João 10:17,18

DISCOURSE: 1664
VOLUNTARINESS OF CHRIST’S UNDERTAKING

João 10:17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

THE subject here insisted on, whilst, at first sight, it appears merely speculative, is really of great importance: for, if the Lord Jesus Christ did not act voluntarily in every part of his mediatorial work, there could be no justice in laying our sins upon him, nor any efficacy in the atonement which he offered for them. It was this willingness of his to endure all which was necessary for our redemption, that put an essential difference between him and all other shepherds. Other shepherds, in countries where their flocks are open to the assaults of wild beasts, have exposed, and even sacrificed, their lives for their flocks: but no one ever undertook the office of a shepherd on purpose that he might die for his sheep. This, however, our blessed Saviour did. He foresaw, from all eternity, that, if he would redeem our souls, he must die in our stead: and of his own mind and will, without any necessity or constraint, except what arose from his own love to us and to his heavenly Father, he undertook our cause, and executed all that was necessary for the accomplishment of that stupendous task. The earnestness with which this fact is asserted in my text, together with the acceptableness of it to his heavenly Father, in whose estimation it so greatly raised him, shew, that the whole subject deserves our most attentive consideration. In fact, we cannot have just conceptions of our Saviour’s mediatorial work, unless we distinctly mark,

I. Its voluntariness on his part—

It is said, indeed, in my text, “This commandment have I received of my Father.” Now, it must be remembered, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as man, and as Mediator, was the Father’s servant: as says the prophet; “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth [Note: Isaías 42:1.].” And hence he is spoken of continually as “sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world [Note: 1 João 4:9.].” But, as God, he was equal with the Father, and voluntarily concurred with the Father in executing the plan that was agreed upon between them. This appears,

1. At his first undertaking of the work—

[“The counsel of peace was between the Father and the Son [Note: Zacarias 6:13.];” the Son agreeing to “make his soul an offering for sin,” and the Father engaging to give him “a seed who should prolong their days” in happiness for ever and ever [Note: Isaías 53:10.]. This mysterious transaction is declared by the Psalmist in the plainest terms; and his words are cited by St. Paul in confirmation of it: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: mine ears hast thou opened (boring them, as it were, to the door-post, after the manner of a servant, who voluntarily refused his liberty, and consecrated himself for ever to the service of his master [Note: Êxodo 21:5.]). Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart [Note: Salmos 40:6. with Hebreus 10:4.].” And this accords with what our blessed Lord also says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth [Note: João 17:19.].”]

2. In all the progressive steps of its advancement—

[Our blessed Lord foresaw all that should come upon him in the performance of his work. “He knew from the beginning, who should betray him [Note: João 6:64.].” In the prospect of his sufferings, he was quite “straitened till they should be accomplished [Note: Lucas 12:50.].” He distinctly and repeatedly foretold all that he was appointed to endure; and, when the time was come for his enduring them, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,” for the express purpose that he might endure them [Note: Lucas 9:51.]: and, on Peter’s endeavouring to dissuade him from submitting to them, he rebuked him with a severity never manifested on any other occasion, and declared him to be on that occasion an agent and confederate of the devil [Note: Mateus 16:23.]. On the night previous to his crucifixion, he instituted his last Supper; delivering to every one of his Disciples the bread and the wine, as representing his body broken, and his blood shed, for the remission of their sins [Note: 1 Coríntios 11:23.].” When Judas, with an armed band, came to apprehend him, he, by a word, beat them all backward to the ground, to shew that, in his subsequent surrender of himself to them, he acted voluntarily, and not from necessity [Note: João 18:6.]. Thus in these, as in a variety of other incidents, he shewed, that neither by fraud nor violence could any man prevail against him; but that, in every part of his work, he freely consented to sustain all that should come upon him.]

3. At the closing scene of his life—

[“He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and went altogether like a lamb to the slaughter.” If it had pleased him, “he could have called to his aid more than twelve legions of angels;” any individual of whom would have been able to defeat his adversaries, even if they had been a thousand times more numerous than they were [Note: Mateus 26:53.]. “But how, then, should the Scriptures be fulfilled?” He had undertaken to save us; and therefore he would not, though he could easily have done it, save himself. And at the very moment that he surrendered up his life, “he cried with a loud voice,” in order to shew that his nature was not exhausted, but that of himself “he had power to lay down his life,” and did lay it down voluntarily, and not by constraint. And this very thing so struck the Centurion who superintended the execution, as to convince him that Jesus “was indeed the Son of God [Note: Lucas 23:46. with Marcos 15:39.].”

That Jesus raised up himself is also true. He had, in the very beginning of his ministry, declared, that “when the Jews should have destroyed the temple of his body, he would raise it up again in three days [Note: João 2:19.]: and accordingly he did rise, as he had said. At the appointed time, also, he ascended up to heaven, and sent down his Holy Spirit to carry on the work on earth, whilst he himself should be carrying it on in heaven. Thus he has proved, that, in every part of his work, he has acted voluntarily, “having loved us, and given himself for us [Note: Gálatas 2:20.].”]

Let us now proceed to notice,

II.

Its acceptableness on the Father’s part—

In my text, it is said, “Therefore the Father loveth me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.” Here again we must observe, that Christ speaks of himself, not personally, as the second Person of the ever-blessed Trinity, but officially, as man and as Mediator. Personally he needed nothing, nor could do any thing, to augment the Father’s love: for “He and the Father are one,” in glory equal, and in majesty co-eternal. But in his office he greatly commended himself to the Father’s love:

1. In undertaking it so willingly—

[The first intimation of the Father’s wish for the redemption of the world was, as we have seen, assented to by the Son, without the slightest hesitation, notwithstanding the means, by which it was to be accomplished, were so difficult and self-denying. To divest himself of all his glory, to assume the nature that had sinned, to bear in his own person the wrath due to our sins, and to “become a curse for us, in order to redeem us from the curse of God’s broken law [Note: Gálatas 3:13.],” all this he willingly undertook; because he saw, that, whilst by this mysterious act of condescension he should save our ruined race, he should glorify his God and Father, in a way, and to an extent, in which he never otherwise could be glorified. God had shewn forth his wisdom and power and goodness in the works of creation: and he had manifested his justice and holiness in the condemnation of the fallen angels: but never had he exhibited any trace of mercy, any more than if it had not been an attribute of his nature, or a perfection which it was possible for a holy and just Being to display. But, by undertaking to die in our place and stead, he has satisfied the demands of justice; and, by working out a righteousness for us, he has rendered our acceptance with God compatible with the rights of holiness; and has thus opened a way for the exercise of mercy, not only in perfect consistency with all the other attributes of the Deity, but to the more glorious display of all; thus glorifying justice in a way of mercy, and mercy in a way of justice; or, as the Psalmist expresses it, causing “mercy and truth to meet together, and righteousness and peace to kiss each other [Note: Salmos 85:10.].” This could not but be pleasing to the Father; and, consequently, well might “the Father love him on account of it.”]

2. In executing it so completely—

[Never did the Lord Jesus Christ draw back, till he could say “It is finished.” By what he did and suffered for us, all the eternal counsels of the Father were fulfilled, and every thing was effected that could conduce either to the honour of God or the good of man. There was nothing left for either God or man to desire. His atonement fully satisfied Divine justice: his righteousness is fully adequate to our necessities: and now that he has again resumed his life, and has all power committed to him in heaven and in earth, he will complete the work he has begun; and God shall, to all eternity, be glorified in him. In the very prospect of this, when Noah offered up a sacrifice that only shadowed it forth, “God smelled a savour of rest [Note: Gênesis 8:21.]:” and much more, when the Lord Jesus Christ offered up himself the true Sacrifice, was the Father well pleased with it! so true is that declaration of St. Paul, that “Christ loved us, and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour [Note: Efésios 5:2.].”]

We see, then, from hence,
1.

How to commend ourselves to the Father’s love—

[If “the Father loved his own Son because of his voluntary services,” he will love us also on the same account. Some would be ready to cry out against this, as a legal sentiment: but I affirm that it is truly evangelical. Hear our blessed Lord’s assertions to this effect: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him..…If a man will love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him [Note: João 14:21; João 14:23.].” True, God has given us commandments: but it is not as servants, but as sons, that we are to obey them; delighting to do his will, even as our Saviour himself did. We are “to esteem all his commandments concerning all things to be right; and to abhor every false way [Note: Salmos 119:128.].” It is this readiness, this delight in God’s commandments, that constitutes the very summit of evangelical obedience: and in proportion as we abound in it, we hesitate not to say, that God will love us, both in this world and in the world to come. According as with self-denying zeal and diligence we improve our talents for him, he will exalt and magnify us to all eternity [Note: Mateus 25:20.]

2. What love we owe to the Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ—

[Did the Father, who could receive no benefit from his Son’s work, love him because he laid down his life for us? What, then, should we do, whose happiness, both in time and in eternity, results from that alone? — — — St. Paul says, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha [Note: 1 Coríntios 16:22.].” And who, amongst us, will hesitate to add his Amen to that? Who does not feel the justice of it? Who does not wonder that it has not long since been executed on himself, for his base ingratitude to the Saviour? And who, if hell were at this moment to open and swallow him up quick, must not justify God, and say, “Righteous art thou, O Lord; and true and just are thy judgments [Note: Apocalipse 19:2.]?” Sure I am, that however we may attempt to palliate our ingratitude to him now, the time is coming, when “our mouths will be shut [Note: Mateus 22:12.],” and we shall be constrained to acknowledge that “we have received the just reward of our deeds [Note: Lucas 23:41.].” But, brethren, “I hope better things of you, and things that accompany salvation [Note: Hebreus 6:9.]:” and most gladly close my subject with that benevolent petition of the Apostle, “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity! Amen and Amen [Note: Efésios 6:24.].”