Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to John 17 and part of verse
6. In the middle of verse 6 we read,
Thine they were, and Thou gavest them man. The verse reads, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. While I want to speak to those
words in the middle, I do want to put it in context and comment
on the first and latter part of this text. In the first part
of this chapter, our Lord is specifically speaking concerning
the twelve apostles, but In verse 20 we read, neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word. And really we get with the apostles
a little type of the church of God, the people of God. We're
told very clearly in the first chapter of Ephesians of all the
people of God that are elect, that are chosen in Christ. Not just the apostles here that
are chosen to this specific office and for this specific time, but
also chosen by God personally as his elect people. But we have
them as a little time, because we are told how the Lord met
with them each, how He revealed Himself to them, how He manifested
the Father to them, how He instructed them, how in a way they were
special people, even within their own people, with the Jews or
the people of God. The same is in the Old Testament.
We have all of the nations, and then we have Israel, and the
way the Lord dealt with Israel as a special people. We don't
say, well, that is just Israel, who only deal with Israel like
that. In some ways, yes, it was unique
to them as a nation, but they are a typical people. They drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. and that which was written aforetime
is written for our learning. And right through the scriptures
then we have these types that we can actually see and understand
as an example. And we have these 12 and one
that was to be prayed to our Lord, but how they were called
and brought to be close to the Lord and the Lord showing them
things that were hidden from others, and in that we have,
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. So not just the apostles, but
applying to all of the people of God that have been given by
the Father to the Son out of the world. They've all come in,
and they've been in the world, and they've been given to the
Son. And later on, it's very clear
that the Lord is saying that He is not of the world, they
are not of the world, but they've been in the world, and they've
been called out of the world. And this relationship again,
is something for the people of God, in the world, but not of
Him, and the Lord's prayer that they be kept from the evil. Another thing to note at the
end of our text, it is said of those that were given, and they
have kept thy word. Really the great mark then of
the people of God, they have two things. the Father or God
is manifest to them, and secondly, they keep His word. And this
is very similar to what the Lord said to those in John 8 that
believed on His name. He said to them that if ye continue
in My word, then shall ye be My disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And so, on one hand, they believed. They believed on Him. The Father
being made manifest, that this is, and John is very much clear
on this, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He is the true
God. Jesus Christ, God's Son, and
joined to that is a keeping of His Word. Very often you find
these little couplets or these things that describe the people
of God or the path of the people of God on their way to Emmaus
when they came to the disciples they told again two things, what
was done in the way and how Jesus was made known unto them in breaking
of bread. Or we think it's a lovely testimony
if one comes before the church and is able to tell what has
been done in the way and how the Lord was made known unto
them. And so we have this beautiful
prayer, an intercessory prayer of the Lord. And I don't want
to confine my thoughts in looking at the middle words in this text
to just the 12, back to all of the people of God. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me. So I want to look firstly at
a people that belong and belonged to God. And then secondly a people
given and thirdly, a people received. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. Those two things, thine they
were, and thou gavest them me. This of course is a doctrine,
a teaching that the Arminian greatly fights against, he hates
the idea of election, hates the idea of a people that have been
known from eternity, a people that have already belonged to
God. They like the idea and they even
testify that the Scriptures say that all of the world may be
saved, that Christ died to put away the sins of every individual
and that every individual then has an opportunity to be saved. Of course the thought there is
that man is not quite so fallen that he cannot respond. He must
be able to respond and embrace the gospel. So in one sense it's only half
a gospel, half a help. It's not a help to those that
are really dead in trespasses and sins, those that cannot do
anything of themselves. Our Lord told the parable of
the Good Samaritan, and the reason why he told it was who is my
neighbor, to answer that. But as a side issue, the one
that had fallen among thieves was completely helpless. He wasn't
able to help himself. No amount of standing afar off
or calling him and directing him to do this or that would
avail anything. But the Samaritan came right
where he was. He healed him, pouring in oil
and wine, set him on his own beast and prepared for him. And
we see a great gospel there that does everything
for a poor, wounded, fallen sinner. Very, very different. from that
which requires there to be something from the sinner. The idea then that God has already
made the choice is abhorrent to those that feel that. And
yet when we come at what the truth of the word sets forth,
it opens up tremendous love, personal love, that the Lord
is bestowing upon poor sinners. To take away that choice or at
least sovereignty of God gives salvation, gives who will be
in heaven at the end, their multitude, to be in the hands of someone
else other than God. And so salvation is of God and
it is certain and it is sure, and so our first point are people
that belong and belong to God. They belong now in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and they belonged to God in eternity past. In the very beginning words of
our text, thine they were. And it seems to me such a lovely,
a wonderful thing that is said of all of God's dear people,
that they were the fathers. We may say they are the fathers. It's a mystery of speaking of
giving. We know that God is one and three
distinct persons in the Godhead, but that covenant is between
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the beneficiaries is the
people. And so there is a people there
that actually belong to the Father. In John 10, our Lord says that
no man is able to pluck them out of my hand. My Father that
is greater than I, no man is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand. So as we get the idea, if you
give something to someone else, then you still haven't got it,
you're not looking after that thing, the other person is, but
the great mysteries of godliness, what our Lord says in John 10,
they are still in the Father's hand, though also they are given
to the Son. But it's a beautiful, eternal
relationship, it is a foundation, for everything that those souls
are to experience and to enjoy. It sets forth a picture where
we have time in the middle, and we have eternity past, and thine
they were, a people with a father, and we have eternity to come,
and we have innumerable multitude which no man can number, And
those are the same people. And that they have been lost
and ruined in the fall, they have been redeemed, they have
been brought then to heaven. A people prepared for the glory
and praise of God. And we'll look at some more of
those things later. But this first, this first blessed
point is belonging. Paul touches upon this when he
says to the Corinthians that ye are not your own, ye are bought
with a price, wherefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are His. But in this text, even before
the Lord has suffered for His people, the Father lays claim
to them, the Son acknowledges this is a people that my father
had, they belonged to him. He knew them, he loved them,
he had them before ever this world was. And so I want right
at the beginning in this first point to think of this belonging
for the people of God. Belonging to the father, belonging
to the son, All of the transactions, everything
that is done in time, would have this stamp on it. This is done
because you belong to the Father. This is done because of those
things that were done, referred to in this verse. Thou gavest
them me, and made me real. Comfort and help to us, because
something that is done in eternity cannot be changed in time. That which is already enacted
and is in the hands of God, it is not in the hands of man, it
is not in the hands of Satan, it is in God's hand, ordered
in all things and sure. The position of each individual
believer in Christ, in God, in the covenant is a very precious
thing. The Lord says, he that toucheth
you toucheth the apple of my eye. A people who have a great
God, a mighty God, and that God loves them and has provided everything
for them. On to look secondly at a people
given. Thine they were and thou gavest
them man. The first thing is that they
are given in covenant. David says that he had made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordained in all things and sure. He says,
although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me
this covenant. And that covenant was Before
he was born, before the world was, really what our Lord is
speaking of here is when this covenant was made. A beautiful type of it, where
David and Jonathan made a covenant. David promised Jonathan that
he would show kindness to his seed. He also promised the same
to Saul, but it was done in a covenant with Jonathan, no doubt before
Mephibosheth was even born. And yet when it came the time
for it to be enacted, then Mephibosheth though lying in both his feet,
then he's called to the king's house and sits at his table and
he's blessed for David's sake and for Jonathan's sake. And
so the covenant is a very vital thing, that there is an agreement
between the persons of the Godhead of which a poor sinner is the
subject of it. It is like where there may be
an agreement between parents or grandparents for the benefit
of grandchildren, Those children might not yet be born, but there
is trust made or a provision made, and they're receiving a
benefit because of something that's done years before they
were ever born. And so when we have a people
given, they're given in that covenant. I want to think also
is what condition that they are given to the Son, because we
know that as the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, in God's purpose the fall had to take place. He's not the author of sin, man
sinned, but God then enacted the judgment against sin. The day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. And we should remember this,
that the whole world is under God's righteous and just judgment. We deserve eternal hell, we deserve
immediately to be cast out of God's presence, but like He did
with the Ninevites, He gave them 40 days where He gives time,
and Adam and Eve didn't die straight away, where He gives time that
there is mercy and there is a way made of repentance and a way
made of escape from the wrath to come. And so when the Father
gave this people to the Son, as the Hebrew writer says, He
saw we lost and ruined in the fall and loved we notwithstanding
all. Now we're given in that kind
of condition. You know, if we had a house that
was all in run-down condition, we could give that to someone
in that condition, but as part of the gift, as part of the agreement,
would be that they completely renovate it, that they completely
fix it all up, that they don't let it go to any more ruin, but
it's fully repented. And so in the people of God,
they're already in a position where they need one to take their
part, to do for them that they need. Don't we have some beautiful
times in the world? We think of the book of Ruth,
and we have Ruth, a widow, with nothing, no lands, no husband,
no prospect of children, And yet she makes that supplication
to Boaz, and Boaz says that he will do for her all that she
requires. And I do love, in the book of
Ruth, that the fourth chapter you don't read of what Ruth is
doing at all. All you're doing is reading about
what Boaz is doing. how he is sorting all things
out with the near kinsmen, how he is arranging it so that they
can be brought together. And as a near kinsman he does
that part. And of course our Lord Jesus
Christ had to become a near kinsman. He had to be made of a woman
and made under the law to redeem them that are under the law.
The very coming of the Lord intimates this, that the people that were
given to him, they were given for a specific purpose. And indeed his very name, his
name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. So this people given by the Father
to the Son, now are designated his people. Thine they were,
and thou gavest them me. Now the Lord's people, and yet
they were the fathers, and as we said of John 10, he still
has them in his hand. Great mystery of the Godhead. So when we have then the covenant,
then we have another thing that we can say that has been given. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. that there is love in this transaction. There's love in the giving. I want to come later to the receiving,
but in the giving, in the Father giving to His Son, there is a
love that He is making a provision for them to be saved. He is undertaking
for them. Again, we might have someone
in great need and we give them to someone that is going to help
them. And the reason why we do it is
because we love that person. That's why we do something for
them, to help them. And so our Lord says in another
place, the Father himself loveth you. And it's a beautiful thing
to realize of that eternal love of the Father. I have loved thee
with an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Remember our Lord says that no
man can come unto me, except the Father which sent me draw
him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. And may we then
be able to discern the Father's love. Satan would like us to
think, well, the Father is an angry God, and our Lord is a
mediator in between him and us. But that love is the love of
the Father. the hand of the Son, the hand
of the Holy Ghost, and it's in love that this was, this transaction
was made, thine they were, thou gavest them me, and it was love
that gave them to me. Then they were given to redeem,
to set free by the payment of a price, that he knew that it
would cost him his life, he would have to shed his blood. When Judah agreed to be a surety
for Benjamin, he didn't know whether Benjamin would be threatened
to be put into servitude, but he agreed that if that should
happen he would step in the breach, and indeed that did happen when
Joseph threatened to when they found the cup in Benjamin's sack,
that he would keep him. And so then Judah made known
that covenant. No, don't keep Benjamin, keep
me instead. And in Proverbs we have it warned,
especially not to be a surety for a stranger. Why should he
then take all that thou hast? But how it highlights that the
love of our Lord a people given by the Father to the Son, and
it was to redeem them. As if he'd be like Jacob, saying,
well, Judah, you take my Benjamin, who is so precious to me, worth
so much to me, and you take him, but if he has to pay aught, if
there's any threat, then you redeem him, you stand in assurity,
and with our Lord he knew he would have to do that, and the
Father knew that he would have to do that. Don't you like when
we have in Genesis 22, what God said to Abraham, as Abraham,
he said, thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son, whom thou
loveth. And I often think of, here is
the Father. The Father has not withheld His
only beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom He loves. And He
offered Him up. He gave Him a people that He
would have to redeem. He would have to shed His blood
to set them free. But the people were also given
to Him so that the Lord Jesus Christ should be their head. He was to be the head of the
Church of God. Paul speaks in his epistle to
the Romans very beautifully of the relationship of the members
of the Church of God, Christ being the head and the various
members that we have found in Him, and even in this intercessory
prayer, we have our Lord speaking of that relationship, that they,
He says in verse 21, all may be one, as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. And then
in verse 23, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one. But his position is of the head,
and in Ephesians 5, in the beautiful type of a marriage union, where
the Lord is caring for his church as the husband cares for the
wife, and as the Lord gives himself for the church of God. but he is the head, the head
of the church, even as the husband is head of the wife. But the
people given as well by the father to be an inheritance, an inheritance
for his beloved son. We would think it to be A strange
thing, if someone gave someone an inheritance that was going
to cost them a lot. Sometimes you hear of this. I
remember years ago hearing of a person that received as inheritance
a great big farm. But then they found out that
the owner of that farm had to pay the upkeep of the local Church
of England. And the Church of England got
to know this, and they billed this farmer for hundreds of thousands
of pounds. He was a poor man. He'd just
been left this property. It was really terrible that the
church ever did that. But I don't know what the outcome
was, because he couldn't sell the property. If he sold it,
then the money would have to go to pay off for the church. even very difficult situations. So that inheritance brought great
trial and great trouble and no doubt there's many situations
that that is the case. But Paul when he writes to the
Ephesians in his first epistle, he speaks of not only just ours
but also his inheritance. In verse 14, He says, which is
the earnest, or token, of our inheritance, and to the redemption
of the purchased possession, and to the praise of His glory.
But when we go down to verse 18, then it is the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the
hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance. in the saints. In the Old Testament,
the Levites were the Lord's inheritance, and the Lord was their inheritance. They did not have land like the
other tribes did, and so it is a dual inheritance. And so the people of God, really
in one sense, He has been given this people He must suffer, bleed
and die for them, He must redeem them, and inheritance is only
distributed after death, but then He rises again and He's
the executor of His own will. And so really in this 17th of
John, He is executing His own will, He's asking the Father
of those things that He'd have for them. And so as a people
given, may we be able to say, dear friends, our names here,
that we have been given to some, a people of whom the Father loved,
and we trace the covenant, we trace the work of the Lord in
redeeming, in suffering, in dying, and also what is to be our portion
and what is the Lord's portion. No wonder, as we quoted before,
Paul saying, you are not your own, you are bought with a price. God's people are the Lord's by
gift, thou gavest them thee, but also by purchase with his
precious blood. All that they have, they have
because of this giving and because of the Lord enacting what He
had in covenant promised to do. We want to look, lastly, of a
people received. A people received. Our text says,
Thine they were and Thou gavest them me. The Lord Jesus Christ
receiving His people. There's very much in this chapter
about giving and receiving, not just our Lord but His people
as well, where the Lord says, I have given them thy word and
the world hath hated them in verse 14. There is a giving and
there is a receiving. a people that were received by
the Lord Jesus Christ to do everything for them, the same going back
to Boaz, to do everything for Ruth, the receiving of the Lord. There's two parts to it, both
of great comfort to the people of God. We could have someone
give something to someone, and they don't really want it. They
take it, but they don't really want it. It is begrudgingly received,
but how different with the Lord. He has received those people. He's taken their cause in hand. How do we know that he received
them? This little type here with his
disciples, gives a real beautiful picture of that receiving of
them, teaching them, leading them, instructing them, reproving
them, praying for them, bearing with them. All of this is a picture
of what the Lord does for his people as he receives them to
do all for them. But I want to think of this as
well. Thine they were and Thou gavest
them me." A people received. In the call by grace, the Lord receives sinners. This was very disparagingly said
by the Jews. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth and drinketh with them. In one sense, In our text, this
man receives sinners from the Father to redeem. But in the Day of Grace, those
same sinners, by the drawing of the Father, they come to the
Son, and the Son receives them. received them from his father
and he receives them when his father draws them. A great work and mark of Christ. The 15th of Luke where we read
of the prodigal son and as he started to come back the father
saw him a great way off he ran to him He embraced him. This my son was lost and is found. They made merry, they rejoiced. What a different reaction to
the older of the sons. But with the father, what a receiving. And so a people received, they're
received by the father, they're received by the son. Now the
Lord says to those that preach the word, he that receiveth you,
receiveth me. And he that receiveth me, receiveth
him that sent me. And so you see the link of receiving
that flows through and joins. We know our election by our calling. and through it runs this thread
of a people that are being received. Welcome to the throne of grace,
the Saviour's blood to bleed. Welcome to come before the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the Lord receives them as
sinners, receives them as the purchase of His blood, There's
joy in heaven over one sinner that repented, there's more than
99 just persons that have no need of repentance. And may we know something of
that blessed reception, of when we come to the throne of grace,
when we come to the people of God, come in thou blessed of
the Lord, why standest thou without a people that are made welcome,
that are known that they're coming, expected that they're coming.
It must have been a shock to King Saul before he was king,
when the asses were lost, and to come up to Samuel to find
out where they were, and to find out he was expected. He knew
all about him, he knew where he was, he already had a commission. And we read that the Kingdom
of God standeth sure having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that
are his. And those people then that are
received, they find that the Lord already knows them and he
knows about them. their receiving is joyful. We think of what a preparation
is here below, how many times we may come as a poor broken
hearted sinner to the throne of grace, suing for mercy, seeking
for help, maybe even coming amongst the brethren of the people of
God, and to know those blessed times have been received and
knowing the favour of the Lord. We look for a frown, we look
for judgement, we look for anger, and instead the Lord shows His
smile. I believe I know many times that
feeling my own sin and guilt, I've looked for the anger and
wrath of God, but the Lord has blessed very differently. He has not dealt with us as our
sins have deserved. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Mercy,
the republican, Lord be merciful to me a sinner. The Lord said
He went down to His house justified rather than the other. What a
reception, what a different reception. And dear friends, when we've
known that here below, when we've known those three times that
we have been received by the Lord or received by His people
too, there's another last receiving that we have before us, isn't
there? to be received into heaven, to
be received by the Lord there, when Stephen was being stoned. And he looked up into heaven
and he says, I see the Lord, I see him standing at the right
hand of God. Well, when he ascended, it said
that he went and sat at the right hand of the Father. But here
he is receiving, standing, getting up to receive, one of His children,
we have in John 14, that I will come again and receive you unto
Myself, that where I am there ye may be also. And so you have
from eternity past a people, our souls, that have been given
by the Father to the Son and He's received us in covenant.
in the day of grace, He begins that work, He brings in conviction,
He brings us to feel our need, He brings us to seek unto Him,
and as we come as a poor, ill-deserving sinner, He receives us. And at
last, when death shall break between the soul and the body,
then He shall also receive us into glory. And I say a threefold receiving
and it's all linked together. Thine they were and thou gavest
then they. We said right at the beginning
those two things, one at the beginning of this verse, one
at the end, that really marks out who those are that have been
given and who received. They're those that His name is
manifested to them. In the name that they're baptized,
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. And they're those that have kept
thy word. May we know something of them
giving and receiving, receiving the Lord, receiving his word,
receiving his blessing. There's many of these glorious
links as it were through scripture we have in Romans 8. where the
foreknowledge of God, and that's what we have here, predestining
His people, His people being called in time, justified, and
then glorified. And the central link there is
the calling, and we know it links behind and forward. And here,
thine they were and thou gavest them thee, leads to the time
before the world was, and it joins in time when that people
is drawn by the Father to the Son, and they are part then of
His visible Church and united with Him and His people, and
then it unites to what shall be when time shall be no more
with us, be received by the Lord into Heaven. What a solemn thing
to have it the other way. depart from me, I never knew
you, to not be received. But what a blessed thing to be
received. And may the Lord bring to our
remembrance those times that we have been received, our petitions
have been received, the Lord has drawn us, we've come, and
we've felt that blessed reception. You think of when Joseph did
make known himself to his brethren, what kind of reception was it?
Not as what they thought they deserved, or what they did deserve,
but of love, of kindness. And then they were to learn that
this was God's work, and he sent him before, Joseph before, to
save their lives. May we then find ourselves in
this text and we be the they and them of the text, thine they
were and thou gavest them man.