Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc03/v03600

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 10KB | 173 lines

03605
 #23-27 Asking of the Father shows a sense of spiritual wants,
 and a desire of spiritual blessings, with conviction that they
 are to be had from God only. Asking in Christ's name, is
 acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favours from God,
 and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our
 Righteousness. Our Lord had hitherto spoken in short and weighty
 sentences, or in parables, the import of which the disciples did
 not fully understand, but after his resurrection he intended
 plainly to teach them such things as related to the Father and
 the way to him, through his intercession. And the frequency with
 which our Lord enforces offering up petitions in his name, shows
 that the great end of the mediation of Christ is to impress us
 with a deep sense of our sinfulness, and of the merit and power
 of his death, whereby we have access to God. And let us ever
 remember, that to address the Father in the name of Christ, or
 to address the Son as God dwelling in human nature, and
 reconciling the world to himself, are the same, as the Father
 and Son are one.

03610
 #28-33 Here is a plain declaration of Christ's coming from the
 Father, and his return to him. The Redeemer, in his entrance,
 was God manifest in the flesh, and in his departure was received
 up into glory. By this saying the disciples improved in
 knowledge. Also in faith; "Now are we sure." Alas! they knew not
 their own weakness. The Divine nature did not desert the human
 nature, but supported it, and put comfort and value into
 Christ's sufferings. And while we have God's favourable
 presence, we are happy, and ought to be easy, though all the
 world forsake us. Peace in Christ is the only true peace, in him
 alone believers have it. Through him we have peace with God, and
 so in him we have peace in our own minds. We ought to be
 encouraged, because Christ has overcome the world before us. But
 while we think we stand, let us take heed lest we fall. We know
 not how we should act if brought into temptation; let us watch
 and pray without ceasing, that we may not be left to ourselves.
03616
 * Christ's prayer for himself. (1-5) His prayer for his
 disciples. (6-10) His prayer. (11-26)

 #1-5 Our Lord prayed as a man, and as the Mediator of his
 people; yet he spoke with majesty and authority, as one with and
 equal to the Father. Eternal life could not be given to
 believers, unless Christ, their Surety, both glorified the
 Father, and was glorified of him. This is the sinner's way to
 eternal life, and when this knowledge shall be made perfect,
 holiness and happiness will be fully enjoyed. The holiness and
 happiness of the redeemed, are especially that glory of Christ,
 and of his Father, which was the joy set before him, for which
 he endured the cross and despised the shame; this glory was the
 end of the sorrow of his soul, and in obtaining it he was fully
 satisfied. Thus we are taught that our glorifying God is needed
 as an evidence of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal
 life is God's free gift.

03621
 #6-10. Christ prays for those that are his. Thou gavest them me,
 as sheep to the shepherd, to be kept; as a patient to the
 physician, to be cured; as children to a tutor, to be taught:
 thus he will deliver up his charge. It is a great satisfaction
 to us, in our reliance upon Christ, that he, all he is and has,
 and all he said and did, all he is doing and will do, are of
 God. Christ offered this prayer for his people alone as
 believers; not for the world at large. Yet no one who desires to
 come to the Father, and is conscious that he is unworthy to come
 in his own name, need be discouraged by the Saviour's
 declaration, for he is both able and willing to save to the
 uttermost, all that come unto God by him. Earnest convictions
 and desires, are hopeful tokens of a work already wrought in a
 man; they begin to evidence that he has been chosen unto
 salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of
 the truth. They are thine; wilt thou not provide for thine own?
 Wilt thou not secure them? Observe the foundation on which this
 plea is grounded, All mine are thine, and thine are mine. This
 speaks the Father and Son to be one. All mine are thine. The Son
 owns none for his, that are not devoted to the service of the
 Father.

03626
 #11-16 Christ does not pray that they might be rich and great in
 the world, but that they might be kept from sin, strengthened
 for their duty, and brought safe to heaven. The prosperity of
 the soul is the best prosperity. He pleaded with his holy
 Father, that he would keep them by his power and for his glory,
 that they might be united in affection and labours, even
 according to the union of the Father and the Son. He did not
 pray that his disciples should be removed out of the world, that
 they might escape the rage of men, for they had a great work to
 do for the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. But he
 prayed that the Father would keep them from the evil, from being
 corrupted by the world, the remains of sin in their hearts, and
 from the power and craft of Satan. So that they might pass
 through the world as through an enemy's country, as he had done.
 They are not left here to pursue the same objects as the men
 around them, but to glorify God, and to serve their generation.
 The Spirit of God in true Christians is opposed to the spirit of
 the world.

03632
 #17-19 Christ next prayed for the disciples, that they might not
 only be kept from evil, but made good. It is the prayer of Jesus
 for all that are his, that they may be made holy. Even disciples
 must pray for sanctifying grace. The means of giving this grace
 is, "through thy truth, thy word is truth." Sanctify them, set
 them apart for thyself and thy service. Own them in the office;
 let thy hand go with them. Jesus entirely devoted himself to his
 undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially the offering up
 himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. The real
 holiness of all true Christians is the fruit of Christ's death,
 by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased; he gave
 himself for his church, to sanctify it. If our views have not
 this effect on us, they are not Divine truth, or we do not
 receive them by a living and a working faith, but as mere
 notions.

03635
 #20-23 Our Lord especially prayed, that all believers might be
 as one body under one head, animated by one soul, by their union
 with Christ and the Father in him, through the Holy Spirit
 dwelling in them. The more they dispute about lesser things, the
 more they throw doubts upon Christianity. Let us endeavour to
 keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, praying that
 all believers may be more and more united in one mind and one
 judgment. Thus shall we convince the world of the truth and
 excellence of our religion, and find more sweet communion with
 God and his saints.

03639
 #24-26 Christ, as one with the Father, claimed on behalf of all
 that had been given to him, and should in due time believe on
 him, that they should be brought to heaven; and that there the
 whole company of the redeemed might behold his glory as their
 beloved Friend and Brother, and therein find happiness. He had
 declared and would further declare the name or character of God,
 by his doctrine and his Spirit, that, being one with him, the
 love of the Father to him might abide with them also. Thus,
 being joined to Him by one Spirit, they might be filled with all
 the fulness of God, and enjoy a blessedness of which we can form
 no right idea in our present state.
03642
 * Christ taken in the garden. (1-12) Christ before Annas and
 Caiaphas. (13-27) Christ before Pilate. (28-40)

 #1-12 Sin began in the garden of Eden, there the curse was
 pronounced, there the Redeemer was promised; and in a garden
 that promised Seed entered into conflict with the old serpent.
 Christ was buried also in a garden. Let us, when we walk in our
 gardens, take occasion from thence to mediate on Christ's
 sufferings in a garden. Our Lord Jesus, knowing all things that
 should come upon him, went forth and asked, Whom seek ye? When
 the people would have forced him to a crown, he withdrew, ch.
 #6:15|, but when they came to force him to a cross, he offered
 himself; for he came into this world to suffer, and went to the
 other world to reign. He showed plainly what he could have done;
 when he struck them down he could have struck them dead, but he
 would not do so. It must have been the effect of Divine power,
 that the officers and soldiers let the disciples go away
 quietly, after the resistance which had been offered. Christ set
 us an example of meekness in sufferings, and a pattern of
 submission to God's will in every thing that concerns us. It is
 but a cup, a small matter. It is a cup that is given us;
 sufferings are gifts. It is given us by a Father, who has a
 father's authority, and does us no wrong; a father's affection,
 and means us no hurt. From the example of our Saviour we should
 learn how to receive our lighter afflictions, and to ask
 ourselves whether we ought to oppose our Father's will, or to
 distrust his love. We were bound with the cords of our
 iniquities, with the yoke of our transgressions. Christ, being
 made a sin-offering for us, to free us from those bonds, himself
 submitted to be bound for us. To his bonds we owe our liberty;
 thus the Son makes us free.