Let us turn once again to God's
Word and turn into the portion that we read in the 17th chapter
of the Gospel according to St. John and reading again at verse
24 John 17 and verse 24 Father I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold My
glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the
foundation of the world." Jesus of Nazareth was evidently
a man of prayer. We read of Him in Hebrews chapter
5 and verse 7, who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered
up supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death and was hurt in that he feared. He was one then who lived the
life of faith and that faith was so evident in the way in
which he was constantly expressing his dependence upon God by the
manner of his praying. And so in his prayers, do we
not see something of the reality of his human nature? And it is of vital importance
that we have a clear understanding concerning the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that we understand something of that great mystery
of the two natures in that one person, how he is both God and
man, the nature's distinct and yet he is of course but one person
and remember how it is John who is the great champion really
of the doctrine of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ here
in his gospel, He plainly declares to us the truth of His deity. We can think of those great I
Am passages in which clearly Christ is revealing Himself as
the One that appeared to Joseph, the great God of Israel, Jehovah,
the God of the Covenant, who declared there at the burning
bush, I Am that I Am But John doesn't only speak of the deity
of Christ, he speaks also clearly of the human nature of Christ. And he says some very striking
things when we turn to the content of that first general epistle
of John. There in chapter 4 of 1 John, And in the opening verses we
find John declaring, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God's, because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. is of God, and every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even there already
is it in the world." John then says here quite clearly that
the false prophet, the one who manifests the spirit of Antichrist,
is that person who denies the reality, the truth of the human
nature of the Lord Jesus. And he repeats this truth in
the second epistle. Similar words there at verse
7. Many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a
full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abides
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. How important it is that we understand
something concerning the truth of the human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I was thinking of these things
only this last week, Been a beautiful week, of course, with the weather,
but oft times been very hot and sticky through the night and
maybe, like me, you've not always been able to sleep well. But
I remember one morning, I think it was Tuesday morning, went
awake quite early and lying there in bed and trying in some way
to meditate upon the truth. of the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the reality of that human nature and how we see it
so clearly in the fact that when he lived as a man upon the earth
he was one who was very subject to the will of God. As God of course, he is that
one who is equal with the Father. and his will is the same as the
father's and yet we have that mystery when we see him as a
man he comes down from heaven he says not to do his own will
but the will of him who had sent him he was submissive his life
was a life of simple obedience to the father And I say again
that we see that life of faith revealed to us in the way in
which the Lord Jesus so often is found in prayer. And of course
this is one of those most striking of all the prayers that are recorded
here in Holy Scripture, this high priestly prayer of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And how we see the burden of
His prayer here, He prays, but he prays quite clearly for the
church. His prayer, in that sense, is
a particular prayer. His priesthood, of course, is
a particular priesthood, and here we see him as a praying
priest. What does he say in verse 9?
I pray for them. This is those that the Father
had given to him. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given Me, for they
are Thine. And then again at verse 20, Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe
on Me through their were. All the time we see here that
his prayer is for as many as the Lord God had given unto him
in the eternal covenant. He prays for a particular people,
he's a priest and as a priest he doesn't only pray but he also
makes sacrifice. And the sacrifice he makes of
course is in that sense also limited to as many as God the
Father had given to him. There is a certain unity in his
priestly office. He prays for those that the Father
had given to him, the very ones that he had come to redeem by
the shedding of his precious blood. And now he prays. He prays
there that God will preserve these that have been given to
him. Verse 11, he says, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. Verse 15, I pray not that they
should just take them out of the world, but that they should
just keep them from the evil. He wants to see them preserved,
faithful, as they live their lives in this world. He prays
also again here for their purity of life, for their sanctification
in life, He says at verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Again at verse 19, for their
sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. He sanctifies himself, he is
set apart to this great work that the Father has given him
to do. He will accomplish all the Father's goodwill and pleasure. This is what he is set to do
and set apart to do. And so he prays that his people
might also be a people who are set apart from the world, not
conforming to the ways of this world, but a sanctified people.
Furthermore, we see how He prays particularly for the unity of
His people. Verse 21, that they all may be
one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they
also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast
sent me, and the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them,
that they may be one. even as we are one, I in them
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them as thou hast loved me." All Christ is praying here, as
a priest he's praying for his people, and then in the words
that I announced at the beginning, verse 24, he prays for the glorification
of his people. Father, he says, I will, that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. Had not God made
choice of them? Whom he did foreknow he also
did predestinate, and whom he did predestinate him he also
called, and whom he called him he also justified, and whom he
justified. them be also glorified." Here
is the last link in that golden chain that we have back in Romans
chapter 8, that they might be glorified, that they might be
preserved to see the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is praying then here. He is a man of prayer. But notice here also some difference
in the manner of his address. in verse 9 he says I pray for them again
in verse 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world and then in verse 29 I pray I for these alone but for them
also which I believe under it He's praying. But when we come
to these words in verse 24, He says, Father, I will. It's a
different word that is employed here. And it's this that I particularly
want to concentrate on this morning. These opening three words that
we have in this 24th verse. Father, He says, I will. And it was this really that I
was so taken up with in the earlier part of this week, the relationship
between God's will and Christ's will. When we think of the Lord
Jesus, we think of course in terms of one who is the eternal
son of the Father. He is, we say, the second person
in the Godhead. of the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit and God's will is one just as God himself
is one but then when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ in the
state of his humiliation here upon the earth we see him as
God's man and we're not to think that as God's man he has two
wills, he has the will of God and the will of man, his will
is one. And here is the mystery you see, when he utters such
words as we find him speaking and praying there in the garden
of Gethsemane. He says, not my will but thine
be done. What is the relationship between
Christ's will and the will of God? How can we explain these
things? Is the will of Christ something
that is different and distinct? This is the sort of thing that
I was pondering as I lay there in the early hours of Tuesday
morning thinking about the great mystery of the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the life that he lives here upon the earth.
And that's what I want to try to deal with in some measure
this morning, to take up the matter of the will of God in
the first place and then to say something with regards to the
faith. of the Lord Jesus Christ as we see Him as God manifest
in the flesh. First of all, let me say something
with regards to the divine will. These are very basic truths,
I'm sure we recognize that. God's will of course is sovereign,
it must be so. To speak about the sovereignty
of God in a sense is using tautology. We don't need to say that God
is sovereign, we only need to say that God is God. If God is
not sovereign, in no sense is he really God. Let God be God. And now we should
be those who would bow to that great truth and that comforting
truth really of the absolute sovereignty of God. And now it's
unfolded to us here in the Word of God. Remember the language
of the Prophet Isaiah speaking there in chapter 46 of the prophecy? and speaking of course very much
as the mouth of God. What is the language of the prophets?
Thus and thus saith the Lord. These men are raised up to speak
the words of God. And this is the language that
we have there in Isaiah 46. Verse 9, Remember the former
things of old for I am God and there is none else. I am God
And there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. It is the
truth of God's absolute sovereignty. There is none like unto God.
His counsel stands, and God will do all of His good pleasure. The psalmist again says quite
simply in Psalm 115, Our God is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. God's will is a sovereign will. And only recently we read that fourth chapter in the book
of the Prophet Daniel, where we see one of the greatest emperors
that this world has ever known, the great Nebuchadnezzar, the
emperor of the great Babylonian Empire, so humbled to the dust. how God devices that man so proud
a man as he beholds the wonders of Babylon and remember in the
ancient world the hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven
wonders of the world they say and he looks at all the works
that he has made and he congratulates himself and then you remember
how his reason is taken from him and he behaves like a brute
beast and then he is brought to acknowledge the sovereignty
of God how all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as
nothing and he doeth according to his will among the armies
of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay
his hand or say to him what doest thou. Oh that great man was brought
to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews those people whom
he had transported and taken into bondage into Babylon that
their God was the only living and true God God's will is a
sovereign will that is the first thing that we must recognize
the sovereignty of the divine will and even in our day and
generation amongst all the confusion that we might hear of and witness
on every hand yet God is sovereign and in his providence he is working
out his own eternal purpose he knows the end from the beginning
he makes no mistakes isn't that a comfort too wise to be mistaken
too good to be unkind or let us be those friends who would
look up then and recognize that it is God in the heavens who
is reigning over nations and over individuals. His sovereignty
is absolute in our poor lives, in your life as well as in mine. The divine will. And as the divine
will is a sovereign will, so also God's will is one. There is a certain simplicity
really to the will of God. In Job 23, 13, we're told, He
is in one mind. He's in one mind. And who can
turn Him? And what His soul desireth, even
that He doeth. There is a unity in the divine
will. There's a unity in the Godhead. God is one. Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord. That's the great truth that's
so emphasized in the Old Testament Scriptures. There is but one
God and the gods of the nations all around about Israel, they
are but the works of men's hands, our idols. It is the one God who has made
heaven and earth. It is the one God who sustains
all of his creatures. There are indications here in
the Old Testament concerning the doctrine of the Trinity,
but it's not until we come to the New Testament and Christ
and His appearing that we have the fullness of the revelation
of the great doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one, but
God is three, three distinct persons in one Godhead. But how we see so clearly in
the Scripture there is but one God. one God. And the Lord Jesus says here
in John chapter 10 and verse 30, I and my Father are one. I and my Father are one. And you know there's that much
disputed verse in the fifth chapter of John's first general epistle
concerning the three in heaven But we believe there's evidence,
sufficient, more than sufficient evidence to indicate that this
is truly part of Holy Scripture, though there might be those who
want to tear it from the page of Scripture. There are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one. God's will is one, you see. What
the Father wills, the Son wills, and what the Son wills, the Holy
Spirit wills. God's will, like God Himself,
is one, undivided. And God's will is seen to be
one when it is revealed to us in the Great Covenant, in the
Covenant of Christ. we read in Zechariah chapter
6 and verse 13 of the Council of Peace that is the Council
of Redemption, the Covenant the Council of Peace shall be between
them both that is between the Father and the Son together with
the Holy Spirit how God has entered into a covenant with himself
the covenant of redemption, the covenant of grace. Now, this
17th chapter of John's Gospel, of course, is to be understood
and interpreted in terms of that great covenant. What we have
here is a covenant prayer. See how the prayer opens here? As Christ lifts his eyes to heaven,
and addresses his father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son
that thy son also may glorify thee as thou hast given him power,
literally authority, as thou hast given him authority over
all flesh. that He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is
clearly praying here in terms of that covenant. He is equal
to the Father, He has the same authority as the Father, but
here He speaks of the covenant and that power or that authority
that was given to Him in the outworking of the covenant. Thou
hast given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given Him. Clearly He is speaking
here in terms of the Covenant wherein the Father had given
Him a people to redeem and had given Him authority to come and
redeem that people. And now He has accomplished that
work. In the Covenant of course we
see Christ as that One who is the Servant of God, behold my
servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I
have put my Spirit upon him, he is the Christ, the Anointed
One, the Father giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. Now let me remind you again,
in the Godhead of course, the Son is equal to the Father, the
language of the creeds He is very God of very gods, begotten
not made of one substance with the Father. How these things
were so hammered out in the early centuries of the Christian era,
when various heresies began to appear, and those great orthodox
creeds were drawn up, declaring the great mystery of the doctrine
of God. and the equality of the three
persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And see, Christ can speak
here in verse 5 of that glory which He did have with the Father.
Glorify Thou me with Thine own glory, He says, with Thine own
self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
He had all the glory that belongs to God. He had the same glory
as that that belonged to God the Father. And so you see in
a sense when we come to these words at the beginning of verse
24, and he prays, Father I will, we remarked at the outset how
previously it's spoken in terms of of praying verse 9 and verse
15 he simply says I pray, what is praying? Praying is pleading
but here in verse 24 there is in a sense that language that
is mandatory he can speak to God you see in a sense as one
who is truly equal he is equal to the Father he can say I will
as he addresses the Father. How are we to pray? Well, we
are creatures. Our language is to be the language
of submission. When the Lord Jesus himself teaches
the disciples in that pattern of prayer, what does he say?
That to pray in terms of the doing of God's will, not their
will. You know, the language there of the Lord's prayer thy
kingdom come thy will be done thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven that's how we pray we pray in submission to
the will of the father we pray for the doing of God's will not
of our will But the Lord Jesus, because He is in the Godhead,
that One who is equal to the Father, He can say, Father I
will, that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given
me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. It is in the outworking of the
of the covenant. It is when we see Him as God-man,
when we see Him as the servant of God, that we have this strange
mystery. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
as that One who comes into this world in willing submission to
the Father. He comes to do the will of the
Father. And He comes to do the work of
the Father. And though we have this language
here, we see that usually all the time he is speaking as one
who in the covenant is God's servant, who is in submission
to the Father. On occasions we might have these
glimpses of his diet, when he says, I and my Father are one. Particularly of course when we
think of that the three favoured disciples witness in the Mount
of Transfiguration when they see beyond the veil of his human
nature they see something of the glories of his deity as he
speaks to his father there in heaven together with Moses and
Elijah and speaks of that that he is going to accomplish at
Jerusalem he is transfigured before them they see the glory
of his deity but In the days of his humiliation we see him
as one who is ever submissive, who is ever the servant of God.
He can say then here at verse 4, I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. Again at verse 6 he says, I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world thy name were, and thou gavest them me, and they
have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me." The very words that
he was speaking as a prophet. In all his teaching and preaching
ministry, he was teaching the very words that he had received
in the covenant. He is fulfilling his covenant
engagement, you see. He is not coming to do his own
will, he is coming to do the will of the one who has sent
him and to finish that work. And so I want, having tried to
say something with regards to the divine will of God, how it
is a sovereign will. And yet how it is a simple will,
it is one. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
have but one will. And yet when we see Christ as
the God-man here upon the earth, we see Him as a real man, and
as a man we see Him living the life of faith. And it's that
that I want to address in the second place this morning. we
might ask the question, if God's will is one, and God's will is
one, if God's will is one and simple, why does the Lord Jesus
Christ speak of His will, at times, as something distinct,
as something that is even contrary to the Father's will? And I answer
that question by simply saying, in this we see His faith as a
man, The Lord Jesus, this is a mystery, the Lord Jesus is
a real man. His humanity was as real, or
is as real we can say, as yours and as mine. It's a glorified
humanity now in heaven, but when he was here upon the earth, he
was as human as any of us. He was truly a man. And we see it in what I've already
said concerning the way in which he comes as one who is submissive
to the Father. I came down from heaven, he declares,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me
and to finish his work. Not his own will, but the will
of the one who had sent him. And again there in the gardens
we've already mentioned, Father, He says, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done.
Oh, He's a real man. And there, as He contemplates
all the agony that is before Him, as He's going to be obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, The very purpose of
His coming was that He might redeem His people by the shedding
of His blood. He's going to die. And He's going
to die the accursed death. He's going to die, you see, as
if He were the transgressor. He's going to bear in His own
person that wrath of God against all the sins of His people. And
here we see Him in all the agony of His soul. wrestling in prayers
to God Father if they be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless
not my wealth but thine be done." Oh in that covenant you see he
is a servant he is truly a servant of God in his human nature then
we see him as that one who is subject to God. Now as a fallen
creature I'm totally deprived as fallen
creatures we're all totally deprived and in our sinful depravity we're
so impotent we're so impotent but mark this truth that the
Lord Jesus Christ when we think of Christ in His human nature,
that's also created. The human nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ is created. What does He say? Hebrews 10.5,
A bodily us thou prepared merge. That's His human nature that
He's speaking of. It's created. But of course that
human nature was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
made higher than the heavens. Remember what the angel says
to Mary? That woman, that virgin who is
to give birth to Christ, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also
that holy thing that shall be born of the earth shall be called
the Son of God. This sinful daughter of Adam
and Eve, Mary the sinner, yet so miraculously does the Spirit
come upon her that what is conceived in her womb is that holy thing
That is the human nature, the body, the soul that is to be
joined to the eternal person of the Son of God. Oh, that's
the great mystery, you see, but it's a human nature. It's a body
prepared. It's the work of God, just as
God created the first atom out of the dust of the earth. and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became
a living soul. So when we think of the last
Adam who is spoken of there of course in 1 Corinthians 15 that
is the Lord from heaven that body is also prepared prepared
by God the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And as a man Christ also experienced
infirmities I'm a sinful man my infirmities
are sinful infirmities the infirmities of the Lord Jesus Christ were
of course sinless infirmities he was that holy thing that human
nature was without any sin but he knew sinless sinless infirmities
as a man he knew something of creaturely impotence as a man
or do we not read of him there in John chapter 4 when he was
wearied in his journey as he goes through Samaria he's wearied
and he sits there on the well at Syca he needed to rest just
as we need to rest He was without all sinful infirmities. We bear
many sinful infirmities because we are the sinful offspring of
Adam and Eve. And he knows nothing of those
sinful infirmities that we know. He was never sick. He would never
have died. He dies of course because what
is imputed to him is the sin of others. He dies as their substitute
in their room and in their still. but we are not to lose sight
of the truth, the vital truth of the real humanity, a man there
is, a real man says Joseph Harms, that's the Lord Jesus Christ
and what is his life here upon earth? he lives the life of faith,
he lives the life of dependence upon God Those verses that we have in
Hebrews chapter 5, we've already made some reference to them this
morning, Hebrews chapter 5 and verses 7 and 8. They're such
important verses of Holy Scripture. Hebrews 5 verse 7, we read of
Him who in the days of His flesh when he'd offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears. That's prayer.
He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. Have we prayed? Or do we ever
weep in prayer like the Lord Jesus wept in prayers? Strong
crying and tears we reaped unto him that was able to save him
from death and was heard in that he feared. The reference here
is to his piety, his fear of God. That fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, he knew. He was hurt in that he
feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. He was, he is, the
eternal son of God. But he learned by the things
that he suffered as a man, he became a real man. Oh, he's that one, you see, who
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And so he's able to succor us.
That's what we're told, you see, now, this great high priest,
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. but was tempted in all points
like us, we are yet without sin. Oh, let us therefore come bold
into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in every time of need. He understands us. He understands
our creaturely infirmities. He has learned, you see, as a
man. He's lived the life of faith. and we see that life of faith
in what he's recorded time and again in the gospel and he prays
here in this 17th chapter of John he's praying we read of him in Luke chapter
6 and verse 12 spending the whole night the whole night in prayer
to the Father isn't that an expression of dependence he has to pray
He has to plead with the Father. He lives a life in which he is
so dependent upon God, the Holy Spirit. He's not just praying
to the Father. He needs the ministry of God,
the Holy Ghost. We're told that God gave us not
the Spirit by measure unto Him. There was such a glorious effusion
of the Spirit. Now the Spirit was poured out
upon him. He is the Anointed One. And what
does he do in the course of his earthly ministry? He casts out
the demons. How does he cast out the demons?
By the Spirit of God. His miracles, you see, are performed
in the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ lived
the life of faith. He lived by faith. He was dependent
upon God. His obedience was a real obedience
his desire was that his all life here upon the earth should be
lived in willing submission to the will of God and that's why
that's why we read of him praying so often as he does that he's
come not to do his own will but the will of the one who has sent
him His will is submissive in all things, even there in the
garden of Gethsemane. Here is something of that great
mystery. There is a relationship, you
see, between the divine will, the will of God, and the will
of Him who is the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. How His life
is lived in such willing submission. And so it must be also, surely
it must be so with those who profess his name. If with those
who are truly the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, will we
not see him also as our great pattern? Does he not show us
how the life of faith is to be lived? It's a life of obedience,
it's a life of submission, it's a willing submission. to the
will of God. It's a life in which we are dependent
upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We need His help, His
enabling us, if we are to be those who are truly the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He can come to the Father and
in a sense He is able to speak as one who is equal to the Father.
He can say, Father I will Oh he has all the authority of God
and yet when we see him as a man here upon the earth how he humbles
himself and how he comes as one who will be submissive he comes
not to do his own will but the will of him who has sent him
to finish his work Oh God grant that we might be those then who
are followers of him who do desire truly to pray daily in our lives Thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. Thy will Lord be done in my life. What thou willest is best of
all. Oh God grant that we might be
those friends who know something of the life of faith even as
we see it demonstrated in the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well God, bless to us His truth. And the tune is Cary's 314.