Good evening. It's Willis Turner,
John 17. I received a thank you note from
Brother Clay Curtis, and I'll keep it on the back table there
if anybody would like to read it. It's real encouraging. John
17, the title of my message is Life is Knowing Him. Life is
Knowing Him. Do you know about Jesus Christ? Do you know about the Bible?
Do you know a bunch of verses? Do you have memory verses and
proof texts and those things? That ain't my question. Do you
know him? I mean it. Do I know him? Do I
know him? Do you know him? It's an eternal
life, and it's eternal death. This is important. Real important. Our Lord prays here. In John
17, verse 1, it says, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy
son, that thy son may also glorify thee. Thou hast given him He speaks of Him, of the Son.
Why is He speaking that way? He's speaking as a man, as a
God-man, because I'm supposed to speak this way, because you're
supposed to speak this way. As thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. This is
eternal life. that we may know the only true
God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Not know about him,
not know facts, know him, know him. This is the Lord's prayer. Over top of many headings in
Bibles, it'll say his high priestly prayer. That's John 17. He's
praying, this is the Lord's prayer. You ask most people on the street,
Do you know what the Lord's prayer is? I said, oh yeah, I know that.
And they'll quote Matthew 6, won't they? But that's the disciples'
prayer. They said, Lord, teach us how
to pray. Because we don't know how to. You know, this is important.
We're going to hear God pray to God this evening. And we can
learn something from that. These little people, they're
going to learn how to pray because of how we pray. Now, does that
make you say, come here, I'll show you? Or does that make you
say, God, teach me how to pray? Do you have an arrogant, uppity,
self-righteous spirit about it? Or do you have a humble spirit?
God said, I don't know, you have to teach me. We're gonna learn
something from this. He taught those disciples how
to pray. He gave them instructions. That's for them and that's for
us too, isn't it? He said, after this manner, pray ye. You pray
this way. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. That's a good way to start, isn't
it? But that's for us, that's for him. This text is the Lord's
prayer because he's the one praying it. This is the prayer of the
only mediator between God and man, Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great intercessor,
the great high priest. And he's come before the father
and he's praying for his people. He's praying for his church,
for that body that he's the head of. That's what he tells us down
in verse nine, look there. This is not for anyone that'll
listen. This is not for the whole world without exception and just
anybody that pretty please will let him. Verse nine says, I pray
for them, his people. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine and all
mine are thine and thine are mine. This prayer in John 17,
it's the Lord's prayer. It's to the father, it's for
his people. for his people then, for these
apostles, the 11 that were sitting there with him, and it's for
his people now, and it's for his people to come in generations.
The Lord may have this earth spinning for a lot longer than
it has been, I don't know. But any saint that's to come,
he's praying for them too. Look at verse 20. It says, neither
I pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe
on me through their word. These apostles are going to write
the New Testament and they're going to go around and preach.
They're going to perform some miracles. Now through them preaching,
way down the road, people's going to believe because of them. We
do. That's what we're looking at
tonight. What John wrote. It said that they all may be
one. Now we see who's speaking, that's
God the Son. Who's listening, who's hearing?
God the Father, that's who we pray to. And who's it for? Apostles, but all saints, all
his people. Now look at verse one, John 17,
verse one. These words speak Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven. These words speak Jesus. What
words? From chapter 13 to here. That's
what we've been looking at for quite a while now, isn't it?
That same night, he was with the 11. He told them what was
gonna come, and he gave them words to remember. He said, you're
gonna look back on this, and you're gonna understand here
in a little while. You can't handle all this right now. I have a
lot to tell you, but you'll recall what I've told you. And then
now, he spoke to them, and he's turned his attention from them,
and in front of them, he prays to the Father. This is amazing. Would you want
to listen in? Think we've got something to
learn? If God was praying to God, shh, that's it. Somebody said, uh-huh, no, you
stop saying uh-huh, you listen to what he has to say. This is
important. This is our Lord speaking to
the Father, but we can learn a lot from it too, can't we? He looked
up, he lifted up his eyes. What did James tell us? Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above. He's looking to
the source, isn't he? I thought about our instruction
for when our Lord returns on a cloud. They came out with a
real popular movie recently, it says, Don't Look Up. And I
was talking to my pastor, I said, first thing that came to mind
was, he says, when I come, the end of the world's coming, as
man considers it. When I come, he says, when these things come
to pass, he says, then look up and lift up your heads for your
redemption draweth nigh. Your Redeemer is coming. Look
up, look for him. We look for him now, don't we?
He then lifted up his eyes to heaven. And he said, Father,
the hour has come. This is the hour, the hour that
he spoke of so often. That's why he spoke up in John
too, at that wedding feast at Cana where he performed his first
miracle. His mother come to him and said, you got any more wine?
We need wine, we're out of wine. And he said, woman, what have
I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come. This was what was on his mind.
This is what all creations led to, isn't it? On another occasion,
he said, for this cause came I to this hour. Shall I pray
to the Father? Let this hour depart. He said, no, for this
cause came I to this hour. This is the hour. A few times
people tried to kill our Lord and they took up stones and killed
him and threw him off a cliff and they couldn't lay a finger
on him. Do you know why? His hour had not yet come. We read
that in John 7, didn't we? Now it says, this hour, Father,
this hour has come. This is the hour ordained from
all eternity past, from all ages. This hour is the hour in which
all promises and all the prophecies of the Old Testament, all the
pictures, all the tops, it's gonna be fulfilled, not in the
60 minutes, but in this time, right? In this hour. This is
the hour of redemption. He's gonna buy us, isn't he?
He says, Father, the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy
son may also glorify thee. He has always been glorified
as God, hasn't he? He's always been God. In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God.
He's always been with him. And he has a name that's above
every name. The angels worshiped him, the angels adore him. But
this is the prayer of the mediator for his people. As our high priest,
our go-between, our representative to the father, isn't it? He's
not praying as God, he's praying as a man and a mediator and an
intercessor. And he's praying as our redeemer
for us who believe on our behalf. That gave me so much peace this
week. You ever struggle praying, ever? Maybe, just a little bit. And then you say something, and
you're like, what? I said, that sounds, that was just religious. It was
just jargon. It's just a bunch of memorized words, a pre-canned
response that everybody else said, so I say it. And I know
it. I would give off some examples,
but I embarrass myself too. He did this on our behalf. On
the behalf of his people throughout time, he prays. He says, glorify
thy son. That doesn't mean have a party.
It means sustain me, support me, uphold me in everything I
must do to redeem my people. That's why I'm here. That's what
this hour is for. And he has all power over all
flesh, doesn't he? And he asked this. We don't have
all power over all flesh, do we? And how often we fail in
prayer. How often I fail in prayer. Look at the motivation of it.
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that, here's
the reason, that thy son also may glorify thee. Lord, give
me enough. things in this world, possessions
or money or whatever, so I don't have to beg and bring reproach
on this gospel, but don't give me so much that I'm boastful
and I think I did it, and I bring reproach on this gospel. Do it
for your glory. Or I say, make this go away.
Make this happen. Do this for me. I fail often. He says that the son may be glorified
in thee, may glorify thee. Christ came into this world to
accomplish the will of the father and that's what was on his mind.
what he was sent to do. We read in John six, it says,
all that the father gives me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the father's will, which hath sent me that
all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again to the last day. This work of redeeming a people
was given to Christ. The father said, this is what
I want you to do. You're the elect, he is the firstborn. And being born for his people.
Came in this world being born under the law like we are. Blessed,
tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin, didn't
he? He was born for his people. He
lived for his people. Every breath he took was the
breath we had to take. The Lord found the Father in
all things. for his people, dying for his
people, and taking his life back up for his people. The father's
glorified, the son's glorified, and they're one. And that was
for us. That was for his people. Look
at verse two. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, all flesh. We read in Matthew 28, all authority
is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Paul wrote there in
Philippians 2, God hath given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every
tongue confess that he's Lord. Acts 2, God hath made this same
Jesus, talking to those people that laid their hands on him,
made him both Lord and Christ. He has all power, all power. I've been told from a young age,
don't feel sorry for Jesus like most of this world does. Don't
pity him. Don't you feel sorry for him.
Most of the world feels sorry for him, don't they? Poor little
fella. That one that's in their minds. He has all authority and
all power according to this word, doesn't he? According to him. And it's so. People don't enter
into that. He has all majesty and all glory.
And he will do what he will with whom he will. He's the king.
Period. This poor, sad, defeated, sissified,
wanting, wringing his hands Jesus. That's another Jesus. That's
not according to this book. That's a false God and you'll
die and go to hell looking to him. I don't know how else to
explain it or to say it. The gospel that's being preached
all around this world, it's another gospel. It's wildly different.
Not even close to the truth. The spirit that all these people
are talking about all over the country in this county and everything,
that's another spirit. It's another spirit. God does
what he pleases, and he works all things according to his will
and armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say to him, what doest thou?
Mankind does, what's God doing? How could a God do such a thing?
And I can't believe they don't strike him dead right then. but
it's not his will to, is it? Living for us, for his bride,
he had all power. And having all power as a man,
as God man, he was just and holy and good the whole time. Perfect faith that only served
the father and looked to him and not himself. He didn't consume
it for himself. Having all power. You remember
whenever he cursed that fig tree? I planted a fig tree so I could
think of it often. He went to it, he was wanting a fig. Lord,
when I ate a fig, he's hungry. Didn't have no figs on it, he
cursed and it withered right then. And the apostle said, what
kind of power does this fellow have? Look at this, what happened? And he said, you don't have enough
faith to do this? He said, you could say to that
mountain, if you have faith, be thou removed. And he'd just jump
over in the sea. That's just what some faith would
do. Like a mustard seed, isn't it? He had all power, perfect
faith, and he didn't consume it. What would I do? I sat on
that for a couple hours. Did you? You ever consider those
things? What if I had the power of God
to change things? My enemies, there, that's gone. Any pain, it's fixed right there.
Without the wisdom of God, James said, you ask and you receive
not, because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it on your lust,
not our Lord. Never. He was a servant. He did for others, didn't he?
For us. Perfect faith to the Father. He had the Spirit without
measure, and in having that, he had perfect obedience. He
said, all power is given to me. Verse two, as thou hast given
him all power over all flesh, that he should give, Eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. Eternal life is a
gift. It's a gift. It's not an offer.
It's not something that's on a shelf, come take it if you
want it. He gives it. It's a gift. It's from God and
it is to as many as the Father has given Christ that he put
him before time. Is that what it says? That he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. The Lord just puts things plainly,
don't he? Does he? Particular redemption. I bet there's people pulling
out their little faith swords and going to battle all over this
country over that stuff, don't they? Election. Particular redemption
is not debatable. If you debate something and argue
something with someone, you're opening up the fact that you
could be wrong. This is declared. God saved a people. That's good
news. Of the kind of people that's
at war with him and offended him, isn't it? Tell me more about
that. It's plainly declared. I wouldn't
spend five minutes arguing with somebody over it. The Pharisees believed in election
and particular redemption, didn't they? But they did not know the
Redeemer. They did not know why they needed
to be redeemed. He hadn't revealed that to them.
Some things are so plainly spoken in the Word of God, and it's
just proof of our blindness and sin that everyone everywhere
doesn't read stuff like this and fall down immediately and
bow and beg for mercy and worship Christ the Lord. That's proof we're blind walking
through this earth, isn't it? I got some questions on this eternal
life. It's a gift. It's not an offer. He gives it.
Where does it come from? Where does eternal life come
from? There's some common questions. The son who has all power over
all flesh, he gives it. That's the source. He gives it,
doesn't he? Who gets this gift? Who gets eternal life? As many
as God the Father saw fit to put in Christ before the world
began. Read Ephesians 1 or a slew of
other texts, isn't it? That's so, that's who it is.
But where are they from and how many of them are there? People
ask these things, don't they? I thought of Revelation 7. It
says, after this, I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes and palms in their hands, ready to worship. And
they had something else in common. How did they worship? They cried
with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God, which sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb. All glory is yours. Salvation
to the Lord. Thank you. And they worshiped
him that night. What is this eternal life? We know where it comes from.
We know who and what nations, was it a particular nation? No,
it's every kindred, every nation, every tribe. What is it? You have any interest at all
in what it is? Well, someday. What is eternal life? If I was to hand out written
tests right now, you think you'd pass? My pastor used to look down and
say, ain't that right, Kevin? It's important. What is it? What's
eternal life? Look at verse three. And this
is life eternal. Here's what everybody ought to
be interested in. That they might know thee, the
only true God. He had no God. And Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast seen. Not just be aware of him, no,
to know him. And if you know him, you love him. To know him
is to love him. To love him is to cling to him
and worship him. Love your brethren, because they
love him too, and you can't help it. I'm going to go where you
go. Isn't that what Ruth said? She
said, your people is my people. Your God is my God. Wherever
you go, I'm going. Wherever you're buried, that's where I'm getting
buried. We're in this together. Eternal life as they might know
thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. How
does one come to know God? How do we know him? I'm gonna
tell you first off ground rules. It's going to be according to
the scriptures. If you were in false religion
and you were saved back then, and then you just happened to
come to the doctrines of grace, Lord ain't worked in you yet.
Cause that's not according to the scriptures. That's his words
going to be the foundation. This is the authority on all
things, on his character, on who we are and what we are, on
how he saved sinners. This is the authority. So in
Jeremiah 23, behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams,
saith the Lord, and do tell them and cause my people to err by
their lies and by their lightness. That's preachers that preach
false things and that are flippant and lied about these matters. We're dealing with a holy God,
ain't we? He said, yet I sent them not nor commanded them,
therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the
Lord. Well, it's good if they're in
some church instead of just not being in any church at all. No,
it's not. It's going to be according to
this word and it's going to be according to truth. His needs said. Why would they tell such lies?
There's no light in them. They don't have any light to
tell. They don't know. To the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it's
because there's no light in them. They're blind leading to the
blind, and they're looking to the world, and they're looking
to the flesh, and they're looking to stuff to do instead of looking
up. Looking to our redemption that's coming. Looking to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Henry Mahan, did that get your
attention? Here's what my pastor said. He
said, if you want to know about the Baptist God, buy you some
Baptist material, read it. If you want to know about the
Catholic God, get you some Catholic books. If you want to know about
the Reformed God, buy some of their books. If you want to learn
about the Methodist God or the Mormon God or even Buddha, you
get some of their material and they will tell you about their
God. But if you want to know the true and living God, You
have to buy your Bible, and you have to read it, because it's
going to be according to this word. That's so. If someone's
listening, I would ask them, would you know God? Evangelical
message, right? The general call. Would you be
saved? Would you be made whole? Would
you know him? That's the first question, isn't
it? If you're going to know him, he's going to be from this book.
And you're going to have to find a preacher that preaches this
book. Not just anybody, not sitting by yourself at the house, and
that chariot on the way back to Ethiopia and figured it out
yourself, it ain't going to happen. That's according to the book. Someone
that preaches this word verse by verse. What did Isaiah 28
say? Line by line and precept upon
precept. Let's go down and look at the
first three verses. How does someone come to know
the Lord Jesus Christ? Not just to knowing stuff about him, but
to know him. Not just believing in a doctrine,
but believing him. First, it's gonna be according
to this word. I hear people say a lot of stuff. I said, that
ain't right. That ain't what the book says. God did not say that. That's wrong. Stop telling people
that. It ain't right. If you don't know what it says,
go look it up. Maybe you ought to read it sometime. It's gonna
be by according to his word. Second, it's by regeneration.
Life must be given. because we're dead. God's going
to come to us and give us life, breathe life in us. And that
comes with hearts, doesn't it? Life comes with hearts that believe
Him. Life comes with ears that hear
Him. Look, that is what that said. Isaac read this word and
said, that's Him. Look at that. He has to give that life. Remember
in John 3 when Nicodemus came to Him? Very religious man, wasn't
he? Been religious all his life. Didn't miss church service. But
he didn't know God. That's life eternal, right? He
knew religion. He knew what the law said. He
knew the tradition of the fathers. He'd memorized a bunch. He devoted
25 minutes every day of reading the scriptures. An hour and 25
minutes. But he didn't know God. And he
came to the Lord Jesus Christ to discuss some things about
God. We're going to hash this out. We're going to have a chit-chat,
and this is going to be productive. No. The Lord looked at him and
said, you must be born again. He said, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't understand it.
You can't look at it. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. I mean, with Christ, who is our
life for eternity? So you must be born again. That's
why. And Nicodemus said, well, how
can I be born again? Do I enter my mother's womb a second time?
And the Lord said, no. If you were able to do something
like that, you'd be just as you are now. You'd be just as dead
as you are now. You can move your arms, you can
walk around and eat something, but you'd be dead. And he said,
that which is born of flesh is flesh. A man must be born of
the spirit of God, he must be born of the word of God, and
he must be born by the power of God. The Lord has to give
life. How does someone know Christ? I'll tell you what, man, you
talk about getting my attention. If somebody wants to stand up
and talk to me and say, I'm going to tell you about Kimberly Nicole
Thacker, Huh? You're talking about somebody
I love. I'm gonna pay attention to that. Wouldn't you? How can we know if we love him?
We know him. How can we know if we have eternal
life? We can only know him by his word, by regeneration, and
lastly, by revelation. God gave us this word. Here it
is. That's important, isn't it? And
then some of us, somebody in this room, I think there's at
least two, maybe three here gathered. He's gathered. There's a couple
of people living here. Maybe more than that. And he's given us life, given
us ears to hear and hearts to believe. He's worked in us. And he's just going to leave
us alone, yon yon. A lot of people preaching that
too. He's done all the hard work. Now you've got to finish it up.
Absolutely not. He reveals himself to us, doesn't
he? To know him is by revelation only. He gives us understanding
of Christ to know him. And I worked this where we only
turned to one scripture tonight. Maybe that was a mistake, but
we'll find out. Turn over to 1 John chapter five, 1 John five. John was a younger fellow when
he wrote the gospel according to John. And we wrote these epistles
here, he's a much older man. The truth stays the same, doesn't
it? Nothing's changed in his lifetime, nothing's changed to
us, and nothing will change. He doesn't change, does he? Here
in 1 John 5, verse 20. Now what the Lord told them as
he prayed in front of them, when he prayed to the Father and they
got to listen in, let's see here what John writes about it. 1
John 5, verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
has come. He's come. That Messiah that
was pointed to in all the old pictures, types, and all these
things, He's come. We ain't looking for nothing,
it's Him. He come and He went to that cross for us as He said,
that hour came and it was accomplished. We know He's come. We know. And
hath given us an understanding. He gave us some revelation in
this matter. How? Because we had life to give it to. Was it
according to just however you want it? No, it was according
to this word. It was according to this word. That, he did this. He gave us an understanding that
we may know him. That is true. Isn't this how
this started? Yes. How is a believer going
to grow? You're going to know him. Well,
I know him now. I want to know him more. Well,
what happens when we know him more? Do we know everything there
is to know? No, we want to know him more. and then we're gonna
know him more, and he's gonna keep revealing himself to us,
and it's gonna get more precious and more important to us. That's
just so, isn't it? That we may know him that is
true, and that we are in him that's true. That's just salvation
revealed. We're in him, he's in us, we're
one with him, and he's on the throne, and we're joint heirs
with him. What a thought. Even his son, Jesus Christ, this
is the true God and Eternal life. What's eternal life? To know
Him. And the Lord has to do that. It's going to be according to
His Word. He's going to have to give us life, and then He's going to
have to reveal Himself to us, isn't He? That's what's good.
You can't find out God. You can't. We're going to read
His Word. It's going to be according to that Word. He has to reveal
it. He has to do the work. Anything
else? Now, listen to me. Anything else? is a false refuge. What am I
getting at? Anything else is eternal damnation
and death. Anything else. Christ is eternal
life, union with him, knowing him, being found in him. That's
what the word says, right? That's life. Anything else is
a false refuge. Look at verse 21. Little children,
keep yourself from idols. Amen. keep yourself. If there's some other way that's
not according to this work, don't have it. If there's some other
way that eternal life comes that's not by the Lord giving the life,
don't have it. It's an idol. It's death. If
there's any other way that somebody learned something about God without
the Lord being the teacher of his children, don't buy them
self-help books. They don't know everything. It's
an idol, isn't it? I've been encouraged from multiple
sides to soften my stance or soften my message as many other
preachers throughout time have been. It's according to his word,
it's according to his regeneration, and it's according to his revelation,
it's all of God. And everything else is death,
and he gets all the glory for saving the people. I ain't reconsidering. If he keeps me, Lord, keep me.
There's nothing else good news. That's it. I ain't backing off
of it. Our text says, this is life eternal
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Do you know him according to
his word? Because he gave you new life, because he revealed
himself to you? If so, we glory in him. We're thankful in Him. We talk
about Him, not us. He is doing. A few verses up
here in John 5, 11. It says, and this is the record
that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I want to tell this to those
that have the son, and they'll say, amen, that's right. And
those that don't have him, I want to say, you need to know the
son. God's got to do something in you, beg him for mercy, come
to him, bow to him, worship him. He might be pleased to give Christ
to him. That'd be a good thing. I hope
that's a comfort to you. All right, brother Mark.