i would read another of the sermons
of the late pastor mr matronola in the pastor's absence we have
been reading his sermons and we come now to a sermon entitled
god's love in believers it was a sermon preached on the lord's
day morning 25th of october 1992 and the text is john 17 verse
26 John 17 verse 26, And I have
declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the
love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. John chapter 17 is sometimes
referred to as Christ's High Priestly Prayer. It immediately
follows the events of the Upper Room, including the keeping of
the Passover and the institution of the Lord's Supper. It is truly
the Lord's Prayer. Whereas what we usually refer
to as the Lord's Prayer is really the guidance which the Lord gives
in answer to the disciples' request, Lord, teach us to pray. It is Christ's prayer to his
Father. It is an amazing thing that it
is being preserved, that God has willed that we should have
the actual words which Christ prayed. I believe that Christ's
heavenly intercession is modelled on the prayer which is set before
us in this chapter. In it the Lord prays on his own
behalf as the God-man for the restoration of the glory which
he had before. Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was. He also prays on the behalf
of the elect, that they may enter into that glory. 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. In this prayer,
therefore, the Lord prays not only on his own behalf, but he
also prays on the behalf of the elect. This is not a prayer for
all men, And neither is Christ's heavenly intercession for all
men, everywhere, as He makes abundantly plain. I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast
given Me. This is the intercession of the great High Priest for
the salvation and the preservation of His people. Now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee.
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one as we are. He also prays for
their sanctification. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. He prays too for their glorification. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. The concluding words of the prayer
concern love. They seem to me to be the very
highest point of the prayer. For they bring this sublime truth
to us, that the Lord prays that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them and I in them. How we need the illumination
of the Spirit of God to enter even a little into the understanding
and experience of these words. Not only will Christ dwell in
our hearts, I in them, not only will there be a love to Christ
in our hearts as a result, but it will be the very love wherewith
the Father has loved the Son. The very same love, not a similar
love, but the very love wherewith the Eternal Father loves the
Eternal Son. Christ's prayer is that that
love may be in them. It is a stupendous conclusion
to this prayer of Jesus Christ as he prays for himself for his
own glory to be his again and as he prays for his people that
they might behold that glory and that the love wherewith thou
has loved me may be in them. in them. We've got a very great
subject before us, an independence upon the Holy Spirit's illumination.
May we seek to understand it better. How is this love which
Christ prays may be in them, the love wherewith thou hast
loved me, experienced? What is the food upon which this
love feeds? The answer is in the earlier
part of the verse. I have declared unto them thy
name and will declare it. The Greek word ??????? which is translated here I have
declared and will declare it is from the word to make known. We are familiar with the word
gnosis or for knowledge. The people that emphasized knowledge
over everything else, even over the Word of God, were called
the Gnostics. At the very heart of this Greek
word is the word for knowledge, to make known. It is therefore a declaring of
truth in order that the truth might be made known. I have declared
unto them thy name and will declare it. or I have given knowledge
of thy name and will give knowledge of it. We cannot experience love
to God of the order of our text, the love wherewith thou hast
loved me, without knowledge. There must be a declaring, a
knowledge imparted to us in order that we might, in order that
there might be the experience of the love. which is the very
love that the Father has for the Son. Our love for God can
be no deeper than our knowledge of the love of God towards us
in the Gospel. We love what we know. We do not
love a stranger because we do not know a stranger. If we come
to love the stranger, then he must cease to be a stranger.
We must get to know the person. It is the same in spiritual things. If we do not love this, if we
do not have this knowledge, we will never have the experience
of this love. There can be no deepening experience
of the love of God in our hearts where there is not a deepening
knowledge concerning the salvation of our God, which Jesus Christ
himself declares. I have declared unto them thy
name and will declare it. We must therefore take advantage
of every opportunity afforded us in order that God's word might
be opened up to us and that we might learn more about God. Because
as our knowledge increases then our apprehension of divine love
will increase and there will be greater love in exercise and
in operation in our hearts. This is a wonderful thing. What
about faith? Do we not need more faith in
order that there might be an increase of love in our hearts?
Surely more faith would mean more love. Faith is certainly
important, but saving faith and saving knowledge cannot be separated. They are linked in the words
of the hymn, to know my Jesus crucified, to know my Jesus crucified,
by far excels all things beside, all earthly good I count but
loss and triumph in my Saviour's cross. Of course faith is involved. We need faith to receive that
which we are told concerning the death of Jesus Christ upon
the cross, for we were not eyewitnesses as others were. We also need
faith to believe that Christ is superior to all earthly good. We have not experienced literally
all earthly good, but we would say by faith that there is no
earthly good that would prove to be better than the knowledge
of Jesus Christ. If we are to love God, we need
faith. But faith depends on knowledge. you will never have faith except
you have knowledge for faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God there must be a declaration of
truth in order that there may be faith we are not those who
claim that all we need is more faith but we do say that we need
a deeper knowledge upon which faith is brought to lean. Faith
is established so that we have hope. Hope is a stage further
than faith for it is the confidence, the assurance concerning those
things that will be. We desire then that there might
ever be that knowledge communicated to us and that our faith might
be a might rest upon that knowledge. So that as the knowledge deepens,
there might be a greater experience and understanding of the love
of God in our hearts. The hymn continues, Knowledge
of all terrestrial things, ne'er to my soul true pleasure brings,
No peace, but in the Son of God. No joy, but through His pardoning
blood. We need the knowledge of the
Son of God. We need the knowledge of His
pardoning blood. The more we know of Him and His
saving work, the more experience there will be of love in our
hearts. We need to have this knowledge in order that we might
discover what that love is. which is the very love that the
Father has to his Son, and which Christ prays may be in us. Christ himself gives us this
knowledge. We must get this knowledge direct
from him. As he says, I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it. Perhaps you're thinking,
however, that is there not a danger in saying that knowledge and
the increase in knowledge will give us a greater awareness of
the love of God? Is there not a danger in having
knowledge for its own sake? In having a religion which is
merely from books or from listening to sermons? I deplore mere empty
knowledge, mere head knowledge. I continually affirm from this
pulpit that true religion is more than notion. It is not just
knowledge from books, or even that we have got the right books
on our shelves. Although God is often pleased
to bless the instrumentality of books and sermons. God has
appointed preaching. And we are also thankful for
the godly literature which we have and which we should make
use of and employ. But we must never lose sight
of the fact that it is Christ who declares these things. I
have declared unto them thy name and will declare it. Christ himself
has to come and declare these things. He has to impart that
knowledge to us. Christ alone reveals the Father. The Saviour Himself said this
when on the occasion of the return of the Seventy He began to upbraid
the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because
they repented not. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. There is a hiding of this knowledge
from many. Those who are wise and prudent
in their own conceits, The carnal mind is at enmity with God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no
man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. If the Son of God does not reveal
the Father to you, you will never see the Father. If this knowledge, which comes
through the Word of God, is not communicated to you personally
and individually by the Son of God Himself, you will never know
the Father in saving knowledge, and you will know nothing of
this love, the love which the Father has to His own Son. It is noteworthy that in the
verse, He to Whomsoever the Son will reveal Him, Matthew 11,
27, it is not just the use of the future tense of reveal. It is a separate word which is
used for will. It is the word to will sovereignly
or electingly. It is the willing of Christ to
reveal it to that person. It is not therefore just that
he will do a certain thing in the future, but rather that it
is his will, his purpose to do it. if the father does not will
to show these things if he hides them from the wise and prudent
they will never discover them similarly if the son does not
reveal if the son does not will to reveal the things which the
father would show to those who are termed the babes they will
never come to know them the great blessing is that the
son wills to reveal these things to the people that are given
to him by the father I and the children which God hath given
me this knowledge comes to us gradually no person gets it all
in one day this is not the beginning of the work of grace the first
dawning of saving knowledge for in the experience of some people
that That could come in a moment. As one of the Puritans said,
between the saddle and the ground I mercy sought and mercy found.
This is rather the experience of it, the continuing declaration
of these things. The Lord Jesus is continually
making the things of the Father, the things of the name of God
known to us. The knowledge comes gradually.
It is a lifetime study over the days, whether few or many, that
the Lord has appointed to us to live upon the earth. We get
this gradual knowledge through the Word of God as it is read
or preached, through the books and sermons which Christ employs
as the means of bringing it to us. We want to be those who are
continually learning. Are you continually learning?
Or have you stopped learning because you consider you know
it all as a Christian? You have heard it all before?
If so, you have got it wrong. From right up to our dying day,
there are things which we will be learning. The Lord says, I
have declared unto them. He has given us sufficient knowledge
that we might know that we have passed from death unto life. But he goes on to say, and will
declare it. He is still showing us the things
concerning God's name. Peter makes it so plain at the
close of his second epistle, but grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. If the congregation
has come to the place where they are not growing in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the preacher's
labour is in vain. Are we still growing in knowledge?
Is the Lord still teaching us? We still have much to learn in
terms of the experimental grasp of the Gospel, the knowledge
of these things. This knowledge distinguishes us from the world.
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. It is declared unto them who
are the men in our text. They are those of whom the Lord
speaks earlier in this chapter. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, that is the elect. And thou gavest me, that is the
covenantal giving of the church to Christ, that it might be surety for the
election of grace. These are the ones to whom the
Lord has declared and will declare God's name. As this knowledge
is imparted to them, it will be manifest that there is a great
difference between them and other men. I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Christ prays
concerning the knowledge of the name of God. I have declared,
I have made known unto them thy name, and will declare it. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me. What is the name of God? In the narrow context, the name
of God is found in the preceding verse, 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. The name O Righteous Father is
therefore part of the declaration, it is part of the making known
of thy name. What is so significant about
the name Righteous Father? There is an amazing depth in
that name. It brings two concepts together,
righteousness and father. When we think of God as the eternal
father, we cannot conceive of him apart from righteousness.
Yet in the declaring unto us of that name, it is not just
that we are being told of the righteousness which belongs to
the Eternal Father, but we are being told of the significance
of that name to the redeemed, to those who are elect by the
virtue of what Christ has done for them. There is a bringing
together of things which, as they are revealed unto us, are
very contrary things. There is no righteousness in
us, for all our righteousnesses, if any man ever does anything
that is worthy to be called a righteousness, are filthy rags in God's holy sight. We are sinners,
those who are estranged from the womb, crooked, perverse,
foolish. We are altogether transgressors
of the law of God. There is no righteousness in
us. I am all unrighteousness, says Wesleyan the hymn. If a
view of the righteousness of the Father comes to those who
in themselves are all unrighteous, they must tremble at that name,
because it declares only justice and judgment, a holy God, an
unholy sinner, a righteous God, unrighteous men and women. But there is the linking of righteous
to the Father. The name of the Father is the
name of the One who has set His love upon us. He who would have
a family, an adopted family in Christ, His own Son, the adoption
of sons, the adoption of children unto Himself by Jesus Christ. The name Father, as it is used
and as it is imparted and communicated to us, as the Lord has declared
it and will declare it to us, shows that there is, in terms
of our experience, this reality of a righteous father. One who
is our father by adoption. One who is a righteous father
and yet is our father because our unrighteousness has been
dealt with. This brings us to the very heart
of the Gospel. An understanding of this name,
a righteous Father, which Christ has declared and will declare,
brings us to the cross and to the blood which was shed. For
it was there that our unrighteousness was covered by His perfect righteousness. It was there He secured salvation
for us, so that we need not fear the righteousness of God, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. There is profound theology in
these words, O righteous Father, which the Lord has declared,
as he said, I have declared unto them thy name. The elect find
their joy in this, that not only is there father, not only is
he their father, but he is their righteous father, in that he
has made proper provision for them. He has not overlooked their
sin, so that in the last day some voice may be raised which
may condemn them. He has dealt with their sin,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. To his people he is the righteous
father and this is a precious thing ungodly men want God as
their father without righteousness it is a matter of indifference
to them whether there is righteousness or unrighteousness but there
is no indifference with God God will not have a people on unrighteous
terms he is a righteous father over those who are of the household
of faith. They have been given a righteousness.
He has appointed his righteous son to procure it. Christ says,
I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it. If you would know the name righteous
father, then you must go to the cross and know that it and know
what it is to have a covering of blood to hide all your transgressions
from view. In the broader sense, the name
of God includes all the nature of God and all of his divine
character. In it, the power, goodness and
truth of God are revealed and savingly revealed, bringing us
to see the mercy and salvation of God. And all these things
are for us. All the attributes of God are
working together, as it were, for our good. And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. Let us look in
the second place at what this love is. What is this love wherewith
thou hast loved me that may be in them? Let us however first
consider what it is not. When the Lord prays that it may
be in them, he is not praying that God's love may be set upon
them. For thine they were, and thou
gavest them me. Christ is not praying that God
might be moved in love towards them, because God's love is an
unchangeable love from all eternity. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. There was never a time when the
when God the Father did not love his people. Christ is not saying,
therefore, that the Father might now set his love upon the elect,
for there never was any changing of the Father's mind towards
the elect by virtue of the Son's work. It was not, as some say,
that because Jesus came and died for sinners that the attitude
of the Father was changed towards them. or that Christ propitiated
the Father as though there was no love in the Father. It was
the love of the Father towards us which gave the Son up for
us. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. His prayer is rather that being
loved with an everlasting love, we might inwardly know the power,
constraint and influence of that love more and more in our hearts.
he prays that this love might be in us it is not merely human
fickle affection as we might say that we love someone or that
we love our country with a patriotic love however deep and real these
may be it is not love of this sort it is the love which is
the love of the father to the son that the love wherewith thou,
the Father, hast loved me, the Son, may be in them. This is
a staggering thought, for it tells us that God has deposited
his own love in our hearts. All our love to Christ and all
our love to the people of God for his sake is because God has
made a deposit of his own love into our hearts. The greater
the knowledge we have of the Gospel, the more this deposit
of love will constrain us in the way we live our lives to
the glory of God. We have looked at what this love
does not mean, but what does it mean? It means in the first
place that Christ desires that we distinctly recognise the Father's
love to Him, the love wherewith thou hast loved me. Do you recognize in some measure
that there was a love of the Father to the Son from all eternity? The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. The One
who has come is God manifest in the flesh. The One who has
made known the electing love of God in the salvation of our
God is loved of the Father from all eternity. we meditate on
these words that the love with thou hast loved me God never
loved anything in the world as he loved his Son the second thing it means is
that Christ would have us understand in our hearts the Father's love
to us so that we may have a sense that God has loved us with the
same love as the Father displays towards His Son from all eternity. We might then be almost prepared
to say that God the Father has never loved anything as much
as His Son, with the exception of His elect, whom He loved in
the Son. Pray that the Spirit of God will
enable you to see this. that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them Christ would have us come to
this awareness this sense of the love of the Father towards
him and in experiencing that that we might grasp that God
loves us as he loved his Son it can be put in a very vivid
fashion when God the Father was asked to choose between his beloved
son whether or not he should be put to the death of the cross
and the elect. He chose the elect. That may be rather a simplistic
way of putting it, but it enshrines, I am sure, the truth of the matter.
When the father had the choice of love towards his beloved son
and love towards his people, he chose that he should give
his son. He sent forth the son. He delivered up his son, not
because he loved the son less, but because he loved his people
so much that he gave his son for them. Christ would have us have a sense
of this in our hearts. Have you got a sense of it today? That the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, or that it may be in your heart
and mine, as the love of the Father to the Son. Can we begin
to understand it? It is perfectly understandable
that God should love his son, but that God should ever love
us is not so readily understandable, is it? Paul brings it out. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when
we were yet without strength in time, Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for adventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God committed His love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ desires that we might
distinctly recognize the love of the Father to Him, the Son. And Christ prays earnestly that
we might know in our hearts that that very love has been commended
towards us. In the third place, Christ would
have us reflect this love. Love always manifests itself. If there is the love of the Father,
the love wherewith thou hast loved me to the Son in us, it
will be manifest. How will it be expressed? It
will be expressed in love to Christ and in love to those who
are Christ's. As we therefore have opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto the household
of faith. Especially unto them who are
of the household of faith. Christ would have that love in
exercise, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them, not just as something static, not as a deposit which has merely
been put there, but as something which will activate us and will
result in our way of living being of a certain order. Do you find it hard, for example,
to love other Christians? Not all of them perhaps, but
some of them. Even in little churches, we are such respecters
of persons. We tend to have those to whom
we gravitate and those to whom we are not so naturally attracted. Dear friends, we are not talking
here of natural attraction, but of Christian laugh in its manifestation. We are talking of the love of
the Father to the Son, which is put within our hearts by sovereign
grace in its exercise. If God could love us so much
that he gave up his Son for us, can we not love our brethren,
our sisters in Christ? Is it such a very hard thing
for us to love them when God has loved us? in that measure
and to that degree. We have looked at what is the
ground of this love, the making manifest, declaring and imparting
of the knowledge of the name of God by Christ to us. We've
also looked at what this love is not and we have sought to
see what this love is. If we had time, I would take
up in the third place what this love results in. But I can only
give you the headings. This love has an expulsive result. When this love, the same love
of the Father to the Son is in us, we are so taken up with the
knowledge of holy things and of the righteous Father that
there is an expulsion of the world and the things of the world. The things of sin and darkness. It also has a repulsive result. There is a repelling in the conflict
of the spirit and the flesh that is within us. The more this love
is grasped, and the more the gospel is appreciated, there
is the strength to repel the enemy and to fight, so that sin
does not reign over us, for we are not under law, but under
grace. This love also has an impulsive
result. It impels us. The love of God
within us is a tremendous impulsion and motivation to do holy things. The Apostle says, the love of
Christ constraineth us. And under that constraint and
motivated by that love, what might any one of us do? Whereas
without it, we will find it very hard to do anything, even our
duty. Art says, law and terrors do
but harden, all the while they work alone, but a sense of blood-bought
pardon soon dissolves a heart of stone. Oh, to get a grasp
of that love within us, the same love of the Father to the Son,
as it feeds upon gospel truth, the election of grace, the work
of Christ and its application by the Spirit of God. As gospel
truth is fed upon and this love is stimulated, oh, the impulsive
effect of the love of Christ constraining us. It will not
be a hard thing, then, to serve one another in love. Rather it
will be, what more can we do out of love? The prayer of Christ is that
the love with thou hast loved me may be in them, but who accompanies
This divine love in us. And I in them. And I in them. We are not just those who have
the divine love, the love of the Father to the Son within
us, which is in itself a great mystery. But Christ also says,
I am in them. I abide there. By the Spirit
of God I am formed within them. I take up my residence there. I will come into them and will
sup with Him and He with me. I will hold communion with Him.
Could we be more favoured than this? O for a sight of this,
the love of the Father to the Son is put within us and Christ
is also there. Where there is this love, there
will be much sense of Christ. But where there is little sense
of this love, because there has been no feeding on the knowledge
of the gospel, there will be little sense of Christ. It is
so plain. You do not find that you have
a mighty sense of a present Christ when you have got little awareness
of that love, of what that love is that has been commended towards
you. But when you are brought to know
something of this love, to make you wonder and to tremble at
it and to walk in the fear of God because of it, you know that
Christ is with you and I in them. Notice in conclusion that Christ
brings the whole of the Godhead to us. When loving dwells us,
it is because there is spiritual life. A corpse does not love. You have to live to love. When
love is within us, it is because we have been made to live. God
hath quickened us. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Where spiritual life is, Christ
is. For he is the life. I am the
way, the truth and the life. And where Christ is, the Holy
Spirit is. Because it is the Spirit who
brings Christ to us. Christ is sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high, but he is formed in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession. Where love is then
there is life. Where life is, it is because
Christ is there. Where Christ is, the Holy Spirit
has come. Where Christ and the Holy Spirit have come, the Father
is. because Jesus says, I and my
Father are one. So we have Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Like the woman at Dornoch, in
the gleanings of the Highland Harvest, who lived alone, and
the elders, feeling for her in her loneliness, visited her and
said, we were thinking of you, so alone, this night. So she
replied, Alone, I have the sacred three ever with me. There were
four present this night, and I was the only sinner among them.
The sacred three, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. As Hart puts
it, by all true Christians, this may boast, a truth from nature
never learned, that Father, Son and Holy Ghost to save our souls
are all concerned. Or may we have that declared
by Christ to us. May he go on to make known to
us the name of God, in all its saving fullness, that we might
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, Christ prays,
may be in them, and I in them. God grant it, for his name's
sake. Amen.