Thank you. That was sung by Bert
Dunbar, who went to be with his saviour just a couple of years
ago. What a song. What a song he's
singing now, isn't it? What are they singing in heaven?
Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof, the
book of life, the book, the Lamb's book of life, the book that contains
all the covenant promises and purposes of God in all things.
I open it, for thou wast slain and has redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation,
and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall
reign on the earth. a song to be singing. He was
a dear brother, Bert Dunbar. Greg sends his kind regards to
you all, as does Kevin and others of our brethren over there. One
of the great glorious activities of our God in this passage of
scripture in John 17 and what Tom read to us out of Hebrews
chapter 8 is that we have reiterated again and again the promise of
God, I will, I will and they shall. Those two statements govern
everything that happens in this world in terms of the glory of
God. I will be to them a God. and they shall be to me a people. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's praying
his high priestly prayer, and I'd just like us to focus our
attention on verses six to eight this morning, but I want us,
obviously, I think it's good to be reminded of the context.
The Lord is about to go to the cross of Calvary. He's within
maybe Maybe in less than an hour of these words being recorded
for us by the Blessed Holy Spirit, He will begin to shed His precious
blood on this earth. And so this is a critical, this
is a vital prayer. Let's read from verse 1. to get
some context again. These words spake Jesus, all
of the words of this upper room. In fact, as Tom said, all of
the words of the scripture. And lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son may also 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. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. And these are our verses for
today. 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. And now have they known
that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, for,
or because, I have given 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. Excuse me. I want to
be reminded at the very beginning, these are the words of the Comforter.
These are the Comforter's words. These are words which are, for
the children of God, a source of great comfort. Here is the
Lord Jesus Christ's description of saving faith. how it comes,
how it is exercised in the hearts of God's children, what they
believe, who they believe, and why they believe. There are five descriptions here
of what it is for us to have saving faith. In verse six, They
have kept thy word. In verse 7, they have known. In verse 8, they have received. They have received the words. They have known surely. They have believed. And each
of those has an and in front of it, except one. And and is
a conjunction, it's a joining word. And it's joining what God
does and what operates in the hearts of his people. Firstly,
I want us to be reminded that this is not a declaration of what has happened
in the life of everyone who's ever believed, and what will
happen in the life of everyone who will believe. And if this
operation has not happened, then people do not have saving faith.
It's as simple as that. God's children have saving faith,
because God is the author and the finisher of faith, and he
gives faith. As I said earlier, I just love
the I will and they shalls of the scriptures. It's a great
comfort to anyone who's ever called to speak to anyone else
on God's behalf. God will and they shall. Our task as a church and as individuals
and as me, as someone who speaks from the word of God to people
who are given to listen to it, is just to be found faithful
to say, this is what God says. This is what God says. Obviously, the scriptures are
full of descriptions of faith. Saving faith, as we read in Genesis
15 earlier. The just shall live by faith. It is the work of God, John 6,
29. It's the work of God that you
believe. God creates faith. God creates
faith by God revealing the object of faith. Faith looks outside
of ourselves. So many people have faith in
what they do, in faith in what they are. Saving faith in the
scriptures is always faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's faith. Faith is like the anchor, isn't
it? It's an anchor for our souls. We throw the anchor out of the
boat. The anchor's no good. People are caused in religion
to look inside themselves and inside themselves and look for
what they're doing and look for evidences inside themselves.
Faith is the evidence. Faith, Hebrews 11, faith is the
evidence. We preach the gospel in the power
of God that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. We stand together with the children
of God, striving together for the faith of the gospel. For
you're all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. What's the shield? The shield
is the shield of faith. The end of the commandment is
charity, 1 Timothy 1.5, is love out of a pure heart and out of
a good conscience and faith unfeigned, not fake. Faith is the substance, The Lord Jesus Christ is the
object and the author of faith. And what? In Acts 13.48, when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word
of God, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. How important is faith? It's absolutely vital to the
glory of God, and it's absolutely vital to our salvation. Whosoever,
1 John 5 verse 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. And everyone that loveth him,
if you're born of him, you love him. Love him that beget, love
the begetting one, love the one who creates the birth, loveth
him also that is begotten of him. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself, 1 John 5.10. He that believeth
not God has made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. Faith is vital. I want to have saving faith.
I don't want my faith to be, I want my faith to be unfeigned
as the scriptures declare, not fake, not forgery, a faith that
stands, a faith that that has the glory of God. Don't forget
that these verses that we are reading speak of the power and
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. I love the scriptures declaration
of this eternal covenant. It's all the blessings of the
eternal covenant in his blood. They are the sure mercies of
David. The sure mercies. Our Lord here
in these three glorious verses makes no pleas but simply declares
the truth. The Lord here makes no mention
whatsoever of the sins of these people. They had just, these
11 men, who were representatives of the church in so many ways,
they had just sinned in the most grievous way, hadn't they? They
made these amazing promises. We'll stand with you. And Peter
made even more bold promises. Now all those, that other 10,
I know what they're like, but I'm going to be, I'll go to death
with you. this prayer because they've gone when our Lord is praying in heaven
and praying prayers like this he doesn't ever mention the sins
of his people don't you think that's wonderful for sinners
that's good news isn't it presents his people before his
father, and he declares what he's done. He speaks of doing
two particular things here. He says in verse 6, I have manifested
thy name. And in verse seven he says, verse
eight, sorry, he says, I have given them the words which thou
gavest me. So there are the two great acts
of our God, aren't they? Our savior, I have manifested
thy name. and he's manifested that name
to a particular group of people. Six times in this prayer he speaks
of his people. Those unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world, thine they were. Who will receive this
manifestation of the name, the character of God Almighty? Thine
they were, and thou gavest them thee, and they have kept thy
word. He speaks again, he says, all
things in verse seven, he says, now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. The origin of all of these gifts
is from God the Father, God the Father. What the Lord is declaring
here is the glory of the eternal covenant in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father gave to the Son
a people into the Son's hand to be a bride, to be betrothed
to him from before the foundation of the world. People might say,
and people do say, that we make too much of election. of election. It's impossible
to preach the gospel and not preach the electing love of God. It's God's love language and
it's God's description of his son. Behold, he says in Isaiah
42, behold mine elect in whom is all my delight. It's his description
of his, of the father's description of his son. He begins, He begins as all things
do in the beginning, God. He begins with what He does in
the hearts of His people. I have manifested Thy name. He
is speaking here as the Christ, the mediator. He's speaking of
what He does. The man that you gave us, me,
out of the world. Thine they were. and thou gavest them me. What is the name of God? The character of God is that
he had a people. He had a people and he gave a
people to his son. That's part of the very name
of God, isn't it? As much as his sovereignty and
his holiness and his justice and all of those things are part
of his name. His name is all of the glorious
attributes of God Almighty. I have manifested thy name. There's no way in the world you
can have the foggiest notion of who God is unless God the
Son manifests Him. This is a power. He says He's given power over
all flesh. This is a power given Him. And it's a power exercise to
know God, to know God in the Lord Jesus Christ glorified,
to know God in him, in his finished work on the earth. What a glorious
savior. He came to this place where men
fell, where all that bride fell in their father Adam. And he
came to that very, very place. And what caused the fall? words. Did God really say? Is God really just words that
attacked the very character of God? And that's why, don't you
love it, I have given them the words which thou gavest me. We fell in through words. We are saved through
the words of the word of God. He's come in glory, as we saw
him praying earlier, didn't he? He says, and now, oh father,
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was. He's manifested his name. He's manifested his name to these
people. He's declared who God is. And God is declared to a particular
group of people, and he's declared in a particular way through the
preaching of the gospel. And in preaching the gospel,
we are just declaring who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And in
declaring who he is, we're declaring him in relationship with his
father. and we're declaring him according
to the words which the Blessed Holy Spirit wrote. To manifest
the name of God is to know that God is in Trinity, isn't he,
and in covenant. There is no understanding of
the gospel without a declaration of the covenant. God's servants
in this world, as these apostles were, and all who followed them
were, are ministers. They are ministers of the eternal
covenant of grace. and aren't having the eternal
covenant in the grace of God preached to them, they're not
hearing the gospel. That's what he's saying here,
isn't he? He's saying, I'm manifesting the name of the one who gives
to me and puts into my care and my responsibility as the surety
of that covenant. And at that moment, when the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, entered into that covenant before there was a star
or a breath or anything on this earth, God the Father, from that
moment on, looks to Him for everything. Don't you think that's wonderful?
That's good news for a sinner, isn't it? That God is looking
to His Son for all of my righteousness before Him. God is looking to
His Son alone for all of the payment for all of my sins. And
God looks to His Son Beloved Son, in whom is all his
delight. He will see the travail of his
soul, Isaiah 53, and he'll be satisfied. Our God is satisfied,
and our God is in delight. If he has manifested his name
to you, then you will find As Psalm 9 verse 10 says, they
that know thy name will put their trust in thee. They'll put their
trust in thee. He says to this particular group
of people, they have kept thy word. He doesn't say they might
keep thy word. They have kept it. It's a promise,
isn't it? I have kept it to keep. This
word means to attend to carefully. It's a wonderful thing if the
Lord would allow you to just spend time deeply digging into to attend to the very words themselves,
to attend to the very context, to attend to the fact that they
all point in one direction and speak of one person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom He crucified. Tom spent a goodly part of the
last couple of days looking at that passage in Hebrews, and
I'm sure there are words there now and phrases To keep is to attend to carefully. It means to take care of. It means to guard from loss or
injury, to watch over, to prevent it from escaping you have the
keeper of the prison. We hold on to God's word, don't
we? We cling to what God says. We
have just one foundation for this faith, that he has caused
his word to be precious to us. So what do we guard? What do
we guard? You no doubt like us probably,
we don't have very much of it, but people have precious things,
and the most precious things you keep in the safest possible
place, don't you? We guard what is precious to
us. This Word is precious to us. You listen to people mangling
it and dishonouring our Saviour and we find it just so offensive. What's precious to us? Every
attribute of God is precious to us. Every Word of God is precious
to us. Is He precious to you? Is His
blood precious? Are the works that He has done
and the works that He is doing, are they precious? Are they delightful
to you? Are those that He has begotten
precious to you? I pray the Lord would make them
more precious to me. I want to love relations in this world, and
I've got many family members, and then I have this. I have
another family. And Lord willing, in January
I'll be going to the States. I'm going to meet my brothers
and sisters. We're family. They're precious to us, aren't
they? Their walk of faith is precious. Their walk in this
world Salvation by pure and sovereign
grace is precious to us. We keep his word, don't we? It's
not of works, but of him that does it all. My hope is in his faithfulness
and not in anything I do. That's precious to me. His blood
is precious. He cannot possibly shed a drop
of his blood in vain on this earth. Everyone he shed his blood
for be saved. His love is precious. I don't want to see his blood
made a common thing. I don't want to see his love
made a common thing. I don't want to see his will
made a common thing. Because all of those things attack
the very attribute of God. And if he's been made manifest
and he's caused me to keep his words, then I'm going to stand
by his grace. I'm going to stand and keep standing
and say this is who my God is and this is what he's done. The other work that he works
in the hearts of his people by manifesting his name is, Now
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me
are of thee. cause of all things. What was given to the Lord Jesus
Christ? For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If you want to see who God is,
you look to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to see God in great
detail, you look to the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified.
If you want to see the glory of God, you look to the Lord
Jesus Christ still bearing those worms and sitting on the throne
of glory in heaven. You look to him. So like I said
earlier, faith looks out of ourselves. We are told so often that we
have to look inside for evidence. The evidence of faith is outside
of us. The evidence of faith is in heaven
right now. For it pleased the Father that
in him all fullness should dwell, in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. What's been given into his hands? power over all flesh, power over
all circumstances. He is God over all, blessed forever. No wonder Colossians in chapter
3 verse 3 summarizes it very simply, doesn't it? Christ is
all. And if we can't see Him as all,
the problem is our sight, not the reality of the truth, isn't
it? He fills all in all. All His bride is His. All His
elect is His. All their life and their grace
and their glory is in Him. He's the author and finisher
of their faith. The Father has gathered all things
together in one. He's gathered all those things
together in Christ. In Christ, all of the Old Testament
scriptures, the prophecies, the types, and the promises The things that God's people
know, because there's a God made manifest to them by
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Holy Spirit. There's an election revealed
and in that they have kept thy word and they know. We know. If you look up the word
we know in the New Testament scriptures, you'll be absolutely
amazed at the things that we know. We know all things work
together. For the good of them who love
God and are called according to his purpose. We know that the law is spiritual,
and I am carnal, sold under sin. We know that in me, in this flesh
of mine, dwells no good thing, 1 John 3 We shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. We know that we are passed from
death to life because we love the brethren. We know that we
are of the truth. If God has been made manifest
and you've kept it, you now know. You know. You know. We know that we are of the truth. and shall assure our hearts before
him. We know that he abideth in us
by the spirit he has given us. We know, 1 John 5, 15, we know
that he hears us. Whatsoever we ask, we know that
we have the petitions desired of him. Father, glorify your
name amongst us. As I said at the beginning, there
are two groups of people in every congregation ever preached to.
Those that know, and I pray those that plea. What does he say? In these last four chapters,
he keeps saying, just ask and ask and ask and ask. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord, on the character of God, in all of his glorious
attributes, shall be saved. We know the truth. We shall know
the truth. You shall know the truth, and
the truth, who you is the truth, shall make you free. Paul so
wonderfully declares, doesn't he? I know whom I have believed,
not a what. I know a whom I have believed. And not only do I know the whom,
but I know that he is able. He's able to fulfill these declarations
that we're reading here of. We know, I have manifested thy
name. I have manifested thy name unto
the man which thou gave me out of the world. Did he do it? Of
course he did. Is he doing it today? Of course
he is. It's a declaration of what he's
done and what he's doing. It's not a wishful hope. This is just a declaration of
what is true. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were. Don't you love the fact that
you belong to God the Father and that you're the gift of God
the Father? What a gift that was and what a time holy and righteous and true and
faithful and all of those glorious attributes. What wisdom and what
righteousness was displayed in doing all that? And the Son,
what did He say when He accepted it? Adam say when Eve was presented
to him? She's bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh. He looked on her with delight
and he's never stopped looking on her with delight. What a word
to keep. What a word to know. May the
Lord be pleased to manifest himself in his dear and precious Son
to us. I have manifested thy name, they
have kept, they have known. Amen. May the Lord add his blessing
to these words.