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And as you see from the cards, there is the compensation in the form of coffee, uh, after this talk, between this one and the next one, and uh, after that, time for lunch. So this morning, for the first session, I'm not going to make time for questions. Uh, we'll let the questions pile up, shall we, for a while, and uh, there'll be a good deal of time, of course, in the intervals for questions, eh, and uh, uh, questions pile up in a very big way, not merely from uh my sessions, but from the other sessions too. Uh, perhaps then we can set a ti- set aside some time on Monday, uh, particularly for the answering of questions.
But shall we begin, uh, our study for this session by reading from John chapter thirteen? John chapter thirteen. Beginning from verse one. Now, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he came forth from God and goeth unto God, riseth from supper and layeth aside his garments, and he took a towel and girded himself.
Then he poureth water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. So he cometh to Simon Peter. He saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now that thou shalt understand hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all, for he knew him that should betray him.
Therefore, said he, ye are not all clean. Verse twenty one. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in the spirit and testified and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. The disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. There was at the table, reclining in Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoneth to him and saith unto him, Tell us who it is of whom he speaketh. He, leaning back as he was on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus therefore answereth, He it is for whom I shall dip the sap and give it to him.
So when he had dipped the sop, he taketh and giveth it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And after the sop, then entered Satan into him. Jesus therefore saith unto him, that thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said unto him, buy what things we have need of for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the sop, went out straightway, and it was night. When therefore he was gone out, Jesus saith, now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him, and God shall glorify him in himself, and straightway shall he glorify him.
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say unto you, and uh, so now I say unto you, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Perhaps you too are wondering a little bit, like Mr. Ford, why I phrase the general title for this set of studies in the fashion I have.
Christ the overcomer in the fight for our sanctification. So let me set about trying to justify that title in a few moments. John's chapters thirteen to seventeen are uh obviously a set of chapters that hang together. They are record of the private conversation that our Lord had with his apostles in Jerusalem on the eve of his betrayal and and crucifixion, uh, followed by that marvelous prayer that he prayed on his way to the Garden of Gethsemane. That they deal with the subject of our sanctification is pretty obvious.
In chapter thirteen, we read of the cleansing of the disciples by the washing of their feet, which our Lord performed. In chapter fifteen, again, we read, do we not, of this matter of cleansing. Our Lord cleanses the branch that it may bring forth much fruit, and already are you clean, says he, because of the word which I have spoken unto you. Then in his prayer in chapter seventeen, he prays the Father directly, sanctify them in the truth, thy word is true. Then it's a plain matter of straightforward fact that these chapters deal with our cleansing, with our sanctification.
And let us notice, uh, what, uh, uh, cleansing in particular that is, and what are the means for that cleansing. You will not read in all these chapters of cleansing by the blood of Christ. You read elsewhere in the New Testament of that cleansing, that cleansing that deals with our conscience, sets our hearts free from an evil conscience through the blood of Christ, deals with the guilt of our sin. The cleansing that these chapters talk about i- is something different. It is by the word of God. As our Lord prayed, sanctify them in the truth, thy word is true.
It is a cleansing, of course, by the Holy Spirit applying that word. The two things are illustrated in this chapter thirteen that we have read in our Lord's statement, he that is bathed all over needeth not save to rinse his feet, but is clean every wit. This cleansing by water, not by blood. It has to do with the cleansing of our character, our personality, the giving us of new life, that radical revolution that, uh, Paul describes when he writes to Titus. Says he, we once were a miserable crowd, hateful and hating one another, envious, and so forth.
But after that the kindness and love of God toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves, but by his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration. That radical cleansing, then, that takes place when a man is brought to repentance by the Holy Spirit operating on his, uh, heart by the Word of God, brings him not only to repentance, but to faith and to new life. And consequently, these chapters are going to talk very, very much about our being indwelled by the Lord Jesus. Christ in us, and we in Christ.
So not merely what it means to have our sins forgiven and the past put right, but it's thinking of our present and eventually our future, the provision that Christ has made for saving us in the present. It's largely concerned, whatever it means, we must try and think about that later, by the provision Christ has made to come and dwell in us, and we in him. We should try to do some really down to earth thinking on what it means for Christ to dwell in us. It is the provision, if I might just have one or two more seconds for general observation, it is the provision that Christ has made, not so much by dying for us, though that's great and glorious, but the provision he has made by going away, going back to heaven.
I don't know how you think of our Lord's ascension and his going away to heaven. Uh, I have very often thought of it as a rather inconvenient necessity. You know, well, he's gone. Pity. Wish he'd been about here still. I could have gone and talked to him. I could have brought my problems to him. Wish he'd been here still. I suppose he had to go away because that's not yet ready to come again, and I suppose, well, we must just wait around. Of course, that is a puerile conception of our Lord's present ministry. He himself said it was expedient for him to go away. It's not some kind of accident that he's gone away. It's not just an interval in the plan of God's salvation for us to say, take some time off because, well, he's gone away now, the main things have happened, he's died for us and risen again, and we must hang around until he comes again.
His going away is an integral part of the means of our salvation. If he hadn't gone away, there would be a sense in which we couldn't be saved as it is now possible for us to be saved, precisely because he has gone away. For if he had remained with his apostles as he was, a man here upon earth, then it would have been impossible for him to dwell in them. He was with them, but at that stage he wasn't in them. And seeing his being in us is an integral part of our salvation.
It was, of course, expedient that he should go away and send the Holy Spirit. So then we're going to think about our sanctification in these chapters. Why have I phrased it Christ the Overcomer in the fight for our sanctification? It's an attempt to point out what I believe is the true concept con- context of this subject in the Gospel of John, and a very helpful context in actual life. I don't know how you find it, but in the battle for holiness, the day-to-day battle for holiness, I find, if I'm not careful, it's a something that concentrates my thinking on me.
And the principal actors, as I fall into the way of thinking sometimes, are of course God, with his holy demands, with his law telling me what I ought to be. And then the other principal actor is me. In Victorian days, it would have been I, I suppose. Uh, I, um, and I've got to come up to these requirements. Of course, um, Christ has made some provision for me. There's his word, there's his Holy Spirit, there is he himself, of course, and yet somehow it's I who have got to do the difficult job of laying hold of that provision and, uh, trying to use it to become more holy, more pleasing to God.
So that it's like somebody taking examinations, horrid thought that we all do the best we can to forget. There are these nebulous bodies of dark figures floating around who set the papers under their critically to mark them. There are those other folks, sometimes helpful and sometimes not, who deliver lectures and tutorials, but when all is said and done, when it comes to the raw facts, it's me versus the examiners. Me trying to do the best I can to make use of what I've been told or learned to get through the exam. Perhaps you've got your far beyond that stage, but I even fall into it nowadays, after many years.
I bit the business of sanctification, concentrating my thinking on me. And I suppose in a way it's good, we shouldn't be careless, but in another way, that is to fall into the very trap from which God is wanting to deliver me. I've had too many years thinking about me. Too many years have I been the center. And the doctrine of holiness that leaves me in the center has, of course, failed in its major objective. Preoccupation with myself, with my failings, and even with my virtues is a sign that really I've not yet come where God would have me.
What is the real context, what should be the context of the fight for our sanctification. Well, let's, uh, spend a few moments looking around, eh, here in the Gospel of John itself. The principal actors, as I read these chapters, are one, of course, the Father. Notice the title. Not just God. We should read about God. But the predominant title is the Father. With all the wonderful suggestiveness of that title. And standing over against him, fighting, is not me.
Dear me, I'm not that important, you know. Standing over against the Father is the world and its prince. This is where the big battle is being fought. Let me, um, refer you to certain, uh, proof texts, if I may, for a moment. Would you look at John chapter twelve and verse thirty one? Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. Notice the ideas. Standing over against the Father, the world.
With its prince. And a battle about to begin to dislodge this prince from his stronghold. Would you look in, uh, chapter thirteen, verse two? Here's the battle starting. Verse two: during the supper, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. The battle progressing, verse twenty seven: and after the sop, then entered Satan into him. And then when we look at chapter fourteen, verse thirty, I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of this world cometh.
And there's going to be hand-to-hand conflict. He has nothing in me, but he comes. Here is the battle. Or would you look again in chapter, uh, uh, sixteen and verse, uh, uh, 7 onwards, the Comforter will come. When he is come, he will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Verse eleven: of judgment because the prince of this world hath been judged. So then this is not a stray comment.
It runs through our chapters. This is the battle. The battle is not so much between, uh, me and my sins as it is between the prince of this world and the Father. Let's think about that, for we shall have to meet this concept many, many times. It's then of the father with a world alienated from him, controlled and governed and motivated by the prince of this world. A prince who has succeeded in alienating men from God through all sorts of misunderstandings of what God is like.
Through stirring up quite unreasonable hate, as our Lord later on remarks, they have hated both me and my father, and it's come to pass that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. The world then kept under the domination of s- of the prince by his misunderstandings, his his deliberate, uh, slanders of God, by stirring up quite irrational hate of the Father. A world that the prince keeps under his thumb by crude materialism, as with Judas. Or else by raising up tribulation for any who dare believe on Christ and follow Christ.
In the world you shall have tribulation. A prince whose final objective is to get men's hearts from God. To fight to the bitterest end, to bring in that great divorce or to keep it in existence. And Christ is the one who is going to fight this great battle and win it. He says at the end of chapter sixteen, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Oh, I thank God for that sentiment. It is true when he writes to the, uh, churches in the book of Revelation, that he exhorts us to overcome and promises all sorts of, uh, uh, things for those that do overcome. But in this session of lessons, it's not so much our overcoming as it's his overcoming. Well, you see, if he hadn't overcome, we might as well have given up the sponge forthwith. There would be no sanctification for us. And what is his general technique of overcoming?
Well, if you can imagine it, the Father standing now over against the world, and the world over against the Father with its prince. Held in alienation from God by all sorts of lies and misunderstandings and hatred. How will Christ overcome? He overcomes by his superior power of attraction. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto myself. The basic technique of overcoming the world is not a series of rules and regulations that have to be sternly kept.
It is Christ's technique of superior attraction, drawing men to him. Out of the grip of the prince of this world. How does he do it in greater detail? I wonder if I can trouble you to turn the pages again, so I'm trying to sketch in the background of our chapters. He does it by manifesting God's glory, showing people what God is really like, and getting people excited about God. Look at chapter eleven, would you, and verse four.
This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of Man may be glorified thereby. Would you look at, uh, verse forty? Said I not unto thee that if thou believest, thou should see the glory of God? Come over, if you will, into, um, chapter, um, uh, twelve, verse twenty seven. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Let's see the battle then raging in these terms. Uh, verses, um, thirty eight of this chapter following. They didn't believe on him that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hath hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts and should turn, and I should heal them.
These things said Isaiah because he saw his glory and the tragedy of lost people. The secret of the prince of this world and his stranglehold over their lives is that their eyes are blind. They can't really see what Isaiah saw. They can't see God's glory. God is a wet blanket to them. God is at best a remote figure to them. They never did get excited about God. They've never yet seen anything genuinely glorious about God. Therefore, Satan has them still in his grip.
And their estimates of life's values have gone astray. Look at this, verse forty two: Nevertheless, even of the rulers, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. We want life to be glorious, don't we? We don't merely want the plum, we want the bloom on the plum. We don't want just mere existence, we want those things that make life a beautiful thing. And how many folks in that very situation make the wrong choice?
They love the glory of men. That looks a sparkling thing, a most attractive thing. More than the glory of God, for perhaps they've never seen the glory of God. And you'll see, you'll notice, won't you, that hitherto we've been going, I think, uh, twenty minutes. We haven't talked about the wickedness of stealing and lying and cheating and fornication and adultery and murder. Or, of course, sanctification is concerned with not doing those evil things. We haven't even talked, we shall have to talk about it, of being kind to one another and socially orientated.
The battle for sanctification is, in the end, over a bigger issue. It's where does life's glory lie? It's got to be a question having our eyes open to see the glory of God. You know, if I might interject a personal word, I shouldn't be standing here this morning if sanctification were merely concerned with, uh, really good, sinless behavior. I should have to say, well, I'm not qualified to talk about that. I still come so desperately short. But I can stand here this morning and talk about sanctification if it's concerned with this.
Or I can say my eyes aren't very much open, but they've been open a bit, thank God. And you know, I'm a miserable type, but I've got a most wonderful God. Don't you think God's exciting? Don't you think God is glorious? And the thing that keeps me in the school of holiness is not my astounding success therein. It hasn't been very successful. But that the father who runs the school is a marvelous father. Oh, we haven't finished yet, I have more references.
Um, let down. Uh, uh, uh, chapter thirteen, and verse, um, uh, um, hmm, thirty one. uh After the exit of Judas, when therefore he was gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him, and God shall glorify him in himself. Well, that was a critical turn of the battle, wasn't it, when Judas had been dealt with and had now gone out. And chapter fourteen, just to list them off and rub the lesson in, chapter fourteen and verse thirteen, when it comes down to the practical matter of praying, what is it all about?
Verse thirteen of chapter fourteen: and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And not only our prayer life, but our fruit bearing, says chapter fifteen, Verse eight. herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. And the whole, uh, one of the, one of the major purposes of the Spirit's coming and his present ministry, this is chapter sixteen and verse fourteen: he shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you, all things whatsoever the Father has are mine. Therefore I said he takes of mine, using the Father's things to glorify the Son.
And here the final comment of the victor himself. Chapter seventeen and verse four. I have glorified you on the earth. I've won. I've conquered. I have overcome. I have glorified you. I have changed men's minds as to what they think about you. I have shown you in your true light, so I've got around me now a group of men who have seen you and known you. And of course, knowing you, they'd love you.
The fight for our sanctification, then, is carried on by Christ. And his tasks and method serve to glorify. The men shall get their eyes open to see what God is really like, and come to believe him and to love him. Let's come then, um, with no more ado, to our first lesson in this series of graded lessons. I'm going to develop the thesis with you that here in the, um, chapters thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, we have a series of graded lessons in the school of sanctification.
It's very, very important to start the lessons where Christ starts them. And in this chapter, we're going to have two major object lessons. There is, first of all, the object lesson of the washing of the feet, and secondly, the major object lesson of giving of the sop to Judas. Both these, we have reason to think, were elaborations of some of the Passover ceremonies. And you know, it's interesting, isn't it, that John reminds us from time to time in this part of his gospel that this is Passover.
They were celebrating Passover. Here in the upper room, it was the, uh, for them, the Passover feast, and other gospel writers concentrate on the institution of the Lord's Supper at that Passover feast. John doesn't tell us about the Lord's Supper. He's thinking in other terms, but he's thinking in Passover terms. So a word to the historians. When John in this gospel comes to describe the crucifixion, he says, doesn't he, that the soldier with a spear pierced our Lord's side rather than break his legs, for scripture had said no bone of him should be broken. That was a Passover regulation. They mustn't break the leg of a Passover lamb.
What's it all about? Well, you think back to the historic occasion. What was the first Passover about? Well, there were, uh, there was a prince. His name is Pharaoh. And he ruled over Egypt, but he had the Jews, the Israelites in Egypt under his grip. He was making their lives a misery with hard labor. When God sent Moses to him with this, uh, demand, let my people go that they may worship me. And who is God, says Pharaoh, that I should take any notice of him? I shall do no such thing.
Get your noses back to the brick kilns. Insistent demand came that the Pharaoh should let the people go that they might worship God. And we know the story how they were delivered, two methods, by the Passover lamb, by the blood of the lamb, and by the power of God at the Red Sea. But now we've come to the Passover of all Passovers. And you see there's another prince. He too is in charge, but not of Egypt, of the world.
And he's got people in his grip. He's got men like Judas with waggling a little bit of silver in front of their eyes, you know, he's got them in his grip, building the treasure houses of Egypt. They think it's theirs. They are but slaves, aren't they? What? And here is, uh, the Passover Lamb himself, coming to deliver them out of their grip. Listen to them as they stand around his cross. Says, uh, Pilate to the people, behold your king.
They say, we have no king but Caesar. And now it's a question of who's going to be king. Here are these Jews, they're celebrating the Passover, but you know, actually they're hugging their chains to themselves. We have no king but Caesar. Here is another king come to deliver them. His means, first of all, his blood, the Passover lamb being shed, no bone of him being broken. And secondly, the crossing of the Red Sea, being baptized to him in the sea, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. So we're going to have these two object lessons, uh, extensions of Passover ceremonies.
And let's look again as the chapter sets the thing in its context. He rises to wash his disciples' feet. Ah, but please, there's some background considerations. Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing. Do you notice that, verse one. Would you notice verse three? Jesus knowing. I like that emphasis. The lessons in the School of Holiness don't start for any one of us without Jesus knowing and knowing precisely everything about us and every spiritual power that's involved, and all that will be implied in this fight for our sanctification.
He knows it, more than we know it. So that when he rises, it's not in ignorance, it's not attempting a scheme for which, well, he hasn't any ghost of a chance of success because he doesn't know what opposition he's up against. He knows. He knew that the hours come that he should depart out of the world unto the Father, and having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them, however you translate it, to the end or fully or completely, both will do. He loved them to the end. He was in the world, he time now to depart. But not with any undue haste did he go, but loving them to the end.
For here is the, I nearly said the weak point, but there is no weak point with Christ. But here is the strategic point. If Satan can smash that love or turn it aside or stop it short, then everything is finished before it starts. Your sanctification, my fellow Christian, doesn't depend on your love for Christ, but on Christ's love for you and how much and how long he prepared to love you. You'll take some loving, I might say. Huh.
And then during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Jun- Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to do what? Ah, now you'll see the battle. To do what? All you say is go out and paint the town red. No. You see, Satan is a master tactician, isn't he? He knows what the game is about. You think he's there to trip you into all sorts of nasty things like lying and cheating and, uh, uncleanness? Well, perhaps he is. But that isn't the heart of the matter. And you're not the great objective he's after, really.
Did you know that? You aren't that important. Do you know, if it were just you, Satan wouldn't bother about you. Who are you to be bothered about? Wasn't interested in Judas. Just for Judas' sake. What he had put into Judah's heart was a strike at the very throne of God to betray Christ. That's it. That's why the battle for your sanctification and mine is so s- tremendously significant.
It's not us in ourselves. It's what it will mean for God and for Christ if Satan wins it. This was a strike at Christ. Oh, what a dastardly strike it was. He'd loved them to the end, had he? Oh, we're not quite to the end yet, though. Says Satan, you haven't seen what I can do with a human heart. You've loved that man, haven't you? Loved him so much you've given him the bag, you've fed him with miraculous loaves and fishes, and you've given him such that a man can give no more. You've given that man your intimate friendship.
You've forgotten God, haven't you? You left heaven, didn't you? I know thee who thou art. You left heaven and its choirs for these smelly streets of Nazareth and Jerusalem. You gave everything you've got to give to men. You think you love them. Well, now let me show you what I can do with a human heart by way of twisting it. He put it into his heart not to, uh, commit adultery or something crude, but to betray him. The ultimate of sin, when you think of human love.
That'll be more than Christ can stick, surely. Why did I say Christ the overcomer in the battle for our sanctification? Well, because it was the real battle was between Satan and Christ. As to whether Christ could go on loving in the face of stuff like that, or whether Satan could make it too difficult, too sour, too bitter, too hard for him. Whether he would give up. And at that very bottomless pit of Judas' treachery, Christ rises from supper.
What on earth, where did he find that? The desire, the motivation. Oh, well, look, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he came forth from God and goeth unto God. Knowledge that, I may say, reverently strengthened Christ in the battle. Knowing that the Father had put all things into his hands, given all things into his hands. What does that phrase mean? There's two possible meanings, doesn't it? That the Father, number one meaning, that the Father had, uh, already made Christ heir of all things, promised him ultimate victory, that that victory was already as good as his, everything in his hand.
Oh, that's true. But gloriously true. He rose at that very moment when Satan had put it into Judas' heart to hand him over. All the loveliness of the word play. When Satan had put it into Judas' heart to betray him as a worthless thing, to give him up, to hand him over. He rose knowing that the Father had put all things into his hand. You can't impoverish Christ. He rose in certainty of ultimate victory.
The Father had put all things into his hands. But I seriously wonder whether there isn't another side to this phrase. This is a term that describes stewardship. We remember the story of Joseph. When he was being terribly tempted by Potiphar's wife, Joseph had certain considerations to mind. He said, you know, I can't do this thing. Why can't I? Well, he said, my master has given everything into my hand. That's why I can't do it. He's given everything into my hand except you. He trusts me.
At this point of the battle, Christ rises remembering this, that everything had been placed in his hand by the Father. What a tremendous responsibility. That is true. In this great battle against his enemy, the prince of this world, the Father chose Christ and put everything into his hand. If Christ failed, then God failed. God had no other answer or champion than Christ, and everything hung upon him.
Could he manage it? Now you'll see the nastiness of Satan's attack, won't you? It wasn't an attack to get Judas to do some outrageous crime, like, uh, running off with Caiaphas' wife or something and bringing disgrace upon that little band of twelve men. It was an attack aimed at the very heart and affections of Christ. If Satan could induce in Christ a feeling of bitterness or sourness, or cut short that love, then And he one.
won. He put it into his heart to betray Christ. Lord, how many times, in a lesser sense, has Satan played that game with us? Not trying to break your faithfulness and love for Christ for its own sake, but because if he can break your faithfulness to Christ, that's a, that's a stroke at the heart of Christ himself. And if he can beat Christ, if he can make Christ love for us, then is he one. So our blessed Lord, knowing it come from God, was going to God.
We shouldn't lightly skip over the phrase, for here is the background secret. He'd come on a mission, that mission to save me. He was being opposed. What of his possible success? He came from God. There is no doubt as to origin. But where would his mission lead him? Before him stood the traitor in league with Satan to hound him to a tree.
Oh, if only Satan had known it. This was the very way that would lead him back to God. He was going back to God. You'll see behind his coming was the wisdom and the planning of eternity. A wisdom that the princes of this world did not know, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Satan thought, by getting the traitor to betray him, that he would break Christ's spirit and hound him to an insignificant death. That very death has been the spiritual means by which he traveled home to God, and traveling himself is taking a multitude with him.
Of God, to God, through God. We're going to start out on these lessons in the fight for our sanctification. So we content ourselves with that as a first study. This is the background. It's a war. It's a war to the death, but thank God the principal fighter is not me. It's a bigger thing than that. It's the fight of God against his archenemy. The fight to regain his lost territory.
To win men back by showing them the glory of God until they come to believe in God and love God. And in the end, largely forgetting themselves, live for God. In that battle, Cry- God has entrusted the fighting in the first analysis as in the last, not to us, but to Christ. Don't do anything else. But he's staked everything on Christ. If Christ doesn't succeed, then God's lost. But as Christ rises to begin the first lesson, he rises knowing the worst, clearly perceiving the enemy, and certain of ultimate success.
He comes from God, he's going to God. This is the Son of God, en route. As Paul would put it, of him and through him and to him are all things. Oh, what a lovely recipe for sanctification as for salvation. Of God, through God, to God. And the piece that we're so very much interested in is the middle bit, isn't it? And you know this is where sometimes we, we weaken ourselves by, by getting our ideas mixed up.
We think it's of God, to God, through us. But it's of God, to God, through Christ. The Lord bless his word. Shall we pray?
