May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us
turn to the Gospel of John chapter 17 and we'll read verse 2. The Gospel of John chapter 17
and reading verse 2. As thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. This is very true and this is
very wonderful that the Lord Jesus Christ has the prerogative
to give eternal life. And what a blessing if we are
given such a great and glorious gift. You know, we're coming
up towards Christmas time when gifts are given, aren't they?
And especially the younger ones look forward to what kind of
gifts they're going to receive. No doubt they looked at the presents
and wonder what their what's inside and what size they are
and everything else and they have great anticipation of what
they may be given but the truth is of course that all those gifts
which they are because they haven't worked for them and people have
bought them the presents to give them but you see they won't last
very long will they? sometimes they don't even last
out the day Sometimes they last for weeks, sometimes perhaps
for years. Sometimes they're still in existence
when that person dies. But then eventually they will
rot and break and disappear or at least in the end when the
world ceases they will be burnt up. So all these gifts which
we are perhaps so pleased to find and receive, they really
don't bear any comparison with this great and wonderful gift.
And I wonder if perhaps when we come to Christmas Day and
we look around and there aren't any gifts, nothing to receive, we might be sad, we might be
sorrowful, but what a great blessing if almighty God, whispered into
our hearts, I give you the gift of eternal life. We cannot receive a greater gift
than that, because that gift will never rot away, it will
never perish, No one can take it from us. Burglars can't come
in and take it. That which God gives is an eternal
gift. That's why it's classified like
this. A gift of eternal life. And so, really, we need to have
the wonderful evidence that we are the possessors of this gift
of eternal life. Nothing else is more important,
nothing else is more valuable, more precious than the gift of
eternal life. What a blessed privilege it is
if you and I are the possessors of this gift. Now, all of us
need to receive it. You see, you and I may want things
in this life, and we perhaps may never receive them. But it
won't matter very much. But it will matter if you and
I do not receive this great and glorious gift of eternal life. And remember, it is bestowed
upon those whom the Lord Jesus Christ has given it. We read
here in this verse, or perhaps read in the previous verse, where
the Lord comes and says, Father, the hour has 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." Now it's not to everybody. It's
not to everybody. The Lord Jesus in this wonderful
prayer tells us who they are, who he gives this
gift to. He says, for I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them. What that means is, the Lord
speaks into the hearts of his people, words of truth, words
which perhaps make us spiritually alive, words which encourage
us, words which strengthen us, but the people of God do hear
the voice of Jesus, not in a physical way, although sometimes it may
seem so powerful that it is almost a physical way, but as the Lord
brings a word into our hearts, a word which is spoken therefore
by God. It may be, as you and I read
the Bible, read the Word of God, and it may be that, as it were,
suddenly a text, perhaps a few words, suddenly seem to almost
jump out of the Bible. We realize that God has spoken. Sometimes there are words to
stop us doing things. words to correct us, to turn
away from things. They are all the word from God. And so he comes and he says,
he's given these words and they have received them. Now what
a blessing that is. If you and I are to receive this
gift of eternal life, we will be those who receive
the Word of God. Now many people today do not
receive the Word of God. Many people read the Word of
God perhaps. Many people do not read the Word
of God. They don't want to receive anything from the Word of God.
No, they don't want to believe the great truth of the Gospel. They want to believe everything
else which is enmity with the Word of God. and they do not
receive the word of God. Now how very, very humbling it
is if God has given you and me grace to receive his word, whatever
that may be. Sometimes God speaks words that
we don't like very much because they cut across what we want
to do, Well, it's a wonderful mercy,
a wonderful blessing to be submissive to God's will. We are encouraged to submit ourselves
under the mighty hand of God. We sometimes forget that we are
dealing with Almighty God. And yet we seem to treat God
sometimes as though he's just another person. And we just do
what we want to do. Well, if God has spoken to us,
if God is speaking to us, then may we be given a heart to receive
the word from God. Not from man, from God. Jesus
here is telling us, I have given unto them the words which thou
gavest me, for they have received them. And not only so, but it goes
on to wonderfully encourage the church of God. And have known
surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou
didst send me. This is very comforting. This is very helpful and it proves
to us that we are the recipients of those whom God has given eternal
life. Because those who have not been
given eternal life will not receive the Word of God. They will not
want to and they will not believe. the Lord Jesus Christ has come
into this world to seek and to save those that are lost because
they want to pursue their own life. Well my friends tonight
may you and I stand before God. It's a very wonderful thing to
come and to stand or to kneel before God or sit before God. You know David we read of. He had a difficult situation.
And what did he do? Did he look all round? Did he ask Tom and Dick and Harry
what he should do? We're told David came and sat
before the Lord. That's a good place. The Lord didn't turn David away.
The Lord gave David the direction
he needed. My friends, today, thankfully,
we come to the same God that existed in David's day, because
our God does not change. He is the same yesterday, and
today, and forever. And so, to have this wonderful
blessing and have known surely that I came out from thee. Now, today, it seems popular
to not believe God's Word. People seem to think it's a mark
of grace to doubt the word of God. Well, it's the opposite. When God speaks to our hearts,
it's a very encouraging situation for us. And as we have that,
may we therefore be known like this and have known surely that
I came out from thee. What it means is this. We don't
doubt the blessed existence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't
doubt his great work of salvation. We don't doubt his words. Don't doubt the word of God. The devil will want you to. He'll
tell you, that's not true. You've imagined it. Remember,
the devil is a deceiver. He always has been. He always
will be. Don't listen to him. The Word of God tells us that
naturally we possess an evil heart of unbelief. The devil
wants us to not believe the Word of God. And that's why we have
such glorious words as this, set before us to encourage us,
and to strengthen us, and to help us. And so he tells us,
for I've 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. Well, tonight, oh may we be amongst
those who are able to confirm, yes, I believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I believe he is the son of God. I believe he is the one who came
into this world to save my soul, to deliver me from the wrath
to come, to pardon all my sins, to die for me on the cross at
Calvary. Now, what does the Lord say? I pray for them. Isn't that wonderful? It's really so humbling, isn't
it? To think almighty God, nonetheless, prays for such unworthy sinners. I pray for them. It's been described
who they are. And they are those who he has
given this great and wonderful gift of eternal life. so that
one day they will be united with the Saviour in glory. What a day that will be when
we shall be found together with the Lord. It's difficult for us to try
and imagine the scene, weren't it, to when we are received into
glory. all those whom he has loved with
an everlasting love. All those who he has given eternal life will be received
into glory. So difficult to put ourselves
in that position and imagine there we are out of time into
eternity and there we are safe home at last, entering into our
eternal rest, where the devil cannot get hold of us. No, there's
a great void, he cannot pass over, he cannot touch us. And there we are then, forever
with the Lord. A good hymn that we sometimes
sing, forever with the Lord. It's a good prospect and it is
a result of this gift of eternal life. If we don't receive it,
we shall never find ourselves in glory with the Saviour. But
if we have, it's a sure, there's no doubt about it. And so may
we be strengthened to think of it and realise What a blessed,
wonderful God we have, that looks upon us utterly unworthy of any
favour, of any blessing. Sinful as we are, wretched as
we are, undone as we are, and yet the Lord comes and gives
this great and wonderful gift of eternal life. The Lord says of his father,
he's given him power over all flesh. He has power over everyone.
No one can stand against God and you and I can't. Don't rebel
against God. Don't walk contrary to God. He tells us, if you walk contrary
to me, I'll walk contrary to you. Perhaps some of us have proved
that to be true. We haven't done the will of God. No, and we walk contrary to God. We've been disobedient. The Lord doesn't pass those things
by. Don't think you have a God who somehow doesn't remember. God remembers everything. He
knows everything. And therefore let us not be those
who have gone against God or are going against God and are
not willing to be those who acknowledge the
goodness and the mercy and favour of God. If the Lord has given
us the gift of eternal life. Just try and imagine how expensive
and how valuable that gift is. Well, money couldn't buy it. And we know there was a man in
the Acts of the Apostles called Simon, or Simon the Sorcerer
as he's known. He thought he could buy The gift
of the Holy Ghost. My friends, these things are
not to be purchased with natural monetary things. No, it's those
which God gives. He gives this wonderful gift
of eternal life. And he gives it to as many as
God the Father has given him. And all will be revealed. And
you may say, If I haven't been given to him then there's no
way that I can actually be amongst those who receive this gift of
eternal life. The wonderful blessing is that
God gives to all of his children that concern and that desire
that we might not be left out. You see there you have the beginning
to seek after eternal blessings. Those who are not recipients
of this gift of eternal life, they're not really worried. They're
not concerned. They can just carry on in this
life, expecting probably when they die it's annihilation and
well, in actual fact they've been quite good and they expect
to go to heaven anyway. They've earned it as they think.
Such will have a terrible awakening. But let us realise that if the
Holy Spirit has caused us to be concerned as to whether we
have received the gift of eternal life, or whether we will receive
the gift of eternal life, may we have the evidence that this
work is the work of the Holy Spirit. And if it is the work
of the Holy Spirit, you won't be able to rest. You'd have a
conscience which keeps on nagging. keeps on directing you to seek
whether you have received the gift of eternal life or whether
you will. And you know this won't be something
you'll be able to forget, it may keep you awake at night.
It's a good thing if it does. So that you may have from God's
own lips that you are one of those whom the Lord has given
this great, glorious gift of eternal life. When the Apostle
Paul wrote to the Romans, he spoke many wonderful words of
wisdom, and he came to the end of the sixth chapter, the last
verse. He tells us this, the wages of
sin, do you know what you earn if you sin? Death. The wages of sin is death, eternal
death in hell. That's the state of our sin. And that's what we all deserve.
But then he goes and says this, but the gift of God is eternal
life. And so you see, by nature, you
and I deserve the punishment of our sin. You might think,
well, I'm not sure whether I think that's true. Well, if you weigh
it up, God has given us a glorious law, wonderful commands. And if we disobey those commands,
what do you think we should receive? A pat on the back? No, we should receive the dear
reward of disobeying God. And what is the reward to disobey
God? Eternal death in hell, unless the Lord has given us or gives
us the wonderful gift of eternal life. You and I will never be
able to come before the judgment seat of God and say, well, I
didn't deserve to be cast into outer darkness. Everyone deserves
to be cast into outer darkness. And it's a wonderful thing when
the Holy Spirit of God enables us before God to acknowledge
that is what we deserve. When the Holy Spirit does that,
what's the result? You'll be crying to God. You'll
be praying to God. You'll be seeking. He won't deal
with you as your sins deserve. You'll be praying that he would
indeed look upon you for good and remember you indeed with
that wonderful favour that is reserved for his people. You'll rejoice then in the glorious
gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, the 10th chapter of
John, you may remember, deals with the Lord Jesus Christ as
being the good shepherd. A good shepherd. You know what
a shepherd is, isn't it? A shepherd looks after his sheep.
And if the sheep wander away, the shepherd goes after them
and brings them back. Well, we have a great and glorious
shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, David said, the Lord
is my shepherd. And what a mercy if you and I
can say that tonight, The Lord is my shepherd and the Lord tells
us in the 10th chapter of John and verse 27, my sheep hear my
voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them
eternal life and they shall never perish Neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." What
does that tell us? Eternal safety. Eternal safety. If we are there for one of Christ's
sheep, one of his people, we are eternally safe. And what
a blessing it is then to have this wonderful evidence that
we are one of the Saviour's sheep. Those whom he's watched over,
he does watch over his people wherever we are. Don't think
you can hide from God, you can't. Don't think you can do something
which God isn't aware of. God looks into our very heart. Our every thought, the smallest
thought, is known to God. Everything. And yet if you see
that God, this great and glorious Saviour, has given us this gift
of eternal life. And as we know, as I said, the
wages of sin is death. And therefore, that has got to
be paid for in order to deliver our soul. That debt that we've
incurred because of our sin has to be paid for. If you and I
are to receive this gift of eternal life, then you see, eternal life
means that we've been forgiven all of our sins, and how are
you and I to take away our sin or have them forgiven? We have
no ability ourselves, and therefore we need someone to take our sins
away. And who does? Who can? Only one person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we know that we need then
this great and blessed Saviour, to take away our sins. Every
one, every sin. Never assume that you haven't
sinned very much. Because just remember, one sin
will condemn you and condemn me to an eternity in hell. One sin. One sin. And all of us today, without
exception, must have committed one sin. Is that right? I'm sure
no one can say, well I haven't committed any sin. All of us
have. And therefore we are all guilty
before God. And therefore we cannot merit
our own salvation. Of course the Apostle Paul when
he wrote to the Acts of the Apostles, you remember the Sorry, to the
Ephesians. And you remember the wonderful
words that he speaks in the second chapter and the eighth verse
where he tells us how we're saved by grace. Are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. You and I will never be able
to say, well, I did that. I redeemed my soul. It was my
works, the knowledge in heaven, and therefore I've been accepted
because of those things which I've done. They are of no value. You know why? Sin is mixed with
all we do. Everything is defiled. Everything. Because of our fallen nature.
We're sinners before a holy God. And if we are to receive this
great and glorious gift, it is because of his grace. And it
is because it is an unmerited favor none of us deserve. The gift of God, oh my friends,
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. And if we are to receive this
gift of eternal life, it will be because the debt that we owe
has been removed, taken away. And how are we to remove it?
We can't. How can it be removed? Only by
the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And if he gives us this gift
of eternal life, he will remove all sin. And how is that sin
removed? It's because he's paid the price
required to remove our sin. And never underestimate, never
underestimate the cost of that removal. It cost the Lord Jesus
Christ his life. He gave his life. as a perfect
sacrifice for sin. And in so doing, in giving his
life, he gave it in the most painful way. So it wasn't just
a mere word that it was done. He had to suffer. And he had to suffer because
of this. He stood in our place. He stood
in our place. He bore the punishment instead. Just think what you and I deserved
because of our sin. All the punishment for our sin
we could not pay. The Lord Jesus Christ took on
himself the punishment that you and I deserved. Do think of that. May it have a tremendous effect
upon us in realising the great and glorious
gift it is that we have received and the enormous cost, not to
just a mere person, but to the Son of God, died upon Calvary's
cross in order that we might be redeemed. That's what was
required. Redemption. Redemption to take
away our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ took it
away. What a blessing it was. What
a wonderful favour. And realise, just ponder, always
my friends, If you're faced with temptation, what do you do? Go to the cross. Go to the cross and there consider
him. Consider what he did in order
to redeem your soul, in order to free you from the condemnation
of all your sin. The Bible tells us, the soul
that sinneth it should die, and that eternally, unless we're
redeemed. And the blessed Saviour, he didn't
stop. He knew what was before him. As he entered into this world,
born in that manger, he lived that perfect life. And as he
came down to the last hours in his life, we see what agony he
had to endure. We read together this wonderful
chapter in the 17th of John, just a very short time before
he was to die. What do we see in it? We see
love. We see his amazing love to his
church. To leave on record for us today
such encouraging words, and yet to realise that the cost was
the agony the Saviour faced, just after he'd given this prayer
with his disciples, he left the upper room, went across the Brook
Kedron into Gethsemane. And what did he do? Prayed to
his Father. Oh, you see, knew what was before
him, prayed to his Father. If it be possible, Let this cup
pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.'
And then we're told, being in agony, he prayed more fervently. This was the blessed and glorious
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Gethsemane's garden, passing through that way so that
you and I might be redeemed. from our sin. And then all the
humiliation he endured in the judgment hall, totally humiliated
the Son of God in his human form there on our behalf. My friends, surely we should
say from our very heart, what a saviour, what a saviour to
do such great things for such an unworthy sinner, a sinner
not fit, ready to stay on this earth. And yet the Lord Jesus
died that you and I might live. And then as he went to Calvary,
you think of the crucifixion there. And there, worst of all,
His father hid his face. The Lord cried out, my God, my
God, why has thou forsaken me? Yes, the Lord Jesus, who had
enjoyed that fellowship with his father from eternity past,
now his father hid his face. And the Lord had to endure the
agony in order to satisfy the demands of a holy law. so that
our sins might be taken away, our sins might be forgiven, and
that you and I might receive this great and blessed gift of
eternal life. So tonight, I do think upon that
great cost that it was to redeem our souls. Yes, what a cost it
was. How wonderful to think the Lord
Jesus Christ was so willing to die for such a wretch as you
and I. Is that how we view ourselves?
Or do we view ourselves as somebody really quite good and well worthy
of some acknowledgement? Well, no, not at all. You see,
it is because of this great power of Almighty God. His power given
to him, as Peter said, according to his divine power, hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. An unworthy sinner, unworthy
sinner called by the blessed Lord. What a mercy it is. Are
we thankful tonight? for such a saviour, as thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that it should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Well, if we've been given
by the Father and redeemed by the Son, to realise the wonderful
blessing this is, and be able to come in and rejoice in the
words of the Saviour as he comes to the end of this wonderful
prayer. As he says, 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. If we are the recipients
of this eternal life, we shall. behold His glory in heaven. Won't there be a day, won't there
be an amazing day, when we behold with our eyes the blessed Saviour
of sinners, the Son of God, and to realise there will be no separation. He tells us, O righteous Father,
the world has not known Thee, but I have known Thee, And these
have known that thou sent me. Well, tonight, do we know the
Saviour? See, as the blessed Lord went
on in the third verse, he said, And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Well, we've spoken a little tonight
of the need to know this Saviour, this crucified Saviour. And without
any doubt, all the living Church of God, all those who have received
this gift of eternal life will be amongst those who are able
to confirm that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God. And the Father is the true God. And the Holy Spirit is the true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent to bow down and worship
this God. And that means doing his will. That means doing
his will. My friends, we must not pretend
to be a believer. We must not pretend to be a Christian. and carry on pleasing ourselves,
and carry on making excuses why we should not take up our cross
and follow such a great and glorious Saviour, this One who wonderfully
says, O Righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but
I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them." Now, the love of Christ is rich and free, and
what an amazing blessing it is, and a very humbling realisation
is to know this love in our hearts. Comes in with a hymn writer who
said, his loving kindness Oh, how great is it to you and me
tonight. Do we recognise it as such? And do we bless God for it? And
do we go on our way rejoicing because of the great truth of
the Gospel, and go on our way rejoicing tonight to believe
that we are amongst those who have received, or the hope that
we will receive, this great and glorious gift of eternal life. Let us not forget it is the most
valuable gift that you and I can ever receive, and the most valuable
gift that every one of us must receive, must receive. My friends, if we haven't received
it, oh give God no rest, no rest, until you have the indisputable
evidence that you are indeed amongst those who are safe in
the arms of Jesus. Oh, blessed place, place of comfort
to know that rest and to realise then there is a rest that remaineth
to the people of God. Amen.