One thing that we need to keep
being reminded of as we look at John 17, it's the high priestly
prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also it's the prayer to the
elect children of God. Judas is gone. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ. speaking these words and having
them recorded for all of the saints of God. I'm just so thankful. He could have prayed this privately.
He prayed all night long on several occasions. He could have prayed
this privately. He could have prayed it publicly
and it not be recorded. So these words are written so
that we might find in the scriptures comfort and peace. What a saviour,
what a glorious saviour. Turn with me back to John chapter
17 and verse 4. I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. We just sang about that, didn't
we? It is finished. This is a different word. It
means accomplished, but it has the same essence in meaning. That was the one Greek word that
I taught my students in India. I wanted them to know this word,
and I wanted them to know that it's just one word in the Greek,
tetelestai. There's a really good article
in Our Bulletin about it this week. I commend it to you, so
go and read and rejoice. It, I have finished the work. One of the things that I've become
particularly struck with regarding John chapter 17 and this amazing
prayer of our Saviour for His people, and He prays for Himself
and He prays for the Apostles through whom we have the Word
of God, and then He prays for us today, both us who hear and
us who preach. Don't you love that he's praying
for you? Right now, right now he's praying. What I've come
to love and appreciate so much about this prayer is that in
all of the huge matters of life and the huge matters of the glory
of God and the work of Christ, And what it is for us to be children
of God are given with such clarity here, aren't they? He describes
in the previous verse what eternal life is and then he describes,
he tells us what it is. This is eternal life. He says
this is the eternal life. that they might know thee, the
only true God. And then he gives all these wonderful
descriptions of his father. He's the only true God. He's the sending God. He calls
him Holy Father. He calls him Righteous Father. The only true, and Jesus Christ
whom thou. has sent and he speaks of his
son, he's thy son, he's the sent one, he's the one with power
over all flesh, he's the glorifying savior, he's the giving lord,
he's the keeping lord, he's the praying mediator and priest,
he's the sanctified and sanctifying lord, he's the loving lord. And the elect are described,
aren't they? Those who are, those who are
gifted with eternal life by the work of the triune God. They belong to God the Father
and they belong to God the Son. They are those who are prayed
for and taught and sanctified in him. They are loved. And there
is a purpose in it all, that they may all be one. The world has an ecumenical movement
and most of the religious world thinks wouldn't it be wonderful
if we could all be joined together. and there would be no divisions.
That's not what he's talking about at all. In fact, if you
really truly believe the words of John 17, John 17 will cause
you to separate from the religious world and not be one with him. But you'll be one with the children
of God because you're one with him, who he declares himself
to be. I have finished the work. What an amazing work this is.
Only God Almighty can give this work to be accomplished and only
God in Christ can bring it to pass. And that's what he's doing
right now. Right now, in this world, these
things, the true gospel is preached. As I said earlier, it's preached
to God and then it's preached to men. I've glorified Thee on the earth. So the glory of God is at the
very heart of all that the Son is doing. He says, I have glorified
Thee. He's the only one that ever has
glorified God the Father. And all of us have glorified
Him in Him. He's the one who glorified God's
character in revealing it and paying homage to it. I will be done, he'll cry in
the garden. I will be done. He bowed to the
sovereignty of God. He bowed to the justice of God. He honoured every single attribute
of his his dying and in his death. My prayer for me and for us is
that like our Saviour, the glory of the Father would be uppermost
in our thoughts and our minds and govern our actions. I know
what it is to live in this sinful flesh, and I know what it is
to delight in my own glory. I know what it is to have my
glory taken from me by all the circumstances and all the activities
of other people who have the same attitude that they want
to glorify themselves. But what a delightful prayer
for us to be praying, isn't it? That we might join Him in this
prayer and say, Lord, use me, use me, for your glory, your glory. The other thing you might have
noticed is that the Lord says, I have finished the work. He says, I have finished the
work. And he hasn't even been to the
cross yet. So how can he say he's finished the work when he
hasn't been to the cross? Exactly as he says all the way
through the scriptures, God's will and God's purpose and God's
accomplishments are all of one. Hebrews 4.3 says the works are
finished from the foundation of the world. Their works are
finished. If you read Isaiah chapter 53,
it talks of the glorious work. It's all written in the past
tense. Romans 8, which people love to quote, but Romans 8 is
written in the past tense. It's a completed activity, isn't
it? He's not saying that this might happen. As far as God is
concerned, it's a done deal. And as I said last week, it's
a done deal and I can't mess it up. I wanted to just look briefly
at all of the activities of the Lord here, and I will just do
them very briefly and in summary, and then as the Lord allows,
we'll go and look at them more closely as time goes on. But
if you just have your Bibles open in John chapter 17, just
look at some of the work that he described. He says in verse
1, the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son may also
glorify thee. That's the start, the heart and
the beginning of this prayer and the foundation of it. In
verse 2, he says he should give eternal life. This is his work,
isn't it? To as many as thou hast given
him. In verse 4, the one we're looking at, I have glorified
thee in the work. I have finished the work that
thou gavest me to do. In verse 6, he says, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. He's
the revealer. This is His work, isn't it? To
reveal the name, the character of God Almighty, the being behind
the very name. The Jehovah's Witnesses make
much of Jehovah, don't they? And I listened to a sermon a
few weeks ago from a church where they make much of the fact that
they are a little bit better than a lot of other people, and
they actually use the word Yahweh when they're talking about Lord.
And then, immediately after they've used what is a fine word to use,
they then go on and preach something which is completely opposed to
everything that John 17 is talking about. It's not the letters,
is it? It's not the black ink on a piece
of white paper. It's the very person. I have
manifested. How will you get to see the glory
of God in his true character? The work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is to manifest him. And then he says in verse 17,
Now they have known. Not only does he manifest, but
he makes that a reality in the hearts of his people. In verse
8 he tells us what it is, For I have given them the words which
thou gavest me. How do you have the words of
God as the words of God? God gives them to you, it's the
work of God, isn't it? It's the work of the triune God.
Verse 9, he says, I pray for them. Oh dear, how extraordinary
it is to have him pray for you. Verse 12, he says, while I was
with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. I kept them. Oh, brothers and
sisters, of those that thou hast given me, I have kept. If you
know anything of yourself, you know you need to be kept by God
Almighty. I can't keep myself. I can't keep myself for a millisecond.
Thank God for a keeping Saviour. Verse 14, he says, I've given
them thy word. And the world has hated them
because they're not of the world, as even as I'm not of the world.
I've given them thy word. In verse 15, he says, I pray,
I pray that you shouldn't, pray not that thou should take them
out of the world, but thou should keep them from the evil, the
evil one. We need to be kept. Verse 19,
he says, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. He sanctifies himself. What a
glorious work to set himself apart for God's purposes, to
make himself holy. Verse 20. He speaks of his prayer
for us, neither pray I for these alone. He's praying for his people.
This is his mighty work. In verse 22, and he's a giver
again, isn't he? The glory which thou gavest me,
I have given them, that they may be one. They'll be fellows
in the same ship, in fellowship with him. Verse 23, his work
means that he can be in them. He can take up residence. Why? Because all of God's children
are perfectly fit receptacles for God to live in with joy and
peace and with every attribute of his glory revealed. And he can live in that. That's
a work, brothers and sisters, isn't it? That's a mighty work,
isn't it? His work in verse 24, His Father,
I will also, they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am. Heaven is to be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of God Almighty.
Verse 26, he finishes by saying, Aren't you thankful The Bible says, I have laid help
on one that is mighty. This is not the work of men,
brothers and sisters. And for those of you who have
been made sinners by the Blessed Holy Spirit, everything about
His work is a cause for us rejoicing as Let's go back and look at it,
look at this verse in a little bit more detail. I have glorified
on the earth all of our Saviour's life has this one aim, as I said
earlier, just the glory of the Father. the glory of delighting
in Him, the glory of loving Him, the glory of honouring His name,
the glory of obeying His law, the glory of keeping His word,
the glory of fulfilling His promises, the glory of saving His people,
personally saved by this Saviour. By grace you are saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. I'm so thankful that he's not
looking for something in me for my salvation. He looks to his
son. He's always looking to his son. And how does he look to his son
these days? What a remarkable God we have. What a remarkable living union
and communion there is. true God. They look upon each
other with the most extraordinary delight, don't they? And that's
exactly how God the Father looks upon all those who are in the
Lord Jesus Christ, which is exactly what this work is all about,
isn't it? It's about the glory of God in the revelation of all
of his character in the salvation of all of his people and bringing
them into glory. By grace you are saved through
faith. And this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. The grace
is the gift of God. The faith is the gift of God.
Salvation is the gift of God. It's the gift of a God who has
finished a work. The finished work, this saving
faith, is the gift of God. The saving knowledge that we
read earlier, that's the gift of God. The saving knowledge
of the Christ who saves by sovereign grace is the gift of God. Therefore,
all who are saved have the saving knowledge of He who is the true
All God made and God sent preachers proclaim the same Jesus. According to God, they all speak
with one voice. According to God, they do. So
what man does is not the issue. The issue is what God does, and
God makes them all speak. They speak, and they speak with
Him. They lift up the voice together
with He who is the voice. The Lord Jesus Christ came as
a gospel preacher. He said, that's my work. There
was a multitude, you can read about it in Mark chapter two,
there was a multitude there gathered at his door saying, you've got
all these people you can heal. And he said, I didn't come to
do that. And that's what His people in
this world do. He is the Gospel. He is the King
of the Kingdom of God. Repent and believe the Good News.
He is the Good News. No wonder the Apostle Paul would
say, and we sing it so often, don't we, I know whom. Salvation's
a whom. And if you want to define that
whom, John 17 defines the whom with so much clarity. I've finished the work. I've
finished the work that thou gavest me to do. I've finished it. Is it finished
for you? Or do you have to add something
to it? I was told Again and again in
my early days in religion, that God has done the best he can
and now it's up to me to finish the job. Did you have to add something,
don't you? You have to add your obedience, you have to add your
works, you have to add your mission organisations in your act, you
have to add your law keeping, you have to add something to
it. What did he say? Finished. Finished. Hebrews 4 says that we labour
to enter into his rest. Hebrews 4.11 What is it to labour
to enter into his rest? It's a labor to get rid of anything
you do, anything you think you might do, anything you think
might be meritorious. That's the labor, isn't it? If
you have the Spirit of God in you, you know it's a labor because
you know what your flesh is doing all the time. Only the people
who have the Spirit of God know what their flesh is. Only the
people who have the Spirit of God and have life from God know
what it is to live in what the Scriptures declare is this body
of sin and body of death. The message of the Gospel is
done. The message of the gospel is
accomplished. The message of the gospel is
paid in full. The message of the gospel is
that God has accepted the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
that's all he needs. That's all he needs. There's a statement made some
time ago, I'm not sure who was the originator of it, but it's
been repeated often, isn't it? My relationship with the Lord
affects everything I do, and I wish it could affect more. What I do has no bearing whatsoever
on my relationship with God. My relationship with God is entirely
secured and founded eternally upon the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he speaks of his people
as those the Father gave him. When did he give them to him?
He gave them before the foundation of the world. What else happened
before the foundation of the world? The lamb was slain. Why was the lamb slain? There's
only one reason for slaying, isn't there? Only one reason
for shedding blood. Only one reason for death. Sin. Sin. Why weren't Adam and Eve
destroyed immediately? Because before they sinned, there
was a Saviour who paid it all and finished the work. That's good news for sinners.
It's good news for sinners. It's not good news for those
who think that they have some righteousness of their own. It's
finished. It's done. All the debt I owe
is paid. I want to live for His glory. I want you to live for His glory. But His glory is great in our
salvation. His glory is great in us believing,
isn't it? How dishonouring to God is it
not to believe what he simply says. Is it good news? Is this the cause of gladness
and joy and peace in your heart? All to him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it. A little bit pink, people say,
and then you can get the last little whitening done by your
own activity. He washed it white as snow. That's just quoting what Isaiah
chapter 1 says. Holy Father, righteous Father,
the only true God, I've glorified you on the earth. I have glorified
you. Their righteousness is of me. All of it. Not just a little
bit of it. All of my righteousness. Eternally
righteous. Eternally righteous. Eternally
accepted in the beloved. Eternally loved by God Almighty. Eternally justified in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my Lord. He reigns and rules. I'm so thankful He reigned and
ruled over the circumstances of my life. I pray that you are
as well. He's my Lord. He's maturity.
He's the one that covenanted with His Father to take full
responsibility for all of my righteousness before God and
all of my sins. and captivity of the devil and
free from this world. He's my friend. He's a friend. He's a friend of whom? Sinners. He's a friend of sinners. He's
our husband. He's my Lord and my God. I need his righteousness when
I fall. I had someone talk the other
day about the fact that we will all have our Bathsheba moments. We may have already had them
and we'll know what they're like. But there are Bathsheba moments. Did it affect David's relationship
with God? God says to David, I've taken
away your sin. The thing that David did displeased
God, and there were consequences and there need to be consequences.
But nevertheless, we are righteous when we fall. Our righteousness
is in heaven, isn't it? Here's all of our righteousness
when we're doing really well, when we think that we've really
ticked some boxes and we've really Nailed it! We've prayed better,
and we've read better, and we've witnessed better, and we've done...
He's still all of our righteousness before God. It's the only righteousness
you have. And when you die... I've finished, I've finished
the work. send us away rejoicing but I
want us before we look at Daniel chapter 9 I want us to look at
Daniel chapter 7 because I want to see who the one is doing the
work as I said earlier the scriptures declare I've laid help God the
Father has laid help on one who is mighty And this is the one
who is mighty in verse 13 of Daniel chapter 7. I saw in the
night vision and behold one like the Son of Man came with the
clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they
brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion
and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages
should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, that which
shall not be destroyed. I'll finish the work when this
man is doing the work. What can we say? Done. Done. Let's turn over to chapter 9.
You know where I'm going, but chapter 9 verse 24 is a glorious
description of the work of the Messiah. He said, 70 weeks are
determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. And this
is the work. To finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, Daniel 9.24, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem, until the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks, and three score and two weeks the street shall be built
again, and the wall even in troublous times, and after three score
and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and
the end thereof shall be with the flood. Unto the end of the
war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week. And in the midst of the week
he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even
until the consummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon
the desolate." There's absolutely no doubt that that is talking
about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Jews knew
exactly the timetable. They knew They knew from the
time of Daniel's prophecy, which is why at the time of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ they were so eager and anticipating
him and they knew where he was going to be born and they knew
what he was going to be doing. But I love this glorious description
of this finished work. He's come to finish the transgression. What's transgression? Breaking
the law of God. All of them. And you do it all
the time. And the law of God is a package
according to James chapter 2 verse 10. People want to divide it
up. They always want to divide it up with a scribe's knife so
that they can actually look after the bits that they think they
can keep. If you have a disobedient child,
under the law of God, what do you do with it? A persistently
disobedient child. You take it outside and kill
it. Talk about discipline. To finish transgression, to make
an end of sins. An end of sins. He's finished
the work. That's what it is to be justified.
The sins are gone. And to make reconciliation for
iniquity, to make reconciliation for the guilt, to make reconciliation
for what we make up to try and make ourselves right with God.
to make reconciliation for the fact that we're busy, like Adam
and Eve, hiding away from God and stitching together fig leaves
to cover our shame. We're trying to do this and that.
You shame someone and immediately we start, I do it, anyway, you
may not, but immediately I'm stitching together some fig leaves.
God has to come to that dark place again and again and again
and call us out and call us to himself and show us a sacrifice
and robe us again in his righteousness, the righteousness of the Lamb. When we were enemies, when were we
reconciled? Romans 5.10, when we were, not
when we were good and doing the right thing, we were reconciled
when we were enemies. We were reconciled to God. How
were we reconciled to God? By the death of his son. How
much more being reconciled, having been reconciled by the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall we be saved by his life? He says, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness. That's that righteousness that
we were talking about, isn't it? The righteousness. that is
marked in Isaiah 28 by a plumb ball. One point. You touch that, and you destroy
it. You add to it, and it's no longer
everlasting. Don't you love the word everlasting?
Everlasting. everlasting righteousness. Just
ponder it for a second. If you are made the righteousness
of God, to seal up the vision and the
prophecy. In fact, in the Hebrew, the original,
it says that the prophet, the prophet himself, he is the word
of God. He is the prophet. He is the
one who speaks the word of God. And to anoint the most holy. This is his work. What's the
most holy? It's the place in the temple
where the presence of God was. It's the place in the temple
where you meet with God. And you meet with God on the
basis of bloodshed. You meet with God on the basis
of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You meet with God
in your representative, the high priest. At the heart of the temple
is the mercy seat, where God is revealed, and in him, revealed all that he accepts,
because he had, where were the names of those people? Where
were the names of all the children of God? On his heart, and on
his shoulder, and he took us in there with his blood. Where is the temple of God now?
We read in Daniel he's going to destroy that temple. Woe to
those who think they're going to build it again. He's destroyed
that temple. Where is the temple of God now?
You are the temple of God because of this mighty finished work.
As we read at the end of John chapter 17, God can now dwell
in his people. with perfect honour to all his
glorious attributes in his word, his law honoured and magnified.
Don't you love what happened to Isaiah when he met the Lord
Jesus Christ in the temple? What happened? The seraphs sang, didn't they? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty. And the cloud filled the temple. of the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ covered all the shadows of the law, and he declared,
it's finished. What do you see? What did Isaiah
see? He saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the temple. He cried out, woe is me, and
then he had those glorious words said to him, the Lord's taken
away your sin. That's why you can see him and
that's why you can be in him. That's why Christ in you is the
hope of glory. Is his work a finished work for
you? Is it finished? Is his work an accomplished work? Or does his work need something
added to it? I promise you there's no peace.
Anything you add is just sin, according to Romans 7. Why would
you touch what is perfect? Why would you want to add to
what is perfect? We're accepted in the beloved.
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. May the Lord cause us to rest
in that finished work and may we be led by our God to go to
John 17 again and again and again and ask the Lord to just show
us the glory of who he is and the glory of that finished work.
Amen. May the Lord bless his word to
our hearts. Let's have a break. Thank you.