Okay, what a saviour. Turn with me back in your Bibles
to John chapter 17. what many of the commentators
have declared to be the holy of holies in the scriptures,
and I think we have to be careful about dividing the scriptures
up, but certainly when we come to a passage like this, on a
night like this, we're standing on holy, holy ground. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we pray that the Blessed Holy Spirit would come and take these
things of the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal them to us in our
minds, in our hearts, that he would reveal them in such a way
that we would adore the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would simply
honour him by believing what he said. We thank you for these
extraordinary words. We acknowledge our helplessness,
Heavenly Father, and acknowledge our utter dependence, and we
are thankful that that's where you've left us in this world,
that we walk by faith and grant us the faith. to just simply
rejoice and believe in things that we cannot possibly grasp
in any deep and meaningful way, but they're true. And thank you,
our Father, for these being written. Thank you for the preservation
of them, and thank you for the proclamation of them. May the
Lord Jesus Christ Be the revealer and be revealed to us again today. We pray in his name and for his
glory. Let's read these words again.
I just love the certainty of all of this and the wonder of
the Lord's prayer. He's not praying for all the
world, he's praying for them. Verse 20, which also shall believe. on me through the word that they
all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou
has sent me. And this is our verse and it
begins with an and. So all of those things are promises
that are fulfilled, isn't it? And the glory which thou has
given me, I have given them that they may be one even as we are. What a remarkable passage of
scripture we have before us. Folks, it's just amazing, isn't
it? So the Lord Jesus Christ prays with great boldness and
great confidence. If the Lord Jesus Christ is praying
for you, you are saved. If the Lord Jesus Christ loves
you, you are saved. If the Lord Jesus Christ shed
his blood for you, you are saved. If the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed
to you by the blessed workings of the Holy Spirit and by him
taking in words the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you
are saved. He speaks as with sovereign power, with irresistible
power. He speaks with creative power. Oh dear, how often we are like
that person who questioned David, where's your God, David? Where
is your God, David? David's answer is wonderful,
isn't it? My God's in the heavens. and he has done whatsoever he
has pleased." What's happening? Exactly what he has pleased.
There is a them he prays for, a people numbered, a people named,
a people called his own, a people who will believe, they shall
believe on me. I believe on him because the
word that God the Father gave to the Son, the Son has given
to the Apostles and the Apostles have sent it out into this world.
And God's faithful preachers just say this is what God says,
thus saith the Lord. He has to give a new heart. He has to give a new creation. There has to be the removal of
a heart of stone. He has to give eyes to see. He
has to give ears to hear. He has to do it all. It's all
the work of absolute sovereign grace. And he's promised to do
it. And I want to be one of them.
They'll believe through the preached word. As I said earlier, this
is the last of the gifts that the Father has, it is declared
that the Father has given him in John chapter 17. So we can
go back and have a look at those. He says, the glory which you
have given me. So the first thing that the Lord
has given, he's given the office of being the mediator, the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer. He's been given the office of
being the representative of all of his people in that covenant
of grace before the world began. He is the surety of that eternal
covenant of grace and love. He's given him that, and he's
bestowed it on him. And he's given him, in verse,
2. He's given him power over all flesh. And I want us to notice
what happens when all of these gifts are given. He gives him
power over all flesh. That he should give eternal life. The Lord God the Father gave
gifts to the Son and then the Son necessarily gives those gifts
to his particular people. He gives eternal life. Eternal
life is not something that's earned, it's the gift of God. He gives eternal life to all,
and he who is the life gives eternal life. The elect were
given into him, all that the Father has given me. Again and
again, seven times in this one prayer, he says, all that the
Father has given me. They were given to him. There
was a particular group given out of that world, the apostles
were given to him particularly. But the elect are represented
in them, and the elect are prayed for as those that are given to
him. The words of eternal life were given to him. He's given
him the words. He's given him the words. And he's given into the hands
of his son and the blessed Holy Spirit the reception of them. They shall believe is what he's
praying through these words. The apostles were given to him,
as I said earlier, out of the world, and he gave them the same
gospel that the Father gave him. And here he mentions this other
gift, the last of these gifts. The glory, verse 22, and the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given them that they may be one. What an amazing gift. What is this glory that the Father
has given Him? It can't be the essential glory
of Him as God Almighty. He had that all, and He didn't
have to have that given to Him from His Father. He was one with
His Father. He's one with His Father in all
of the attributes of God. He's God's companion. He's His
fellow. The Lord Jesus Christ had essential
glory before this world ever came into being. The word, this glorious word
became flesh and dwelt among us and the Apostle said, We beheld
his glory, the glory of as the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. So here we have infinite deity
joined in infinitely holy flesh, so much like Adam's race. that
people saw him and thought that he couldn't be anything other
than just a man. And so much like God, that people
saw him and couldn't believe that he was truly a man. The glory that's being talked
about here is the glory of him being the mediator, the surety,
the sin offering. Listen to what the apostles said
in John 12, 16. The apostles didn't understand
what was said. But when Jesus was glorified,
The glory that's here spoken of is the glory of his resurrected
glory, the glory of him being the mediator and surety of his
people. When Jesus was glorified, they
remembered that these things were written of him. He goes on to say in verse 23
of John 12, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be
glorified. In John 12, 28 he says, Father,
glorify thy name. And there came a voice from heaven
saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The apostle speaks of Isaiah
seeing the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and he spoke of
him. What did he see? What glory did he see? The glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ filling that temple. Everything about
the temple is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about
the temple is about him. So it is the glory, isn't it?
The glory of him being the mediator, the glory of him being the surety,
the glory of him being the sin offering for his father, the
glory of him going to the cross, the glory of him in union with
his bride, the glory of communicating that glory to his beloved. That's what he's saying, isn't
it? I've given it, the Father has given it to me, that I might
give it to them, that they might behold it. It will not just be
something that sits out there, it's something that is communicated
to them. How glorious it must be to him
that on this night there when he and they would endure so much
that this is what he prays for. On that particular night he's
praying for it. And he's praying that they will
know it. And he's praying that they will embrace it. And he's
praying that this will be the comfort for his people. Glory
communicated, glory given to His own because of their union
with Him as the Father's gift to His Son. What a gift the Church
was from God the Father to God the Son. And the Son who was
sent came to display the glory of His Father. in his obedience
unto death, the death of the cross. He says, ask, and all
these will be given. All are given to Christ. He's
given them that. John, the apostle, it's good
for us to think about what the apostles were going through that
night and what they would go through until they left this
earth. John never forgot. never forgot those that night
and never forgot these words and he doesn't want any of us
to forget he said behold what manner of love the father has
bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God we
are called sons of God in union with him Therefore the world
knoweth not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now we are
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. One of the first things
I want us to see about this glorious verse before us is in the past
tense. The glory which thou hast given
me, I have given them. Where are all of our spiritual
blessings? In heaven. Kept in heaven, aren't they?
You think about what's missing, what could possibly be added
to or missing. Listen to how Paul speaks. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise, to the praise of the glory of His grace. The praise of the glory of His
grace. wherein he has made us accepted
in the Beloved." Accepted in the Beloved. It's a past tense,
isn't it? Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And with whom he justified them,
he also glorified. Why is it put in the past tense?
Because when God promises, it's done. All the works of God are
finished from the foundation of the world. So much in the
Scriptures speaks of the glory of God, and fortunately the Lord
causes us to go back to this same notion, this same remarkable
thing, isn't it? He speaks again that we will
behold his glory again later on in this verse. So what is
this glory? We've said it's the glory of
Him in union with His people. That's why He became flesh, and
everything that He did in the flesh He did as an us. And His
glory is the glory of His own, isn't it? Everything He did,
He did as an us. Our holiness before God is Him. Our righteousness before the
very law of God is Him. Everything. I love what the Lord
said to John the Baptist when he said, I'm not worthy, I'm
not worthy to undo your shoelaces, I'm not worthy to bow down and
be a servant at your feet. And then the Lord said, it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. You can say it becometh me to
fulfill all righteousness. The us is a glorious, glorious
us. This glory, is a glory that's
received, isn't it? Romans 15, seven. He says, therefore
receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory
of God. He received us to the glory of
God. The Spirit bears witness, Romans
8.16, bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we also
may be glorified together. It's a remarkable glory that's
been spoken of here, isn't it? And then he goes on to say, for
I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Where are we going? To glory. I want us to look at some of the
references to glory in John's Gospel, especially in this Upper
Room Discourse, so that we might see and get some sort of an understanding
from his very words himself of what this glory is that he's
given to us. In verse 31 of chapter 13, if
you turn back there, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, Judas has gone out to betray
him. Judas has gone out to the child who had Satan enter him. The
child of the devil goes to those other children of the devil down
there in Jerusalem. Jesus said, now is the son of
man glorified and God glorified in him. His glory is in the face
of betrayal and death at the hands of this religious world. Everything, everything rebounds
to the glory of our God. Even the most wicked acts of
those who are most opposed to him. This is what he goes on
to say in the next verse. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify
him. Shall straightway glorify him. God shall glorify him in himself. We will look at this again later
on, but the whole essence of what the Lord is speaking here
and communicating to his apostles is the glory of union, the glory
of oneness, the glory of this union between God the Father
and God the Son from all eternity, the glory of the union between
Christ the Man and God Almighty in Christ, revealed in Christ. But listen to what else he has. is the glory also that we have. I've said often that it's been
amazing for me how often we're commanded and encouraged to ask
in John's Gospel. In John 14 verse 13, And whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. the glory of answered prayer,
the glory of asking in his name, in line with all of who he is,
as revealed in the scriptures. In verse 15, he says, speaking
of asking again, he says, verse 15, verse 8, herein is my father
glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. It's the glory of his grace working
in the hearts of his people, isn't it? He gets all the glory. He gets all the glory for all
of what he does in the lives of his people. Chapter 16, if you turn over
there, verse 14. It speaks of the work of the
Holy Spirit. It's a glorifying work, isn't
it? Verse 14. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and show it unto you. It's the glory of revelation,
isn't it? That he reveals who he is to
his people. And what do they see? They see
him in his glory. The glory of Christ revealed
in his work. He begins this prayer with glory,
isn't it? This word spake Jesus, lifted up his eyes to heaven,
verse one of chapter 17, and said, father, the hour has come,
glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. And here
we have the glory of the glorified son, glorified by the father,
glorified in his obedience to the father, glorified in his
faithfulness, glorified in his salvation of his people, glorified
in him revealing to all of his own, the glorious attributes
of God in his life, but particularly in his death and resurrection.
So there's no glory where all the members of the Trinity aren't
glorified. We believe that all three of
them are worthy of great, great honor for the glory that they
have. He says in verse four, I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work. It's the glory of a finished
work that he's talking about here, isn't it? What do God's
people rejoice in? The glory of a finished work,
don't they? The glory of a work given to
him by his father before the world began. It's the glory of
the covenant of grace. It's the glory of the covenant
of love. The glory of the covenant in
his blood being fulfilled. He says in verse five, And now,
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
I had with thee before the world was. He has this extraordinary
glory that he's looking forward to going back to, but here he's
talking about the glory of him in union with us. God's children are going to suffer
in this world. Paul says at the end of his life,
when the sword that was going to take him to glory was about
to fall upon him, he said, therefore I endure all things for the elect's
sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ
Jesus with eternal glory. And that's what the scriptures
are about. Peter gives a description of all the scriptures. He says,
which testified, in 1 Peter 1.11, when it testified beforehand
of the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow,
as the glory of him bearing sins, the glory of him suffering, the
glory of him in his resurrection glory coming to his own and then
declaring to them those wonderful words, peace, peace be unto you. We believe, those who believe,
1st Peter has this most remarkable description of faith. He says
in verse 21 of 1 Peter, you who by him do believe in God, by
his work do you believe in God, that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God
who gave him glory. Our faith and hope might be in
him. So his hope of glory and our
hope of glory are one, aren't they? There is a particular group
of people to whom this glory is given. He's not giving this
glory to everyone. He says, and the glory which
thou hast given thou gavest me, I have given them. There is only a particular people
who will know this glory, who will rejoice in this glory. What's
sin? What's the definition of sin?
Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. This glory is a glorious glory
that he declares to his people. It's a glory of him being glorified
in them. It's the glory of his bride,
his body, his sheep, his branches, his chosen, his own, his own
by gift to the Father, his own by creation, his own by redemption,
eternally, continually, consummatedly, his own. He says, I'll never,
never leave you nor forsake you. It's glory He wants us to behold this glory,
the glory which will be seen in its fullness in the new heavens
and earth. What's the focus of heaven? What's
the focus of the new creation? What are they singing? They're
singing about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every look
and every Every breath, every moment of the new creation is
going to be about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll
see each other and we will be like him. And we will be individuals
as Elijah and Moses were individuals on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And every look will be a look about the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll keep saying, isn't he amazing? Isn't he glorious forever and
ever and ever. It's the glory that he worked
in the hearts of his people. He spoke of Peter. He said of
the death that he should glorify God. He kept him faithful to
the end. And there's a purpose, isn't
there, in all of this? It's the glory of union, that
they may be one, even as we are one. He keeps reminding us again and
again, this is repeated so often in this prayer. He wants for
the comfort of those people that night, He wants for all of them
that look to Him and Him crucified to know from this prayer that
this union is so vital to us. The Father and the Son are in
union. The Son and Christ are in union. One Mediator, one Redeemer,
one Saviour, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. And we're one in
Him and one with Him. This union and his bride is uppermost in
his thoughts as he goes to the cross and he knows what's going
to lie before them. This union of Christ and his
bride is uppermost in his prayer to his father. He wants his bride to hear these
words and to simply believe the unsearchable riches of an eternal
union between the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his people.
That's what he wants them to be comforted with on that night
of all nights. This union, it's uppermost in
his prayer to his father and he grows, as he goes to the cross
and he goes to the garden and his precious blood is shed and
his heart is broken. These are the thoughts that he
leaves us apostles with, isn't it? How important is this union? There's no understanding. This
creation is no understanding the cross without understanding
this union. He was sent by his father. He
was sent in union with those who he was so united with that
they and he are one in remarkable ways. He loves them. He loves them
and he loves them passionately. This union is spoken so little
of these days. This union cannot be held in
line with what the world says about universal love and universal
redemption and a God who is universally trying to get things done. We
stand here and we've come back to where things began so many,
many years ago and we've come back to the same story again. What were we preaching all those
years ago? Exactly the same thing. We haven't changed a single word,
a single thing that we believe, because we simply believe Him. This is that oneness. I want
us to think again of how much it means to Him in this particular,
for Him to convey this to these people on that particular night.
Think about what was going to happen to those apostles that
night. In no time at all they were going to be asleep in the
garden while He's shedding great drops of blood. In no time at
all is he going to declare that the spirit is willing, that the
flesh is weak, and they're going to see the weakness of that flesh
that night. They've already suffered the
loss of a personal friend. And they will. They're going
to suffer the personal loss for a time of their saviour. You'll
be gone from them. They're going to be in personal
fear for their own lives. They're in doubts about all of
what they've lost, all of their hopes. have been dashed in some
sense. Their personal doubts about all
their religion, their personal doubts they would have had about
who is Christ, how come these things are happening to he who
rules the waves and rules the demons and rules all things and
now is in the hands of men. And the world, the religious
world declared that they were deceived, that they were following
someone who was just masquerading, Satan masquerading in human flesh. They had, as we do in moments
of doubt and in moments of darkness, so many whys, there's so many
what ifs, there's so many what have I done, as they meet their
own personal failures. These apostles were going to
see the depths of sin and despair before they come to rejoice and
hear these wonderful words of peace unto you. The only reason he would declare
peace unto you is for three days they'd had nothing like peace
in their hearts and their souls. He, our great God and Saviour,
wants in the midst of all of those wounds and all of that
pain for them to know the glory of this oneness. the glory of
this union with him. And he wants them to be reminded,
and he wants us to be reminded again and again and again, as
he prayed, that the union that he has is only ever understood
in light of the union between him and his father. Listen to
how he finishes this verse. That they all may be one. that they all may be one, even
as we are one. And then he goes on to define
it in the next verse, which Lord willing we'll look at next week.
I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one
and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved
me as thou has loved them as thou has loved me. As people are dying, the things
that matter most are the things that matter most. And I don't like to talk personally
about things, but one of my last visits to June, the thing that
she said to me was that the Lord, she'd heard about this union,
this glorious union between the Lord Jesus Christ and his bride
from before the foundation of the world. And she'd heard it,
and she'd believed it, and she'd rejoiced in it. And she said
to me, not long before she died, she said, it's become so real
to me now, as if I can feel myself wrapped in his arms, that's how
close he is. Such is what he goes to the cross
for, to take all of their sins away. There is absolutely nothing
impeding the closest union possible between the Lord Jesus Christ
and his bride, because he's made her holy, he's made her blameless. He's made her unapprovable in
His sight. And it doesn't matter what the
world sees, and it doesn't matter what the world does. His sight's
the only sight that matters. These are precious truths and
I pray the Lord might bless us in some measure as he blessed
our dear sister June who rejoiced being out here. She just loved
coming out here and having fellowship underneath the trees. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, you alone can send the blessed Holy Spirit
to take these words and make them living spirit and life for
us. And we pray that that might be
our portion. In such a way, our Father, that you and your dear
and precious Son and the blessed Holy Spirit receive all the glory,
all the glory for all that you do. We thank you again. Bless
your word to our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.