Gooding, David: 16 - On the Road with Jesus

Now, in our remaining moments, I want to say a few more words about chapter twelve and then move quickly on to the final portion of the gospel. Mary anointed our Lord Jesus with ointment in preparation for his burial. She had discovered him with her sister Martha to be the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world, the resurrection and the life. She didn't wait until he died and was buried before she anointed him, but spent her vast sum on him before he died. When our Lord then came into Jerusalem, according to the succeeding verses of chapter twelve, and was welcomed as king, notice once more the order and the functional relationship. He first anointed, uh, announced his burial and then rode in as king. Pray notice that order. He didn't come in as king, realize he would be rejected, and then announce his burial. It's the other way round, isn't it? He announced his burial and then came in as king, you say that, isn't that rather contradictory behavior? If he was expecting to die, how pray would he offer himself as king? Well, it depends what your concept of his kingship is. Here was to be the battle of the great two kings, God's king and the prince of this world. When, therefore, the Greeks came, as they did according to the second half of the Gospel of John chapter twelve, requesting to see Jesus. Verse twenty three tells us, Jesus answered them saying, the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And now with that clear progression that you meet here in these last chapters of John, from the time being near, the hour actually comes. And now, just as our Lord had come to Lazarus' tomb, so now he comes to the prospect of his own death and burial. He states it is the hour that the Son of Man should be glorified. By how and by what process, however? And first he appeals to nature, and it's very touching to hear him so do, for he created nature. And now he quotes nature, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abides by itself alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit. We shall have to be careful now in these next few verses, because our minds will turn naturally to our Lord's death in its redeeming sense, and where he, where, where we hear him talk of being lifted up, then the words of the hymn will come, lifted up was he to die, it is finished, was his cry. We're thinking of our Lord's redemptive work, and that is perfectly proper. It isn't, however, quite the emphasis here in chapter twelve of our, as our Lord contemplates his death. He appeals not to principles of redemption, he appeals to the principle of nature. He himself had built it into nature. This is one of nature's processes, that except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. As C. S. L- Lewis said somewhere, the idea of death and resurrection has been mumbled by vegetables for a long time. Yes, hasn't it? It's written into the universe. Our blessed Lord rooted into the universe. And which came first, his decision to be the ransom for our sins and die for us that we might live eternally? Or did creation come? Oh, his death and resurrection were not, uh, emergency measures put into operation and thought up when the first ideas went wrong. No, when Christ himself created the universe and planted in them this natural process that the seed must die if it's going to bring forth much fruit. It must fall into the ground and die. He was but putting at the lowly level of nature what he himself one day would have to do at the higher level. Otherwise, he must abide alone. Secondly, he announces the general principle, verse twenty five: He that loveth his life loses it, and he that hates his life, that is his suke, in this world shall keep it unto life, zoe, eternal. And in that phrase, we ought to notice the words, he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. That is an emphasis that reoccurs, do you see? Uh, now, verse thirty one: now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. So now, as the king comes to do battle with the prince of this world, we have to think in our hearts of what you mean by worldliness, don't we? What is worldliness? Worldliness is that state of affairs, that attitude of mind that Satan himself has instituted and with which he fills the minds of mankind, that this world is all there is. If not in absolute fact, then as far as anything matters at all, this world is all there is. And Satan, by his slanders, has mad man to grasp that independence of God, and then to shut himself in his little world as though this universe were a self-contained flat. That's worldliness. Worldliness is not necessarily going to the pictures when you oughtn't to. Mm-hmm. Or wearing pink ties instead of black ones. Worldliness can express it- itself in all sorts of ways and fashions, but basically worldliness is to live according to the prince of this world, who induces people to think and or at least to live as though this world were all. And that's why death is the final disaster, if this world is all. How would Christ break the power of the prince of this world? By showing people that death isn't the ultimate disaster, and by showing them there is another world. And that's what he must do, and that is why he must die. And now he comes to face dying. So he appeals to the law that he himself has instituted in nature. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone, but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. Then he makes a general observation. It's true of us. He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. That's a Hebrew way of talking, is it not? It doesn't mean literally in our modern sense that we have to hate life. Life is God-given. God has given us all things richly to enjoy. It's a question of proportion. It's a question of priority. Jacob, uh, had children both by Leah and Rachel, but he loved Rachel and hated Leah. Well, not hated her in our modern sense. Leah was number two in the harem, Rachel was number one. And our Lord is saying, if you live simply for this world, you lose life. The significance of life cannot be grasped without reference to the eternal. And the significance of life can only be exploited to the full when we are living primarily for that eternal world. Well, if you were to ask the dear mathematicians, they would quote you a learned mathematician by the name of Gödel, who proved, though few can follow his argument except the very bright, as some of them are here, um, they'll say that you can't prove everything or account everything in a closed system. There will always be something in any closed system that can only be explained in terms of something outside the system. And what is true of mathematics is true of life in this world. You cannot count for the significance of life without reference to the world outside this one. And you'll see, therein lies the challenge to us believers, isn't it? We believe that Christ has broken the power of death. It's a question of how we live. Possible to be a believer and live in a worldly s- fashion, isn't it? Living virtually as though this world were all. And then our Lord invites us as his servants to follow him in the path where he is fa- where he's going, and the path that he was going is to the path of sacrifice and death. A call to dare so believe in the reality of that other world. Did it mean, therefore, that our Lord found, uh, excuse the term, the humble, they're not meant to be irreverent terms, easy? No, no. All the gospels unite to tell us that when our Lord came within sight of Gethsemane, he did not come dancing with joy at the thought of dying. He said, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? Death for him was obnoxious, of course. It was the very source of life. But then, said he, yet for this cause I came unto this hour. And now to go through with the dying, it will frustrate, it will, uh, uh, it will stultify the whole of his coming into the world. He didn't come merely to teach us ethics, how to live nicely in this world until we die and are no more. He came to deliver us from worldliness. The only way he could do it was by leading the way, dying and demonstrating that death was not the end by his resurrection. So see, Father, glorify thy name. There came a voice, and our Lord explained it. Now is the judgment of this world. Now this world and this worldly ism is going to be exposed for the fraud it is. People can laugh as much as they might and say, oh, he's too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. We know what they mean, but it's a very limited observation, shall say. Actually, if you're not heavenly minded, you are of no earthly use. This This worldly worldyism ism is is a a fraud. And the death of Christ and his subsequent resurrection has demonstrated it. There is another realm. Only in the light of that realm does this one ultimately make sense. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up, thus he spoke, signifying by what manner of death he should die, will draw all men unto me. The people then said, but what do you mean? We've heard out of the Bible that the Messiah abides forever. How do you say this son of man must be lifted up? Who is this son of man you're talking about? And our Lord's reply was simply this: I have come a light into the world. Walk in the light while it's here. Believe in the light so that you may become sons of the light, lest the darkness come upon you and you know not whither you're going. The first meaning is historical, is it not? Jesus was the light of the world as long as he were in it. If they refused to believe him and put him to a cross, he would go, and unbelievers would be left in the grossest of darkness. It is true in a modern moral and practical sense, isn't it? Paul writing to his fellow Christians, says, you are not of the night, you are of the day. You are sons of the light, children of the light. You are not in darkness that the coming of Christ shall overtake you as a thief. So we have believed in the light. We are aware of the realities of the other world. We are therefore to walk in that light, and it will make sense of this life. The world who rejects that light walk in darkness. They do, don't they? They themselves admit it. They know not where they are going. By definition, they have no hope. And there's so much more in those chapters, but I do not now wish to, uh, talk about them. I mustn't, in fact, because we have now to give, as quickly as we may, a brief, um, a summary of the remainder of the book. As I begin it, I remind you that because of one thing and another, we didn't start until about a quarter to uh seven o'clock. You'll see. The consequences of that will become apparent as we proceed. Now you have endless pieces of paper in front of you, enough to paper your wallpaper, your bedroom, but what we need to do first is to come to, uh, the very first sheet that you had last week. It's called Major Elements in the Gospel of John, chapter eleven to twenty one. Could we therefore start there, please? Major Elements in Gospel of John, chapter eleven to twenty one. And there I suggested to you these eleven chapters are in three major parts. There is the prelude to the Passover, and we've been thinking of that. On Jesus comes to Bethany, raises Lazarus, and departs. The Passover is near, the king comes to Jerusalem and departs. Then, secondly, before the feast of the Passover, the hour is come that he should depart out of the world to the Father. And we have that block of material, chapters thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, that stand together, uh, because they are different from all that surrounds them. They are Lord's teaching to his apostles. In the third part, we have the items that you will see listed under three. Now I would like you to notice, uh, something. As we have just seen in the prelude to the Passover, when the Passover was near, the multitudes, or a good many of them, went up to Jerusalem in advance to purify themselves. And we stopped earlier to think why they had to purify themselves. They had to purify themselves from defilement by death so they could eat the Passover, and we saw the relevance of that to the story of our Lord's dying and rising again. Would you notice that now major part two is about purification? Major part two, the upper room ministry, as it's called, is in itself two major parts. Lessons on Holiness one, thirteen: one to the end of fourteen, lessons that precede our Lord's exhortation, arise, let us go hence. Part two, lessons on holiness, fifteen one to sixteen thirty three, spoken on the way to the garden. Notice then the lessons on holiness one, the very first thing is the enacted parable of the foot washing, the double cleansing by water. Lessons on holiness two, the very first thing that is said is the parable of the vine, and the very first thing in that connection is the cleansing of the branches by the Father. In modern English, you would talk about the pruning of the vanch- branches of a vine. The Greek word for it is cleansing. Every branch in me that bear a fruit, he cleanses it. So these two sets of lessons, one in the upper room and one outside, are both of them introduced on the topic of cleanliness. Now perhaps you'll see the progression of thought. In the prelude to the Passover, our Lord is announcing his being lifted up to die. As the Lamb of God, of course, the Passover Lamb that saves us from the wrath of God by his blood shed on Calvary. Saves us, therefore, the- from the guilt of sin. Ah, but now in this next major pass- part, lessons on holiness are not so much Calvary, are they? They start from the fact that he's going away, but now the going away is his provision not to cleanse us from the guilt of sin, but to cleanse us from the power of sin. So here is a washing not by blood, but by water. The once and for all bathing in water, and then the constantly repeated bathing, uh, uh, rinsing in water. Not by blood, I repeat. Hebrews chapter ten is a key verse in this connection. Let us draw near our hearts sprinkled, that is with blood from an evil conscience, and our bodies bathed all over in pure water. It is a mistake, really, of the first order to take the lessons preached by our Lord in John thirteen one, the cleansing by water, as though they were reference to our Lord's cleansing by blood. Really, we mustn't make such an elementary mistake, must we? There are two cleansings. One is by blood from the guilt of sin. One is by water from the power of sin. Why, even top lady can teach us that, can't he? If he can't teach us anymore. Let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin, the double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt. That's a washing by blood. Cleanse me from its power, a washing by water. Two sides to holiness, and I mustn't be tempted to stay on that anymore. These are well-known passages anyway, and you know about them well. Just observe in passing that the two groups of lessons on holiness follow the same formal structure. The enacted parable of the foot washing, the double cleansing by water, the exposure of Judas' treachery, and then a long message on Christ's going. And in the second part, the parable of the vine, the cleansing of the branches, the exposure of the world's hatred, and then a long section again on Christ's going. Why did he have to go? Well, if he doesn't go, the Holy Spirit will not come. Why does he have to go bodily? Because the secret of holiness will be his coming by his spirit to dwell in us. While he was on earth, he couldn't enter bodily into anybody, could he? Now he's gone. By his spirit, Christ can dwell in us, and we in him. And there lies the secret of our holiness. More than that, I mustn't now say. We come to section three. You'll see. What I am about to do here in the brief, uh, twenty minutes that has allowed me, um, is to ask you to look now at the two papers that you have received. Gospel of John, they're headed, chapter seventeen one to twenty one twenty five. You'll need, from time to time, to hold both in your hand to look at them, the columns run down from page one onto page two. they are continued. What I would like to do is to point out to you the structure of this final part of the Gospel of John. And I would like to point out the functional relationship of its parts. And if that sounds a big, high-flown technical term, remember our simple illustration of a hand. How would you describe a hand? Well, not as a square of flesh and bone with four things sticking out of the top and one thing sticking out of the side. That would be an utterly inadequate description of a hand. You haven't described what a hand is until you not only list its contents, but show how they are functionally related one to another. And to understand a narrative like this in a gospel, you must not only list its contents, but understand how the several parts are functionally related to the whole. And the first, and perhaps the biggest and major point that I shall have to make, I wish to make, is a suggestion that at first sight you may be unwilling to receive, that, uh, chapter seventeen of the Gospel of John doesn't stand m- related merely to what is past, nor stand by itself alone, but stands as the first in the six great items of the final chapter and is functionally related to them. I want to give you a number of reasons why I think that is so. I shall do my best to convince you. More could be said than I shall say, and if you decide I'm wrong, well, that's a reasonable conclusion to come to, and I hope you will in due time correct me. Reason number one. Why is it that the prayer, the high priestly prayer of our Lord, as it's called in chapter seventeen, that forms the first column on your sheet, why do I say that that is functionally related with the chapters that follow? Reason number one. You will hear our Lord early on in that prayer say, it's chapter seventeen and verse nine, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine, do you see? Uh, verse eleven, and I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me, and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Our Lord prays that his father shall keep those him he has given to Christ. You see, they were believers in God before they met the Lord Jesus. But God gave these people that were believers in God, gave them to the Lord Jesus so that they should believe in the Lord Jesus. And secondly, what they had come to believe was this, not merely that Jesus was a good teacher, but that the name of God was in him and on him. Keep them in the name which thou hast given me. When God came down to rescue Israel, he from Egypt, he said, I will send my messenger before your face, and you be careful what you do, for my name is in him. And now we reach the fullest expression of that in Jesus Christ. The name of God was given to Christ. That's what they were called upon to believe. And that would what is what will be tested. It won't do if hereafter they simply carry on believing in God, but ditch their faith in Jesus. It won't do if they carry on believing in God and carry on believing that Jesus was a very good teacher, but ditch their faith in him as God incarnate. Understandably, our Lord prays, I have kept them in the name that thou has given me, but I'm no longer in the world. Keep them, therefore, in the name that thou has given me. An understandable prayer. And that might be the the end of it, so to speak, merely a general thing, but look what now chapter eighteen says, the very next chapter after the prayer is finished. When they came to arrest him, he asked them the second time, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way, that the word might be fulfilled which he spake, of those whom thou hast given me, I lost none. Well, when did he speak that? Well, he spoke it five minutes ago. In his prayer. I've lost not one of them. So you say, this is the prayer fulfilled then. So seventeen is related to eighteen. Well, let's take it easy. Uh, he didn't lose them. What do you mean he didn't lose them? Well, the the guard came, the military band, Judas are leading it. Oh, we've lost him. Ah, well, he was the son of perdition, as our Lord mentioned in his prayer. And he came leading the band. And our Lord went out and said, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am he. And they went backward and fell to the ground, Judas with them. And when they got up, he went and said again, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am he. But if it's me you seek, let these go their way. Don't you arrest them with me? He kept them. Well, you say that's physically he kept them. So they didn't die with him. That was very good. So that fulfilled the prayer completely, did it? Hardly. The next, very next verses are going to tell you that before a few hours were gone, and the cock had time to crow three times, Peter had denied him three times over. He denied being one of his disciples. He denied being with Christ in the garden. He denied ever having tried to protect Christ. No, no, no, he said. As one of the officers, uh, looked through the smoke of the fire and said, half a minute, old boy. Uh, I think, uh, seen you somewhere before tonight, haven't I? I mean, my cousin, he had his ear cut off tonight in the garden. You look very much like that, uh, chap with a sword, don't you? No, no, no, said Peter. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I never did try to protect this man. What's the good of preserving Peter physically if Christ can't keep him spiritually. Do you begin to see my s- my reason, at any rate, whether you agree with it or not, my reason for suggesting that the prayer of seventeen is related to what follows? And I now give you a very good reason for believing that chapter twenty one is an integral part of the gospel. There are some scholars who say it isn't, don't they? Yeah. It must be a part of the gospel, you say, why must it be? Well, consider the scenario. Here comes the great high priestly prayer and Christ praying to the Father to keep those whom you have given me. And before ten minutes have gone, Peter has denied him thrice. You say, what happened after that? Was Peter ever restored, John? Or was he lost completely? Well, I haven't got to anyway, I'm not interested. Well, it's impossible, ladies and gentlemen. Even I would know how to write a book better than that. If he's made all the fuss about recording our Lord's prayer, keep them, and the very next chapter says Peter denied him. You can't end the book without telling the world how the great high, great high priestly prayer was fulfilled, and Peter was kept and restored. Oh, that's magnificent, isn't it? As our Lord went out to fight the very powers of hell and darkness, and Peter at first denied him and seemed to be lost. The great high priestly prayers prevailed, and Peter was brought back. Reason number two for the prayer, uh, uh, being functionally related to what follows. Would you now, uh, look to see that the prayer is basically in two parts? In the first part, first sheet, column one, it's a prayer for those whom thou hast given me. But in the second part, part B on the second page, column one, it's a prayer for those who shall believe on me through their word. Do you see that? So our Lord is praying for two things, not only that the apostles themselves will be kept, but our Lord is thinking of the great mission that these men will have to the world at large, and all the missionary work that will ever be done throughout the century, and all that missionary work will hinge on being able to keep these, these eleven men. If they go fut, you can abandon the mission completely. So, just take that second page in your hand. Our Lord is praying for those that, uh, believe on him through their word. And you come to Master Peter. And he denies the Lord three times. Well, how many will believe on the Lord through Peter, I wonder? That's him gone fut. The Gentile mission is at stake, isn't it? The whole great missionary work in the world, you'll see. Now look at, um, uh, that second thing again, that second sheet again. Peter denies being one of his disciples. If Peter can't be restored, what is the hope of Christ's mission in the world? Now we come to the last of the columns, and I've entitled it, uh, first sheet, column six, first item, the Sea of Tiberias and the Gentile Mission. Why do I dare call it that? Well, for a simple reason. First of all, you notice it's by the Sea of Tiberias, the Roman name for the lake. But more than that, on this occasion there was a miraculous draft of fish, and the net didn't break, says John. Well, not this time. And you can't help remembering what Luke tells you, can you? Chapter five of Luke, when Peter was first turned into a fisher of men, the Lord had given a miraculous draft of fish, and it was so big the net broke. And this time our Lord, in restoring Peter, gives a miraculous draft of fish. And dear old Peter, that would have caused him to think, wouldn't it? Couldn't be broken in a very big way, hadn't it? Peter had been a preacher, he'd gone out around Palestine preaching and fishing for men. And when it came to the real test of the battle, the net broke, and he denied the Lord with oaths and curses. And what shall the Lord do? He shall not only restore Peter, but now, in symbol, symbolic gesture now, restore him to his office as fisher of men in a spectacularly glorious way. And not only so, but to enlarge his ministry and presently gave him his pastoral duties. Reason number three: In the prayer, in the second part, our Lord prays for those who shall believe because of the apostles' word, and he prays for them that they may be one. Now look, if you will, please, at, uh, column five, the second sheet, the second half, in other words, column five. We are praying for those who believe on Christ through the apostles' word, that they all might be one. Now look at this. Master Thomas. He wasn't present on the first Lord's Day when the Lord appeared and commissioned the apostles to go out and offer forgiveness. When the Lord breathed on them the Holy Spirit and sent them out to their gospel work, Thomas wasn't there. So during the week, the other apostles, uh, they met Thomas and and told him the marvelous news the Lord had appeared. But Thomas continued to look poker faced, you'll see, and said, well, if you find any comfort in it, my dear good friends, as don't, I wouldn't like to rob you of any enjoyment and comfort. Uh, this life is a weary life, and if you can believe it, well, you carry on believing it, he said, but for my part, I can't believe that. He was like a bishop I have heard of who doesn't like, uh, conjuring tricks with bones and things. He can't bring himself to believe it. You know what, neither could Thomas, you'll see. Now, this is, this is fine stuff, this is, isn't it? The whole world are going to believe through the words of the apostles, and they're all going to be one, when, if you please, before the thing has got started, one of the apostles can't believe the rest. And if the apostles can't believe one and the same thing, how on earth will the church ever be one? Hm. You'll see the question of the prayer, don't you? It remains true today. I mean, the dear apostles, if the church can't believe the same thing, how will the church ever be one? If they can't believe the resurrection, some of them, there's no hope of anybody being one, is there? And the story is the wonderful thing, how that the Lord, fulfilling his own great high priestly ministry, met Thomas and brought him to faith. That all the apostles might believe one and the same thing. Good. Now, reason four, a very positive one these times. Those who believe because of their words, says Christ. Now, just look at some of the incidents that we meet in the course of these chapters. Uh, for instance, column four of the second page, the taking down and the burial, and the middle bit, the writings and the significance of Christ's death. The soldiers came to break his legs under command from Pilate, but when they saw he was dead already, they didn't break his legs. For a scripture had said, the bone of him shall not be broken. But as a precaution, one of the soldiers had an idea, and heaving up his spear, he pierced his side, and forthwith there came up blood and water. For another scripture says, they shall look on me whom they pierced. And this is so significant that at this point the writer, uh, breaks off, and this is what he says. And he that has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true, and he knows that he saith true, that you also may believe. Believe what? Believe in the uniqueness of this death. Believe in the fact that this death fulfilled ancient scripture to its very last detail. This was no ordinary death. This was the death of the Passover lamb foreshadowed by Passover typology. And I saw it, and I bear record, and my record is true, and he, presumably God, God knows I'm telling the truth. Here is the basis for those that are going to believe on Christ through their word. And similarly, of course, uh, you'll see the end of chapter twenty. Many other signs, therefore, did Jesus, notice the next word, in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe. And look at the very last verse, uh, second last verse of the book, twenty one twenty four. This is the disciple which bears witness of these things and wrote these things, and we know his witness is true. Those that you'll believe on me through their word. Righto, just take sheet one in your hand, if you will, for a moment. If there are six parts to it, look what the first three are about. You might call it the battle of the priests. First, our Lord's high priestly prayer. Second, the arrest by the high priest's party. And thirdly, the high priests prosecute Jesus before Pilate. The battle of the priests for the faith of the nation. The priests, according to their light, held Jesus to be an imposter. They must stop people believing in Jesus. Jesus was not of God, they said. They were fighting, if you'd have asked them, for their Orthodox faith. Christ, the true high priest, is in that context praying for the faith of his people. And who will win? Well, the first round goes to the high priest Anna, Anna, doesn't it? The ex-high priest. He so frightened the life out of P- P- Peter. That he got Peter to deny the Lord. Round number one appears to go to the high priest, to break a man's faith. Ah, but as we said before, before the battle is over, our Lord has restored Peter, and how? Well, in chapter eighteen, Peter, it was fear of death that made him deny the Lord. Our Lord not only restored him, but removed the fear, didn't he? And said, Peter, when you're old, you'll stretch out your hands, and another will guide you and take you where you would not. This he said, signifying by what death he would die. Oh, magnificent high priest, who knows our weaknesses, tells us them in advance, but has pledged himself by his ministry to see that we pass our examinations in the end. Good, isn't it? Of course it is. Uh, you'll see. Uh, the battle of the priests. It turns, of course, upon the question of authority. The high priest had immense authority in Israel. Christ was claiming ultimate authority. You will see the theme of authority, therefore, surface in these chapters. Very first page, paragraph one, the prayer, even as thou hast given him authority over all flesh. Uh, look at, uh, column three on the second page, middle of the page. Christ is talking to Pilate. Says, Pilate, don't you answer me? I have power, I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you. You wouldn't have any authority at all against me, said Christ, actually, unless it were given thee from above. Authority then. But what is the nature of the authority? In chapter seventeen, our Lord makes very few requests, but he does review his ministry, and there describes the nature of his authority. How has he got his power over these eleven men? Well, it's not like that freak in America. It's a blasphemy to mention it in the same breath. How did he get his power over those few folk, those many folks who died in the blaze out in America? How does Jesus Christ get his authority over you, incidentally? That's a good answer. Listen to that. Love, says he. Yes, that is very true. And in the prayer he describes in detail, I have manifested thy name, he says, and I have given them thy word, and I have given them thy words, and thus they know that all things that thou hast given me are in fact from thee. In other words, so Christ had been so transparently s- uh, uh, ministering God's words to them, that while they saw that Jesus was God incarnate, they saw that his authority derived from God and his words derived from God. That's how he gained his authority over them, that he was self-evidently from God. I manifested thy name to my brethren. Will you remember that when eh eh eh Moses was sent to take E- Israel out of Egypt? He said, um, well, Lord, I'm going to get these folks out of Egypt, uh, and I say, um, the God of your fathers has sent me, and they say, what is his name? What shall I say? There's no good, uh, coming to them with some abstract message about some indefinable God. They want to know what your name is, so that they may have faith in you and have the faith to begin rising up and getting out of Egypt. All right, says God, you go and tell them my name, Moses, and my name is the I am that I am. And here comes the, uh, our Lord to do battle, not with Pharaoh, but with the prince of this world, and with all his minions, the priests, and Pilate himself. And how will he win the battle? And how will he demonstrate his authority is true and theirs perverted? Well, take sheet one in your hand. Look at him in the prayer. Sheet one, the middle bit. In the prayer, column one: I have manifested thy name to the men thou has given me out of the world. Keep them in the name you have given me. Column two, Christ in the garden. He says, whom seek ye? They say, Jesus of Nazareth. He says, I am he. Yes, that's how you translate the Greek, but the Greek is possible of two translations, isn't it? I am he, it's I, I am he, I am Jesus of Nazareth. Or it can stand for I am, which you suppose it was here, when they heard it. They went backwards and fell to the ground. This was a display of the very power and authority of God, was it not? Oh, look at the, uh, column three, middle bit again. Christ before Pilate, discussing the nature of his authority, you'll see. Christ's good confession, as Paul was later to describe it. The nature of his authority, not of this world, otherwise his servants would fight. The nature of his authority came as a king to witness to the truth. Oh, look at, uh, column four, middle bit again. Christ and the announcement of the new family relationship. And column five, Christ announces the new family relationship. And column six, Christ manifests himself. What a lovely sequence they are of our blessed Lord manifesting himself and thus manifesting the Father's name, yes? If he came to bear witness to the truth, that was his claim. How shall we see that is true and the other boys were false? Well, that doesn't take a lot of seeing, actually. Uh, let's come to first page, column three. Uh, uh, Pilate came out to the dear high priests. They wouldn't go in to the Pontius Pilate's, uh, residence, lest they be defiled. They were very meticulous about ritual purification. So Pilate came out and said, what charge do you bring against him? That seems to have taken them by surprise, and they stumbled a moment, and they said, well, Pilate, I mean, it's a funny question to ask. I mean, if he weren't an evildoer, we wouldn't have delivered him to you. I mean, we can't stick evildoers, that's it. Well, Pilate said, I suggest you take him and crucify him yourself. No, no, no, no, no, no, they said we wouldn't do that. It's not legal, Pilate. I mean, we're sticklers for the law. But when subsequently they hustled Stephen out of the city and murdered him without asking anybody's permission, but on this occasion, sticklers for the law they were, sticklers for ritual purification. They wouldn't enter into the praetorium, do you see? They couldn't stick manufacturers at any price. No. And I, I would always stick by the law. Oh. So Pilate went in and investigated our Lord, and he came out, and he said, I have an idea, gentlemen. Um, I generally release a prisoner to you at the Passover, don't I now? Who would you like me to release? Jesus or Barabbas? And they said, we want to call Barabbas, of course. And Barabbas? He was a mixture between a brigand and a terrorist, who in a political insurrection had done murder. It didn't take Pilate long to decide who was telling the truth. Yeah. And as for truth and sincerity, when Pilate eventually put Christ before the people and cried, behold your king, the high priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. Really, really? According to Edersheim, at the Passover season, there came a point when the high priests would raise holy hands to heaven and say, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God, and besides thee we have no king, redeemer, or savior. But when it was a case of getting rid of Christ, they shouted with one voice, we have no king but Caesar, which was tantamount to denying Israel's messianic. Who were the true men? One or two more things, and I must let you go. Um, sheet one. I have finished the work. Well, of course, it finds echo when our Lord died at Calvary, according to this, these passages, and cried, it is finished. How do we know that Jesus is the truth? Why, because even in his death he fulfilled the writings of Old Testament in their detail. And John makes it very clear, doesn't he? When Pilate eventually delivered Christ to be crucified, as Roman governor, he wrote a title that would normally describe the offense that the man had committed who was now being executed. And Pilate wrote a title, put it on a cross, you'll say. This is the king of the Jews. For the Jews had twisted Pilate's arm. He wanted to let him go, but, uh, they denied the holy and the just and twisted Pilate's arm and blackmailed him and said, if you let this man go, you're not Caesar's friend, you know. And you know, Pilate, they said, um, you know, we couldn't necessarily stop the news getting through to Tiberius, you know, Pilate. You know how fast news travels, don't you? I, I mean, we, I mean, we wouldn't say anything ourselves, but if Pilate were, um, Tiberius Caesar were to hear that you had let a man off when we had good reason to think he was a, a, a, a, a rebel against the Roman government and was, uh, leading, trying to lead the masses against Rome. If, uh, Tiberius Caesar were to hear that, and we couldn't necessarily stop him hearing it, you see, that's our difficulty, um, uh, then you might be in trouble, Pilate, you see. Pilate, not slow to sense and smell a little blackmail in the offing, had to give in and do what the Jews wanted him to do. So he delivered Jesus to be crucified, but it seems he got his own back on them, and he put across the cross, this is Jesus the King. Isn't that what they were saying when they said we've no king but Caesar? They were wanting to have Christ executed as a claimant to the Jewish throne. Well, he wrote it on the cross, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. And the high priests were upset, so they came to Pilate and they said, now look here, Pilate, you dear, dear, dear, you shouldn't write here, this is the king of the Jews, you should write, um, he said he was the king of the Jews. Pilate wasn't for changing his writing and said, what I have written, I have written, and you'll not make me change my writing, gentlemen. Didn't you say you have no king but Caesar? Well, now you'll do as I say. I'm Caesar's representative, you'll see. You'll not change my writing. Oh. So the Jews walking about on their two legs, still alive, couldn't make the Roman change his writing. But watch what happens, says John. Ha. They crucified him, and the soldiers took his garments, and they made four bits to everyone a bit, you'll see, and they took his coat as well. Oh, you see them with the coat in the hand, and they were then going to tear it. And they said, oh, well, no, don't let them tear it. Why didn't they tear it? Well, there was a writing, you'll see, a scripture, but the Greek for scripture and writing are the same, aren't they? There was a writing that said they should divide his garments, but upon his vesture they should cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did. You say, but the soldiers didn't know anything about the writing. I know they didn't. And they were going to tear the, the vesture as well. So they were. Well, what made them change their mind? You know, there was something about that vesture, woven from the top throughout, and it made them change their minds, and all unknowing, they fulfill scripture of Psalm twenty two. For this was no ordinary death, was this the death of him who died forsaken of God for the sake of our sins, and his very last detail was fulfilled. There was, before he died, one scripture that still was not fulfilled, which was the scripture from Psalm sixty nine: in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Well, the soldiers didn't know about that, did they? Of course they didn't, so they weren't thinking of giving anything to drink. And our Lord, knowing that all else was finished, and he wanted now to bow his head and give up his ghost, but no, not before every scripture was fulfilled. How would he get it fulfilled? The Romans were think- weren't thinking of fulfilling it. He simply said, I thirst. And the soldier got a bit of hyssop on a rod and put it to his mouth and moistened his lips. They gave him vinegar to drink, and he said, it is finished. Mm. Here come the Pilate, uh, here come the Pharisees and this and the priest, and they say, look here, Pilate, now tomorrow is the preparation of the Sabbath, you know, and it's Passover, so, um, uh, we can't have these bodies, I- I- I mean, on the Sabbath, on Passover, so please, uh, command that the legs be broken, they be taken away. All right, says Pilate, very good. So because it was the preparation, they came, the soldiers, and they break the legs of the first, and they break the legs of the other. I was just about to break his leg. Well, they didn't. Why didn't they? Well, the scripture said no bone of him should be broken. Well, they didn't know about the scripture. I know they didn't, but, uh, I do see what made them change their minds then. Well, he did. You say he wasn't alive. No, it was precisely because he wasn't alive. He was dead. And they saw he was dead already. I say, what kind of a king is this? The chief priests and Pharisees alive and on two feet can't make Pilate change his writing, can they? But this man dead makes him fulfill his writing. Then the soldier got a bright idea, and with his spear he pierced his side. You see, another writing said, they shall look on him whom they pierced, and there came up blood and water, and I'm telling you it's true, says the writer. Why bother about his bone not being broken? Because this was no ordinary death. This was the death of the great Passover, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world. How would you know it? Because he matches Holy Scripture. Lovely. In his prayer he said, I've given them thy word. And now in his death, he fulfills the written word. Yes, well, we could go on, couldn't we? We mustn't, of course. We'll say about this, I will say, in his prayer, when he prayed for his apostles, he prayed for delegated power. As thou has sent me into the world, even so I send them into the world. And you see it happening in column six, the first appearance in the upper room, page one, the uh uh uh at the bottom of column five— sorry, column five— as he comes into the upper room, peace, says he, as the Father has sent me, I send you. It's a prayer being fulfilled. And finally, one observation, I'll let you go, for it is ten o'clock, and that's, I think, beyond our time. But, uh, you'll see, uh, one more thing. He prays for them at last, doesn't he, that they might be one. Even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one. Look, if you will, to those two moving statements of our Lord. As on the cross he saw his mother standing by and the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother, woman, behold thy son, and to the disciple, behold thy mother. Now John was not her son, neither was she her, his literal mother, but from that hour he took her to his own home. Ah, the magnificence of this Christ. The family of God is a real thing. I'm sure you've found it so, haven't you? It's nearer than flesh and blood can be. I, in my little way, have proved it in many and many a country. You'll come across believers, you've never known them before. In ten minutes, you sense you are of the same family. What caused it? What made John take the elderly Mary to his home and look after her all those years? He gives you his own explanation. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved. There is his power, as our friend said, that formed the new family of God. Along with that other word to Mary in the garden, go tell my brothers. First time in scripture that he calls them my brothers, except in one occasion. Go tell my brothers, I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Mary and John were their relation horizontally, and now in this post-resurrection mention, it's our relationship vertically, isn't it? I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. And there are so many more reasons, but I comm- commend them to you. My suggestion is that's the prayer of chapter seventeen is functionally related to the, uh, rest of those sections of the Gospel of John. And I leave you with this thought. After his prayer, chapter eighteen verse one, it is said that after having said these things, our Lord went over the brook Kedron. You see, I said it was a battle of the priests, but it was a battle of the kings as well, wasn't it? He went over the brook Kedron. Centuries before that, David, having been opposed by Absalom, went out over the brook Kedron into exile, and years passed before he returned again as crowned king of the nation. And our blessed Lord went over brook Kedron into the garden to be rejected of his nation, condemned by the world, and as far as the world was concerned, flung out. Oh, but listen to the last words of the book. If I will that he tarry till I come. What's that to you? So he's coming. Oh yes, he's coming. He lived a priest. Upon him depends not only the faith of his people, but the whole vast conquest of the Gentile mission and the pastoral care of the church. He will bring them home to glory. He wills that we be with him where he is, that we may see his glory, and he shall not lose one. And when he comes, God's glorious king, all his ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we'll sing, Hallelujah, what a savior. And may God bless his word, or his name.