← Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson on SermonAudio
Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson on SermonAudio
How the Lord Jesus Thinks about Us
00:35:00
John's Gospel - John 17:1-5; John 17:20-26
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Well, let me ask you to turn back to the 17th chapter of John's gospel, which John read to us. That is not the apostle John, but John the Minister on page 903. And we've read the first and the last part of this section as you're turning there. Let me just say to you what a delight it's been to be with you here in King's View today, always struck by the fact that your church should advertise itself as the church where no one looks as though they're any older. And that I'm sure is not unrelated to the love that you have with each other. I'm sure all of you were better children than I was. So you may not have had exactly this experience, but it wouldn't surprise me that numbers of us have had this experience. I left home when I was 17 and it never once crossed my mind, although I had to write home by letter with a stamp, remember stamps to write home once a week while my mother wrote to me twice a week to make sure I was keeping clean. It never once crossed my mind that my parents would miss me. It never even crossed my mind that when they were sitting at home they would talk about me. Now that may say a great deal about my hardness of heart. It certainly is not expressive of my parents affection for me and devotion to me. But it just never crossed my mind. Their life was there and my life was here. And I guess as I've reflected on that throughout my life, watching our own children go and wondering if they are having the same experience of never crossing their minds that mom and dad are sitting there talking about them. And once when I was thinking about this, it struck me how often that's the way we think about the Lord Jesus. We are here on earth, a huge distance away from Him. Christ is now in glory, away from the sickness and sadness of this world. And it never even crosses our minds to think that the Lord Jesus himself might be thinking about us. And I believe one of the things that this passage that we've read together tonight is designed to do is to reassure us not only that Christ thinks about us, but actually to teach us what he does think about us, so that we're not left to our childish imagination thinking, I wonder what Jesus might be thinking about me. But we actually have here what many of the old worthies used to think of as a transcription of the prayer of Jesus Christ in heaven for us made on earth before he was in heaven. And I notice even in the English standard version, this prayer has got the Heading, you'll notice at the beginning of the chapter, the high priestly prayer, not because the word priest is mentioned, but I think almost certainly because the pattern of this prayer mirrors and reflects the pattern of the praying of the Old Testament high priest when he was readying himself for the day of Atonement. And he prayed in three concentric circles, first of all for himself and for his ministry, his entry into the presence of the Lord on that great annual occasion with the sacrificial blood. And then he would gather into his praying his colleagues in the ministry, his family in the ministry, those who were closest to him in the ministry. And then in his praying, he would expand that circle to the whole people of God, and he would make intercession for the people of God. And you can see in this chapter, it breaks down that way. Verses 1 through to verse 5, Jesus is praying about himself and his own glory. From verse 6 to verse 19, he is praying for the apostles, the 11 men who are still left in the room. And he's praying for their ministry. But the thing that I think is for us most striking is that in the last section, from verse 20 through to verse 26, he's actually praying for others, and not just for his contemporaries who will come to faith, but he's praying for all who will come to faith. You know, sometimes maybe this sounds almost a little old fashioned, how people used to say, you read a promise in the Bible and if you mark up your Bible, why don't you write your own name there? But the fact of the matter is in these last few verses, you can actually write your own name into this prayer because it's very obvious that Jesus is praying here for us. Jesus is thinking about us. And it's not difficult to show from the rest of the New Testament. And in a sense, even without the rest of the New Testament, you could, you could see why you would have to draw the conclusion from that, that if he was praying for me, then when the New Testament tells me that he ever lives to make intercession for us, he is praying for us, interceding for us with the same burden of affection on his heart now as he did then. And that's what I want us to think about here. For some reason, the text from towards the end of Matthew's Gospel that I remember as a teenager hearing sermons, evangelistic sermons, preached on what think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? And I thought maybe I should reverse that question. What does Christ think of ye? And I know for myself an observation of others when that question asks, what does Christ think of you? Often it's asked with a kind of intimidating factor. You are nothing. You are worthless. He doesn't think very much of you. And yet this passage demonstrates to us that the very reverse is true. So I want us to try and think about that this evening. And as I do, we pray that the Holy Spirit will give us each according to our own situations, our own needs, our own spiritual struggles, a sense that when we hear this prayer, we can think, he is praying here for me. So there are really two things I want you to notice from these verses. Very simply. The first is the way that Jesus thinks about us. And the second is what it is that Jesus wants for us. So the way Jesus thinks about us and what it is that Jesus wants for us. Now, there's more in these verses, obviously, than we can talk about this evening. But let's think about these things because it's very clear in the passage, the way Jesus thinks about us. And you'll notice, I'm sure, that in these verses there are two expressions Jesus uses that we need to have embedded in our hearts. This is how the Lord Jesus thinks about me. The first of them is this. He says, I am praying not just for the apostles, but for those who will believe in me through their Word. So if I am a Christian believer, this is the way Jesus actually thinks about me. He thought about me as somebody who would come to believe in him through the word of the apostles. Now, some of you are not exactly spring chickens, are you? But nobody in the room looks old enough to have heard an apostle preach. But he doesn't say, I'm praying for those who will come to believe in me through the preaching of the apostles. He's saying, I'm praying for those who will come to believe in me through their Word. And actually, if we'd been reading this section right through, we would have realized that the disciples in the room knew what Jesus was speaking about here. Because he says a number of things in the upper room that make it clear to them that he is actually. I don't know that they fully understood this at the time. They certainly did later. He was actually. He had called them, and he was preparing them to give us the New Testament Scriptures. He says, when the Spirit comes, he will remind you of everything I've said to you. And when the Spirit comes, he will lead you into the truth about me. And when the Spirit comes, he will show you things that are to come. And when the Spirit comes, you will bear witness to me. And simultaneously he will bear witness to me. So if I asked you a riddle, where will you find what Jesus said, what he taught? Where you find the truth about Jesus? Where will you find an indication of things that are to come? And where will you find the Holy Spirit and the apostles together bearing witness to Jesus? And the answer is, of course, the New Testament. They don't yet understand this, but they actually go and do it, don't they? And so this is what Jesus is speaking about here at the time. They don't fully understand it, but in the light of everything we now know from Scripture, we understand it that he's not just praying for those who will believe in him through the contemporary preaching of the apostles, but for all of us who will believe through the Scriptures. And when you think about it, at the end of the day, one way or another, because it's only in the Scriptures that we have access to any knowledge, any true knowledge of the Lord Jesus that every single one of us has come to believe through the word of the apostles. You may have been attracted by someone else's Christian testimony. You may have heard a sermon, you may have been listening to something on the radio, all kinds of different ways. But what has been essential and common to every single one of them is that ultimately the source of that has been the teaching of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament Scriptures. And we've come to Him. And it's kind of wonderful to think about that, isn't it, that not only did Jesus pray this in the upper room, but that what Jesus prayed has come to pass and that these men took that word to somebody else, and that somebody else took that word to somebody else. And now down through. It's almost 2,000 years now, Link after link after link after link in the chain has been put in place until the few links that preceded you. A friend, a grandmother, a parent, brother, sister, colleague. And that link has closed around you. And from the very beginning, Jesus has been superintending His Word. And right from the very beginning, it is believable because it seems almost unbelievable were it not for who Jesus is. He said, you in mind, that's who I am. I'm someone that he prepared to come to believe in him through His Word in this very upper room when he was giving that word to these apostles. And that's wonderful to think, isn't it, that his purposes go way back. But it's the second way he describes us that I think is even more moving. He not only calls us those who come to believe in him through the apostles Word but you'll notice he uses another expression. And actually in this passage, he uses it again, again, again, he thinks of us as those he's speaking to his father. Those you have given me. Those you have given me. And I don't know about you, we Scots are not. We're not particularly eloquent. We don't wear our hearts on our sleeves. But I think most of us hope when the time comes, if we are surrounded by friends in our last hours, we'll just have the words to say what's on our hearts. So we don't do that very often, do we? We probably don't do it nearly enough. But then we would like to be able to say what was deepest in our hearts. Friends, the Lord Jesus was no different. And I think what is so interesting about this expression, those you have given me, is that Jesus had used a couple of times earlier on in John's Gospel. But in chapter 17, you can sense this acceleration of it. This is a very special moment in the emotional life of Jesus in his affection for his apostles. And you can see in this passage, for example, he uses it in verse two, all whom you have given him. And he uses it in verse six, the people whom you gave me. And again in verse six, you gave them to me. And then in verse seven, everything you have given me is from you. And then again in verse nine, those you have given me. And again in verse 11, those you have given me. And in verse 12, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. And now here in verse 24, those you have given me. And do you know, sometimes in moments of high emotion, you use expressions and you're not able to get out of them to a greater expression, and so keep using it. I've got the sense in Jesus prayer that if you were able to open up his heart, this is what you would find in the deepest recesses of his affections, that he's praying for us for this reason we'll come to believe in him through the word of the apostles. But even more important than that, he's praying for us because we are those the Father has given to him. And that's what makes anything important to us, isn't it? You know, I have things that are completely worthless, but they are incredibly precious to me because of who gave them to me. Why do you keep that? Not worth anything? Because of who gave it to me. If I may say personally, just for a moment in the service this morning, I was thinking about Dorothy, who's not able to be here and Here are two of my children and eight of my grandchildren. And I think I can say to her, these are the most precious things in my life because these are those you gave to me. And that's how Jesus thinks about us. It's. It's melting, isn't it? Because the most precious Heavenly Father has said to him, jesus, these are the ones I'm giving to you, Father, what do you want me to do with them? I want you to go and die for them. I want you to rise for them. I want you to be with them and minister to them. I want you to comfort them. I want you to say to me, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. I want you to say to them, I've come that they may have life in all its fullness, and I want you to keep them forever. You mean, Father, you'll give them to me for that? Yes, my son, if you will do this, they will be your reward. You will see if the travail of your soul be satisfied. You'll be able to say, here am I and the children you have given, given me. From the passage in Hebrews 2 at the beginning of the service, you can sense to the disciples that this isn't in any of the other Gospels. And at least in my own understanding, John's Gospel was written way after the other Gospels were written. And I'm not surprised because I do wonder if it took a long time for the penny to drop with John. Oh, that's who I really am. I am so precious. Not because of the worth or worthiness of my own life, but I'm so precious to Jesus because I was given to him by my Father, as he says. You know, there's another interesting thing that has struck me over the years, and that is, as you know, John is the disciple who describes himself as the disciple Jesus loved. And this may make you smile at my folly. But I suspect that for years I thought John was saying Jesus loved me specially. But he couldn't have been saying that, could he? I mean, that's the kind of thing they had been arguing about and they needed rebuked for. He's not saying Jesus loved me more than the other disciples. The interesting thing is he begins to speak that way after Jesus had knelt down and washed his dirty feet. And I think it began to dawn on him, not I am the special one. I think it just began to dawn on him how much he loved him so that he's not saying, look at me, I'm the disciple Jesus loved. He's saying, you know, when you see Jesus, when you know who Jesus is, this is what we all discover, because we are those who have been given to him by His Father. We are the disciples that Jesus loved. That's who I am. I can wake up in the morning and say, I, too am the disciple Jesus loved. So that's at least in part, what this passage teaches us about the way the Lord Jesus thinks about us. But then there's the second strand in these verses that I want to draw your attention to for a few minutes. And that is what Jesus wants for us. What Jesus wants for us. And again, there are two things I want to underline that Jesus wants for us. The first is this, and you'll notice it in verse 21. He says, I'm praying for them that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may be also in us, so the world may believe. And then in verse 23, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me. Isn't that interesting? What Jesus is praying for is our unity as believers. And I don't need to say to you he's not talking about a structural unity. You're not talking, as people foolishly have done, about we need all the denominations to get together no matter what they believe. He's speaking about the kind of unity that's created exclusively by the fact that each of us who believes in him is indwelt by His Spirit. And we begin to experience what he calls here something, as it were, like a miniature version of the mutual love that the Father and the Son have for each other that binds them together in unity. There's a very striking, and actually I found it quite a puzzling thing here in John chapter 17, where Jesus says, the glory you gave me, I have given them. Why would that be puzzling? Because God doesn't give his glory to others. He doesn't give his glory to Jesus and say, have others share it. So what is he talking about? I think if you linger in this passage, you'll notice that in this passage glory and love are almost the same reality. That the glory that the Father gives to the Son is the manner in which he expresses his love for the Son, and that the glory the Son gives to the Christian is like the glory that the Father has given to the Son. So what Jesus is talking about here is not the creation of an institutional unity but this Shekinah glory that comes to rest on relationships, where there is this undiluted affection and love for one another. And of course, by God's grace, that's. I know the church is not perfect. I mean the church in general, churches in general, I know we fail, we stumble. But is it not true that this is what becomes a reality in a living Christian church that makes it so different from the world? This isn't a club or a society that's bound together by the rules we keep, by the games we play, by the interests we have, bound together by the glory of God manifested in his love for the Lord Jesus, which is then poured out upon us. Which is why they were able to say, isn't it, about the early Christians? See how these Christians love one another. And this is what we experience. It's not something that we work up. This is something that is brought down, given in. And the fascinating thing that the Lord Jesus is praying about here is that this will be true so that the world will believe in Jesus. That's what the church is for. I don't mean just in its evangelistic activities, but in its very existence. As people encounter us either in the building or outside of the building, as they encounter the church, as they encounter groups of fellow believers who have been bathed in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, they see something that certainly in Glasgow they would have said, it's no natural because it's supernatural. We're bound together in this wonderful bundle of love. We lived in Dallas when the famous movie, the Mel Gibson movie, the Passion of the Christ came out and there was a pastor of a 20,000 member church was in the newspaper saying, this is the greatest evangelistic instrument God has ever given to the church since the days of the apostles. And I remember reading it in the paper and thinking, I thought you were the minister of a church. A church. And so in all kinds of ways, the challenge of this is, in what ways can we say to people, come and see, come and look, come and taste, come and feel. And you know, the wonderful thing is that sometimes there are people who stumble in among us who would say 20 minutes ago, they would say, I hate what these Christian people stand for. When they experience what these Christian people experience, what Hebrews calls the powers of the age to come, they begin to see life as it was really meant to be lived, supernaturally recreated. And this is what Jesus is praying for us. Because of course, if that is seen among us, it's a reflection of the love that the Father had and has for Us in the way he sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. And Jesus says it twice. So this is what Jesus wants for us. If I put it this way, this is what Jesus wants for us together in the here and now. But then Jesus moves on to share audibly with the disciples, and now in these written words with us what he wants for us in the there and then. It's in verse 24, Father, I desire, Father, I will, that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. That's Jesus deepest desire. And the interesting thing is we can be absolutely sure that Jesus will get this desire. And the reason we are sure that he will get this desire is because within a couple of hours of this prayer, he was praying a very different kind of prayer, wasn't he, Father, I don't desire to drink this cup. But since by drinking this cup I'll bring about the redemption of those for whom I have prayed. Not my desire, but your desire be done. But it's an amazing thing to think, isn't it? You can tell this is a moment of high affection. I've read that one of the most difficult things some of the saints find dying is releasing from their own proper grasp of responsibility into the hands of the Heavenly Father, those for whom they've had a care all their lives. And it is difficult for that super glue to melt and to say, lord, now they're all yours, Absolutely all yours. And you see what Jesus is praying here? He's saying, father, I'm giving them into your hands. But the great thing is that I know they're safe there and that you will keep them. And he's been praying that, hasn't he, Father? Keep them for that day when they will be with me where I am. To see my glory. To see my glory. Why do you think he wants that? I mean, no matter who we are, we're not much. My Dutch friends say, if you're not Dutch, you're not much. Hey, you're not much if you're Dutch. You know, we're not even grains of sand on the seashore by comparison with the grains. Greatness and majesty of God. Why would the Son of God want this? You know, I think there are a lot of answers. One of them is he wants you to see him in his glory because you, you've seen him in his humiliation. I don't just mean in the pages of the Gospels where he was Humiliated. But, you know, often, some, almost every week of our lives, the way his name is used, the way he's demeaned, the way Christians are demeaned, the way they've been persecuted. We've seen the world say to Jesus, down, down, down. He wants us to see him in his glory because we've seen him in his humiliation. He wants to share with us the sight of his glory to. Because we've seen him in the days of his humiliation. I tell you another reason he wants us to see him in his glory. I think it's because he wants us to see how much his Father loves him and how much he loves his Father and how much together they have loved us in order to bring about our salvation. And here, I think, is another reason he wants us to see him in his glory, because he wants these disciples. He wants us for whom he's praying here. He wants us to know at last, even if we have struggled with it in this life, he wants us to know it has all been worthwhile. It has all been worthwhile. But, you know, I think perhaps the chiefest reason he wants us to see him in his glory is just because he wants us. Just because he wants us. You know, you can go a long way in the Christian life without ever taking that in, can't you? Many of us feel he. I know he died for me. And he must have had a tremendous burden to save me. But it's almost another world to think he did that because he wants me. And the reason he wants me is because he wants me. And the reason he wants me because he wants me is because he loves me. And the reason he loves me is because he wants me. He just wants me. A thought crossed my mind when I was writing something during the week. I think I was thinking about some Christians, and this thought crossed my mind. And I thought I could believe that this thought might alarm some Christians. You know, the only thing about your sin that interests the Lord Jesus is getting rid of it. He's far more interested in you and in me than he is in our sin. The only interest Jesus takes in our sin is to answer the question, how can I get rid of it? And when it is out of the way, we can have each other without sin. Why does he want that? Because he loves us. And so as Jesus prayed, he gave the clearest demonstration of his whole ministry of how much he loves us. As the Apostle Paul says, almost as a commentary on the last few chapters of John's Gospel, which, of course, he hadn't read at the time God demonstrated His love for us. In that Christ died for us. Is it possible he loves us that much? Yes, indeed. We know it because he prayed that we would know it. Let's pray together.