Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: By nature, we are not inclined to know or obey God and His word. So how do we change from being rebellious people to becoming believers? Does it happen by studying our Bible more or holding to a stricter moral code? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg takes us to John’s Gospel for the answer. We’re looking at chapter 17 and verse 26.

Alistair Begg: Jesus is praying to the Father. "O holy Father," He says. "O righteous Father." Perhaps as it comes to the end of the prayer, with a sigh or with a groan, He says, "O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you. But I know you. And these that you have given me know that you sent me. I have given them your name."

Now, you get an inkling now of what Jesus is saying. He’s not giving a title to God; He is making it clear who and what God is. Now, the Bible makes it clear, and the Psalmist helps us with this. It tells us that the whole of creation declares the mighty power of God's name. Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language where His voice is not heard."

His voice has gone out to the very ends of the earth. It has been displayed today already in Korea, North and South, in Vietnam, in Cambodia, all across the landscape of Western Europe, across the shadows of the morning sun on the West Coast of America, and so on. The voice of God penetrates any barriers. Unspoken truth is declared daily in the universe that God Himself has made.

Not only in creation, but also in scripture, the name of God is made clear. Quoting as I have done helps us with that. Calvin says, "Neither the sun nor the moon, albeit they give clarity to the world, they help us to see in the night and in the day; neither the sun nor the moon reveal the majesty of God as much as the law, the prophets, and the gospels."

Now, you'll remember that when we studied—at least I say you'll remember, perhaps you will remember—when we studied in Romans chapter one, we realized that God has made enough of Himself available so that all of us are accountable before Him, because the secret things about Him that He has chosen to reveal are ostensible. They are actually manageable. They are visible.

And when we studied it then, and when you think about it now, you find yourself saying, at least I do, "Well, why is it then that people do not actually acknowledge God as He is?" And of course, the Bible answers that question for us. When Paul is writing to the Corinthians and explaining the wonder of salvation, he says, "You should know, however, that the natural man, that is, man as he is by his nature as a fallen creature, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, because they are folly to him. He is not able to understand because these truths are spiritually discerned."

In other words, as we often say to one another, it is only God who opens blind eyes. It is only God who softens hard hearts. Otherwise, people can sit and listen to this kind of material, and they might as well just go "la la la la la la" because it may be going in their ears just that way, because it is just an absolute stupidity to them.

Now, yesterday, as I read the Daily Telegraph, I came across a very interesting interview with Robert Harris. He's a British novelist. He's English. He's clever. And he is the one who wrote the book *Conclave*, which in turn gave rise to the movie. Anyhow, in interviewing him, Harris acknowledged a number of things. I'm bringing this to you purposefully. I hope it’s helpful to you as just a sort of contemporary illustration of what we’re talking about. That by and large, the Christian says the name of the Lord is mighty to save. The non-Christian says, "I don't believe so, and frankly, I don't know what the fuss is about."

But he said in researching *Conclave*, he said, "I must have read the gospels before in parts, but never in sequence." Then he says this: "The revolutionary nature of the gospels startled me more than Marx, more than Lenin. I am not a person of faith." Then he says, "I wish that I were. It must be a marvelous thing to go through life believing that there is something else. There is a profound human desire for the irrational or for the superstitious in all of us," he says. "And in a funny sort of way, we are more prone to this now because of what is going on around us, the things that are not explicable at any other time."

Now, you see what’s happening here? The stirring in the mind of this intelligent man is enough to trigger in him a sense, "I should probably pay a little more attention to these gospels if they meant that much to me." And then somehow in his heart, he says, "But why would I get involved in that? Superstitious things. Irrational things. After all, I graduated from Cambridge. I'm a child of the Enlightenment with so many others."

Why does he respond in that way? Well, it takes us back to a month ago. Again, Jeremiah: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, or the strong man boast in his strength, or the rich man boast in his riches. But let the one that boasts boast in this, that he knows me, the living God." You see, this is the great divide, isn't it?

And some listening to my voice now, either immediately or subsequently, you may find yourself somewhere along the passage of time with the fellow whose name I've just mentioned. And here is the great understanding that we’re given from the scriptures about this amazing reality. And this is from Bruce Milne in his book *Know the Truth*, which we studied as elders years ago. Why is it as it is?

Here we go. "There is no road from man’s intellectual and moral perception to a genuine knowledge of God. There is no road intellectually or morally to a genuine knowledge of God. The only way to knowledge of God is for God to place Himself within the range of our perception and renew our fallen understanding. Hence, if we are to know God and have any adequate basis for our Christian understanding and experience, revelation is indispensable."

God's name is declared in God's world. God's name is declared in God's word. And God's name is declared uniquely, supremely, and savingly in the Lord Jesus, who is the living Word. And that brings us to our text for this morning. No joke.

What does Jesus say? Number one, "I made known to them your name." Now, if you go to the paraphrases like *The Message* or *The Living Bible* or J.B. Phillips, you will discover that when you come to a phrase like that, "I made known to them your name," each of the paraphrasers are trying to help the reader understand what I've just been trying to help myself and you along with me to understand when we talk about the name of God.

Now, notice that Jesus doesn't say, "I showed them miracles," which He did. He doesn't say, "I taught them," which He did. He doesn't say, "I explained things to them in parables," which He did. No, "I made known to them your name." And what had happened was that those to whom He had made known the name of the Father had a life-changing encounter with the living God.

And incidentally, that’s what’s supposed to happen when we study the Bible. We don't study the Bible here so that we must have just an increase in knowledge or understanding of what it says. That’s important. But in order that we might actually hear the voice of God, understand something of the name of God, and have a direct encounter with God. I mean, that’s miraculous. Yeah, exactly. It’s miraculous.

Think about these disciples. Think about them. You know their names. We've studied them in the gospels. In many ways, they're just sort of ordinary folks: fishermen, tax collector, a couple of them brothers, and so on. And Jesus is praying for them. When we think about them, it’s clear that those for whom He prays are not a sampling, if you like, of vaguely religious types. As if a bunch of them were caught up, like in the '60s in the hippie movement, and they all decided to put flowers in their hair, the equivalent of, and get caught up in the excitement and the drama of what was happening with this Galilean carpenter. That’s not who they are.

Nor are they a group of fastidious religionists who have committed themselves to structure and to form and to investigation. They're neither of those things. In fact, if we want to know who they are, look at verse six of our chapter, and seven and eight, because there Jesus describes who these are, and includes those subsequently who become the followers of Jesus then in His prayer, as we've gone on to see.

Verse six: "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world." Exact same thing that He’s saying again in verse 26. John uses synonyms routinely. "Manifested" there, "declared" here. It’s just a different word. It’s the same expression. "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me."

They are, as we've seen throughout the prayer, in the world but they're not of the world. In other words, they're living in the same cosmos but they don't share the values. They're living in a world, they're making their journey through life in a world that doesn't know God. That’s actually true for us this morning. In the 21st century, it’s as true as it was for them. They do not know God. This world does not understand God. We see that in verse 25: "O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you." These disciples are actually hated, as we saw in verse 14. "The world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

Jesus had made the Father known. And here is the sticking point for us in the culture in which we live—in fact, throughout all of history: the uniqueness of the claims of Jesus Christ. Anybody who is going to take seriously the investigation of the gospels, of the New Testament as a whole, must immediately wrestle with the categorical statements of Jesus in making the Father’s name known.

We can't go through them all, but you know that John begins his gospel immediately by such a statement in the 18th verse of John 1: "No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known." That’s what Jesus says to His disciples when He’s getting ready to leave them at the beginning of the sections that we've been studying for some time, John 14.

"Don't get unduly worried by this," He says. "I'm going to prepare a place for you." And then Philip, like the helpful child in a school who doesn't understand what is being said and is brave enough to actually say, "I'm not understanding this," and then everybody else who doesn't understand it breathes a sigh of relief and acts smug as if they knew the answer to the question—or is that just me? Anyway, remember what He says to him. "Philip, have I been so long with you and you don't even get this? He who has seen me has seen the Father."

Wow. Same thing in Matthew 11:27. "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." Oh, says somebody, "But maybe I'm not one of those that He’s chosen to reveal it to." Now you can go read this on your own and check and see if this is right, but immediately after verse 27 of Matthew 11 comes verse 28, which ought not to be a surprise.

Only those to whom the Father has revealed Him. What does He then say? "Come to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The uniqueness of Christ's work in the revelation of the Father, along with the immensity of the appeal of the Son in order that men and women in lostness, in brokenness, in discouragement, in fearfulness, may find actually rest for their souls.

You see, to become a disciple of Jesus, those for whom Jesus prays, is not simply to believe that what Jesus says is true, but it is to trust Him as a person. To believe that who He says He is, He is. And if you remember, John tells us before the end of His gospel that the reason that He has given to us the gospel is in order that we might consider these things and that we might come to believe, and by believing we might have life in His name.

In His name. What does that mean, in His name? In who He is. The God of salvation. Not a title, a reality. When John gets to writing his letter at the end, he says, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life." Because he says, "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we might know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and He is eternal life." It’s in that same chapter that John says, "We know that we are from God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one." We're from God and the whole world's in the power of the evil one.

Wow, that's a sermon on its own. If we're going to tell our friends who come to the garden and the glory the real story, we have to be prepared to tell them the real story. The world that God made is alienated from God. The world that God made is under the judgment of God because we live in revolt against God. God is a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of grace, a God of justice, and a God who pursues us. And He pursues us in order that we might be overwhelmed by His love.

Surely that is what happened to John Newton, of *Amazing Grace*, right? Eventually, when he became a minister, he traces it back, he says, to the prayers of his mother. That in the raging seas of his blaspheming life as a slave trader, in the depths of the ocean, he recognizes, "If I go down in this ship, I am gone forever."

It's then that the recollection of his mother's prayers comes to him. And he, who had spent essentially the greater part of his life to that point running away from God, came to be possessed by God. The one from whom he'd been hiding became his friend. And he wrote the hymn, "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds." He only used it as a cuss. "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It heals his sorrows, deals with his wounds, drives away his fear." I have made known your name, Father, to them.

Bob Lepine: Do you know God? Do you believe? Is His name a treasure to you? You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth For Life. Alistair will return in just a moment to close today's program. You know, here at Truth For Life, we often receive encouraging letters or emails or phone calls from listeners, and I'd like to share a message we got recently from Tammy in Oregon, who recently became a Truth Partner.

She and her family have benefited from Alistair's teaching over the years, but they just recently considered how Truth For Life's ministry extends beyond this daily program. She wrote, "Despite all the sermons we've heard over the years, we've never realized all that Truth For Life really does. Last summer, I wasn't able to get it out of my mind. I prayed about it often and researched your site many times. Happily, God made it possible for me to send money to you each month. It was fun to join the Truth Partner team, and I already have a small stack of books to read. Thank you."

When you become a Truth Partner like Tammy, you'll receive a welcome kit that includes a hardcover devotional written by Alistair. You'll also gain access to a special message from Alistair each month, and you'll be able to request the books we recommend each month with no additional donation. More importantly, by becoming a Truth Partner, you're joining with a team that makes it possible to honor the great commission and take God's word to others all around the world for free.

If you'd like to sign up, call 888-588-7884 or visit truthforlife.org/truthpartner and be sure to request the book we're currently featuring. It's Charles Spurgeon's 30-day devotional titled *Your Only Comfort: Devotions for Hope in Suffering*. The book is our way of saying thanks for your support. And now, here is Alistair to close with prayer.

Alistair Begg: God our Father, thank you that the word of God is a lamp. It shines out, shows up all kinds of things, and some of them comfortable, many of them uncomfortable. It is to your word we want to listen. It is to the call of Jesus that we want to bend our ears, to help us understand the extent of the wonder of your love. Hear us, Lord, as you know our hearts right now as we come to you. That we might in childlike trust lay hold upon your promise that if we will come to you, we will find rest for our souls. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Bob Lepine: I'm Bob Lepine. Jesus concluded His high priestly prayer by asking that the Father's love would extend to His followers. Tomorrow, we'll find out how that happens and what it means for those who receive it. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.