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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1971. First reading meeting.
64.
The last hymn that was sung if it wouldn't be profitable to look at the prayer of the Lord in the 17th of John Brethren, the Lord.
Chapter 17.
These words beg Jesus.
Lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come, Glorify my Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As I was given Him power over all flesh, they should give eternal life to as many as thou is 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 that thou gave us me to do.
And now our Father, glorify thou me with thy own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest on me, and they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gave us 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. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine, and all mine are thine thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
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And now I am no more in the world.
But these are in the world, and I come to these Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom now has given me that there may be one as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them have lost, but the Son of protection that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee, and these words I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them my word. The world hath hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray now that thou should have taken out of the world, but that thou should have keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even though have I also sent them into the world. And for their sake I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which should believe on me through their words. But they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I and thee, that they also may be one another, that the world may believe that thou has sent me, and the glory which God gave with me I've given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I and them, thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one.
That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hath loved them.
As always loved me, Father have willed the altar, whom now has given me be with me where I am. But they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
All righteous Father in the world has not known thee. But I have known thee, and these have known as thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare that the love wherewith sorrows love me.
Maybe in them and I in them.
This chapter seems to be the culmination of.
The Lord's parting words given to us in the 1314 fifties and 16th chapter, do they not?
It seems a culmination of it all. And yet he now is not addressing his disciples, but the Father on their behalf.
I suppose we would say better than that this is.
Our Lord's High Priestly Prayer.
Contrast to what we are usually taught.
The most prayers, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
That is really the disciples prayers would you say? But here we have.
Our Lords High Priestly Prayer.
Prior to going to the cross.
I believe it's the only place in John's Gospel where we have the Lord in prayer.
Luke stop for where we have the Son of Man, We have him seven times in prayer, perfect number, pressing his dependence as a man upon the Father.
But in this gospel where we have Him presented as the Son of God.
It's the only place where we have him in prayer and that prayer is entered in is intersession for others, not for himself.
You were saying, Brother Smith, that is the large priestly prayer, and it's a sort of a culmination.
Summing up what we get in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th chapters. Chapters that have often been spoken of as the upper room ministry, the Lord preparing his own for his departure.
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Our brother Bella give a precious thought of when he says that in the 13th chapter the Lord is washing the disciples feet.
That is, he's looking down the defile feet of his disciples.
In the 17th chapter we read that.
These words picked Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven. I'm looking down at the disciples feet. He now looks about into heaven and to the Father's presence. And as it were, he fills the whole distance between the defiled feet of his cycles right into the glorious scene where the.
He can address his father.
I suppose what you say Brother Smith, that this is definitely the Lord prayer, not the disciples prayer that the Lord taught them which was needful for that particular time.
But the prayer of the 17th of John.
Especially characteristic of the way we approach God our Father now that the redemption work is accomplished.
And the Blessed Lord has gone up on high, and the Holy Spirit has come down.
For there's no such thing as any distance now which the disciples prayer would suggest.
For the very fact they were to say Our Father, which art in heaven would suggest, as it were, a certain distance.
But here, when the Lord prays, he lifted. He lifted up his eyes. He just said, Father. She was right in the presence of the Father. You didn't have to speak as though it was something that had to be carried.
Help there to where her father is now abolished, but he could just look up and be right in the presence.
Of his Father and God.
So that is our privilege too, isn't it, Brother Smith?
I like that Brother Bear. We do notice in verse 5 the method that the Lord uses in addressing the Father.
All Father.
Well, we would say that his intimacy there with the father, oh, father.
But then again we noticed that he addresses.
The Father in another way.
In verse 11.
He says, Holy Father.
Well that would be as regards his own would you think problem bearing as regards his own?
But there is another.
Verse in verse 25.
Oh, righteous Father. It's rather noteworthy to notice that the method that the way that the Lord Jesus addresses the Father.
Well, would you say that this is regards the letter one? Would the last one would be as regards the perishing? Would you say perishing world?
Would that be all right, brother?
All righteous, Father.
Righteous would have the thought of judgment. God is a righteous God and must execute judgment upon a guilty world. And it's a world that's under the condemnation of having rejected God's Son when he was here in this world. So that is especially.
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In keeping with the character of the world.
When the Lord was speaking in that way, but when it's his own, it's all wholly followed. World hath known thee, but I have known thee that as we know God in that character.
Now God of infinite holiness, yet go and die. Though he was known in that character, he's known in his infinite love toward us.
Because all His Holiness has been satisfied in the work of his beloved Son.
I suppose we could connect it with first Peter chapter one and verse 16.
Well, the 15th verse.
But as he which hath called to his holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. And if he call on the Father, who without respect of persons, Judith, according to every man's work past the time of your sod yearning here in fear.
So in this verse that you referred to the the 7-11 first, rather it has to do with our walk, doesn't it?
And so it tells us, Holy Father, keep through thine own name Thou have those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. That is, if we're going to walk in fellowship with God as our Father, we must remember his holy character.
When it speaks of our relationship in a positive way, its Father and that blessed relationship is always true of us, because having received the Holy Spirit now we can address God as Father.
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying have a Father. But if we're going to enjoy a relationship, if we're going to walk in His company, so to speak, we have to remember that He's a Holy Father.
A sometimes illustrated it like this. My child is in a relationship to me. I love it. Love it very much. But supposing I'm going to walk down the street in my child's face, dirty. Well, I say to the child's.
You must wash your face if you're going to walk down the street with me. So that is if the child is going to enjoy my company, it must remember that it must be clean. And so it's a wonderful thing to know that their relationships have said it's ours. And I believe particularly in John's gospel, it says possessing the life of the family because new birth is brought in in John, but in the 11Th verse where it's walking in communion.
Oneness and Communion. God our Father is a Holy Father.
I suppose we would say that holiness, brethren, is really the exclusion of everything from my life and yours. That would be contrary to God's mind and to God's nature. There is a verse, I think this is very interesting. Our brother brought up there is a verse that says the application of this would be.
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Well, would that be the exclusion, brethren, of everything from my life, that would be contrary to that blessed ones, contrary to his Word, contrary to his mind, and contrary to his nature. For God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
So this verse here, Holy Father, I think it embraces that.
I suppose Brother Smith that.
You speak of exclusion. It would be that something else would replace it. We do not. And so we find in these chapters.
That have been mentioned.
Which are spoken sometimes as the upper room ministry.
The person of Christ brought before us perhaps more than elsewhere.
I have noticed in the.
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14th chapter for instance, where the the person of Christ is brought before the disciples.
If you believe in the Father, believe also in me.
And so his person is before them there particularly.
Well, that chapter, this one.
And have the Lord refers to himself perhaps the same number of times in each each chapter. Over 60 times he refers to himself, either I or my or myself.
Setting before us in the 14th chapter.
Because it was going away. This person is our brother, Smith has said His Holiness.
That becomes the children of God. But how is it to be accomplished? Well, everything else is replaced with Christ. And now, in this chapter, as we're given, as it were, a little glimpse of what's going on up there now is He's He's there for us.
We find that it's his person that engages the Father and it's his in person that engages all heaven.
Person that will engage us when we get there now in this chapter.
We're taking up. It's been mentioned before, but we might just say in connection with these references that have been made.
Not at the beginning. We have the Lord Jesus receiving a gift, as it were, from the Father, those men which thou has given me. We don't see any mention of sins there.
They're all gone because when God gives the church to Jesus.
It's after all this work has been accomplished.
Now we're free.
Now the guilt All that belonged to us before is gone and were seen an entirely new relationship.
And what characterizes this relationship is holiness.
And so that verse that was referred to in the 11Th verse.
All Holy Father keep as the Lord Jesus goes away.
He entrusts his disciples, that heavenly family, a picture of that heavenly family on earth with a Holy Father to keep them. And it's only in a sense of holiness.
That we are preserved down here. And how can we have that sense of holiness to be occupied with the subject of the chapter? It's Christ. We can't be occupied with other things when we're occupied with Christ and he replaces everything here, but then at the end of the chapter.
In his prayer to the Father, he prays that we might be with him to behold his glory. That's the destiny of the believer.
So here in this chapter we have the origin, a gift from the father. We have the present safety and preservation of the believer, and then we have that destiny that we were singing about in our little hymn.
That's nice, brother. Love being we have here in this prayer, beloved. A perfection of security.
Now 7 times these words appear the first time. Notice please.
As many as thou hast given him.
If there should be a young person here.
Doubting concerning light, eternal light, we would seek to let you know from this chapter that we have here a perfection of security.
For each believer is the love gift of the father to the son.
Will you ever perish? Never. You are the love gift of the Father to the Son.
How do you know? Well, it says here as many as thou has given him.
Now the next time, if you don't mind me, just mentioning these going on a little.
In verse six I have manifested by name.
Unto the men which thou gave us me, here we have it again, this wonderful fact.
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And in the same verse nine they were and thou gave us them me. This is the third time.
That precious saying that repeats this glorious factor.
And looking down, Father in verse nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world.
But for them which thou hast given me.
Isn't it wonderful That's the 4th time.
Mentions this glorious fan.
And in verse 11.
We have these words.
Holy Father.
Teeth through thine old name.
Those whom thou hast given me.
There is another one in verse 12. I have kept them in my name. Those that gave us me I have kept, and none of them is lost. But Judas, son of produce.
And there's one more problem.
We may find the threat to define before I do 24. Thank you.
Father I will that they also whom thou hast.
Given me be with me where I am, that they may be made, Behold my glory.
Was a picture of perfection. Do you doubt that that you have not eternal life?
You are the love gift, dear young Christian, of the Father to the Son.
All of the glorious proof this is.
You will find in this prayer.
That the Lord takes the position as though he was no longer in this world. Now I am no longer in the world as though he was above.
By instructing His disciples in view of that place and that portion which there would they would share with Him, but preparing them for the journey on the way as they go on through this scene that He had passed through before this, that they might be prepared for the for the doors of the last thing before us.
So in the first verse of our chapter.
He says the hour is come.
Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify these.
The Lord speaks as though He's just ready to step right into the glory, as all the cross will pass, and even the resurrection, so that He's ready, as it were, to enter.
But seen.
That we know he has entered.
Then another thing this.
Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Remember hearing Brother Potter say this one time. It's just as though the Lord said this. I've done all I can to glorify you in this world. Now Take Me Home and I'll glorify you up there.
To be better read in the fourth verse along with thyself, wouldn't it?
With thyself.
I believe that that's the proper reading, along with myself.
In the fifth verse.
Yeah, you see there, he says. I finished the work which thou gave us me to do. Of course, that's anticipated.
For he hadn't even been at the cross. And the Lord does speak in that way because God and Christ is God can speak of things that are not as though they be.
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The beautiful picture of it in the 17th of Exodus isn't there where the children of Israel had a drink of the water that came from the smitten rock. And we're told in John 17 that this refers to the Holy Spirit. It says, Any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the scripture has set out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And it says.
This fake he of the Spirit which say that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because the Jesus was not yet glorified. So when they had had a drink of the smitten rock, then Amalek came out to fight with them, and Moses went up and stood on the top of the hill, and there he was in the presence of God on their behalf while they were fighting in the plains below. Well, so we see a picture here. The Lord had spoken of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the chapters before.
And now he's telling about how he's going up on high just as Moses did and we're going to have a conflict with the world. But just as Moses holding up his hand, it says when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And this the Lord is doing here is going up on high there to intercede for us and saw the precious Savior is there on our behalf. So it anticipates this position that.
He has now taken and as you remark, and it's lovely to see this. The expression Heavenly Father has to do with an earthly people, doesn't it?
That is, Israels blessings are on the earth and so in Matthews gospel we have that our Father which art in heaven and again your heavenly Father having to do with an earthly people. But isn't it blessed to know brother that we now have the Son's place before the Father?
And just as the Lord Jesus is there, and so we are there in Him. And because we are there in Him now, we can address God as our Father in the same blessed nearness.
And when he does undertake for us and even restores us when we have failed, it's not inconsistent with his character. So when it speaks of his advocacy and the first epistle of John and the first chapter in the ninth verse, it says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Well, He's faithful in that blessed work as our advocate. And he's just because he has already glorified God in connection with those sins at the cross.
And so he's there in my father's presence for us. And when we have failed to restore us, the work of redemption being all completed, God having been glorified, and He is glorified there now at His Father's right hand, and we are accepted in Him.
It's noticeable and blessed to see is not that the Holy Ghost having come.
We we have that privilege of speaking to the Lord as our Father. It's noticeable, author, that in the 14th chapter the Lord speaks of my Father and of the Father. In the 16th chapter, over and over again He speaks of my Father and the Father, but He cannot speak to the disciples in the language that they know him as their father. Yet not until he gave that word to Mary, I ascend unto my Father and your Father.
Could they use that language? Could they? But now we are privileged because having the Holy Spirit, we can look up to heaven too and address God as our Father, not the Father or the Heavenly Father as the.
As our brother was Speaking of in connection with those who do not know this blessed truth or seem to enter into it, the dispensation now.
And as that distinctive character, that the children of God can speak to God as their father.
Has very blessed, isn't it? The Holy Ghost is present with us to give us this liberty and to make us understand.
The wonderful position we're in.
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I suppose power over all places in judgment.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. The one who has been crowned with thorns and rejected by this world is nevertheless the one who is to sit on the throne of judgment, and every knee must bow to him.
That's the solemn side of things, for the conscience of anyone who is not has not yet put their trust in the Lord as a Savior. If you have not, put your trust in the Lord and the Savior.
And you go on rejecting him. You may have to experience.
The solemnity of this that He has power over all place, and even though you may be laid away in the grave, your body will be raised. And that the Great White Throne you will have to meet the very one who once could have been your Savior. You'll have to meet Him there as your judge. But here is the other side of things most blessed and precious.
I said that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Now if you accept that.
That savior as your own.
If you, if you believe, that is, it says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus has Lord and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And when you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior, then you can also know this wonderful fact that He has given to you he eternal life.
That is a life that brings you into full.
Communion with his heart and mind, that is its eternal in its character. It has no beginning and it has no end. Remember a rather close correcting me one time in a way that I never forgot it. I thought there was a difference between.
Everlasting life and eternal life. He gave me a nice.
Helpful words very gently, because I had made this mistake publicly.
He told me that in the Greek there's only one word, and it's always eternal, eternal life. That is, It isn't a life that might begin when you got saved, but it's a life that had no beginning. From all eternity, that life was in existence.
Well, it has no end either, for it goes on forever so that one will accept the savior.
To that one is imparted the very life of God himself, that eternal life.
So that we not only have that eternity before us of heavenly glory, and as John chapter 10 tells us, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. We have that assurance, but it goes on into the into the eternal scene before us.
But that very length that we shall possess through eternity brings us into full communion and fellowship with the mind and thoughts of God, even on our way and our journey home. And we'll possess it in the firmness when we're in our Father's house.
What we can say here that it's in contrast to with Adam's position.
God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And so Adam was placed at the head of the first creation. But Adam fell, as we know and brought him death. And after death the judgment saw that Adams position was at the head of a fallen creation about how wonderful to think that the Lord Jesus came into this world and he is the one who is the beginning of the creation of God.
Now that is a blessed One, who is the eternal Son of God, and now in manhood takes the place at the head of new creation.
And in resurrection He breathed on the disciples and justice God had breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. He breathed on them and said, Received ye the Holy Ghost. That is, it's by the Spirit of God that we enter into and enjoy this blessed relationship, and we possess a new life, a life that Adam didn't have. Adam had an ever existing life, but not what is spoken of as eternal life.
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For as our brother remarked in this third verse.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. We know that Adam had a life in innocence about he didn't enter into the heart of God, he listened to the tempter, and he fell. But isn't it, blessed brethren, to think that God has given us now this new life, so that we might be able to enjoy, and not just for a time, not something that we can lose?
But for all eternity to enjoy what is in his heart? Well, man, when he gets the position of headship, he uses his power, often in the wrong way. But isn't it lovely to think the Lord Jesus, the one who was rejected here and cast out in resurrection, takes this place as the one who communicates new life. And every believer in this room this afternoon possesses that new life and.
Unless we are allowing the Spirit of God His way with us, we may not be enjoying that life, but we possess it, and will not possess it any differently in heaven. Except there will be no hindrance, either from the old nature within or from these bodies of humiliation that often hinder our enjoyment.
And they shall and we shall never perish. Well, I remember leading a skeptical engineer to Christ on that verse.
He said it was impossible that anyone could be a have the knowledge of eternal life, possess eternal life.
And so I said, Would you like to read?
John 1027 and 28 in the Greek Well, he knew Greek. And I said, if you'll read that faithfully, Sir, you'll find out there's a double Greek negative there, the strongest in the word of God. And he read it, and he just got on his knees and accepted Christ as he saved. I never saw a man so overcome.
They shall never, never.
Now he went on to the Lord.
After his place at the table with Indian burn, he's.
Moving along, went home happily. That one verse they shall never, never perish. Oh, how blessed it is. But we do know, Reverend, that the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.
Definitely and eternally dealt with a question of sin, both as regards its root and its principle.
And our sins he has formed in his own body on the tree, that we being indeed dead, we putting indeed there dead, until not sin, but sin might live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we've been healed. For we were a sheep going astray, and are now returned unto the shepherd and Bishop of our souls. How blessed it is to remember.
And as we grow and grin His service, it becomes increasingly precious to the soul. The Lord Jesus has definitely dealt, and eternally so, with the question of Sinner on the cross of Calvary, both as regards as Ruth we repeat and his principle.
We have a glorious savior, beloved.
An all powerful, glorious, loving sage. Not a sage.
I finished the work thou gave us me to do. Is that what you referred to his death and resurrection? And in preaching the gospel it's important, is it not, to bring in the resurrection? Because God has ordained a day in which he will judge this world in righteousness by that man that he's ordained? And he's given witness unto all men that he's raised him from the death. So resurrection is important, and this connection is it not?
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The death and resurrection. That's how man has been brought into blessing. In the 12Th chapter we have the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying. Otherwise it would have been alone.
In the then we have discipleship. In the next two verses we have new life and discipleship following. Then in the 13th chapter we have the cleansing.
Of the of the waves.
You might say that that is the advocacy of Christ.
In the next chapter, the 14th, we have communion, the Father's house.
The 15 fruit bearing.
And the 16th persecutions. And in this chapter the Intercessor who keeps us in the midst of all the trials and testing down here the lovely Order, isn't it?
This third verse is a very important one when we meet with so many people that will refer to believing in God and they never refer to believing on the Lord Jesus. At least it seems that way with some that you have known and they talk about God.
And that they they believe in God, and so on. They have faith in God, but never mention the Lord Jesus. And unless there is that acknowledgement of the connection between God the Father and the Son, there is no eternal life known, is there?
That's brought out in the 14th chapter business very forcibly. The first verse, he believed in God.
He says. Believe also in me.
So just to believe there isn't God doesn't save our soul, doesn't.
Brings us in responsibility, but then we have to believe in God's beloved Son.
To be saved, our thinking is.
In the 17th chapter, we have two blessed inseparable truths mentioned. Our brother Smith is mentioned one.
The safety of the believer.
A stake in sanctification in this chapter rather not. And we have the same truth in the Old Testament in the 12Th chapter of Exodus. We find the children of Israel were sheltered by the blood of the lamb, and that constituted their perfect safety from judgment.
Very next chapter begins with sanctifying you on the first born British mind. So they will be set apart for God. They were his. And we have the same thought in this 17th of John, do we not? We have the safety of the believer.
In the.
12 First, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost.
Well, we know Jacob was a shepherd, and in spite of his unceasing vigilance, he lost some Visi. He admitted that. But when we come to the Good Shepherd, he'd say, those whom thou hast given me, I have lost none, and he never will. And yet there are people today who charge God with such a dishonorable act as losing his sheep after this aid.
They claim that you can be lost after you're saved. What a positive insult to the person of Christ. So we have the same thought brought out in this chapter, Safety of the believer and sanctification set apart for God.
In the fifth verse you'll notice.
How the Lord speaks with such absolute equality to the following. And now Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was, thou know, mere man.
Could dare to speak the God of God in that way. I've done so and so. Now you must return what I have done and honor me.
Solely divine character.
Of the Blessed Lord, his full equality with God the Father comes out very blessedly in that in that verse I have glorified the glorified Thee with my own Self, with the glory.
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Which I had with thee before the world was Now you notice that this is a special glory. He speaks of other glories as he continues the prayer. But this glory is a glory which he had with him before the world was made. I will have redemption, glory as we continue our subject.
Now we can never share in his glory which he had before the world was.
But we're going to see our blessed Lord displayed in all that marvelous display of that creatorial glory and that coming day.
How many glories will be his when we're there?
And that scene where he is now waiting for us.
So the Lord himself was the Creator.
All things were made by him and for him.
Now as man you see.
Now the Lord never entered into that glory.
Back in the past ages, it was when he became a man that he could ask that he might be glorified with the glory that is as man.
He now enters into a glory which he had with the Father, but now that glory is displayed in a man at God's right hand.
Still, in this marvelous world, to think that one of our own races, just think of what man he has fought is man. The spirit of God says in the second chapter of Hebrews. What is man? When we think of what a failure man has been, the awful wickedness and corruption and horrible history that man has. And yet, out of this ruined, sinful race, God has taken a man and seated him in the very highest place in the universe.
And the very glory that belonged to him has creator that belongs to him. Now in that new position he's taken on high as a man in the glory.
We know that it says in Romans chapter 8 that he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. I just mentioned this lest any should think. When the Lord Jesus became a man, he did not take on him sinful flesh did he. He that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And the Lord Jesus could say when Speaking of Satan, the Prince of this world cometh and ask nothing in me.
We find many attacks made today on the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus that we must be very clear that the Lord Jesus, while in the likeness of sinful flesh, was always holy.
It's very important brother. Feel glad you mentioned it and.
That doctrine that is quite widespread over Christendom, that the Lord could have been but didn't see him, is a very evil doctrine because it really is an attack on the glorious person of Christ.
There are those that there are those that say that because the Lord was tempted, that it implied that he possibly could have sinned, But the temptation was to prove who he was. And I just mentioned too, that when the Lord Jesus himself was speaking in the temptation, He said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, And if the word temptation meant that a person possibly could send.
Then it's applied to God the Father. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And it also says in Malachi they the temp God are delivered. Does this mean then that that human man could possibly make God himself sin? We must always remember that the meaning of words has to be taken in their context, and when it is referred to God the Father or the Son, it does not in any way imply the thought of the possibility of sin.
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But it is a possibility that man might tempt God, or that Satan might come to tempt the Lord.
But it doesn't imply any possibility of failure, only shows what the heart of man and what Satan really was in attempting such a thing. Maybe you tell it, brother. Hell, your father's illustration about the ring. Well, I thought it was a very good one. He.
He spoke about how he might have a ring on his finger, which he knew to be pure gold, but someone looking at it might say that he didn't believe it was gold, but only brass. So how is this going to be proved that it's gold and not brass? Well, they go down to the jeweler and ask the jeweler to make a test on this ring. The person who maintained that it was only brass is expecting that. Perhaps it's going to be proved to be brass in the test.
But the person who knew that it's gold has no doubt at all. What does the test prove? Any possibility that it's brass? No, it just brings out what it really is. It brings out that it's gold. And so the temptation of the Lord Jesus was just that. For Satan tempted our first parents with the same temptations that he attempted to use upon the Lord. And our first parents fell, but when he attempted those tests upon the Lord Jesus.
It only proved who he was. He was the perfect dependent man, and more than this he was also God. And so he met the temptations as a perfect dependent man should beat them by the word. But he also showed who he was by saying get the hemp, Satan.
That was divine power.
I think it's well to be established in this because one of the leading.
Radio Preachers of today.
Well known everywhere.
Come out boldly and says that the Lord.
Could have sinned but didn't see him. I saw that in his own statement. So we have to beware where we get our instruction. Or unconsciously we might imbibe an evil doctrine without realizing that we are involving such a doctrine. In Romans, the first chapter, there's a verse I think we should notice.
In this connection, it's the fourth verse. Romans is the subject of righteousness, and it brings before us those things which are right.
In this fourth verse, a better reading marked out the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness.
By the resurrection from the dead, now there's two things that mark the Lord Jesus out.
Here as the Son of God.
The first is the spirit of holiness, and then also that he has.
In himself, that power, as he said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. It isn't simply that he raised someone from the dead. This was what he had within him now when Moses.
Of the Lord Jesus, and I believe this to be most important for us in this connection.
When he spoke of the Lord Jesus prophetically, he spoke of a prophet that God had raised up like unto me, he said.
And the soul will not hear that proper shall be cut off from the midst of his people.
Now he was like him in that he saw.
Him face to face. At least that was the thought. However, there's another sense in which he's like him.
Moses was the one who was the leader to lead the children of Israel.
Into their inheritance.
But the Lord Jesus came to lead his people into the heavenly inheritance.
And so the credentials that were given to Moses are the same ones that were given to Jesus.
The ones that were given to Moses are found in the 4th chapter of Exodus.
Moses said if they won't hear me then what I'm not quoting now, I'm just Speaking of it. Well then he said you have these signs. The one was to throw his rod down. It became a serpent and then at the command of God he took it again and it became a power in his hand. The first instance that was man and all his weakness. The second was the type of Christ who had the power over Satan.
01:05:16
The second sign was to put his hand in his bosom. Come out, Leprous.
And then he was told to put it in his hand, his hand in his bosom again, and it came out as his other hand. We find the Lord Jesus as man down here walking always in obedience to the Father, but everything that he did was in holiness and obedience. Now these two credentials are mentioned in John's Gospel. The first one is in the 8th chapter.
8th chapter and verse 46.
It says which of you?
Convince me of sin. Now that word convinced us really should be convinced as as much as to say, Are you accusing me of sin?
No one could.
He was pure within. Every motive of his heart was pure.
But the other verse is in the 15th of John.
And it's the 24th verse.
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sinned. But now have they both seen and hated both me and my father. The Lord Jesus was pure without. He was pure within.
These verses declare it everything that he did.
The very spittle that came from his lips.
Wrought blessing to man.
Purity every move that he made besides grace. And so with these two credentials it was it was approved to Israel that here was a man that was the very God himself among them God had visited his people.
I wonder, do we find a demonstration of his perfection in his every chapter?
The fourth verse I have glorified thee. In the 26th verse I have declared. Actually there are 10 times in this one chapter where the Lord says I have, I have glorified, I have kept, I have manifested, I have given, as though there had been in constant demand and demandment from God, and He failed in every one of them.
And here, in this one chapter alone, the Lord Jesus recites those ten ways in which he had fulfilled all of what entrusted to him.
The sixth verse I have manifested thy name unto the man which thou gave us me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. And they have kept thy word. That is the whole subject of John's gospel, isn't it the sun revealing the Father?
And so that's why, as our brother read to us in the end of the 15th chapter.
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. That is, God had been partially revealed in the Old Testament, but not fully revealed. But when the Lord Jesus came into this world, he could say He that has seen me has seen the Father, or again, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
Well, what effect did this have upon man? Well, upon the natural man, it only brought out the enmity of his heart.
And that's why I think, if we just notice again what our brother read in the end of the 15th of John.
01:10:00
It says in that 22nd verse, if I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, and again in the 24th if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. It doesn't say they had not had sins. Man sinned before Christ came about. This brought out what he was in his nature. You might feel sorry for a man.
That had an old shabby suit of clothes and that didn't have food. And so you get them new clothes and you get food for him because you feel sorry for him. But if when you presented to him, he punches you in the face and says I don't want you, now he has not only shown that he was helpless, didn't have the proper clothes or food, but he's shown what his heart was. He has actually shown enmity to the person who wanted to show him kindness.
Well, that's what this world did to me. It's as if the world looked upon the blessed Savior who perfectly revealed the Father, and said, If this is what God is like, we don't want Him. But how different for us. Beloved brethren, I think this is so lovely. I have manifested thy name unto the men which Thou gave us me out of the world, as we read His blessed pathway, as we see the heart of the Father displayed so perfectly in Him.
Well, it just moves our hearts, draws out our affections, because we possess the same life, and as we trace His blessed pathway, we have that life, and by the spirit of power as it tells us in John to walk as he walked. What a difference then between the unbeliever whose heart is at enmity, and the one who has been brought into the family and delights to see this revelation of the heart of the Father.
In the sun, would you give us some word, Brother, Hey ho, in that connection?
On the 12Th chapter in the 31St verse, I believe it's very important that the truth you've been bringing before us.
The 31St verse now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die well.
When the Lord Jesus was rejected, judgment was passed upon this world. In the Old Testament man was under trial, and as it was remarked to the 10 commandments were given. Did God know that man couldn't live up to his requirements? Oh yes, God foreknew that the Linder that the offense might abound. But what did man do while he showed his absolute inability to keep the commandments? And now, as we have remarked, he rejected the one who came.
Not to condemn here with a woman taken in adultery, did he condemn her.
No, he said. Neither do I condemn me. The one who hated sin the most had come not to condemn, but to save. And he was going to the cross to accomplish that work of redemption, so that he could say to you and I no condemnation. But when the world rejected him, then God had no further testimony to give. Now is the judgment of this world. But I I like to think of the second part. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out?
If judgment was passed, it would have had to be passed on us too, because we deserve the judgment. But how blessed that that one who pronounced the judgment also won the victory over Satan, so that now that we share his victory, Satan for us as a defeated fall.
And if you'll turn to Hebrews chapter two, I think this is brought out Hebrews chapter 2.
And the.
Verse 14.
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.
That through death he might destroy or annull him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to *******. So the Lord has conquered Satan, he's defeated full. And now that Blessed one lifted up on the cross, is the one who defeated Satan and were gathered to him as the one in this world rejected, but the one who won the victory for us so.
01:15:08
Like those who were gathered to David after he had won the victory, they identified themselves with this man who was.
Had despised and rejected, but who was a victor over Goliath? Well, how blessed to be gathered to our rejected Christ, And we see the world in his true character is under judgment.
It's important to call attention also in that sixth verse.
It says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gave us me out of the world.
That is.
In that love gift that Brother Smith spoke of the father to the sun he gave us outside of this whole world system as having no connection with it.
Now let's will come in more fully when as we go on on in our chapter.
For, he says, farther on they are not of the world, even if I'm not of the world.
Well, that's a positive statement that we're no more work themselves, so that if we go and mix up with the world in any way, we're just going entirely contrary to what we actually are, what the Lord has brought us into completely apart. So if we go into the social life.
The political life or the business life of this world?
I'm not saying that we are not called upon to provide for things honest in this world. That's another thing.
But if we go and take part and become a part and parcel parcels of this world system in order to get gain in this world, there is a subtle danger that there is before the child of God.
Since the 26 parts were spoken about the beginning, all righteous, father.
Absolutely thought might help her there. And what you were just saying brother Berry and the the expression righteous father I believe means here that God is very particular as to who has the right to call him father. My brother Smith made the remark that there are so many people that.
Say they believe in God. Well, we have a large, a very large section of people in this world, and I do not see Christendom because I do not believe that there are Christians whatsoever.
But a large section in this world that believe in the fatherhood of God and in the brotherhood of man, and this is their religion.
Well, we might be. Well, let's let it go with that. They have many more light. Maybe there's something pure that they still believe in God as Father.
But I believe this verse tells us here that God is right, The Father is righteous and does not permit that any who do not, does not believe in the Son, call him Father.
So that that large section in this world.
Has their claim on something they think they know, but they exclude the sun because the rest of the 25th verse says.
But I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
For those that believe in the brotherhood of men, they exclude the Lord Jesus altogether.
But they have no part or luck in this matter. Like Peter said to Simon, the sorcerer is no part or lot in this matter, and hearing is the righteousness of the Father manifest. We have that sweet and blessed privilege, but not those that a cleaner but that will not have the sun.
Then he said at the end of this purse, and they have kept thy word. Notice word is in the singular here, and I believe that.
Speaks of the whole of what we know, the person of Christ, that is, those who are truly.
01:20:03
The ones that were the gifts of the Father to the Son, they never departed.
Any way from the Blessed Lord, even though Peter denied him.
In a way he didn't deny the only denied that he knew the Lord. But he wasn't like Judas or an unbeliever that dishonest the Lord. And I believe it's true that everyone who has eternal life, who is born again, that they never give up Christ, they may fail, very sadly they may they may dishonor him and and their ways.
But they never, never give up.
First of the Lord Jesus.
That work that has LED a Sinner to accept Christ as an eternal work.
Connection with what you were saying, brother, through saying there are two things that are brought out in the scripture there there is the thought of God being the father of spirits. There is what it speaks of in the 17th of Acts, for we are also his offspring. And again in Ephesians chapter 41 God and Father of All, where God is looked upon as the source of life to man and man as a responsible being.
But as such he has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of the earth. But we must never confuse that between that which is now the family of God through new birth. And that is a mistake that is made by those who speak of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
There is a sense in which God is spoken of in that way. But if you turn to John chapter 8, where the Jews spoke in this way, we see the Lord correcting this John chapter 8.
Verse 41.
He do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, he would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself.
But he sent me. And then the 44th verse year of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father, You will do so when they would use this as a claim to blessing. Why then the Lord exposed the fact that even although they were in a privileged place as a nation, and nevertheless, unless they have received Christ, that they were really of their father, the devil. Well, it's very Tom to see this, but I just.
Mention the other because the Scripture does speak of it. The God is Father in one sense, but not in the sense of relationships.
I believe in both of these verses that have been referred to. You get the set one. Now that's very important in John's Gospel.
And you'll find, I think, when Israel is restored.
That they will recognize.
As we have in Zechariah that thou hast sent me, I believe that's what Israel will own.
In that coming day which they would not own when he was here, that he is the scent one the blind man did because he was blind. And the spirit of God opened his blind eyes to see I'm speaking now spiritually to see the Santa Claus also opened his natural eyes. But the important thing in John is to recognize the sand one, isn't it?
Let's Scroll down, I think bothering verse 24 of John 8.
Verse 23 Ye are from beneath. I am from abroad, ye of this world. I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sin.
For if he believed not that I am not he, but I am not his glorious title.
Ye shall die in your sins, I remember.
In one of the buses in Lima.
There was a gentleman well dressed. He was apparently learning by heart a lot of scriptures.
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So we handed the tracks around in the bus and all he said, You are you are an evangelist, are you? And I said, I'm a Sinner saved by the grace of God, I said, are you?
And I said, Do you believe that the Lord Jesus is the son of the living God?
And he immediately said no.
No. Well, we know who they are, and they're everywhere, brethren. And we need to obey the 2nd Epistle of John the Mother.
Them into our health. But I quoted this to him and I never saw a man so overcome.
If he believed not that I am.
You shall die in your sins, that man just trembled. That's.
That's his Old Testament title.
Is essential to God. He is God over all things. Specifically, I am.
Well, how careful we should be.
When we treat of the Son of God.
He is God.
Always sing together.
M178.