Sunday School Lessons

DECEMBER 9; DECEMBER 16, 2018

THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (PART III)

INTRODUCTION:
1. These verses form a fitting conclusion to the most wonderful prayer that was ever prayed on earth. Verses 17-26 contain three most important petitions which our Lord offered up in behalf of His own.
a) He prays for their sanctification. (Verse 17ff)
b) He prays for their unity. (Verse 20ff)
c) He prays that they may at last be with Him and behold His glory. (Verse 24ff)
2. Thus far in our study of our Lord’s great high priestly prayer we have considered:
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PRAYER. (VERSE 1a)
II. CHRIST’S PETITIONS FOR HIMSELF. (VERSES 1a-5)
III. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIS OWN. (VERSES 6-16)
A. HIS PRAYER FOR HIS OWN AS DISTINGUISHED FROM THOSE WHO ARE NOT HIS OWN, AND FOR WHOM HE DID NOT PRAY. (VERSES 6-10)
B. HIS PRAYER FOR THEIR PRESERVATION. (VERSES 11-16)
3. Presently, we will continue with Christ’s prayer for His own, which consists of the three additional petitions mentioned above. (Verses 17-26)

C. THE NEXT THING HE PRAYS FOR ON BEHALF OF HIS OWN IS THAT THEY MIGHT BE SANCTIFIED. (VERSES 17-20)
1. Here is the petition. (Verse 17) “Sanctify them through thy truth (through Thy Word), for thy word is truth.”
a) There can be no doubt that here the word sanctify means “make holy.” They were sanctified, because they were “not of the world.” The prayer is for the further confirming and strengthening, of their faith in holiness, and that the work of grace in them be carried higher thorough their sanctification. (I Thess. 5:23)
b) The wisdom of our Lord in making this petition should be obvious; more holiness is the very thing to be desired for all believers.
(1) Holiness is the great proof of the reality of Christianity. Men cannot ignore the evidence of a godly life.
(2) A holy life adorns one’s faith with a beauty that may sometimes win those who are not convinced by the Word alone.
(3) Holy living prepares Christians for heaven. Heaven would be no heaven to us if we entered with an unsanctified character. There must be a moral “meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light,” as well as a title.
2. We have here two arguments to enforce the petition for their sanctification.
a) The mission they had received from Him. (Verse 18)
(1) Christ speaks with great assurance of His own appointed mission. “As thou hast sent me into the world…”
(2) He speaks with great confidence of the commission He had given His disciples. “So have I sent them into the world.”
(a) He sent them on the same errand, with the same design, to preach the same Gospel. (Ch. 20:21)
(b) It magnified their office, that it came from Christ, and that there was an affinity between His commission and theirs.
b) The merit He had for them is another thing here pleaded. (Verse 19)
(1) Christ designated Himself to the office of Mediator. “I sanctify myself.” He devoted Himself entirely to the undertaking, offering up Himself to God as a sacrifice. (See Heb. 9:12-14)
(2) He made the ultimate sacrifice “that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (Eph. 5:25, 26)

D. HE NEXT PRAYS, ON BEHALF OF HIS OWN, FOR THEIR UNITY. (VERSES 20-22) Next to their purity,He prays for their oneness. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. Unity among brethren is like the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and the dew on Zion’s holy hill. (James 3:17; Psa. 133:2, 3)
1. Those who are included in this prayer; not only this petition, but all the others too. (Verse 20)
a) He prays not only for the eleven who are presently with Him, but for all believers of all times. The propagation of the Gospel began with the eleven and the early church, and has continued from generation to generation down to the present day. (II Tim. 2:2) It is our sacred duty to hand down the pure unadulterated Gospel to the next generation.
b) This prayer is for those who shall become believers, and it also declares by what means they believe. “Through their word.” (See Rom. 10:15-17)
c) It is certainly known to Christ who shall believe on Him. He does not here pray at a venture, upon any contingency regarding the will of man. (Psa. 110:3)
d) Our Lord here prays for all of His elect who shall believe on Him, without regard for their nationality, social status, race, color, or creed.
2. That which is intended in this prayer. “That they may be one.” (Verse 21) The same was said before, (Verse 11),and again in Verse 22. The heart of Christ was clearly much upon this.
a) The oneness for which He prays, no doubt, includes the things of which Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:1-6.
b) He would have all believers animated by the same Spirit. “That they may be one in us.” He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. (I Cor. 6:17)
c) He would have them all to be knit together in the bonds of love and charity, all of one heart. “That they all may be one.”
d) That which Christ here prays for is the communion of the saints. (I John 1:3; Eph. 4:13_
3. Three reasons are given as the basis for this plea.
a) The oneness that is between the Father and the Son. “As thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” All must meet in this center. (I Tim. 2:5)
b) The design of Christ in all of His communications of grace and glory to them. (Verse 22)
c) The good effect their oneness would have upon others. “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (Verse 21) “That the world may know that thou hast sent me.” (Verse 23)
(1) Church unity is an evidence of the truth of Christianity to the world.
(2) Unity in spirit, purpose, and doctrine makes for a powerful evangelical appeal.
(3) Church unity certainly invites the presence and power and blessing of God. (Psa. 133:1-3) Let us therefore make it our endeavor to “keep the unity of the Spirit.” (Eph. 4:3)

E. FINALLY, JESUS PRAYS THAT HIS PEOPLE MAY AT LAST BE WITH HIM IN HEAVEN, THAT THEY MAY BEHOLD AND SHARE IN HIS GLORY. (VERSE 24) “I will,” He says, “that those whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory.” This is a singular and touching conclusion to our Lord’s remarkable prayer. We may well believe that it was meant to cheer and comfort those who heard it. It has surely been for the immense comfort of the saints ever since as we bury our loved ones who die in the Lord.
1. He had prayed that God would preserve, sanctify, and unite as one those who were given to Him; and now He prays that he would crown all his gifts with their glorification.
a) This is to be our method in prayer, first we must pray for grace, and then for glory. (Psa. 84:11)
b) Our all-wise God is certainly not as the foolish builder, who, without a foundation, built his beautiful house upon sand. God will not glorify any whom He has not first sanctified.
2. In this petition our Lord speaks in a manner peculiar to himself. Though He taught us to pray “Our Father” after His own example, it does not become ordinary petitioners to say, “I will.”
a) This authority belongs only to Deity, and particularly in the case of the Son, to the efficacy of His intercession, as having “with His own blood entered into the holy place.” He, as Mediator, thus intercedes with authority. He is both King and Priest. (Heb. 5:6)
b) This intimates His peculiar authority to give eternal life to as many as were given to Him. (Verse 2)
3. The request itself is that all of the elect might come to be with Him in heaven at last.
a) Notice three things wherein the happiness of heaven consists.
(1) It is to be where Christ is. “Where I am.”
(2) It is to be with Him where He is. We shall not only be in the same happy place where Christ is, but the happiness of the place will consist in His presence. This is the fullness of joy.(3) It is to behold His glory. The glory of the Lamb is the brightness of heaven. (Rev. 21:23) The felicity of the redeemed consists very much in beholding this glory, which is the glory of the Father. (Job 19:26, 27; Heb. 1:3)
b) Our hope of heaven is based purely on the mediation and intercession of Christ, because He has said, “Father, I wlll.”
(1) Our sanctification is the evidence of it, (I John 3:3) but it is the will of Christ that is our title. (Heb. 10:10)
(2) Christ speaks here as if He did not count His own happiness complete unless he had his elect to share with Him in it. (Heb. 2:10)
4. The argument to back this request is founded upon the Father’s love for the Son. “For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.” (See Ch. 5:20)

F. THE CONCLUSION OF THE PRAYER. (VERSES 25, 26) The design of these concluding words is to enforce all the petitions for the disciples, especially the last, that they may be glorified. Two things He insists upon and pleads:
1. The request he had to His Father. (Verse 25) He addresses Him, “O righteous Father.” When He prayed for their sanctification, He called Him “holy Father.” When He prays for their glorification He calls Him “righteous Father,” for it is a crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give.
a) The world (which lies in the wicked one) knows nothing of this Righteous One.
b) But, the eternally loved and well-pleasing Son had known Him in righteousness.
c) The disciples, He insists, are distinguished from the world, in that, they have known the Father through the Son Who the Father sent. Christ had known the Father perfectly, and through His mediation, all fo the elect know the righteous Father as well. (Verse 2)
2. The care He had to His disciples. (Verse 26)
a) He had led them into the knowledge of God, and would yet do so more and more.
b) What He had done for them, He would continue to do, that the love wherewith the Father had loved Him might be in them, and He in them, in the Person of the Holy Spirit. (See Ch. 14:17)

NOVEMBER 11 / NOVEMBER 25, 2018

THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (PART II)

INTRODUCTION:
1. The seventeenth of John is a most remarkable chapter, in that, it is the only long prayer of our Lord which the Holy Spirit thought good to record. That He often prayed we know well, but this is the only prayer reported. We have many of His sermons, parables, and conversations, but only this prayer, which, as Matthew Henry notes, “was a specimen of Christ’s intercession.”
2. This prayer, which was offered some time after our Lord and His disciples left the upper room where they had taken the Lord’s Supper together, was very likely heard by the eleven. They all heard the discourses of the three chapters before and there is no reason to think they should not have heard the concluding prayer. Augustine remarks, “The prayer which Christ made for us, He hath also made known to us. Being so great a Master, not only what He saith in discoursing to the disciples, but also what He saith to the Father in prayer for them, is their edification.”
3. The prayer divides naturally into two parts: The first part is a very brief but wonderful prayer which Christ prayed for Himself. (Verses 1-5) The second, and by far largest part, is Christ’s prayer for His own. (Verses 6-26)

PREVIOUSLY, WE CONSIDERED:

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PRAYER. (VERSE 1a)

II. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIMSELF. (VERSES 1b-5)

NOW, WE WILL BEGIN TO LOOK INTO:

III. CHRIST’S PRAYER FOR HIS OWN. (VERSES 6-16)

A. HIS OWN FOR WHOM HE PRAYED ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM THOSE WHO ARE NOT HIS OWN AND FOR WHOM HE DID NOT PRAY. (VERSES 6-10)
1. Whom He did not pray for. “I pray not for the world.”
a) It is not the world in general. (See Verse 21)
b) It is not the Gentile world, as opposed to the Jews.
c) It is the world in distinction from the Elect, who are given to Christ out of the world.
d) Take the world for a heap of un-winnowed grain on the threshing floor, Christ prays for it, for the blessing that is in it, but the Lord perfectly knows those that are His, and He has an eye particularly to them.
2. Whom He did pray for. “…for those that were given Him.”
a) Certainly He means the disciples, but it is doubtless to be extended further to all who come under the same character, who receive and believe His words. (Verses 6, 8)
b) He prays for all that should believe on Him. (See Verse 20) This verse applies not only to the petitions which follow it, but to all that went before and extends to all believers in every place and in every age.
3. The encouragement He had to pray for them, and the general pleas (five in all) which He made.
a) The first general plea is the trust He had been given from the Father concerning them. “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” (Verses 6, 9) the Father had given them to Him, and He had a charge to keep concerning them.
(1) This was meant, first, of the disciples. The Apostles, who were Christ’s gifts to the church, were first the Father’s gifts to Jesus Christ. (See Eph. 4:8, 11; Psa. 68:18)(2) It is designed to extend to all the Elect, for they are elsewhere said to be given to Christ by the Father. (John 6:37, 39)
(3) The Father had authority to give them. “…thine they were.”
(a) They were His as creatures, whose lives were derived from Him.
(b) They were His as law-breakers, whose lives were forfeited to Him. It was this remnant of fallen mankind that was given to Christ to redeem.
(c) They were God’s chosen and their lives and beings were consigned to Christ as His Agent. (Verse 7)
(4) The Father did accordingly give them to the Son. “Thou gavest them to me.”
(a) As elect souls to be redeemed, they were given to Christ to redeem, so that the purpose of God according to election might stand.
(b) As lost sheep in need of a shepherd, the Father gave them to Christ, the Good Shepherd, so that not one of them should perish. (Ch. 10:27-29 and 16)
(c) As children needing to be taught, they were given to the Master-Teacher Jesus Christ. (Heb. 2:13)
b) The second general plea is the care He had taken of them to teach them. “I have manifested thy name to them. I have given them the words which thou gavest me.” (Verse 8)
(1) The great design of Christ’s coming was to manifest God’s Name. His life and teaching bore that witness.
(2) He had faithfully fulfilled this purpose. “I have manifested…I have given…”
(3) He did not seek His own, but in all that He did and taught His aim was to magnify the Father.
(4) This was His prerogative. (Matt. 11:27) Others may publish the name of the Lord (Deut. 32:3), but only Christ can manifest that Name.
(5) Christ will, without fail, manifest God’s Name to all that were given Him.
c) The third general plea is the good effect of the care He had taken of them. “They have kept thy word.” (Vs. 6) “They have known that all things…are of thee.” (Verse 7) “They have received thy words.” (Vs. 8)(1) Received, as the good ground receives the seed.(2) Kept, that is, continued in it.(3) Known, that is, understood it. Note, He speaks in this prayer of things which are not as yet (fully) as though they are; He speaks of them as they shall be after the Holy Spirit is come.(4) Set their seal to it. “They have known surely that I came out from God.” (Verse 8)
d) The fourth general plea is the Father’s own interest in them. “I pray for them…for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine.” (Verses 9, 10)
(1) The consigning of the Elect to Christ in no way made them less the Father’s. In fact, it made them more so,for they would be His by redemption, and restored to Him in righteousness.
(2) The Chosen are taken into covenant-relation to the Father. Christ presents them to Him. Christ has redeemed us not to Himself only, but to God by His blood. (Rev. 5:9, 10) They are first-fruits unto God. (Rev. 14:4)
(3) The foundation on which this plea is based is that the Father and the son are one in essence, and one is interest. “All mine are thine, and thine are mine.”
e) The fifth general plea is His own concern in them. “I am glorified in them.”
(1) He had been glorified in them while here on the earth through their obedience to Him, and their ministry of preaching and working miracles in His Name.
(2) He is to be glorified in them when He shall return to heaven, and they shall mightily carry on the work by His Spirit Who shall be in them. (Acts 1:8)
(3) He shall be glorified in all the saints at His return. (II Thess. 1:10)
4. After prefacing His intercession for His own with these five general pleas, Christ went on to offer up particular petitions for them. These petitions all have to do with spiritual blessing in heavenly things. They are such blessing as were suited to their present state. Our Advocate with the Father is acquainted with all the particulars of our burdens and dangers and difficulties, and knows how to intercede on our behalf.

B. THE FIRST OF HIS PARTICULAR PETITIONING FOR HIS OWN HAS TO DO WITH OUR PRESERVATION. (VERSES 11-16) He commits them to the Father’s custody to this end.
1. The request itself is that they be kept from the world.
a) Not by taking them out of the world, i.e. remove them by death to a better world.
(1) He had work for them to do in the world. (Verse 20)
(2) Though He desires that they be with Him where He is (Verse 24), He leaves them in the world so that they may do good and glorify God upon earth.
b) Not by keeping them totally free from the troubles, toils, and terror of the world.
(1) For their sakes He had overcome the world, so that they might cheerfully endure its persecutions for His sake. (Ch. 16:33)
(2) They were to suffer persecution for their godliness, and through much persecution enter into the Kingdom of heaven. (II Tim. 3:12; Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:36)
c) But rather, by keeping them from the corruption that is in the world; for this He prays. (Verses 11, 15)
(1) Notice, for this, He appeals to His Father as, “Holy Father;” engaging the attributes of God’s holiness for the preservation of His holy ones. “Keep.”
(2) He would have the Father keep them through His own holy Name. “Through thine own name.”
(a) For Thy Name’s sake.
(b) “In Thy Name” (Lit.), i.e. in the knowledge and fear of Thy Name.
(c) Keep them by Thy power; keep them Thyself; preserve them by those means of preservation which you have appointed. (Prov. 18:10)
(3) He would have them kept from the evil that is in the world.
(a) From the evil one, Satan, who is the god of this world.
(b) From evil things, that is, sin; from every thing that leads to it.
(c) Jesus had taught His disciples to pray for deliverance from this evil (same Greek word). It may mean the devil himself, or evil people, or evil influences; all manner of wickedness. As Jesus prays for us, so let us pray for ourselves, for clearly “the evil” is a very real and dangerous threat to our souls.
2. He gives reasons for His requesting Divine preservation.
a) He pleads by reason of the necessity of His leaving, which would prevent His keeping them as He had hitherto done most successfully. (Verses 11, 12)
(1) He had kept them in His Father’s Name, from Whom He, the God-man, had received the sacred charge, having lost none.
(2) The one seeming exception actually was not; for Judas was never given to Christ as were the others, and his apostasy was foretold. (Ch. 13:18, 26, 27; Psa. 41:9)
(3) He now calls upon the Father to take charge of their keeping since He is soon to be leaving this world.
b) He pleads for the Father’s keeping so that they might have His joy fulfilled in them. (Vs. 13) They thought their joy was coming to an end, but under the Father’s care it would be advanced nearer to perfection than ever it had been.
c) He pleads for the Father’s keeping because of the troubles they were sure to meet up with in the world for His sake. (Verse 14)
d) He pleads for the Father’s keeping because of their nonconformity to the world. “They are not of the world,even as I am not of the world.” (Verse 16)
(1) Those may feel safe in God’s custody who do not engage in the world’s interest, nor devote themselves to its service.
(2) Those may in faith commit themselves to God’s custody who are as Christ was in the world, and walk as He walked.

OCTOBER 28, 2018/November 4, 2018

THE GREAT HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (PART I)

INTRODUCTION:
1. This chapter is a prayer; it is the Lord’s Prayer, the Lord Christ’s prayer. There was one which is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” which was meant to teach us how to pray, but it was not His own prayer, because he needed not to pray for forgiveness of sins. (Matt. 6:9-13) This prayer was properly and peculiarly His, and suited Him only as mediator, and is an example of his intercession; and yet it is of great use to us for instruction and encouragement in prayer.
2. The words of prediction and comfort of the preceding chapter were spoken by our Lord to his disciples on the way to Gethsemane. But somewhere along the way, perhaps on the margin of Kidron, just before passing into the scene of His awful conflict, He turned His speech from the disciples to God the Father. Though this prayer was addressed to the Father, it was within earshot of the disciples. How moving His words must have been, and perhaps even more so upon later reflection.
3. This, which is properly “The Lord’s Prayer” is our Lord’s only recorded intercessory prayer, out of the many that proceeded from His lips. Brief prayers are here and there recorded (See Matt. 11:25; John 11:42, 43; 12:28) but nothing to parallel this, which is known as The Great High Priestly Prayer.
4. The prayer divides naturally into two parts: First, Christ’s prayer for Himself which is brief but wonderful and unfathomably deep. (Verses 1-5) Secondly, Christ’s prayer for His disciples, which includes the eleven and all that were given to Him by the Father in the eternal covenant of redemption. (Verses 6-26)
5. In this lesson we will consider, first, the circumstances of the prayer (Verse 1), and secondly, Christ’s prayer for Himself. (Verses 2, 3)

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PRAYER. (VERSE 1)

A. THE TIME WHEN HE PRAYED THIS PRAYER.
1. It was after His farewell discourse. “These words spake Jesus, and…”
a) It was a prayer after the sermon.
b) When He had spoken from God to them, He turned His eyes upward and spoke to God for them. (Ez. 37:4, 9)
c) This prayer was clearly heard by the eleven.
2. It was a preface to His sacrifice which was now about to be offered.
a) It specifies the favor and blessing that His sacrifice was designed to purchase.
b) He thus prayed as a priest now about to offer sacrifice by virtue of which all prayers are to be made.
3. It was a prayer that was a specimen of His intercession which He ever lives to make for us within the veil.

B. THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF THE PRAYER.
1. Just as He did before the tomb of Lazarus, He removed His eyes from the people around Him, and “lifted up his eyes to heaven” (Ch. 11:41)
2. This gesture was not necessary for His own sake, but He was pleased to sanctify it to those for whom it is useful and proper, in that, it symbolizes the lifting up of the soul in prayer to God. (Psa. 25:11)
3. We must ever be mindful that the throne of God is in heaven, and our help comes from on high, where our Lord has ascended. (Psa. 121:1, 2; 23:1, 2)

C. THE PRESSING NECESSITY OF THE PRAYER.
1. The appointed hour for which He was sent into the world was come. “Father, the hour is come.”
2. The “hour” here named is the hour determined in God’s eternal counsels for the sacrifice of Christ, and the final accomplishment of the atonement.
3. That time, which had been promised by God, and expected by saints ever since Adam’s fall, had at length arrived, and the Seed of the woman was actually about to bruise the serpent’s head, by dying as man’s Substitute and Redeemer. Up to this night, “the hour was not yet come” (John 7:30; 8:20), and Christ’s enemies were powerless to hurt Him, but now the hour had come, and the Sacrifice was ready.
a) Augustine says of this that “time did not force Christ to die, but Christ chose a time to die.”
b) “Let us remember, though in a far lower sense, that believers are all immortal ‘til their hour is come; ‘til then they are safe, and cannot be harmed by death.” – J. C. Ryle

II. CHRIST PRAYS FOR HIMSELF. (VERSES 1b-5)

A. HE PRAYS TO GOD THE FATHER. “He lifted up His eyes and said, Father.”
1. Six times in this prayer our Lord uses the title ‘Father.’
2. It is wonderful to know that our great Savior and Redeemer has entitled us who have the Spirit of adoption to also cry, “Abba Father.” (Gal. 4:4-6; Rom. 8:14-16)
3. As our Savior and Elder Brother here prays for us, so He taught us also to pray. (Matt. 6:9)

B. HE PRAYS TO BE GLORIFIED IN ORDER TO HIS GLORIFYING GOD. “Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.”
1. Ryle writes, “The meaning of this sentence must be this: Give glory to Thy Son, by carrying Him through the
cross and the grave, to a triumphant completion of the work He came to do, and by placing Him at Thy right hand, and highly exalting Him above every name that is named. Do this in order that He may glorify Thee and Thy attributes. Do this that He may bring fresh glory to Thy holiness, and justice, and mercy, and faithfulness, and prove to the world that Thou art a just God, a holy God, a merciful God, and a God that keepeth His word. My vicarious death and My resurrection will prove this and bring glory to Thee. Finish the mighty work. Glorify Me, and in so doing glorify Thyself. Finish Thy work, not least of which Thy Son may glorify Thee by bringing many redeemed souls to heaven, to the glory of Thy grace.”
2. Nothing brings such glory to God as the completion of the redeeming work of Christ, by His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Christ seems to be calling upon God to let His death now take place, that He through death may be taken up to glory, and that therein the justice, holiness, mercy, and faithfulness of the Father may be glorified and exhibited to all creation, and that many would be saved to the glory of His Divine wisdom and power.

C. HE PLEADS THAT HE SHOULD GLORIFY THE FATHER ACCORDING TO THE COMMISSION GIVEN HIM. (VERSES 2, 3) He would have the Father to glorify the Son in the execution of the commission to the specific ends for which He had given Him universal power.
1. The origin of His power. “Thou hast given him power.”
a) Man, in his fallen state could only be recovered by being brought under a new type of government which required a special commission, which was given to the Son along with the power to perform.
b) He received this power from God, to whom all power belongs. This power was given to the Son as the sole arbitrator of the grand alliance between God and man.
2. The extent of the power was universal. “Thou hast given Him power over all flesh.”
a) Over all mankind. He has power over the world of spirits, as well (I Pet. 3:22) but being now mediating between God and man, He here pleads His power over all flesh.
b) Over fallen mankind. “Flesh” (Gen. 6:3) Over this sinful race the Lord Jesus has all power, and all judgment is His, the power to bind or loose, acquit or condemn; power to forgive sin.
3. The grand intention and design of this power. “That He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him.”
a) The grand and unfailing design of this power which is given to Christ our Redeemer, is that He should give eternal life to all of the Elect.
b) All are invited to come, but it is a certainty that all who were given to Christ by the Father shall come. (John 6:37)
c) If any would like to know if they are of the Elect, they can know by whether or not they are willing to receive Him and submit to His Lordship. (Matt. 11:28-30’ Rev. 22:17; Luke 9:23)
4. A further explanation as to this gift of eternal life, what it is. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (Verse 3)
a) This verse is given by our Lord as a description of a saved soul. The secret of possessing eternal life consists simply in this: in having a right saving knowledge of the one true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom He had sent to save sinners.
b) The knowledge He means is knowledge which swells in the heart. A true saint is one who “knows the Lord.”This is that knowledge which is renewed in the new creation. (Col. 3:10; also Eph. 4:23, 24)
c) The Christian faith shows us the way to heaven, first, by directing us to God as the Author and Felicity of our being, for Christ died to bring us to God. Secondly, by directing us to Jesus Christ, as the Mediator between God and man.

D. HE PRAYS TO BE GLORIFIED IN CONSIDERATION OF HIS HAVING GLORIFIED THE FATHER. (VERSES 4, 5)
1. Christ reflects on His earthly life and the work that He was sent to do with complete satisfaction. (Verse 4)\
a) He had glorified the Father. To this the Father had Himself audibly borne witness. (Ch. 12:28)
b) He had finished the work that He was given to do. Though He had not yet gone through the last part, that of being made perfect through suffering, yet, says He, “I have finished the work.” This manner of speaking is found also in Verses 11, 12.
2. Christ expects with confidence the joy set before Him. (Verse 5)
a) The glory that He asks for is glory with God. “Glorify thou me with thine own self.”
b) It is the glory that He had with Him from eternity. “…with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
c) This was a most proper evidence of the Father’s full approval of His work, plus, there was an equity in it. “I have glorified thee,…glorify thou me.”
d) We must come to realize by this plea of our Lord, that only those who glorify God on earth will be glorified with Him in heaven. Glorifying God on earth begins with coming to know God through faith in Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, and then, following on to know the Lord by walking even as He walked. (Hos. 6:3a; I John 2:3-6)

OCTOBER 14, 2018

THE CONCLUSION OF CHRIST’S FAREWELL DISCOURSE

INTRODUCTION:
1. Our Lord concludes His farewell discourse with a promise to His disciples that, regarding the things He had been saying to them for their comfort and encouragement, plainer teaching and fuller understanding would come in due time. “The time cometh when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly the Father.”
2. Christ had spoken many things to them in “proverbs” (parables, as the word in translated in John 10:6), and through many figurative expressions, “but,” He says, “the time cometh when…I shall show you plainly the Father.”
a) Some see the time of which He speaks as the forty-day period between His resurrection and ascension.
b) Others believe He refers to the time of His second coming.
c) But, considering the context, and the promises He had made with respect to the Holy Spirit, it is more likely that He is speaking of the time after the pouring out of the Spirit because of those great measures of knowledge which at and after that time were given out.
3. He had before given to His disciples to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven far beyond others (Matt. 13:11), but still, it appears from Chapter 14 and other texts that they had a very confused and imperfect knowledge of the Godhead, and particularly, Christ’s oneness with the Father as the God-man.

I. THE GREAT UNDERSTANDING THAT CHRIST PROMISES TO LEAD THEM INTO IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. (VERSES 23-27) Notice in Verse 25, “I shall shew you plainly of the Father.”

A. THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE INQUIRING OF JESUS, BUT WOULD ASK OF THE FATHER IN HIS NAME. (VERSE 23)
1. Hitherto they had asked questions of Him personally face to face, but the day was coming when they would no longer be able to do so. “In that day ye shall ask me nothing.”
2. This would certainly seem to be a great loss for them, however, one of the reasons why it was expedient for them that He go away (Verse 7) is this, that after the Holy Spirit comes they shall be able to ask the Father in His name.
3. The word rendered “ask” in the first sentence of Verse 23 means to inquire, or to ask for a resolution in a case of doubting. In the second sentence we have another form of the word which signifies to beg in prayer.

B. CHRIST’S MEDIATORIAL OFFICE HAD NOT BEEN EXPLICITLY ESTABLISHED BEFORE, BUT IT SOON WOULD BE. (VERSE 24)
1. Before, under the old economy, prayers were accepted upon account of the Mediator, Who was typified by the temple and the ark, but the explicit naming of Him was not known.
2. Our Lord, in the model prayer dictated to His disciples, gave no direction for addressing God in His name.
3. But now, He was ready to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin, make reconciliation for sin, and establish Himself as Mediator, and encourage His disciples to humbly pray the Father in His name for all blessings they stood in need of.

C. BY CHRIST’S ASCENSION, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT’S COMING, HE WOULD LEAD THEM INTO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD MORE INTIMATELY. (VERSE 25)
1. This is that which Christ intends to give and which all true Christians desire to have.
2. When Christ would express the greatest favor intended for His disciples, He tells them that He will show them plainly of the Father.
3. Of this He had before spoken to them in proverbs, which are instructive, but figurative and not specific. What He had said was very dark compared with what would shortly begin to be revealed.

D. CHRIST’S ASCENSION WILL MEAN THAT THEY SHALL HAVE AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER IN HEAVEN. (VERSES 26, 27)
1. When the Holy Spirit comes, they shall fully and clearly understand how to put up prayers to God in Jesus’ name.
2. He is not here denying that He will advocate for them, for we know that He does. (Rom. 8:34) He is emphasizing the fact that they shall have access directly to the Father through Him. “I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, but that you shall pray the Father yourselves.”
3. Here is a wonderful truth (Verse 27). Because of their love for Christ, and their faith in Him, the Father loved them, and would welcome them and hear their prayers.
4. What better encouragement could we have in prayer than to know that for sake of our faith in Christ, (which confesses that He came from the Father and that we love Him) God welcomes us into the throne room. He holds out the golden scepter to us because we know and love His Son.

II. WORDS OF COMFORT WITH WHICH CHRIST CONCLUDES HIS FAREWELL DISCOURSE.(VERSES 28-33)

A. THE ASSURANCE THAT, THOUGH HE WAS LEAVING, HE WAS, IN FACT, RETURNING TO THE FATHER FROM WHENCE HE CAME. (VERSES 28-32)
1. The plain declaration that He makes of His mission form the father and His return to Him. (Verse 28)
2. In His entrance He came as God manifested in the flesh, and in His exit He is received up into glory.(I Tim. 3:16)
3. “He that descended is the same also that ascended…that He might fill all things.” (Eph. 4:10; John 3:13)

B. THE DISCIPLES EXPRESS THEIR SATISFACTION IN THIS DECLARATION. (VERSES 29, 30)
1. It seems that this statement was better understood by them than all that was spoken before. “Lo, now speakest thou plainly.”
a) Was this statement really more plain than others, or were the eyes of their understanding being opened?
b) It is good when the Gospel is spoken plainly (I Cor. 2:4) yet until the eyes of the understanding are opened we cannot see. (I Cor. 2:14)
c) When Christ speaks plainly to our souls, it brings great joy.
2. Having heard Christ’s plain speech they boldly declared their faith. “Now we are sure.” (Verse 20) Sure of what?
a) That Jesus came forth from God.
b) That He was all-knowing.
c) That He had such complete knowledge that He knew what questions men had before they asked them. In other words, He knows our thoughts. “…and needest not that any man should ask thee.”

C. CHRIST RESPONDED TO THEIR CONFESSION WITH WORDS OF GENTLE REBUKE. (VRS. 30 31) “Do you now believe?” He asked.
1. His question is designed to cause them to give further consideration to their confident statement of faith. “Do you now believe?” (Verse 31)
a) Do you now think you are resolute, and not subject to weakness?
b) Do you now believe? If so, why not before?c) Do you now believe? If now, how about later, when the trial of your faith shall come?
2. He predicts their failure. (Verse 32; Matt. 26:56)
a) “Every man to his own…”
b) Let us not boast of our faith, but rather, let us pray that it fail not when severe trials come.
3. Jesus had assurances of His own comfort notwithstanding. “Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” (Verse 32b; John 8:29)
a) The Father had engaged with Him in His whole mission. (Psa. 89:21)
b) This is a privilege common to all believers by virtue of their union with Christ.

D. JESUS COMFORTS HIS DISCIPLES WITH A PROMISE OF PEACE. (VERSE 33)
1. This is the end that Christ was aiming at through this entire farewell discourse. “These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace.”
a) “These things” would include all that He had said over these last three chapters.
b) His words to us are words of peace.
c) Peace in Christ is the only true peace, for in Him we have peace with God.
d) For every believer He is our peace (Eph. 2:14), but in stark contrast, to the world there is no peace.(Isa 57:19-21)
2. He comforts them with this promise by virtue of His victory over the world.
3. He encourages His disciples to be cheerful in tribulation. (II Cor. 6:10; Rom. 5:3)
4. The grounds of this encouragement He gives. “I have overcome the world.”
a) Christ overcame the prince of this world, disarmed him, and cast him out, and still treads Satan under our feet.
b) As He sends His disciples to preach the gospel to the ends of the world, He says to them, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
c) Though they must expect tribulation in the world, yet they would accomplish their purpose and captivate the world. (Rev. 6:2)
(1) Because Christ has overcome the world before us, we may look upon it as a conquered enemy.
(2) He has conquered the world as Captain of our salvation. By His cross the world is crucified to us.
(3) Because of Christ’s victory, all things are ours, even the world. (3:21, 22) LET US THEREFORE “BE OF GOOD CHEER.”