LOVE AND COMMITMENT
Excerpt from Sermon 63

In JOH 4:34 we read, "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will
of him that sent me, and to finish his work."

Jesus' whole ministry was to finish the work that the Father had given
Him to do. To do the will of the Father was the meat, the purpose, and
the intent of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words in
the
way of perfect obedience He would thereby fulfill the law with
perfection.

Job saw his Saviour's commitment in a prophetic way when he said,
"Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have
esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food," Job
23:12.
The Lord Jesus Christ says this is My meat: to do the will of the
Father. What does Job say? He says, "...I have esteemed the words of
his
mouth more than my necessary food." The Father was glorified by the Son
when Jesus fulfilled all the work that the Father had given Him to do.
He laid down His life as an act of obedience.

We see in JOH 10:17-18, "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
Lord Jesus Christ came to do His Father's will in the way of such
perfection of obedience. He lay down His life as an act of obedience.
It
is by this act of obedience that many shall be made righteous, "For as
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of
one shall many be made righteous," ROM 5:19. We have obtained that
perfect robe of Christ's righteousness by His obedience..."unto death,
even the death of the cross," PHI 2:8.

This explains what Jesus was saying, "Think not that I am come to
destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled," MAT 5:17-18.

When Jesus was about to finish the work, He prayed in JOH 17:4-5, "I
have glorified thee on the earth: 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." Now the
Lord
Jesus Christ comes to lay down His life; He is prepared to go upon the
cross. How did He glorify the Father? He glorified the Father by
finishing the work God gave Him, i.e., laying down His life for His
church as an act of obedience.

It was by this perfection of obedience that the Father was so glorified
and that the Father's perfect intent of the law was fulfilled; God's
purpose for His creation was fulfilled. He had such glory with the
Father under that covenant of grace. Christ covenanted that He would
come and fulfill the intent of the law. It was in how Jesus finished
His
work that the Father was so glorified and Jesus returned to glory.

Look at PHI 2:7-8, "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." There is where the Father was so
glorified in how the Son humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death,
even the death of the cross. He gave up all He had. He gave up His
Kingly throne. He came down to be mocked, scorned, crucified, and He
came to be obedient onto such a death. Jesus says He came to do the
will
of the Father. The will of the Father was that He should step into
death; to glorify His Father by such obedience, thereby completing the
work that the Father had given Him to do.

Jesus was completely resigned to the will of the Father. We see that in
MAT 26:39, "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." When He was sweating
drops of blood, when He was under that pressure in that wine press, and
the blood of His body was being pressed out through the pores of His
skin by the wrath of the Father that was coming upon Him, He says
"nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." He says, "if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me," but He was so resigned to the
will
of the Father. The Father was so glorified by such submission and
perfect obedience.

Jesus said to Peter, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my
Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But
how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" MAT
26:53-54. He was so totally in submission to the will of the Father.
Because the Father was so glorified in the Son by such obedience, the
Father now glorifies the Son; see the connecting word. "Wherefore..."
now the Son is glorified by the Father. "Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at
the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," PHI 2:9-11.
Amen.

When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748
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