I brought a message or two from
these verses before, but I think I'd like to settle
on them a little stronger. I'd like to ask you to turn to
the 17th chapter of John. John chapter 17. I would imagine that our brother
Mike Lovelace could Count more than 100 messages he's heard
from these verses. Not by me alone, but by many
other ministers. And I'd like to bring before
you this morning, and Lord willing, maybe one or two more. I know we won't get through all
that I wanted to cover this morning, so I know at least one more. We spend so much time. So much of our time going here,
doing that, doing this. It seems there's always something
that we must be doing, am I right? I think about what needs to be
done in my own life. What do I need to do tomorrow?
What have I got planned for the later this week? What am I going to do this afternoon?
I think about what needs to be done in my world. I fill my thoughts
with things to do, whether it be maintenance, shopping, pleasure
maybe, golf, fishing, picnicking with my beautiful bride, doctor's appointments. Making
the rounds for friends and family. Studying. Studying for Friday
night and Sunday. So much to do. And so little
time to do it. You know, I really thought that
when I retired, boy, I'm going to have a whole bunch of time.
It's amazing how much time I waste now than what I used to. We are by nature always looking
for something to do. Something that we are to do next.
Something to keep us busy. That may be work, work, work,
work, work to one. Or it could be as simple as going
out on the porch and watching the cars go by. Pastor Gene and
his wife Judy have a new porch to go sit on and watch the cars
go by. That's what their day is filled
with nowadays. And it's wonderful for them.
That's absolutely wonderful for them. The only time we don't think
about what comes next is when we sleep. And I don't know about
you folks, but sometimes I don't even sleep while doing it. I
just keep thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow, or
what I'm going to preach tomorrow, or this or that, or this or that.
It comes to a point sometimes at 2 o'clock in the morning,
Lord, I need some rest. Help me sleep. You know, it's
amazing. I'll share this with you real quick. I can't tell
you how often that has happened to me where, like right before
a conference, I know I've got to preach in one of the conferences
here. And I was like, oh, man, I've
got to preach this message tomorrow, Lord. And I'll think about it,
and I'll think about it, and I'll think about it. And at 2 o'clock
in the morning, I'll just finally say, Lord, I've got to sleep.
I've got to be up in four hours. I need to sleep here. And I will
sleep the most soundest sleep I've ever had. He'll just answer
the purse and put me right out. I'll wake up four hours later
completely refreshed. I don't know if that's ever happened
to you folks. I thought I'd just share that with you. One of those
things about me. We always have something to think
about to come next, don't we? We are, by nature, always looking
for something. My point is this. that it is
our natural tendencies. Let me repeat that. It is our natural
tendencies to think, what must we do? I've used this example
before in scriptures. There were those who had heard
the order of the Lord, and they said, what must we do to be saved?
That was their natural tendency. What must I do to be saved? I like what that man is saying.
I want to be saved. I want to go to heaven. What
must I do to be saved? I want to bring you a message this
morning, a message of rest. And I pray that the Lord will
press upon your hearts the rest that is in Him and in Him alone. It is disheartening to see a
situation. Think about how disheartening
it must have been for those who were called to a fire in the area of Grizzly Flats. Those who were called to fight
a fire that's burning over a hill. And to get there and say, there's
nothing I can do to stop it. Think of having a loved one who's sick and you're thinking,
there's nothing I can do to help them. It's disheartening to see a situation
where there's nothing you can do, is it not? Yet I tell you
this day, I declare to you according to
the word of God, When it comes to the salvation
from your sins, it is out of your ability to
do anything about it. When it comes to spiritual things,
we come into this world completely helpless. It's called depravity. It's called depraved. It means
utterly unable. Incorrupt. Having nothing to
give. Scripture calls it this way.
Dead in trespasses and sin. We all know what that means.
That's plain and simple, isn't it? Our Lord uses plain and simple
words to describe everything. We were reading in Friday night's
Bible study. Our brother Don brought out in
the study that God never used anything that he had to explain
other than to the truths to his people, speaking in parables. When the Lord said, I and my
father are one, the very next verse they picked
up stones to stone him. It was clear they understood
exactly what he was saying. He said, I am God in the flesh. There is only one God. And Jesus
Christ in the flesh is God Almighty, the God-man. Three separate,
absolutely. Three separate entities, yet
one. Now you want me to explain that to you? I cannot. But it's
as simple as that. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Is that not what the book says?
You might say to yourself, well, I don't sin. I'm not that bad
of a person. I sowed a little wild oats, but
I never did that. I never did this. I'm not like
that sinner over there. If you say that to yourself,
then that in itself is a sin, for you call God a liar. Our
Lord says in His scripture, there is none good. Well, I don't sin much. Folks,
sin is sin. That's all there is to it. It
doesn't matter whether you lie once or you lie the whole time
that you're alive on this earth, it's still punishable by death. The wages thereof is death. Only the righteous can be in
the presence of the Almighty Holy Father. He who is so holy,
so holy that He cannot even look upon sin. He cannot even look
upon those who dwell on the earth who are not hid in the blood
of His Son, the Lord Jesus. And it is only because of that
blood that was shed on the cross a little over 2,000 years ago
that God can look down on His people at all. If we were left to ourselves,
folks, if I was left to myself, I would
be on that wide path that God talks about to destruction. And I wouldn't even know it.
Blind as a bat to the truth, it is by the salvation of the
Lord and by His salvation alone that we are put on the narrow
path to salvation, to eternal life. Only the righteous can be in
the presence of the Almighty Holy Father. And you might say
to yourself, then what must we do? What must I do to be saved? Can I make myself righteous somehow
or another? Can I do something to bring favor
to my Lord? If there was anything you could
do, it wouldn't no longer be called grace. Grace is unmerited favor. I like that because I understand
that I don't deserve anything of God. I like grace because
that means my Lord has fulfilled everything for me. Before the world were made, God
chose a people to be the recipients of His love, to be the recipients
of His mercy, of His grace. And this people chosen before
time began and are spread throughout every tribe, every nation, and
every tongue, and throughout all time. And He is going about,
through the Holy Spirit, through time, calling His sheep unto
Himself. There was a day when the Lord
came to each and every one of us sitting here this morning
and said, you're mine. And He did it right through the
preaching of this word, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Amen. And when He spoke to your heart,
you heard. Why? Because His sheep hear His
voice. He's going about calling His
people, His sheep, unto Himself, giving life to dead souls, raising
them up out of the miry clay that they were born into, and
shining His light, the light of Jesus Christ, into a new heart. A heart that now loves Him. Where
before, as we would say, I would not have that one rule over me.
It's John's life. I'm going to go about doing what
I think is good. That's what the problem with
this world is, folks. Everybody's going around. We see more and
more people doing what they think is good. And there's only a few who see
the truth of it is God is the only good thing at all in this
creation. Everything else is cursed and
will burn. That's a hard thing to see, isn't it? Oh, I love
the mountains our God has created, but they're going to burn. I
sit out here at times, and I watch the wild animals in this place.
And oh, it's coming from North Highlands down in the valley.
We didn't get to see this all the time. And living here now,
we get to see all the birds. We have red hawks that live right
above us in the trees here. Watching those things is really,
really cool. But everything outside of Christ
is going to burn. Cursed is the ground you walk
in, says our Lord. Our Lord is going about shining
His light in the new hearts of His people, people that now love
Him because He first loved them, and bringing them eternal life.
But in order for Him to do that, for in order for our Lord to
go about and shine His light in the hearts of people, these
sinners must have the price Remember what I said? The wages of sin
is death. You lie one time, the wages of sin is death. The price
must be paid. Their iniquities must be covered. These sinners must be redeemed.
We sing the song, Blessed Redeemer, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste
of blessed divine. There must be a sacrifice and
it must be spotless. That's why you and I can't do
it. We're not spotless. We're never going to be spotless.
I don't care what you do, you're still going to have the spot
of mankind bearing with you. It's a battle that we will fight
until the day we are called out of this world. Sinners must have the price for
their iniquities covered. There must be a sacrifice and
it must be spotless. A spotless, perfect sacrifice
and there must be no guile found in this sacrifice. And God provided
Himself to be the sacrifice for His people. We cannot do it on
our own. Any sacrifice of us would be
tainted with sin and that includes the making of our decisions.
You say, some say to those, all you have to do is make a decision,
follow Christ and everything will be well. That's a lie! Our
decision is filled with sin. And knowing that raises and magnifies
the mercy of my God that it was His decision that called me out
of darkness. It was by His grace that I now
live. It's called living in Him. Our exercising of our free will,
our coming to the front, our getting baptized, or anything
else that we think we might be able to do is an abomination
to the thrice holy God. Only, and only, the spotless
Lamb of God could accomplish such a work, and He did it. Look
with me if you would, in John chapter 16, beginning at verse
1. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come Glorify
Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over
all flesh." Folks, don't miss these next words. Don't just
look over these next words and say, I've read that before. Listen
to this carefully. He, the Son of God, the very
One who is crying up to the Father, who looks up to the Father, not
like that beggar like you and I over here in the corner who
bow our heads and adorn Him when you look at the Holy Father.
He looks directly at the Father. He lifts His eyes up and He says,
as thou hast given Him power over all the flesh, that He should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. What was the works of man in
that statement? There wasn't any. There was no
decision for anyone to make. There was no maybes, no mights. He had been given power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. Continuing, verse 3, and this
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God. Folks, there's only one God.
How many of you recall what James Luper has testified in his testimony? I heard John talking about that
scripture that says there's another Jesus, and he says, that's why
I left the church 30 years ago. There were too many other Jesuses.
He says, when I sat there in this pew and heard you speak
about the only Jesus, the one with all power in heaven and
earth and under the earth, the one who created everything, the
one who says, it shall be done and it is done, I heard about
a God, a one who is truly God. And this is eternal life, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished." Oh, isn't that wonderful? I'm
telling you what, if you're a sinner who's been saved by grace, these
are the most wonderful words anything could ever speak. I
have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. I would like to bring before
you a series of messages on this chapter 17 titled, A Finished
Work. I know we're going to go at least
next Sunday and maybe even a third. It could go longer. Pray for
me on that, will you? A finished work. Our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the God-man is declaring
what is about to happen. He says it's a finished work,
a done deal. He who is declaring this is all-knowing,
He's God. He knew this before the world
ever began. That's why He's known in Revelations as the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. He knew each of us were
going to be saved, for our names were written in the Book of Life
before the foundation of the world. We just didn't know it
until we heard His gospel preached. And through the preaching of
His gospel, we came to know the true and living God, Jesus Christ. Our Lord is declaring that He
had made a promise and He shall perform it. God the Father promised
God the Son of people, based upon God the Son's promise of
redeeming this people unto Himself, by giving Himself in their stead. He gave Himself for you and I,
and for all of those. And folks, there's a lot. I don't
know how many He saved already, but there's a whole lot. There's
so many that you couldn't count them, like the sand at the sea,
on the beach of the sea. Even at 1,000 square feet, you
still couldn't count all the sand. But all the sands of all
the world. Oh. Our Lord promised His Son and
His Son performed what needed to be done. It was based upon
God, the Son's promise of redeeming this people unto Himself by giving
Himself in their stead. I heard this said once before,
you can sum up the entire gospel of Jesus Christ in this one word,
substitution. What you and I deserve was laid
upon our substitute. There's a picture drawn in Scripture
about a scapegoat. They laid their hands upon that
goat and they took him outside the camp and killed him. A scapegoat. Our Lord and Savior. Our escape
from damnation. From what we have earned, from
what we deserve. It was all laid upon our Lord. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we would be made righteous, the righteousness
of God in Him. Every sinful act, every sinful
thought I have ever committed or ever will commit has been
laid upon my Savior. That's good news. I can say this. Can you? If God be for me, who
or what can be against me. Can all this stuff that's going
on, can the virus be against me? No. No one leaves this earth
until the day that is marked for them to go and the means
that they will go. I began this message with hope
to bring rest to those whom God will cause to hear. And rest is this, that salvation
is of the Lord. Set down your attempts to work
out your own salvation. Look not upon your own works,
and that includes your faith. You say, what? That includes
your faith. How many in today's world are
walking around saying, I know I'm saved because I have faith. I know that I'm saved because
my Lord is faithful. What do you mean by that, John?
That means I have no trust in anything that you see before
you. I don't have any trust in my actions. I don't have any
trust in my thoughts. I don't have any trust in what
I do. And I don't have any trust in that faith that I think I
might have. I know that if I have faith, it's a gift from God.
I know it's not something that I can conjure up in myself, but
I don't put any trust in my faith, I put it in His faithfulness.
Because He has said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. And he says, my sheep hear my voice. Do I have doubts? If you say
you don't, if you say you don't, I wonder. I wonder. Does that mean your
faith is so strong you trust in that? Great is His faithfulness. Look with me at these next verses
of John chapter 17, and we'll go through just a few of them.
I've got about another 15 minutes, and I think I can go through
them what I want to in that time. Let's look at verse 5 for just
a moment. John chapter 17 verse 5, And
now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the
glory which I had with Thee before the world was. You say, now wait
a minute, John. Our Lord was born of a virgin.
It was just over 2,000 years ago He walked this earth. How
can that be? We have two very important things
in this verse that I want to bring out this morning. First
is Christ Jesus as God, and He was with God and with God from
eternity past. This is the words that we read
in John chapter 1 verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Hold your
place here in John and turn over to Proverbs 8, if you would.
Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8. We're talking
about Jesus Christ and God the Father and God the Spirit as
one. Existing for, well, He is existence. Not existing from any specific
time. He is existence. He has always been. They have
always been. Look at these words in Proverbs
8, beginning at verse 23. I was set up from everlasting,
and from the beginning, and ever the earth was. When there was
no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills, was I brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. when
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains
of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water
should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations
of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him. And
I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Our Lord is
crying out to return to the glory of the Father's presence, and
that is His delight. Secondly, Christ returns to the
presence of the Father as the Man, the Christ Child, Jesus
the Lord. Consider these words from 1 Timothy
2 verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus, and our Lord Savior is the mediator
and the forerunner of all for whom He redeems. Aren't you thankful
that God is sitting on His throne, the Lord Jesus Christ right now,
mediating for you and I? Does a thought go through your
mind? You wish it hadn't of? Our mediator is just sitting
there saying, I paid for that. Our Lord is praying to be returned
to His office, to His glory, even as He was before. He is
received and exalted. Go back to our text in John.
He is received and exalted and seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high. And we are received with and
in Him. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 6? And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Isn't
that what that means? Folks, our Lord looks down upon
us as being as perfect as His Son. I know that's hard for us
to see. I know we all go and look into
that mirror and see this body standing before us and say, that
can't be. But our Lord says it is so. Now look at John 17. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word."
Our Lord says, I have manifested thy name. Or in other words,
He says, I have revealed the perfections of His nature. manifesting
His name. He's made it clear to His people
when the preacher stands before His people and preaches Christ
and Him crucified, our Lord takes that Word, He puts it to the
hearts of His people, and He manifests who God is. He reveals to that person who
the Lord is, what His nature is, His redemptive will. What
is the will of God? That the Jesus Christ should
lose none. He reveals the Gospel, and mercy, and the grace, and
the wisdom, and the power, and the glory of our Lord. Listen
to these words of 1 Corinthians 1.24. But unto them which are
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. Or how about 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This our Lord
makes known to those whom the Father gave Him. to those that
the Father gave Him out of the world. They were chosen by the
Father and given to the Son, whom He appointed as their surety,
their head, their mediator. Our Lord is thinking of all of
His elect. He's speaking to His Father.
You know, I've said this before, This seems more of the Lord's
Prayer than His instructions on how to pray. Many want to
call our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, the Lord's
Prayer. That's man's work, putting that title to that. I like this Lord's Prayer. I like the Lord's Prayer where
He's down on His knees, sweating drops of blood for my sake. For your sakes. Where He cries out to His Father
and He says, if it be possible, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, He says after that,
Thy will be done. That's another good Lord's Prayer
right there to a sinner. Our Lord is making known to those
for whom the Father gave Him out of this world. They were
chosen by the Father, given to the Son. He was appointed as
their surety, their head beater. The Lord is thinking of all of
His elect, and by the grace of God, they have and will receive
Christ and His Word. Look at verse 7. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee." This is something
our Lord emphasized very strongly, that the words he spoke were
the Father's words. You recall our Lord said, I did
not come to do my will, but him, his will, who sent me. That the works that he did were
the Father's works. He came to do the Father's will.
He did not take it upon Himself to be our High Priest. In Hebrews
5.5 we read this, So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made
a High Priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art my Son, today
I have begotten Thee. Our Lord bent His will to the
will of the Father. When the Father of our Lord raised
His Son from the dead and exalted Him, He gave assurance to all
that Jesus Christ, His Anointed, ordained and designed to be the
Redeemer of His people. Let all know that all things,
such as all power, all spiritual gifts, and all things pertaining
to the kingdom of the Father, are by His appointment, by His
decree, and according to His will. Listen to the words of
Hebrews 10, verses 5 through 14. Wherefore, when He cometh
into the world, He saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared Me. and burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.
above when he said, Sacrifice and offering, the burnt offerings,
and the offering for sin, thou wouldst not neither have pleasure
therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for
all. And then down further He says,
for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now let's look at verse 8. Our Lord has perfect timing,
you know that? Verse 8, perfect timing. Our Lord continues in His prayer,
asking for the glory of the Father to be returned asking it for
what He has done, for I have given unto them the words which
thou gavest Me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send Me." Christ gave us the words of the Father called in
Scripture the doctrine of God. In other words, it's also called
the Word of Truth. It's also called the Testimony
of God, the Ministry of Reconciliation, and of course, the Gospel of
God. And with these disciples, by
the power of the Holy Spirit, we gladly receive His words. We receive them gladly with reverence
and meekness, with love and gratitude, And now, and know certainly that
Jesus of Nazareth came from the Father as mediator to seek and
to save the lost. To seek and to save His people. I don't trust the faith that
I have in this flesh, but I trust what my Lord says. He says, I
came to save my people. Oh, how I pray. that I am one
of his people. If I am, then there's total assurance that he shall lose none. Amen.