Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to John chapter 17 and reading
for our text the first two verses. It is particularly the second
verse, but we'll read the first two. These words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is
come glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. John chapter 17, verses one and
two. And here we have the Last night,
our Lord was to be alive before his death and then resurrection,
and he is bandoneered with his disciples and he is in prayer. What a lesson it is for us when
things are before us and we know with our Lord he knew exactly
what was before us. Sometimes We have things and
we don't know every part of it. We may have apprehensions, we
may have things that we're fearful of, but we don't know everything,
and the Lord did, and yet he spends his time in prayer. How
often we neglect that, when we have those things, we spend our
time worrying and concerned and burdened and doing this and that,
instead of in prayer unto our God. But it is noticeable here,
our Lord was not praying for himself. Later on in the garden,
he was seeking that help from his father. If it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. But here, he is praying for his
people, praying for those that were given him of his father.
He's very clear in verse nine, I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou has given me, for they are
thine. And in this prayer, we have a
wonderful account of the Lord's intercession really in heaven.
When we compare this with the journey to Emmaus and the sermon
the Lord preached then, We don't read a word of that sermon. We read the content of it in
all the scriptures concerning himself, but we have not the
words as here, but here we do. And we have the exact words what
the Lord prayed for his people and his disciples, and not for
them only, but as in verse 20, for them also which shall believe
on me through their word. And when we think that our Lord
in heaven, he is our advocate with the Father, he does make
intercession for us there. He appears in the presence of
God for us, on our behalf. And here we have exactly those
things, what he asks and what he seeks for his dear people. And so we would be very encouraged
as we read these words, as we look at particular parts of it
and what I've been drawn to this evening is the three gifts in
verse two. There's three things that are
given. There's the gift of power that
is given by the father to the son as thou hast given him power. over all flesh. And then there
is the gift of a people to the Son, as Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him, as those that the Father has given to
the Son. And then we have the gift to
a people And it is from the Son, as Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And so we have these three gifts,
the gift of power, the gift of a people, the gift of eternal
life. But in the first verse, our Lord
is remembering the hour is come, that reason for which he came
into the world, the time of his suffering, his death, his putting
away the sin of his people, the redeeming of them, that which
his dear people did not yet understand. We trusted it should be he that
should have redeemed Israel, and he was to do that. He was
to lay down his life, a sacrifice acceptable unto God and he was
to take it again. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. The Father had glorified the
Son in all the miracles that he had performed throughout his
life and especially his ministry. But here he was to glorify him
with a miracle and a work that had no parallel before or after
it. That one great sacrifice for
sin that all of the offerings and the sacrifices the Old Testament
pointed to, the Lord was to offer that sacrifice without spot to
God, acceptable, and He hath given assurance unto all men
in that He hath raised Him from the dead. He has glorified His
beloved Son, all that they said against him, all of their blasphemy,
everything that they had maligned him with. Yet here he comes,
and in this last great act, again and again, the scriptures are
fulfilled, the seal is put upon all the scriptures of truth,
and he lays down his life freely. No man taketh it from me, I lay
it down of myself, that I might take it again. Commandment have I received of
my Father, and He then was glorified in rising from the dead. The crown of salvation is on
His head and on His alone. By one sacrifice He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, the people of God set apart by
the Father, He has redeemed them and saved them and put away their
sins and He is glorified in all that He has done. But He's especially
glorified in what flows forth from that one sacrifice. So I speak reverently, but imagine
if all we could read about was the sacrifice offered at Calvary
and there it stops. No benefit, nothing flowing from
it, no power given to our Lord to do anything. We might ask,
well, why? Why was the sacrifice offered? If there's no sinners saved,
if there's no benefit, nothing that flows forth from Calvary. But there is, and that is in
our second verse of our text, the things then that flow forth
from what our Lord and Saviour has accomplished at Calvary. With sin put away, with the devil's head bruised,
with the Scriptures fulfilled, with an everlasting righteousness
brought in, with an atonement made for sin, and the wrath of
God appeased. Our Lord, as we hear his great
commission to his dear disciples, Jesus came at the end of the
Gospel according to Matthew, came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore,
because there is that power given unto him, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and though I am with you always, and to
the end of the world. Amen. So we have a message, a
message of gifts, the gifts that are set before us in this second
verse. I want to then look at them in
this order, not necessarily the order in the text, but first
the gift of power, authority, some versions rendered, to the
sun, and then secondly, the gift of a people to the sun, and then
thirdly, the gift of eternal life to his people. But firstly, the gift of power
or authority to the sun. Now, we would, of course, remember
that God has already almighty power, he with his word by his
beloved son formed the earth and all that is in it. There's
nothing too hard for the Lord, that power and might is with
the Lord. When David was preparing for
the temple and the building of that, the Lord opened the hearts
of the people to come and to give for the building of the
temple. And this really touched David
that this should be done, that the Lord should do this. And
really in salvation, that is what is happening. The Lord is
touching hearts. And we read in 1 Chronicles chapter
29, And verse 12, he says, from verse 11, Thine, O Lord,
is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory
and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth
is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and Thou art exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor
come of Thee. and Thou reignest over all, and
in Thy hand is power and might, and in Thy hand it is to make
great, and to give strength unto all." And he goes on to thank
the Lord that the people should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort. And there is a connection there
with the power and might of God, and hearts that have been so
touched to give to the house of the Lord, to give to the Lord. They made willing, they loved
the Lord, they delighted in Him and especially thinking of the
temple that was to be a beautiful time of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. I know we've often said here
that it needs more than the straight power of God in the way of salvation. And perhaps to use a simple illustration,
we might be a very powerful man, we might be a very rich man,
but if we were to go into a shop and we just took some goods and
walked out the door without paying for it, then the force of the
law would come down upon us. We would do that which is unlawful.
We could be locked up in jail for it. A man might say, well,
I have all power. I'm a mighty man. He might be
a president, might be a prime minister, but it doesn't matter
about that power. He hasn't paid for the goods. But you know, the poorest person
that could just scrape together enough money, and they paid for
those goods, could walk out of that store freely, not be accosted
at all, with every right on their side, just because those goods
had been paid for, had been redeemed with money. And the Gospel is
like that. Our Lord paid the price. He redeemed his people. He has
done what is needful so that he can do what he likes with
his own. The Apostle says, you are not
your own to believers. You are bought with a price.
Wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are his. I felt a very simple illustration
of the need of power, looking at the grandchildren's toys over
the last day or so. They've got many toys that have
batteries in them. They need power, they need electrics. But nearly all of them, the batteries
have run out. Probably the parents quite thankful
because if the power was there, Then there would be police sirens
and ambulance sirens and all sorts of noises coming from these
toys. But because there was no power,
they were silent. And wheels didn't turn, things
didn't work. And I thought, how much in just
a simple thing we can have our cars, if there's no petrol for
them, powerful as they may seem, Without that engine going, there
is no power and they're useless. We can have with our homes. When
the electricity, and we had it last year, or earlier this year,
where we had a storm and we lost all electricity, we didn't have
internet, we didn't have telephones, we didn't have power, we didn't
have anything. The house was very quiet, but
nothing worked. The washing machine, the fridge,
the freezer, the dishwasher, nothing worked. What a difference
the power had. And how vital it is, in a spiritual
sense, that there be power. That is why our Lord said to
the disciples, tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high. That is why The Apostle said
to the Thessalonians, the Word came not unto you in word only,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That power not just in the naked
strength of God to force things to be done, but a power that
is a power that is a valid power, especially as regarding salvation. to save a sinner, to give unto
a sinner eternal life, the power given by the purchase be made
first, and a power given so that instead of being like something
that we might just push and it works, with the people of God
they are made willing in the day of His power. They're not
automatons. They don't just do his bidding
because he's forcing them to do. What would we be like if
we were an employer? And the only way we could get
our employees to work was to force them to work. Everything
that they did, they had to be forced to do. But how better
it would be if they lovingly, willingly did our bidding and
knew what they were doing and why they were doing it. when
the second mile. And so the first thing, here
is that gift of powers. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh. Now what does that mean? One
meaning is this, not just the Jews, but Gentiles as well. The power of God to save is over
all flesh, every nation and kindred and tongue. Another reason, another
way of looking at it is this. God's people are not to be saved in isolation. If we think of the accounts in
the Word of God of God's people, there was constant interaction
with nations that were round about them, with people that
hated them, the book of Esther, Haman, Nehemiah, Tobiah and Sanballat. All the time there was those
round about. The psalmist says, The wrath
of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain. If God just had power over one
section of the human race, but no power over the others, what confusion would happen?
And what would stop those that were not under his power interfering
or overcoming those that were under his power. And really this
world only exists for God's children, his elect, for those that he
has redeemed and saved. And nations are being restrained. They're only being allowed to
do what the Lord would have them to do for the good of his church
and for his people. His power is over them, and it
is in the hand of the Lord, or in the hand of one whose interest,
as in this chapter, is for the salvation and glory of his own
people." That's something to remember, isn't it? Did Daniel remember that? And
you say, well, that's the Old Testament. They look forward
by faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. Really, His protection, His care
was over those Old Testament saints just the same. The Spirit,
though it was given in great measure the day of Pentecost,
the Holy Spirit was always there. He is the third member of the
Trinity, the eternal God. But in these Gospel days it's
very clear, and the power is very clearly set forth, especially
in the salvation of the people of God through the preaching
of the Word. Remember also that as the Word
of God goes forth, as we read in that commission of our Lord
going into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature,
The preacher does not know who are God's people and who are
not. And so he goes forth and he knows
that God has given his beloved son power over all flesh. And as he stands before a people,
he knows that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has power over
that people. We know that is a distinct power
in the way it is set forth. But we know that because men
do not believe, because men reject the Lord, it is nothing to do
with a lack of power in the Lord, but only in his sovereignty and
in his choice. As we hear the word, We're responsible
for how we react under the Word, and we are accountable as well. At the last Great Judgment Day,
we shall give an account of our hearing and of our speaking,
our ministry. Man is responsible. He's responsible
for how he sins and how he acts. But I would say this, he is not
responsible for his soul's salvation. Many would disagree with me on
that. But our Lord Jesus Christ is given that responsibility
and that honour and that glory. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Just because we are responsible
for our sins, we can't blame it on anyone else, and we're
accountable to God, doesn't mean to say that we have power to
save ourselves and to deliver ourselves. Our text is clear. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, as we'll see in the points that follow, for a very
specific reason. And if it needs power, power
to save, what a foolish thing to think that somehow independent
of the power of God that men can save themselves. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh. I want to look then, secondly,
and the gift of a people to the son. Our text says that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. In John 10, the Lord speaks about
his sheep. And he speaks of them as already
his sheep. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me. He says of the sheep, my sheep,
they hear my voice and they follow me. He says of the scribes and
Pharisees that were rejecting his word, ye are not of my sheep,
therefore ye hear not my word. He says I lay down my life for
the sheep. Not for those that are not his
sheep. The particular redemption is very clear in the Word of
God. It is in Numbers 3, it is in the redemption of the firstborn
of Israel by the Levites. It is one for one, a just weight
and a just balance. A payment, price, and that being
exact what is required for each individual. The name given to
our Lord in Matthew 1. His name shall be called Jesus. Why? For he shall save the world
from their sins. For he shall save his people
from their sins. What, just his ancient people? Just the Jews? No. Other sheep I have, says our
Lord in John 10, which are not of this fold, that is, the Jews,
them also I must bring. There shall be one fold and one
shepherd. That people that are given are
given from eternity, chosen in him from the foundation of the
world. He says of that people, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. The election hath obtained it,
the rest were blinded. The election, the choice of God,
makes possible that some be saved. It doesn't shut out, but it shuts
in. If there was no election, no
one would be saved. There would be no hope. There'd
be no way of escape. But there is a people of God. The Lord has suffered, bled and
died for them in great love to their soul. And he has sent forth
his gospel into the world to be preached to every creature,
not just to some, not just to the elect, but to all. And those of his elect, those
of his people become known by how they hear that word of the
power that affects them through that word. And the glory then
is the glory of the Father. My word shall not return unto
me void. It shall accomplish the thing
whereto I sent it. The work of the Holy Spirit is
too. He shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you. Where the Holy Spirit is, the
Lord Jesus Christ will be precious, will be blessed. You don't read.
Yes, you do. You read in the account of Philip
and the eunuch. It was the Spirit that directed
Philip to the chariot and the eunuch. But the one that was
glorified and the one that the eunuch was brought to faith in
was not the Holy Spirit, but in the Son of God, and it was
he that preached. He began at the same scripture
and preached unto him, Jesus, the only name given among men
whereby we must be saved. So we have the gift of a people
to the Son. It is that same people from eternity
past, given to the Son to redeem, as the same people that shall
be that innumerable multitude in heaven above. And it's the
same people that as generation follows generation, they are
brought into this world in God's time and way, born first and
then born again of the Holy Spirit and made known as his people. So we know that there is a people. We know that the Lord has been
given power over all flesh. And then we know a third gift,
and it is the gift of eternal life. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. It's inseparably joined, the
eternal life is given to as many as thou hast given him. What is that eternal life? God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Yet by nature
we have no Need of that? We desire not the knowledge of
the Lord's ways. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. We do not have spiritual life
at all. The dead, they know not anything. They have neither desire nor
any felt need of redemption and saving. They don't know that
they're lost. that when the power of God comes
and he gives eternal life, that life itself makes known
his people. With the woman on the well of
Samaria, you may be familiar with the account, our Lord wearied
by his journey, he sits on Jacob's well and the disciples, they
go to buy meat and there comes a woman of Samaria to draw water,
and he says to her that if thou knewest the gift of God, oh,
he asked her that she might give him water to drink, and she says
how thou being a Jew hast any dealings with a Samaritan, that
it was really unheard of that he should be speaking in this
way to her. And he said, if thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, give me
to drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would have given
thee living water. And the conversation went on.
And when she desired that living water, he said to her, go, call
thy husband, and come hither. And she says, I have no husband. And he says, thou hast said rightly
thou hast no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he
whom thou hast is not thine husband, in that thou says truly. And
she responds with, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. The
one thing then that she knew and said she knew about Messiah
when he came was that he would tell us all things. And the Lord
simply says to her, I that speak unto thee am he. And then she
goes to the city and the Samaritans and she doesn't say, come see
a man that told me he was the Christ, that told me all things
that ever I did is not this the Christ. The way the Lord often
begins when he gives to his people eternal life, he gives them to
see He knows them. He knows their life. He knows
their thoughts. He knows their affections. He
knows their sins. That power gives them that life. Their ears are open. Their eyes
are open. Very often what they see first
is a broken law. It is through the law of God
that they are slain to hope in saving themselves. And that is
an evidence of life. Paul says, when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And that which was ordained of
life I found to be unto death. He says then, was that which
is good made death unto me? But no, there's a purpose, there's
a reason that he might be brought in guilty as a sinner to receive
then the mercy of God, the grace of God freely. undeserved, unmerited,
not by his works, not by his deeds, but by God's work, what
Christ has done on Calvary. And that giving of eternal life,
our Lord, you had it on the Lord's Day here, concerning the new
birth, as our Lord spoke to Nicodemus on the necessity of a new birth. It is conversion. It is a gift. That is what is in our text here. Gift, gift, gift, gift of power,
gift of a people, gift of eternal life. Paul takes this up in Ephesians. By grace you are saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. That is faith is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And in Hebrews, we're told the
Lord Jesus Christ. is the author and finisher of
faith. And so that eternal life that
is given is that which David rejoiced to see when those were
freely giving to a temple. There was a power over their
hearts that made them willing. What an echo there was in the
early church. We read in Acts 2 that as many
as had lands and houses they sold them and gave to the poor
and all men had common, it loosed the hand of the world. It didn't
leave covetous and grabbing for the things of this world. It
made the things of this world pale into insignificance as they
saw the pearl of great price, the great gift of eternal life,
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled in heaven. and
that life that begins on earth, the life of God in the soul. And part of that life, that life
is not just life, but it is eternal life. So it's not just power
that converts, it's not just power that changes the heart,
great as that change might be, but it's a change that keeps
that soul, teaches, instructs them, keeps them, guards them,
watches over them. Our Lord touches on that. In verse 12, he says, while I
was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that
thou hast given me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but
the son of perdition, that is Judas Iscariot, that the scripture
might be fulfilled. And his prayer then is in verse
15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Part of that eternal
life is to be kept from the evil, that they do not go into error,
they do not go back from their believing in Him, that it is
an everlasting life, an everlasting salvation. These things are bound up in
the Lord. In John 15, he says that he is
the vine, ye are the branches. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, neither can ye except
ye abide in me. Because I live, ye shall live
also. All the time, the life that he
gives is through him. The power, the keeping, the teaching,
that watching over them, everything is coming from him. He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. Paul is very clear to the Philippines
in that way. And in writing to the Romans,
if while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, how much
more being reconciled shall we be saved through his death, through
his life, And so, a believer, there is a great power wrought
at the beginning, but that power is wrought right through their
lives, because the life that He has given, through time, by
His grace, is kept alive. He that endureth unto the end
shall be saved, because the only way that we shall endure is by
that power and help that comes from God. The Lord keeps those
who have been given to him. We read in John 10 that no man
is able to pluck them out of mine hand. My father that gave
them me is greater than I, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. And so in the prayer here, it
goes through time, and then it comes to when their course is
done, and then he does pray. that they might 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, kept while it is the Lord's will that
they be in this world. And then when it is time for
them to be brought out of it, well, it might be in the way
like John the Baptist. They lose their life to a wicked
woman. Nor it might be like many of
the martyrs in the fires and in the flames. But they died
in faith. They died trusting in the Lord. That faith, that trust was not
taken from them. And our Lord says, fear not them
which kill the body. And after that, there is nothing
more they can do but fear him that after he hath killed hath
power to cast both body and soul into hell. In that eternal life
it begins, that the new birth, and it is eternal, it has no
end. We think of the need of power
all the time, the power at last to quicken our mortal bodies,
to raise them again, unite soul and body, a new body, celestial
body, So shall we ever be with the Lord. Paul, when he writes
to the Ephesians, he wants those believers to know what it was
that made them a believer, how great that work was. And he said
it was the same power that God wrought when he raised Christ
from the dead that made them to be. a believer. I wonder how many of us that
are believers realise that, that amount of power, God's power,
that raised Christ from the dead was needed to quicken us, to
make us spiritually alive, to change the hearts, renew the
will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. These are these then three
vital interactive gifts that are spoken of in our text. And may we especially know that
blessing of eternal life and the power that was put forth
with us and we all know we are what we are by the grace of God
and that in that power and in that knowing of that change that
has been wrought and the many times we've been kept and watched
over from many errors and many evils, that we have in that a
real scripture token of being given by the Father to the Son
to redeem. Because it is those that are
given by the Father to the Son that He has given power to give
to them eternal life, and they shall have that life. The very
life itself is the token of being one of the people of God. Every motion of that life within,
described in many parts in the Word of God, it is a sweet token,
a foretaste of that which is to come, to know the life of
God in the soul, in its desires, its longings, its hatred of sin,
His love of the Word, His love of the Lord, is it striving against
sin, crying out that the Lord would deliver us from the works
of Satan, that He would make us to be His servants and to
serve Him. The Apostle says, the good that
I would, I do not, the evil that I would, not that I do, a wretched
man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death, and
there is a breathing as one that hath life. And he says, I thank
God through Jesus Christ my Lord. May we do the same. Give thanks
that the Lord has given us a new nature, has given us that does
strive against sin, has no power against it in ourselves, but
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ who conquered death, and that
we shall triumph through him. He shall have all the glory.
Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. And the son glorifies the father
in every soul that is plucked as a bran from the burning and
brought to be safely gathered in at last to glory. Behold, I and the children left behind, not one unredeemed,
not one whose sins are not atoned for, and not one who hasn't been
called, born again, kept, and brought at last to glory. The
Lord add his blessings.