Address—C. Hendricks
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I'm just going to read these verses to introduce.
Subject before me.
1 John 4.
Verse 9.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us.
Because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
Hearing is love.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
And then move down to verse 14.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
This first 2 verses I read, verses 9 and 10 says that God sent him.
And verse 14 says the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world.
And this is what I have before me. I want to go through John's gospel.
And touch on the verses that speak of this blessed truth.
Some of them I'll just read and pass on, others I'll make comments on, but we start in the 3rd chapter of John.
John's Gospel, chapter 3.
And verse 17, and you'll notice as we go along that there are truths connected with this blessed truth that the Father sent him or that God sent him. And each time it's mentioned, you'll have some added truth, or normally that's the case, some added truth connected with it.
Verse 17 John 3 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.
But that the world through him, might be saved.
We learned 2 truths in that verse and that is He didn't send him to judge, He didn't send him to condemn.
But to say wonderful truth, and then in the 34th verse. For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God.
Not only.
Did he send him not to condemn, but to save?
But to speak the very words of God, this very gospel begins with in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And the 14th verse of chapter 1 Says the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The very word, the very one who spoke the very words of God Hebrews one starts that way God, who at sundry times and in diverse manner spake in time passed under the.
By the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us. By.
Is son.
Wonderful that.
What characterizes these passages is that he didn't speak through some prophet like he did in the Old Testament.
But by his Son, in the person of his beloved Son. And then the latter part of verse 34, whom God hath sent, speaketh. He whom God has sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon a prophet to utter.
A prophecy to utter something from himself and then he.
He went away.
But he was given by measure, in a sense. But here it says of the blessed Lord God, giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. The one that he sent had the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit in His whole pathway.
Now we're going to go through.
This gospel, so we'll step from verse to verse.
Chapter 4 and verse 34.
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.
And to finish his work we learned 2 added truths. There He came to do the will of the Father who sent him, and to finish his work. And it's in this gospel, in his prayer to the Father in John 17, he said, Father, I have finished the work that Thou gave us me to do. And now Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
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He finished the work and on the cross he cried. It is.
Finished. So he came. What to do? The will of him that sent him, and to finish his work. We'll find as we go through John's gospel that the theme of the Father sending him, God sending him is all through, and it's really what characterizes this Gospel of John.
Chapter 5.
Verse. I'll start at verse.
20 For the Father loveth the son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these, that she may marvel.
Whereas the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
Now here's the verse. There's 2 verses in a row that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Greatest insult that one could give to the father is not to honor the son, not to receive his words, not to believe on him because the father sent him. And that's an insult to the father to reject his son.
As we read these passages of Scripture, we know these truths very well. Nothing new this evening.
But precious to trace this theme.
Through this gospel.
And then he goes on to say.
That all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son on earth, not the Father which hath sent Him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.
So we're to honor the Son as we honor the Father.
And to believe I'm the one whom the Father sent is to have eternal life. I think we all know that whether it says everlasting life or eternal life, it's the same thing. It's the same word in the original. And it's not that there are two different thoughts.
Ye that heareth My word, and believeth on him that sent Me, more literally believeth him that sent Me hath everlasting or eternal life, and shall not come into his condemnation or judgment, but His past from death unto life. Wonderful truths.
Then at the a little farther down in John's Gospel, chapter 5.
He says, and I'll pick it up from verse 33. Ye sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth.
Well let me back up, let me back up, I missed one. Let me back up to verse 30. The Lord says I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will.
But the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Wonderful. Here was one that never did his own will. He always did the will of his father who sent him. His very words were the expression of the father, His very works were the expression of the father, and he always did his will.
All right, verse 33 He sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth, but I receive not testimony from man.
But these things?
I say that you might be saved.
He was a burning and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish.
The same works that I do bear witness of me, that the father.
Hath sent me.
Very works of the Father witness to that blessed truth. And that's the theme of the Gospel of John. We'll trace it all the way through.
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But He had a stronger witness even than the works of the Father. And he says, And the Father himself which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape.
And you have not his word abiding in you for whom he hath sent.
Him you believe not, Him you believe not. A very solemn thing, very serious thing. To reject the Son is to reject the Father. To honor the Son is to honor the Father. To hear the words that the Son spoke, you're hearing the words of the Father. I've been asked so many times, will we ever see the Father? Well, in the 12TH chapter we'll come to that verse. He says He that seeth me seeth Him that sent me.
Yes, we'll see the father and the person of his beloved son.
God manifest in flesh.
That blessed man will be in his presence for all eternity and as we gaze upon him.
We'll see the father as we trace his steps, as we listen to his words, as we see the works that he performed.
It was all the expression of the father who sent him.
Chapter 6.
Verse 29.
Verse 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said.
Unto them this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him.
Whom he hath sent.
Leave on him. So simple.
Whom he hath sent.
Then verse 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will be.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, and of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son.
And believeth on him they have everlasting life.
And I will raise him up at the last day. Eternal life, the portion of those that believe I'm the one whom the Father sent.
And to be raised in the last day. Blessed promise again, verse 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
We've come to him, beloved, because the Father has drawn us.
And we've responded to that drawing pull.
And now we know the one whom he sent, and we know the Father who sent him.
Again, verse 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, by reason of the Father, on account of the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me, by reason of me.
Chapter 7.
Verse 14.
Now, about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
And the Jews marveled, saying, I don't know what this man letters, having never learned.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. Everything he taught was given to him of the Father who sent him. To reject what he said is to reject the Father.
No doubt about it, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. Again, in verse 18, He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory.
But he that seeketh his glory, that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
He always sought the glory of the Father, always did the will of the Father, always spoke the words of the Father, always did the works of the Father.
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Always to be honored as the Father.
Sent one.
Precious, precious truth.
Verse 28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am, and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true.
Whom ye know not, but I know him.
For I am from him, and he hath sent me.
I am talking to a company of people here tonight that know this precious truth.
That the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world.
If you don't know that truth, you're not saved. If you don't know that truth, you don't know the most vital truth that we have in the Gospel of John, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. God sent him to give us life. God sent him to be the propitiation for our sins to meet all our needs.
Chapter 7 again and verse 33 Then saith Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
He was about to return to the father.
And he tells them, in a little while, I'm just going to be with you a little while longer.
Then I go to him that sent me.
It's because he was the sent one that he could say My father In the 14th chapter. My father is greater than I. He said, If you love me, you would rejoice because I go to my father. For my father is greater than I in the sense of his having been sent to do the will of his father, speak the words of his father, to do the very commandment of the father he was.
One that was subject to the Father, but of course in his deity and his God he is Co equal.
With the Father. But that verse, my Father is greater than I. I just want to dwell a little upon it. Let's just look at it. It's in John 14. We'll come back here in a moment, but in John 14, since it comes to my mind.
He says in verse 28, You have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go on to the Father, for my father is greater than I. Now that Jehovah's witness used this verse to.
Deny his deity. You see, they say the Father is greater than he is.
Well, let's think about it a moment. In the 10th chapter, he says I and my father are one.
For you to say my father is greater than I would be nonsense. I would say of course he is. He's God and you're just a creature. For any of us to say my Father is greater than I or the Father is greater than I would be a statement that is intuitively obvious. Of course he is.
But here was one who was Co equal with the Father, and in a sense the sense of his humiliation, the sense of his incarnation, that he became a man, that he was sent of the Father to do the Father's will. He could say my Father is greater than I.
Makes no sense for any of us to say it but for one who is equal with the Father.
He's telling us of the infinite grace.
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
That he, through his poverty, might be rich.
Yes, he came to the very lowest place.
You even say I am a worm and no man despised of men. That's the place he took in lowly grace. So the statement My Father is greater than I brings before us the tremendous grace of the Lord Jesus in taking that low place when he became a man, when he exchanged the form of God for the form of a servant.
All right, let's go back to John Chapter 8 now.
And.
Verse 16 he says and yet if I judge.
My judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. Verse 18 I am one that bear witness of myself and the Father.
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That sent me beareth witness of me.
Verse 26 I have many things to say and to judge of you.
But he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. Everything he said, every word he spoke, was given to him of the Father to speak.
And in verse 29, beautiful verse and he that sent me.
Is with me the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always.
Those things that please him.
None of us can say that, not even close.
None of us.
Here was one that was so the delight of heaven, so the delight of the Father, that He could say, I do always.
Those things that please me.
He that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone.
I do always those things that please Him, even Christ please not Himself, always pleasing the Father.
Verse 42.
Jesus said unto them, He's speaking to his enemies here, those that did not believe on him. If God were your Father, ye would love me.
For I proceeded forth, and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but.
He sent me.
Chapter 9 I'm going to read from verse one because it is such a precious little portion.
Bringing out this wonderful truth.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw man, which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God.
Should be made manifest in Him.
I must work the works of him that sent me.
While it is day, the night cometh when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Now notice when he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground. The word became flesh.
And made clay of the spittle.
The Word became flesh picture of the incarnation.
And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
And he said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation.
Sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
And that's how we got our eyes opened. That's how this blind man got his eyes open both physically and later in the chapter spiritually when he came to the realization that the one that opened his eyes physically.
Was the sent one of the Father? And it was doing this. The spittle speaks of his word coming out of his mouth, the clay speaks of the earth. The man was made of the dust of the ground, and the Lord became a man, and he was sent here to reveal the Father to us, and that's opened our eyes as well as his.
Beautiful, precious truth.
Chapter 10.
Chapter 10 and verse 36.
Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified. Now there's a new thought. The Father has set him apart.
And sent into the world, thou blasphemous.
Because I said I am the Son of God.
Sanctified and sent.
Now, Chapter 11 and I'm going to pick up the story we know, the story of Lazarus.
I'm going to pick it up at verse 38.
Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave.
It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away. The stone Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead 4 days.
Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou should see the glory of God.
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Jesus saith unto her.
I just read that verse 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it.
That they.
May believe what that thou hast sent me.
If you believe that.
You are among the few privileged ones on planet Earth that believe this life giving truth that the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world.
I knew that Thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it that they may believe that Thou didst send me.
Precious truth.
Chapter 12. At the end of the chapter we have some very profound and wondrous verses.
Beginning at verse 44.
Jesus cried and said he that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
And he that seeth me, seeth him.
That sent me.
Will we ever see the Father? We see the Father in the Son.
See Him in all that He did, every step that He took when He was here, every word that He spoke, every work that He performed. It was all a revelation of and a manifestation of the Father.
To see him is to see the Father.
Now, the last two verses of chapter 12 are very precious and very wonderful.
For I have not spoken of myself.
Or from myself as a source, I think is the force of that. But the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. So everything that he said, everything that he spoke was in obedience to the Father's commandment. He was sent here on a mission to speak the very words of the Father, to do the very works of the Father.
And that was his commandment.
And he did it in perfect obedience to His Father. And then he tells us what that commandment is. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting, life eternal, whatsoever I speak. Therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
John's epistle. He tells us that.
Let me start it from the beginning.
That which was from the beginning.
Which we've heard.
Seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life.
For the life was manifested.
We have seen.
Well, I didn't quote it quite correctly, but.
Very, very precious He was. He is that eternal life that was with the Father. Everything He said, everything He did, was the expression of that life, that commandment which He fulfilled in perfection, in carrying out the will of the Father, expressed what eternal life really is.
And that's what's been communicated to us in the sun. We have it in the sun believing that the Father sent him. We have eternal life.
I know that His commandment is life everlasting whatsoever I speak. Therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak so in that blessed man as he walked through this scene. He was the very embodiment of and the very expression of eternal life.
And all that he did, all that he said.
Verse 16.
Of Chapter 13 now.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent.
Greater than he that sent him.
That implies, of course, that the one that sent him is greater. He sent him.
Verse 20.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me.
And he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. And that's the only way you can receive the Father. The only way is to receive the Son, to receive the sent one. And the greatest insult that you can give to the God the Father is to reject the Son.
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Not receive him.
Deny him.
Verse 20.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.
Chapter 14 and verse 24.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which he hears not mine.
But the fathers which sent me.
As you read the Gospel of John and behold all the epistles, and you hear what he said.
That's the father gave him that to say and.
He carried it out of perfection.
Chapter 15.
Verse 21 But all these things he's talking about.
The world here and the hatred of the world, they hated Him, they will hate us. And he says all these things will they do unto you for my namesake, because they know not him that sent me.
They know not him. That sent me Chapter 16.
Verse 5. But now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
I haven't. It's not my purpose tonight to trace the wonderful truths connected with with the Father and the Son, sending the Spirit, the Comforter.
But that's brought out here as well.
Now we come to the 17th chapter, the Lord's Prayer 6 times this blessed truth is mentioned. I'm going to go through the whole chapter quickly and you can you'll notice them as we come to these verses that speak of Him as being sent. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said Father, the hour is come.
Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As thou hast sent him into the as thou hast given him power over all flesh.
That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
That's how he glorifies the Father today. He's giving eternal life, the very life nature of God Himself, to those to the to those that receive the one whom the Father sent.
And then he defines that life. I was asked the question at Fullerton.
Did the Old Testament Saints have eternal life?
And I said, well the answer is yes and no.
They had the basic life that is communicated when a soul is born of God. That's the same life that we get when we're born again. But they didn't know the Father.
They were like children. They were like in the baby stage. They hadn't grown up and matured into adults when they would know things that they didn't know as a child, but the basic life they had was the same.
Divine Life.
But it's different. The Lord said I am come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly, more abundantly. We have the abundant life, life in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit and we know God our father. We didn't know that and they didn't have the spirit dwelling in them in the Old Testament. So yes, it's the same life, but it's it's not in the fullness and the power that we have it.
Now that the Spirit of God has come.
What does he say?
Verse 3 of chapter 17, he says he's speaking to his Father, and he says this is life eternal.
That they might know thee, Father thee, the only true God.
And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
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So eternal life as we have it, as it is presented to us in the Gospel of John, is to know the Father and to know the Son when he said.
To know them well, of course, that knowledge was not that of the Old Testament Saints.
So there's a difference in knowledge, but the basic life is the same.
This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God.
And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, you have eternal life. You know the only true God, and you know the one Lord Jesus whom he sent.
Precious, wonderful knowledge, Ever make light of it?
Because there aren't too many on planet Earth that have that knowledge and that faith.
I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have manifested, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify thou Me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Here's the Son in manhood addressing the Father, and He asked to be glorified with Him in the same glory that He had with Him before the world was. Well, obviously He's the eternal Son. Become a man.
Addressing his Father, asking him to reinstate him into that glory.
That he had before the world was as the eternal Son.
Now he's going to be placed in that glorious man.
Tremendous, wondrous truth.
Glorify thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
And then he says in verse 6, I have manifested thy name. That means the name of Father.
The Old Testament Saints, they knew, They knew God as Elohim, they knew God as Jehovah, they knew God as the Almighty God. They knew him as the everlasting God. They knew him as the Most High, but they didn't know him as the Father, couldn't know him as the Father until the Son came, the eternal Son, whoever was in his bosom, who knows all that in that bosom lies and came to earth to make it known that we might.
Share his joys.
He says I have manifested thy name. He's talking about the name of Father unto the men which thou gave us me out of the world. These men. He's talking to those that accompanied with Him when He was here on earth, not talking about you and me, yet He brings us in in verse 20, where He says neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. But up till that point he's talking about the disciples that accompanied with Him when he was.
Here below.
He says, I've manifested Thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world beautiful in John 7 times I believe in this chapter in John 17, He speaks of us as given to Him of the Father. Those thou gavest me out of the world, thine they were, and Thou gave us them me, and they have kept thy word. How could He say that? How could He say we know all the failures of the disciples we know as.
The Lord was on the road to the cross. They were arguing among themselves which of them should be the greatest? All kinds of failures.
How could he say that?
Because I believe, look at verse 8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gave us to 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. That's the cardinal truth.
That marked them out as special, and that's why he could say they've kept thy word, because they believe.
Thou hast sent me.
Precious truth.
Verse 7 Now they have known. They have known. You know these things, beloved, we know these things.
World round about us. Most of them know them not.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me.
Are of thee.
We know that.
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.
Father, they have believed that thou didst send me.
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I pray for them, for those who know this.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.
For they are thine and I love this interchange. They are thine and all mine are thine and thine are mine and.
I am glorified in them. That could only be said of a divine person speaking to the Father, the Son equal with the Father.
And he says I'm glorified in them.
Think of that.
Glorified in us, yes.
Because of the faith.
That we have to know this precious truths.
And now I am no more in the world. Now he uttered this prayer in John 17, while he was here on earth before the cross. But the soul, the whole substance of the prayer, applies after the cross.
After the cross, he says, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, only hadn't gone to the cross yet. It was still ahead of him, but in his thoughts he was beyond it. And everything that he speaks of in this prayer applies beyond the cross. After the cross.
And so he says, and now I am no more in the world. He was saying he was in the world when he spoke those words. But.
No, he was beyond it now in all that he was saying in this wonderful prayer.
Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thy own name.
Those who now has given me.
That they may be 1.
As we are.
Now he was He had kept them. Now he asked the Father, the Holy Father, to keep them.
While I was with him in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of Perdition.
That the Scripture might be fulfilled. Now the son of Perdition was Judas, and he was not given of the Father to that, to the Son. He was only brought into the 12 Because that the Scripture might be fulfilled when the Lord appointed Judas in John 6, it says he knew that he was a devil. He knew who he was, but nothing ever took the Lord by surprise. He knows the end from the beginning.
The omniscient God.
And yet infinite grace.
Perfect servant.
Who became man?
Verse 13.
And now come I to thee.
And these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. What was his joy?
It was to do the will of his father.
He says that in John four we saw that verse. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me finish his work.
Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.
That was his joy. Please his father.
The very thought, the very suggestion that the Lord could have sinned is blasphemy.
Person that makes that statement does not know who he is.
He always did the will of his father. That was his joy, That was his delight.
Anything. Any other suggestion that he do anything other than that?
Was rejected with holy.
Because.
Aim to do the will of his father.
And he did it perfectly.
Couldn't be anything else it.
Required our salvation, the glory of God first, then our salvation required an absolutely perfect obedience, and we see it in that blessed One.
And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy.
We will.
We're walking as he walked. We will.
The world hates us.
I have given them thy word, and the world have hated them.
Because they are not of the world, but even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
That's what he said in verse 11. Holy Father, keep through thine old name those whom thou hast given me.
Now he mentions it again.
That thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. How separate are we to be, even as I am not of the world? That's the measure of our separation.
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Sanctify them through the truth.
Thy word is truth.
Set them apart.
Precious truth that we know the Father now. We're children, we're brought into the nearest.
Most blessed relationship there is.
And set them apart by.
Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, Even so have I also set them.
Into the world he was sent to represent the father, to declare the father, to reveal the father.
To glorify the Father. And we've been sent back. He's taken us out of it, separated us from it.
And then sent us back into it to represent him.
That's why he's left us here.
That's why he's left us here to represent him.
We're here for him, not for ourselves, not to make a name for ourselves in this world. They'd hated him and cast him out, rejected him.
But to live for him, for his glory.
Live together in fellowship with one another.
Unity, you go on together.
For His glory.
And for their sakes, I sanctify myself. He sets himself apart on high to be the heavenly object of his people while he's gone.
For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. We all need an object as we go through this world.
We need an object. What's our object? Christ in glory. Christ in glory is our object. Paul puts it this way.
2 Corinthians 318 We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed.
According to that glory.
His image transformed, changed.
Into his image, even this by the Spirit of the Lord. And so here he says, I set myself apart.
To be their object.
For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Truth of Christ in glory neither pray I for these alone now He brings us in, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word.
That they all may be 1.
As thou, Father, art in me, and I and thee, that they also may be one in US.
That the world may believe what that thou hast sent me.
Had the Christians gone on together in unity?
It would have produced this.
It did produce. It turned to Acts chapter 4 where this prayer was literally fulfilled.
It will be fulfilled again.
In the coming day.
Sad to say, right now, with all the divided state of things, you don't see it.
But in Acts chapter 4.
I start from verse 27.
We're of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.
We're gathered together.
Or to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Here you have a company, not just individuals, but a whole company.
Filled with the Holy Spirit.
The flesh was not acting. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
And they spake the word of God with boldness.
And the multitude of them that believed were of 1 heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things that he possessed was his own, but they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
Now in his prayer.
Verse 2¤ John 17. He said that they that they all may be one, as thou Father are to me, and I am thee, that they all may be one in US. I'm going to read that 32nd verse of Acts 4 as it is in Darby's translation.
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And the heart and soul of the multitude that believed was one.
The heart and soul.
Multitude that believed was 1. He prayed that they all may be 1 and that was realized in those early days. It didn't last long.
Man cannot contain the blessing very long, sad to say.
Going back to John 17 verse 21.
That they all may be 1.
As thou, Father, art in me, and I and thee, that they also may be one in US.
That the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
I would have been a more powerful testimony if the Church had gone on in unity and oneness, and all the evangelists ever.
But it will be realized verses 22 and 23. It will be realized in a future day.
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.
That they may be 1 even as we are one this time in verse 21, this oneness in testimony.
And now it's Oneness in glory.
Even as we are one, I and them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.
That the world may know, not just believe it now, but the world may know that thou hast sent me.
And something more. And has loved them.
As thou hast loved me, the world will know that the Father sent him.
In that coming day, when they see us in the glory with Him, in the same glory as himself.
And they'll know, too, that the Fathers love them.
As he's loved me, the Lord says.
Verse 24 is the higher yet verses 22 and 3 We have, you might say, the public glory that others will look upon and gaze upon.
But there's a glory that we'll have. We won't have it. We will behold it that is given to the Lord. Verse 24 Father, I will.
That they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.
That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.
For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. I think that will be our special privilege to be.
In His presence alone with Him to behold this glory.
That the Father has given him.
Now you notice in verse 11.
He speaks to the Holy Father to keep.
His disciples and now he talks about the world and he says in verse 25, O righteous father, the world hath not known the.
But I have known thee, and.
These.
These have known that thou hast sent me.
That's the precious.
Truth, the precious knowledge that we have.
Contrast with all others that don't know it.
And I have declared unto them.
By name the name of Father.
And will declare it.
The apostles declare it.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have any writings in the Old Testament like that.
That's why we don't pray Heavenly Father, we pray to the God and Father.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, that's the highest you could get.
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me maybe in them.
And I in them.
There's one other place, and it's in Resurrection John 20.
Resurrection, John 20.
I'll read from verse 19.
And the same day at evening being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews.
Came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you.
As my Father hath sent me, Even so.
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Send I you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye.
The Holy Ghost.
So we are sent by the risen Christ.
Represent Him. Glorify him.
Magnify him even as he did his father.
And we can do it in the power of the resurrection life that he breathed into his disciples.
In the power of the Holy Spirit received the Holy Ghost.
Receive ye Holy Spirit. The article shouldn't be there. It's characteristic, the Spirit of God characterizing the risen life that we have in Christ.
And in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit was given personally as a person to indwell them. Here He characterizes the life that we have.
In the risen Christ.
He sends us.
What a privilege. That's why we're here, where I hear on a mission.
Here on a mission.
Not to exalt ourselves, not to make a name for ourselves, but to exalt him.
Till he comes take us home.