since
Jesus died, death cannot hold us! The resurrection trumpet will ring
out its silver note and this will be the message to the dull cold ear
of death, "Since I died, let these go their way," and every sepulcher
shall open wide, the caverns of death shall no longer enclose the
bodies of the saints, but from beds of dust and silent clay the whole
of Christ's redeemed shall rise! Because He lives, they shall also
live! Death sought Him and, therefore, death must let these who belong
to Him go their way!

And as for Justice, there comes the dread tremendous day, the day for
which all other days were made–the Day of Judgment and of condemnation
of ungodly men! Shall I stand shivering before that eternal Judgement
Seat? No, not so! Shall I feel the earth quake beneath me and see
Heaven splitting above me, and the stars falling like withered leaves
in

autumn? Doubtless it will be so. Will the avenging angel come with his
dread sword of fire and sweep us poor sinful ones away? He will, unless
we are in Christ! But if we are among the blood-redeemed ones, he must
stay his fiery vengeance, for there shall come a voice from the risen
and reigning Savior, "You have smitten Me, therefore let these go their
way." And because He died for us, we shall go our way! Which way? Up
yonder shining staircase made of light! Up where the angels come and
go, we shall make our way, like children who run upstairs at home, up
into the world of the Light of God and to the home of Glory where our
Savior's face is the sun and His Presence makes Heaven! Yes, and this
shall be our permit for ascending there–Jesus has loved us and has
died to redeem us from our sins.

With this I close, dear Hearers. When I come into this pulpit and
especially during the last two or three Sunday nights when I have felt
my head swim at the sight of you, I seem like one standing on a high
cliff, half afraid to remain there–and I think to myself, "Shall I
long preach to these people?" Well, well, whether I do or do not, I
would press home this question upon your consciences as I shall meet
you in that Great Day–have you a share in Jesus Christ's love and
care? Did He bear your sins in His own body on the tree? Do you believe
in Him? That is, do you trust Him? Have you put your soul into His
hands that He may save it? If so, you are justified by Him, you are
saved in Him!

Say, dear Friend, next–do you obey Him? Is He your Master and Lord? Is
His will the supreme law of your life? Or do you wish it to be so and
pray to make it so? Then again you may go your way, for Christ has
stood in your place. Do you suffer with Him? Are you willing to suffer
for Him? There are some who will go with Christ if He will put on His
silver slippers, His purple mantle and His jeweled crown. How good they
are! How bravely will they say, "I am a Christian," when everybody will
throw primroses in their path! Yes, but when people sneer and call you
an old Puritan, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or some other pretty
name–and when those who preach to you are much abused and evil things
are said of them–can you take the side of a despised Christ? Can you
stand at His Cross? Can you acknowledge Him when the blood is dripping
from His wounds, when everybody thrusts out their tongue at Him and
have ill words for the Crucified One? Can you say, "I still love Him"?

Remember the good Scotch woman, when Claverhouse had murdered her godly
husband. "Ah," he said, "what do you think of your bonny husband, now?"
She answered, "I always thought my man was very beautiful, but I never
saw him look as lovely as he does now, that he has died for his
Master." Can you say the same of Christ? He was always precious to me.
I love Him in every shape and form, but when I see Him put on His
crimson robe and bleed at every pore for me. When the rubies are in His
hands and on His feet, and I see Him still despised and rejected of
men, I love Him more than ever! And I love His Cross and take it up. I
love His shame and His reproach, and count it "greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt." If it is so with you. If you are with Him in His
shame, I will guarantee that you shall be with Him in

His Glory!

I count it to be a mean position to be only with a reigning Christ on
earth and to go with Him only in fair weather. Oh, but this is the
pledge and proof of love–if you are with Him when the snowflakes blow
into your face and the storm comes hurtling against you–and you can
follow bravely where He leads the way! God make you such followers of
the Crucified! May your feet know what it is to be pricked with thorns,
or your head will never know what it is to feel the weight of the Glory
diadem! May you be willing to be despised and rejected, for if not, you
have thrown away your crown! God bless you, dear Friends, and blessed
be His name for helping me, again, to speak to you tonight! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: John 17:1-12; 18:1-14.

1. These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come. This is, in a very special sense, our Lord's
prayer. What a word that is from the lips of Jesus, "Father"! This was
the night of His deepest sorrow and His heaviest woe, but He begins His
prayer with this tender expression, "Father, the hour is come." The
hour of darkness, the hour of His passion and death had now arrived.

1. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son, also, may glorify You. Did Jesus
look upon His suffering as His Glory? He does not merely pray, "Sustain
Your Son," but, "Glorify Your Son." In truth, our Lord's lowest stoop
was His highest Glory! He was never more resplendent than when He hung
upon the Cross–that was His true spiritual throne, so He prayed,
"Glorify Your Son"–Enable Him to bear the agony and to pass through it
to Glory. "That Your Son, also,

may glorify You." The death of Christ was a great glorifying of God. We
see His love and His justice rendered more glorious in the death of
Christ than they would have been by any other method!

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 this verse you get
the doctrines of General and Particular Redemption blended. By His
death, Christ obtained power over all flesh. His death had some
relation to every man, but the special objective of it was the
salvation of the elect. The purpose of the shower is to water one
particular field, but the rain falls everywhere, so plenteous is the
bounty of God. The objective of Christ's Atonement is to purchase
eternal life for those who were given to Him by His Father, but He has
also obtained power over all flesh.

3. And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. To know God is eternal life.
If you know God, if you know Jesus Christ whom He has sent, you are
spiritually quickened. That knowledge has brought to you, no, it is, in
itself, the new life–"This is life eternal"–not life for a few years
but life eternal. Mark the final perseverance of the saints, how they
shall hold on and hold out forever.

4. I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work which
You gave Me to do. Jesus regards His work as already done, although He
had yet to die, to pay the ransom price for His people. Yet, by a leap
of holy faith, He says, "I have finished the work which You gave Me to
do."

5. And now, O Father, glorify You, Me, with Your own Self with the
Glory which I had with You before the world was. Jesus had laid aside
His Glory for our sakes. Now He asks that His work, being regarded as
done, His Glory may be given back to Him.

6. I have manifested Your name unto the men which You gave Me out of
the world: Yours they were, and You gave them Me: and they have kept
Your Word. God's people belong to Him. He gives them to His Son–Christ
gives them His Word and they keep it. "They have kept Your Word." Do we
keep God's Word? Do we hold to it? Do we make it the guide of our whole
life? Do we seek to obey it? This is the token of God's chosen people.

7-12. Now they have known that all things whatever You have given Me
are of You. For I have given unto them the Words which You gave Me; and
they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from
You, and they have believed that You did send Me. 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; and I am
glorified in them. 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 way 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 ofperdition;
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Christ always has kept His
people! He still keeps His people and He will keep His people forever!
The sheep shall be delivered into the hands of the Father in full
number–there shall not be one of them missing in that day when they
shall pass under the rod of the Great Shepherd. We cannot read all this
prayer of our Lord, tonight. We must now go, in the language of the
next chapter, with the Master into the garden of His grief.

John 18:1. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His
disciples over the brook Kidron. A dark, foul brook through which
flowed the blood and refuse from the Temple. King David crossed that
brook one night in bitter sorrow–and now the Savior crossed it when it
was near to midnight–"He went forth with His disciples over the brook

Kidron."

1-2. Where was a garden, into the which He entered, and His disciples.
And Judas, also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes
resorted there with His disciples. Our Lord went there to pray and
Judas knew that this was His custom. Are we such men of prayer that
others know where we pray? Have you some familiar place where you go to
meet your Lord? I am afraid that many know where we trade and many know
where we preach but, perhaps, few know where we pray. God grant that we
may be often at the Mercy Seat! We would be better men and women if we
were more frequently at the Throne of Grace.

3. Judas, then, having received a band of men and officers from the
chiefpriests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and
weapons. "Lanterns" to give light to the Sun! "Torches" to discern the
Light of the World! "Weapons" with which to fight with the Lamb of God,
the unarmed Sufferer! Strange treatment, this, for Him who came to save
and bless!

4. 5. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should came upon Him,
went forth and said unto them, Whom do you seek? They answered Him,
Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am He. Or, "I Am." It is
remarkable that Jesus should, in His betrayal, twice use this
expression, thus uttering the very name of Jehovah!

5. And Judas, also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. What a
hardened wretch he must have been, to be able to stand with them! One
would have thought that, having betrayed his Master, he would have
hidden himself away for shame, but no, "Judas, also, which betrayed
Him, stood with them." His heart must have been steeled.

6. As soon, then, as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward
and fell to the ground. Christ's Almighty Power cast them down at once!
He needed not to lift His hand or even His finger–He only said, "I am"
and, "they went backward and fell to the ground."

7. Then asked He them, again, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth. Do they return to the fray? Having once felt Christ's Divine
Power, do they summon courage enough to attack Him again? Yes, for
there is no limit to the malice and impudence of the human heart!

8-10. 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. Then Simon
Peter–Always ready to boil over. Always full of zeal and rash
impetuosity, Peter–

10. Having a sword, drew it and struck the High Priest's servant and
cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Mal-chus. Peter struck at
his head–he was not content with trying to wound–he meant to kill
Malchus. But he, "cut off his right ear."

11-14. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up your sword into the sheath:
the cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it? Then the
band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him,
and led Him away to Annas first; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas,
which was the High Priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which
gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die
for the people. Saying a great deal more than he thought he was saying,
for he uttered a great Gospel Truth when he said, "It was expedient
that one man should die for the people."