John 17, if ever there was a passage of scripture that the preacher would say, who is sufficient for these things? This is it. Every verse can be a message in itself, a sermon in itself. But I don't want to break this down so much. I gave you an outline that was dissected and broken down in many scripture references. I don't want to do that so much as just take the whole prayer and the way our Lord said it and hope that he will speak to our heart.

When I first began studying it, it wasn't blessing me the way I wanted it to. And then I read the verse preceding this chapter. Look at verse 33. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, trouble. But be of good cheer. Cheer up. I have overcome the world. And then in verse 13, He says, Now come I to these, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

So I want us to receive this with great joy, understanding something, a little bit more, that our Lord is praying for us, his people. And James said the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man. He is the righteous one. Availeth much. Well, this prayer availeth everything. This prayer is our salvation. The Father always hears him and answers him. This is recorded for our sake, that we might know It was the Father's purpose, it was the Son's desire, it's the covenant, it's everything that Christ came into this world to save his people, and he did just that. And salvation is in him completely. So this is a great, should give us great joy and rejoicing.

Verse 1, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven. He's the only one that can. We bow our heads, don't we? He didn't. He lifted up his eyes and said, Father, this is the only begotten, well-beloved Son that the Father loves supremely, and given all things in his hand. We're going to see several things that the Father gave him. But the Father loved Christ so much that he hadn't spoken out loud in years, and he spoke out loud. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And he said, Father, the hour has come. Seven times our Lord said that. One time he said, My hour has not yet come. And then seven times he said, The hour has come. The hour has come.

The hour that was prophesied throughout the scripture in all the Old Testament types and symbols and shadows and pictures and emblems and people, persons, places and things that pointed to the time when Christ would come to this earth to do that work he did. In the fullness of time. He says the time is fulfilled. It's right now. The hour has come. It says, Father, glorify thy Son. that thy son also may glorify thee." God's greatest glory. Do you remember Exodus 33? He said, show me that glory. What did the Lord say? God said, I'm going to make all my goodness pass before you. The gospel, all the goodness of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I've got to go on. This is the first verse. Glorify thy Son, he came to glorify the Father, verse 2, as thou hast given him power over all flesh. This is the Lord Jesus Christ of Scripture, because this is God manifesting the flesh. No mere man, but the God-man with all power, the creator, the sovereign ruler, the controller of all. Power over all flesh, as Brother John Brown from Scotland said in Pink. So that doesn't just mean flesh, but it means all principalities and powers, rulers of all, angels and devils and everything, absolute sovereign over all. He has to be in order to be the one to give life. Verse 2, that he should give eternal life. It's his to give, isn't it? And he gives it freely to them, as many as thou hast given him. He said this five or six times here. Those whom thou hast given me. Those whom thou hast given me. Those whom thou hast given me. What is that? Election. Before the world began. We're going to see that.

He says in verse 3, and this is life eternal. This is what it means to be saved. This is what it means to have life, to have eternal life. that they might know thee the only true God. No God. We quote this often, don't we? The world doesn't know the only true God. They have many imaginations of God. But in this chapter alone, Christ clearly tells us who God is, that he is God. and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, the God over all, forever blessed, and the one who reigns and rules and sent his Son and made him Lord over all. Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." This is salvation, to know the God of the Bible and to know Jesus Christ who came and why he came and what he did and who he did it for and where he is now. That's salvation. I believe you did, I believe. And this prayer is for those who know him. We don't know him as we want to. Paul said, oh, then I might know him, but we do know him. We know him partly. We preach him partly. Oh, but we're grateful. The Son has come and given us an understanding of what might know him. So we do. Thank God.

He says in verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. Why did Christ come? Because the first Adam dishonored God. The first Adam sinned against God, and Adam all died. In Christ, they're going to be made alive. They're all made alive in Christ. Adam rebelled against God. Adam sinned against God. Adam plunged us into sin, hell, and death. But God sent Christ. the second Adam, to fulfill the law, to bring in an everlasting righteousness that cannot be undone, imputed to all of his people by Jesus Christ, to finish the work of glorifying God, and later, he said on the cross, he finished that work of paying for our sins. He said, I finished the work thou gavest me to do, that is, to glorify God as a man who condemned sin in the flesh and later on the cross, took that sin in his body on the tree, was made sin, and put it away as far as the East has put it away. If you are a sinner, I give you joy.

Verse 4, 5,
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self. with the glory which I had with thee before the world. Glorify thou me with thy presence."
I'm coming to you, he said. I want to be with you. I've done this work. Though he was in the earth, he was truly not separated from God. He was always in the bosom of the Father and vice versa. How can that be? I don't know, but he was.

But he came. But when he was on the cross now, he was separated from God. He was forsaken of God, but not the whole time he was on earth. The Father in him and he in the Father. But when he was made sin on the cross, he was forsaken.

Why? He says his great heart desire is to be with the Father as he was when? Did our Lord exist before he came? No clearer words can be said than what he said that. with the glory I had with thee before the world was. Where was Jesus Christ before the stars were put into place? Where was Jesus Christ before the mountains were formed? Where was Jesus Christ before this world was created? Where was he? In his glory with the Father.

Proverbs 8, I was daily his delight. So he says, I'm coming today.

Verse 6,
I have manifested thy name. Manifest means to declare, to reveal, to make clear, make plain. Thy name. Look at verse 11, and he told us to pray this. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Look at verse 11. He says, I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, holy Father. Remember when he said, call no man father upon the earth. Remember that? One is your Father. And Holy Father is his name.

Oh, the millions that call him an imposter. Holy Father. You know who the Holy Father is. Our Lord is manifest. See, no man knows the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. He said, I have manifested thy name, the Holy Father.

Look at verse 25.
O righteous Father, Everybody talks about God this and God that, and God's our Father, and God's the Father of all mankind. No, he's not. No, he's not. He's the Father of his people through Jesus Christ, the first begotten, first Son. We're elected in him, and he's our righteous father. Just and holy is his name.

Verse 6,
I manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. God has a people out of every nation, kindred, and tongue under heaven. Isn't he good? Isn't he good? And he's bringing them out like the children of Israel in Egypt, bringing them out of the world. Thine they were when? Before the world began. Chosen of God. Thou gavest them me in a covenant, and they have kept thy word.

As many as received him, they were given the right and privilege to become sons of God, which were what? Born, not of the flesh, not of blood, not of the will of man, not of flesh, but of the elected of God, given to Christ in a covenant, in time born as flesh, and then in time born again by the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel. They become sons of God, and how they're born is receiving the Word like seed planted in a womb, a barren womb, dead. You've got the Quicken who were dead and trespassed and sinned. How the seed can work the gospel of Christ. The only reason you believe is because God gave you life. They have received. They have. They believe.

Verse 7,
They have kept thy word, they have laid hold of the eternal life. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

John the Baptist In his message, he who preached every day, Behold the Lamb, he said this, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. All power, all judgment, all righteousness. All things, all people, persons, places, and things are owned by and in the hands of, at the disposal of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're in his hands. Aren't you glad? Your children, your future, everything about you, your soul is in his hands. He has the keys of hell and death at his side. He's the one in charge of it all. Aren't you glad? And he's praying for his people. Pray for you if you want.

Verse 8,
For I have given them unto them the words which thou gavest me. Verse 14,
it says, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them. This is one way you know you belong to him, is he's given you his words and you receive it as a little child, you believe it. And you rejoice in all the world. I've asked you this many times. What word in God's word, what verse would you take out if you could? What word don't you like? Believe all of it, every word. And lay hold of it. And the world, though, many things they hate, not God's people. They love God's word. Because it speaks of the Word made flesh.

He says in verse 8, I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, because he gave us life to receive. And they have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

There are millions of people going door to door to try to disprove the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And some of you have seen that sign, that blessing sign. He didn't exist before the world began. Right here he plainly says he did. And everything we believe is based on the person and the work and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we believe about God, about man, about salvation, is based on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you call him a liar when you say these things, because he's God. He plainly said these things.

Now they know, I came from thee, equal with the Father. He said in his sermon to his disciples, he says, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Is he less than God? Oh no. Is he less than the Father? Explain that. How can he be both the Father and the Son? Do you believe that? That's what he said to his disciple. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. He said to those Pharisees, he said, you're just a man. He said, before Abraham was, I am. Do you believe that? We can't explain it, but we believe it. He must be God. He has to be God. He has to be equal with the Father to do and say the things that he did.

Later on, he's going to say, I will. We can't say that. Now he did. Look at the next line. He said, they believed. And I pray for them. Remember the them? Are you one of them? I believe you are. Most in this room. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. If God loves the whole world and Jesus died for the whole world, why isn't he praying for them? Because it's not true. God doesn't love everyone in the world, and Christ didn't die for everyone in the world, but he did die for a people out of the world as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea, and none deserve salvation, none deserve a chance to be saved, but God is rich in mercy, chose a people that no man can number. He has a number, and he gave them to Christ, and Christ knows their names, and he came to die for them. now has given them to me, and they are thine."

Listen to this now. They are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine. Don't you love that? Like in the canticles, the Song of Solomon, I am my beloved's, and he is mine. See, these people were given to Christ to come and save, but they were loved and chosen by God before the world began. And we are his children. Behold what manner of love the Father bestowed upon us. We should be called the sons of God. The same as his Son. Not equal, but the same as his Son. His children.

And here's what our Lord said in John 10. He said, I give unto them eternal life, as many as God gave them, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them unto me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." On and on and on. So if you belong to the father, he gave you the son, to the son whom you belong to, and here are his, whose, his, the father's and the son.

Illustration. Mothers and fathers have children. You have children. They belong to the father, they belong to the mother, don't they? They're equally loved. What's yours is his, and what's his is yours. Even so it is with God the Father, and God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All mine are thine, and thine are mine. And they're all loved equally because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am glorified in them. What do you desire to do more than anything else? Glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we meet together? Why is it that we preach Christ all the time? Why is that? Because he deserves the glory. That's why we meet, to glorify him and we endeavor to do so in everything we say and do, from the hymns we sing to the prayers we pray to the way we conduct our services. We want to glorify our Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you know God's people.

Now, verse 11, I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Sounds like he's already left. Well, he hasn't, but this is a mystery. How could he be in heaven and be on earth? I've often wondered, and we're going to this time of the year where people are thinking about a child being born, a son given. When did he--he didn't change. And yet there's a baby in a womb, and then a child born, and then a young man twelve years old who grew in wisdom and stature and favor. How can he who is wisdom grow in wisdom? Can you explain that? Would you like to come up here and try? It can't be explained. That's a mystery. Great is the mystery of God. God was manifest in the flesh. When did he enter that body that was prepared in him? How could he be God and yet a child?

Speaking thanks to one of them. He says, I'm no more in the world, but these are in the world, and we will be until he takes us out of the world. And I come to thee, holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one with us, one as we are. Keep us now as one, one accord, one mind, one heart, one purpose, one cause, the cause of Christ, one body. with one head, the body does what? Lifts up the head. The body covers itself while the head is seen clearly. That's what the church is all about. And he says, keep to thine own name. What does Psalm 121 that Brother gave, sings all the time saying? The Lord is thy what? Keeper. That's his name. If he fails to keep one single person, That he purposed to save. He's not the Lord, our Keeper. If he failed to save one person whom he intended to save, he's not our Savior. If there's anything outside of his divine control, he's not God. He's not the Lord. But I'm here to tell you. I'm here to tell you. That's my purpose. That he is God. He is Lord. He is the Savior. He is our Keeper. We're kept by the power of God, and who is the power of God? Christ is the power of God.

Verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, the Lord our Keeper, the Holy Father, the Righteous Father. He said to his disciples, I go to my Father and your Father. Your Father. I just don't know if I'm one of the children of God. I don't know if I'm a son of God. I'm so sinful and so sorry. How could I be one of the children of God? Well, that's surely what Jacob thought. How? Because of Jesus Christ. You believe Christ, we're sons by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You hear me? That's what he said. Those that thou hast given me, I have kept. And none of them is lost. Brothers and sisters, let this rejoice your heart, that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll never be lost. You'll never be lost. But the son of perdition, we all need to say, Lord, is it I? No, not if you believe Christ, truly. Not if you're in it for his glory. Not if you're one as he is one.

That the scriptures might be fulfilled. Judas was chosen to betray our Lord. Chosen, according to the scriptures, Psalm 109. And now verse 13, I come out to thee. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Do you remember he said back in chapter 14, peace I leave with you. Peace with God. How do we have peace with God? Most of the world doesn't know that. They say this every about every son of Adam that makes some kind of religious profession on his deathbed, and everybody does. They say he made his peace with God. Well, he doesn't have any peace with God if that's what happened.

How do we have peace with God? Who made peace with God? You notice that. Jesus Christ made peace. How? By the blood of his cross. He is our peace. He is our peace with God. And he said, peace I leave with you. Peace with God. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be afraid. You believe in God? He said, believe also in me. Why? I am God.

Back in our text, he said that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Despise the shame. Sit down at the right hand of God. Oh, the joy. We should have rejoicing pride.

Verse 14, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Isn't this what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians about the Alec? They said, our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power. Life-giving power. Repentance-giving power. Heart-piercing power. Heart-breaking power. And the Holy Ghost who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto you. And much assurance. He assures you that you're a sinner and Christ is your only hope. And he's the surety of an everlasting love.

And you know what manner of men we were among you. What is that? Preachers of the gospel. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, and you received the word with much affliction. When you believe the truth, the world begins to hate you. Just as they hated Clive. Our Lord said this, marvel not, brethren, if the world hates you. They hated me, and they won't hate you. Why? For the truth, sir. The truth is set. The world hath hated them. Why? Because they are not of the world.

He kept saying this, didn't he? Even as I am not of the world. As he is, so are we now in the world. Behold, now are we the sons of God. And like our Lord Jesus Christ, we hold forth the truth. And the world hated him for it, and the world hates his people for it. But this is our cause. Like David of old. Remember what David said? Is there not a cause? Yes, it is. The cause of God and truth. Christ is the truth.

He says in verse 15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. My, my, our Lord sends us into the world, not isolate us from it like so many do who live and try to separate themselves in a communal existence. No, no, no, our Lord, we are supposed to be the salt in the air. The light of the world, that is, as we talk about Christ's light. So he sends us out into the world. And he says, I pray not to take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil, the evil one. Keep them from being overcome by the world. Aren't you glad he prayed that? One of my favorite verses is, sin shall not have dominion over you. Do you like that? If you're a sinner, I mean a Roman 7 sinner, and you read that, that gives you hope. Sins shall not have dominion over you. You're not under the law, you're under grace, the grace of God in Christ.

And it says, keep them from the evil. He will, he has. He's the only one able to keep us from falling. He says they're not of the world again. They're not of the world, verse 16. Are you with me? Even as I'm not of the world, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. What does that mean, sanctify? Well, it means purify. It means consecrate. It means dedicate.

What did our Lord say about being clean and pure? He said, now are you clean through what? The word I've spoken of you. There is therefore now no condemnation of them that are in crime. Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? Christ is God. Christ said, now you're clean, every whit. The great high priest has pronounced us clean through the blood of his brother. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful?

Sanctify. It also means to be set apart, to be differentiated. There's a difference between the Egyptians and the children of Israel. And that difference is the blood of the Lamb, the leadership of that angel who leads them and guides them, directs them. He hath not the Spirit of God. He's not a hymn. And it says, Thy word is truth, the gospel. Peter said you're born again by the word of truth, which is the gospel. Seeing you have purified your souls and obeyed the truth. Don't you like that? Just like Abraham, your son of God, by believing Christ. Isn't that something? Not doing, believing. We don't.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." To be what? To be his witnesses. He said that to his disciples who went out preaching, and so are his people, their witnesses, every one of them. And he says, for their sakes I thank the Father myself. You know, that doesn't mean Christ made himself holy and pure. He was that to begin with. But he set himself apart. He left the Father and became flesh, like we are, in the likeness of sinful flesh.

Sanctified means dedicated, devoted, completely consecrated to God. And that's why Christ came. For the glory of God and the salvation of His people. For their sake, I set myself apart for this work. to be their salvation, to be their sanctification. Doesn't it say that by one offering he hath perfected everything that is sanctified? What has Christ made unto his people? Everything. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

That according as it is written, he that glorieth. Now you know these verses don't you? Why do we continue to bring these up? We quote that all the time, 1 Corinthians 1.30. No, we quote it all the time. Because it's true and it brings Jesus Christ all the glory. And it's all our salvation. And it ought to give us great joy because nothing's left up to you. It's all completely in Him. I started to ask for an amen. A smile is good enough. Joy.

For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Christ is the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." That's me, that's you, isn't it? When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, remember we just read that, he said, know your election because our word came unto you not in word only, but in power and the Holy Ghost. He received the word with much affliction. He became followers of us. In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, he said, we thank God that he received the word as it is the truth, the word of God and not the words of men.

You know how many people believe that the epistles of Paul and James and Peter are just the words of men and subject to error? You know how many people believe that? Not God's people. No, no, no. We believe every word that the disciples wrote is the Word of God. Holy men spake as they were moved in the Spirit of God. And we believe, we believe through the preaching of the Word, the Gospel, that they all may be one, verse 21, one, one in Christ. One Father, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope, one calling, one body, one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, Christ in you, us in Christ, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

The whole world is going to know someday. But the people out of the world know now that Christ has been sent. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father. We have a sister in here whose mother could quote most of this chapter, and that's good, because it's glorious, isn't it?

John 1. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. We have beheld His glory. That is salvation, to behold His glory. Like Moses, show me your glory. The Lord said, I'm going to make my goodness pass before you. I'm going to declare my name unto you. And he said, there's a place by me on the rock, you're going to stand on the rock, and I'm going to come down, and then there's a place in the cleft of the rock I'm going to put you. You know what all that is. That's Christ. He is the rock. Christ Jesus and Him crucified.

We beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and of His fullness have all we received grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You know that. Want me to read it again? How many times have you read that? Wouldn't that be good to commit to memory? If he didn't know any other scripture, that would be another thing. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him. That's Christ.

The glory thou hast given me, thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one. We truly are one, even as they are one. I am them. Christ in you is the hope of glory, be that sun of life. And thou in me, Father in Christ, us in Christ, that they may be made perfect in thee. Paul said that, didn't he? That Christ sent his preachers to preach Christ. Ephesians 4, he said, he gave them for the perfecting of the saints, so we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, the measure of the stature and the fullness of Christ, growing up in him in all things, who is the head, Jesus Christ. The whole body is one, fit to join together for that purpose.

So he says in verse 23, in conclusion, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." Can you believe that? That God loves you if you are a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. That God loves you as he loves Jesus Christ. Can you believe that? Well, you need to for your joy. You need to. I will, this is what I will, that they who also whom thou hast given me, thou elects, be with me where I am."

Do you want to be with God someday? Do you want to be with Christ? Do you want to be with the saints, gather with the saints at the river? Do you love that song? Do you want to be in his kingdom? Do you want to be in that great ransom throne? Do you want to be? Well, how are you going to be there? Because Christ said, I will. Let they be with me where I am. Who? Those that believe me. Those that trust me.

24, that they may behold my glory. We're going to see him as he is, aren't we? And then, and then only, will we worship him as we ought, as we want now and can't, because our flesh prohibits it. We're going to glorify him as we want to. We sing this song, Hosanna's languish on our tongue, and our devotion die. In vain we strive to tune our formal song. Oh, my, but one day we're going to sing from the bottom of our heart and the top of our lungs of him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Behold my glory, and that's what we're trying to do now. And we see in part, we know in part, but oh, thank God for the

The glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee. The world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known thee."

Do you know this living and true God? Do you know the Christ who came? Do you long to know? Paul said, oh, I might know him, I might win Christ, be found in him. Do you know what that means? A little bit. Is that your hope? Is that your desire? These have known that you sent me to be our Savior. And I have declared unto them thy name over and over again.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. His holy name, our righteous Father, a just God and a Savior. And I will declare it as it is. He will continue to declare it. And I've gone back and listened to some messages I've preached years ago, and by the grace of God, I can tell you the message is the same. I will continue to declare it.

that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them. Paul said this one time, he said, the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of his people. Who does God love? Jesus Christ, his Son. And that same love that the Father has for his Son, all of his people, he puts that love in them. where they love his Son supremely. They love his glory, they love his honor, they love his person, they love his work, that such as love thy salvation, say continually, the Lord be named. Glorified. This is what he said. That's why Christ came, and that's why he saves his people, and that's our desire. Thou hast loved me, and the love you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.