Oh goodness, it's so good to
be here. I want to tell you, I sure love your pastor and his
wife. They're just so wonderful. And
I sure love all of you. You know, through the years,
you guys supported us when we were down in Central Point, Oregon,
and just amazing. Just can't tell you how much
you mean to all of us. And I'll tell you a little story
though. One of the men at church got
me one of those Amazon things, those screens, the screen ones. And you put him there and ask
him all kinds of questions. But he said, oh, you can get
sermon audio on this. And I said, oh, really? He says,
yeah. He says, I'll set the home church to our church. I said,
no, don't do that. I said, my home church is in
the Dalles. I said, I don't listen to my own messages. I listen
to Brother Norm. So there you go. There you go. It's just an honor to be here.
It's an honor. I count it a high privilege and
an honor every time to step into the pulpit. I know your pastor
does too. And I know Mike does and Mike
and Lauren as well. And it's just an honor. It's
such a blessing. So I pray that the Lord will
bless the messages this week. And when Brother Norm asked me
to come out, Right away, the Lord put on my heart, John chapter
17, right away. Right away. There's so much comfort
found in this chapter. So much comfort. It just exalts
our sovereign God, that he is absolutely almighty and all powerful
and all sovereign over all things visible and invisible. There
is nothing that happens in this world without him knowing. Nothing. Nothing outside his permissive
will. And he is, let me tell you, you know this, he's absolutely
sovereign. Absolutely sovereign. There's
not a maverick molecule in this universe. Not one. Not one. Not one. In this chapter, we'll
see the God-man speaking. And let us remember that he's
the great God manifest in the flesh. He's God incarnate in
the flesh. He's the second person of the
Trinity. He's called the Word of God in John chapter one. And in this chapter, we get a
glimpse. We get a glimpse of his prayers.
And the Holy Spirit, he's preserved this for us. And I wanna say,
tonight we're gonna look at the whole prayer. And then we're gonna look at
the sections. It's broken down into three sections. The whole
prayer is broken down into three sections. And so tomorrow night,
we'll look at the first section. Next night, we'll look at the
second, and then we'll look at the last section. And this is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, as we're reading this,
this is the master speaking. This is our Lord. This is our
King. This is our Redeemer. And he's praying to the Father.
And I want us to take note of how many times he makes reference
to those that thou hast gavest me. See, God the Father gave
Christ to people. They're called the elect of God
in the scriptures. We don't know who they are, so
we preach the gospel and leave the saving up to God. Out goes
the message. Norm, ever since you did that
trumpet thing at church, everybody still talks about that. The gospel
preacher's just blowing on a trumpet, that's all. Just blowing on a
trumpet, and the message goes out. It goes out for God's glory. So this is the high priestly
prayer of our great high priest. And he prayed this just before
he went to the cross, just before he went to the tomb, and then
just before he assumed up to glory. Let's read verses one
to five right now. The scripture declares this.
These words spake Jesus and lifted his eyes up to heaven and said,
Father, The hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may
glorify thee, as thou has given him power over all flesh. Who
has power? Who has the power over all flesh? That means every one of us. That
means believers and unbelievers. He has power over all flesh that
he should give. Salvations of the Lord that he
should give. eternal life to as many, here's
the first mention, as thou hast given him. Now, this is the master saying
this too. And then he says, and this is
life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God. There's only one true God. His
name is Jehovah. There's only one God. And Jesus
Christ, now look at this, whom thou hast sent, Christ was sent
by God the Father. He left the glories and splendors
of heaven being sent by the Father. And it continues here, I have
glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. So he was sent by the father,
and we see here, he was with the father before the world was. Oh my, he's fully God and fully
man. This is none other than the word
of God incarnate speaking these words. And we believers, we need
to be comforted, don't we? We need comfort while we go through
this world. It's a world of tribulation,
isn't it? It's a world of trials. You know, James says that we're
gonna fall into diverse trials. It says temptations, but the
word there is trials in the Greek. Trials, and oh, we've all went
through trials, haven't you? But isn't it amazing? I love
looking at this. I look back on my life, even
before the Lord saved me. I see different things I went
through. You see that? See different things you went
through? Has the Lord always delivered you through them? Ever since you've been a believer,
you look back, look what the Lord's done. Glory to his name. Praise His mighty name for the
wondrous things that He's done for us. And this just shows us
that He's absolutely sovereign. You know, He cares for us so
much. He loves us so much that even the very hairs of our head
are numbered. That's how intimately He knows
His people, His elect. That's how intimately He knows
us. We can't even count the hairs on our head. He knows everyone.
He knows that what comfort that can bring us, what joy in the
midst of sorrow that can bring us. Oh, he's such a great God. And verse two, verse two just
shows us his sovereignty by the very words he speaks. He says,
now who's given him power? The one who sent him. And remember,
Christ is, while he's on this earth, he's totally subservient
to the Lord. He's in full obedience to the
Father. My, oh my. And it says here,
as thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give.
Who gives eternal life? Well, it's not by a decision
man makes, is it? It's not by praying a prayer
or walking an aisle. According to this verse, this
scripture verse, says that he should give eternal life to everyone? No, but to as many as thou hast
given him. Given to him by the Father in
eternity. And do we not marvel as God's
people that we're included in that number? It's amazing. God's sovereign over all things.
We see that right here. Christ is absolutely sovereign.
And we see here that God is absolutely sovereign in salvation. In these
words proclaimed by the master. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
about to go to the cross. He's about to go and accomplish
that for which he was sent. What was he sent to this world?
to save his people from their sins. Norm gave me a track today. And in this track, it said, it
said, paradise or hell, the choice is up to you. That's not what
this verse says, is it? No. So that's a lie then. That's a lie. Because if it was
up to any of us, we'd never choose Christ. Praise God, he made us
willing in the day of his power. Praise God the Holy Spirit regenerated
us. Gave us faith to believe and we ran to Christ, didn't
we? Because otherwise, I was listening to Rupert a while back
and he said, a team of wild horses can't stop someone who the Lord's
regenerated, who the Holy Spirit's regenerated. A team of wild horses
couldn't stop them from coming to Christ. Couldn't stop them. That's an effectual power of
God, the Holy Spirit. And God, we see here clearly,
as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. He has all power,
beloved, all power, all might. So he's about to go to the cross.
He's about to die for the sins of his people. The sinless one
is about to give his life for sinners. He's about to offer
himself up as God's Passover lamb. The great substitute. And who have we sinned against?
We sinned against God, didn't we? So who does he offer himself
up to? To God the Father. As the substitute
of his people. The sinless one, the just one,
dying for the unjust, that's us. And this is close to the last
hours of his earthly life. And we're getting a glimpse,
beloved, into the blessed communion that our Lord Jesus Christ had
with the Father. Blessed communion. And as Norm
and I were talking about the other day, he's about to say,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? All he's known is
blessed communion. And Henry Mahan wrote in a sermon,
I told Norm, I never forgot this, one of the sermon notes Norm
has. He said, God forsook God. And why did he do that? For you
and I, beloved. What love. That is immeasurable
love. You can't even plumb the depths
of that love, can you? It's immeasurable. Look at verse three, and this
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God in
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Eternal life is only in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ, not by works of righteousness,
not by anything we do. Salvation's only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, nowhere else, right? And God, you know
what God does? He reveals himself to us, because
otherwise we'd never know him. We were groping in the dark before
the Lord regenerated us, before we were born again. We were groping
in the dark, weren't we? You ever get up in the middle
of the night, and this is, I find it happening more and more the
older I get. You know, I even have my wife
leave a light on now for me, because I've ran into the door
too many times, right? And you're groping, aren't you?
You have your hands about, right? You're trying to get in. That's how
we were. We were just groping in the dark.
Had no clue who God was. We were in darkness, right? We'd been translated in the kingdom
of God's dear son. Oh, it's wonderful. And you know
why? All because of the love of God
in Christ. That's the only reason. We're
saved for Christ's sake and only because of him. No other reason. And God reveals himself to his
elect. And he reveals himself as the
one true living God. Just like Joseph revealed himself
to his brethren, God reveals himself to us through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And again, that's by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. You must
be, you must be. And you know, modern religion
has replaced Holy Spirit regeneration with what's called, we like to
call it decisionalism. Dial your head and repeat this
prayer. And then they say, now you're saved. Where's the Holy
Spirit? You know what C.H. Spurgeon used
to say, and I love this. He used to say, God can save
you in your seat without you moving a muscle. Because it's
an operation of God. It's a heart work. And we who
are the people of God, we've experienced that. We've experienced
that, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us. Oh my. And we see here again
in verse three, that God sent Christ, look at this. And this
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God
in Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. He's sent by God the Father,
he's sent. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
1, 21. And then verse four, I'll read it while we're turning there.
Christ says, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. You know, Christ finished
the work of salvation for his people. When he cried on the
cross, it is finished. In the Greek, it is perfect. Do we need to add anything to
perfection? Can we add anything to perfection? No, if we add
man's works, we ruin it. But praise God, our salvation
is perfect, complete, full, forgiveness of all our sins. And the Greek
word for finish means to complete, to complete, literally to accomplish,
to make perfect. The same word is used when Christ
cried, it is finished, finished, nothing to be added to it. Look
at this, why did God the Father send the Lord Jesus Christ? See,
the track I read today, it said, well, it's your choice. Well, if it was man's choice,
we would never choose God because we're born dead in trespasses
and sins. The scripture declares us to
be enemies of God in our minds by wicked works. That's how we
are, that's how we're born. My, oh my. And look what it says
here. And you remember when Christ
cried on the cross, it is finished. It's perfect, right? Look at
this. Matthew 1, 21. And she shall bring forth a son
and thou shall call his name Jesus. For he shall save his
people from their sins. You know that tract never mentioned
sin? It didn't mention sin at all.
The very reason Christ came was to save his people from their
sins. I'm so thankful though, are you? Isn't that wonderful? Because we're sinners from the
top of our head to the bottom of our feet, right? And even
after we're saved, we're still sinners. But praise God, we're
saved sinners. Right? My oh my. It's amazing. And the perfect sin-atoning work
of God, it was perfect. The work of salvation that Christ
wrought on the cross was absolutely perfect. So perfect that God
said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He
can't say that about me. Now he can say that about me
in Christ. And that's the only place, right? And you too, only
in Christ. But outside of Christ, we're
not, we're unprofitable servants. My oh my. God is so good to us. Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter two. This passage here. This passage here is absolutely
incredible. Colossians chapter two. And let we who are the beloved
of God, the born-again, blood-washed saints of God, let us marvel
at the truth that's set before us, again, by the Holy Spirit
of God, the true author of the scriptures. He actually sets
this up before us, right? And remember, too, as we're reading
the scriptures, he's the true author. And these scriptures
are written for God's people to comfort us. to show us a great
savior. The scriptures are all about
Christ. And who is the object of our faith? Christ. Christ
in him alone. Look at this, Colossians chapter
two. This is just, oh. Starting in verse nine, for in
him being Christ dwell all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
He's God incarnate in the flesh. Look at this. And ye are complete
in him. Do you know the word complete
there means to fill abundantly? You can't get another drop. My
buddy of mine who reads Greek, I was talking to him about this
word. He said, Wayne, that means it's so full, you can't add a
drop. If you add a drop, it's gonna overflow. This is a reality for us. We
are complete in Christ. All spiritual blessings are found
in Christ. This is a truth that Paul's setting
forth here, but actually the Holy Spirit is setting forth
through the pen of Paul. And ye are complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power. Now he's told us in
John 17 too that he is all power. In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, in the putting off of
the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Now he starts talking here about the new birth. And remember our
Lord said, you must be born again. You have to be born again. Look
at this. This is magnificent. Buried with
him in baptism, where and also you are risen with him through
the faith, look at this, of the operation of God. We are born again by the operation
of God, by his power, by his might. It's wonderful. by the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead. The same power that raised Christ
from the dead is the same power that raises us from our dead
natural state. And then he says, and you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened,
born again, together with him, heaven forgiven you some of your
trespasses? Oh, there's not one left. God
says, I don't remember your sin no more. Look at this, A-L-L,
all, all, all trespasses. Well, some folks, you know, you
tell them that and they say, well, how can you say your future
sins are all forgiven? All my sins were future 2,000
years ago, every single one of them. And if Christ paid for
all my sins and he did, praise God, then all of them are forgiven. Every single one of them. And
then he says this, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances.
The blotting out there is the whitewash in the Greek. You ever
seen a wall that has graffiti or something on it and they put
whitewash on it and it covers everything? There's nothing left.
And the ordinances here, In those days, they used to have a list
of ordinances that were against us. Could you imagine all the
ordinance that were against us? All our sins, blotted out, whitewashed into
the precious blood of Christ. So, so much, so, so gone so far
that God says, your sins and iniquities will I remember no
more. My, what salvation in Christ
we have. And look at this, that was against
us. All those were against us. Think
of this, the law of God was against us. The justice of God was against
us. The ordinances, our sins were
against us. He took it all out of the way.
It was all contrary to us. Took it all out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
power, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them
in it. Triumphing there is like the Roman generals when they
came in after a massive battle and they had a triumph, they'd
come in in a golden chariot with a laurel on their head. It was
the greatest honor that a Roman general, a Roman citizen could
ever have. Our Lord triumphed over all our
enemies. Who's our greatest enemy? Ourselves. Sin. Triumphed over our sin. Triumphed over the devil. Triumphed over all who are against
us. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Oh my. See, our salvation is complete
in Christ. We are complete in Him. He's
the head and we're the body. It's absolutely incredible. I
ask you, has God not richly blessed his people in Christ? Has he
not richly blessed us? Has his grace not super abundantly
prevailed in our lives? My, we can't even keep ourselves
and he keeps us by his grace and his mercy. Can't even save
ourselves. And he saves us all according
to his mercy and his grace. My. And then he's gonna take
us home. Be with him forever. Now we see
it through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Oh, what a
day that'll be. My, oh my. So we've been, we, we, do you
know we're the richest people in the world? Bill Gates got
nothing on us. He's got earthly wealth, but
we have spiritual wealth only in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Only through him. My. And that word, that word complete,
again, it means to make full, to fill completely. Figuratively,
this word means to fill, supply abundantly with something to
impart richly. Oh, we have all spiritual blessings
in Christ. In Christ, in Christ Jesus, our
Lord, we have justification before
God. We're rendered innocent by the
work of Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have sanctification. We're made holy in Christ. Holy
in Christ. All wisdom comes from our great
Lord who is wisdom. He's all our wisdom. Righteousness. Righteousness. Christ is our
righteousness. Jehovah's akin to the Lord, our
righteousness. And you know what's revealed
in the gospel? The righteousness of God. Who's
the righteousness of God? Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's
revealed in the gospel. And think of this, too. Remember
the law was against us? It's totally satisfied. It's
totally, it has no claim on the believer. We are absolutely free
in Christ. Free. Remember the justice of
God that was against us? It's been so extinguished that
there's not even a, there's not even a wisp of smoke coming up
from off of it. It's extinguished. The wrath
is extinguished. I like to, I love that song,
Shelter in the Time of Storm. And I used the illustration one
time preaching, and it just, when I saw it and I read it,
it just filled my eyes with tears. And I often think of when, when, when he's our shield, I often
think of how in the desert, back in those times, and they still
have them, they get these sandstorms that come. And it's like you find shelter
behind a huge rock. And you tuck in under that rock,
right? And you're safe. We're tucked in under Christ
and that wrath of God is beating on him. Beating on him. Beating on him. And we're in
Christ. We're crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, we live. My oh my. And He endured it all
so that there's not even a wisp of smoke left of the wrath of
God against us. It is finished. Finished. And then we have a full pardon
of all our sins. A full pardon. Every single sin
we've ever committed or will ever commit, is absolutely forgiven. That doesn't give us a license
to go out and go crazy, right? People say that, oh, you preach
that. You preach that. The people you preach to, they'll
go out and sin as much as they want. No, they won't. Love of
Christ constrains us from sin. That's what it does. It's amazing.
A full pardon of our sins. Again, so much so that God says,
I don't remember any of your sins. I don't remember them anymore. as far as the east is from the
west. Do you know if you keep going west around the globe,
you'll never hit east? You'll always be going west.
And if you keep going east, you'll never hit west. The reason the Lord gave us that
analogy is because if you go north and south, you're going to hit
the poles, right? Gone. Never to be remembered
anymore. Glory be to our God, our great
God, for sending His Son, the Word of God, to this world to
save us from our sins. And something to take notice
of this chapter, we're gonna read the whole chapter here in
a few minutes, is that there are 26 verses in John chapter
17. And I want us to take note as
we read this tonight, how much our Lord speaks of those who
the Father has given Him. Let's read this wonderful chapter.
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 has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. There's the first mention. And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God. See, we never know God unless
he reveals himself to us. And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me. There's a second mention. And
they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou has given me are of thee. 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. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. There's another one. For
they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them. Take note, it says, whom thou
has given me, whose were we first? The father's by choice. We were the father's
by choice. We were chosen in Christ. Isn't
that amazing? And now Christ has given us back
to the father. Oh my. All mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. For now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee,
Holy Father. Keep thou, or keep through thine
own name, those whom thou hast given me. Again, there's another
mention, that's the fourth one, that they may be one as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name,
those that thou hast given me, there's number five, I have kept,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the
scripture might be fulfilled. And now I come to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. 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. I pray that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that, I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from
the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone.
Now, he was praying for his apostles there. Now, look, he's going
to pray for all the elect here. That's you and I. That's you
and I. Our Lord prayed for us. 2,000 years ago, every single
one of his people. He knows us so personally. We're his sheep. Look at this.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. That they all may be one as thou
art, as thou father art in me and I in thee. that they also
may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. In the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they
may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will. that they also,
which thou hast given me, there's the sixth time it's mentioned,
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou
hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. O righteous Father, oh, what a title, the world hath
not known thee, but I've known thee, and these have known that
thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. What a magnificent
prayer. My. In the preceding chapter of this,
our Lord had preached the sermon to tell the apostles that he
was gonna send a comforter. And that's for us, too. He sent
a comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, that he should soon come.
Their faith's persecution for their faith, he told them, but
their sorrow will be turned into joy. Then he comforted his disciples
by telling them that he'd overcome the world. He's overcoming. And what comfort that brings
we who are the people of God. He's overcome the world, beloved.
We're living in here and sometimes we think, what's going on, Lord? But he's in full control. He's
absolutely sovereign. He's overcome the world. And notice he didn't pray for
us to be taken out of the world, he prayed that we'd be kept.
We're kept by the power of God. Oh my. What a blessing, what
a comfort that we're able to listen to this high priestly
prayer of our Lord and Savior. What a blessing for us. And marvel
that the Holy Spirit of God has preserved this for us. He's preserved
this for us, this prayer. And I believe to comfort us today. When I read this prayer, I get
such comfort from it. My, in this prayer, we see that
our great God is all power. We see, and we're gonna look
at this further on, that He has loved us. God the Father loves
us like He loves Christ. He loves us. God the Father's
not like our earthly father. God the Father loves us, loves
us with an everlasting love, an eternal love. And he's proved
that by sending his son to be the sacrifice for our sins. He's
manifest his love for us, hasn't he? And that's why we're in awe
that he saved us. That he saved worms like us.
Oh my, so after finishing his sermon, the Lord Jesus Christ
here follows it up with this prayer. And these are the three
sections that we'll be looking at in the next three nights.
The first section is in relation to himself. He's praying in relation
to himself, verses one to five. Next, he offers up a prayer for
the apostles, which is verses six to 19. And then lastly, he
prays for all the elect, his whole church, his whole church
in verses 20 to 26. And the communion of our Lord
Jesus with the Father is threefold. In the first five verses, he's
praying concerning himself and his desires. Look at verse one
again. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. It's here. Glorify thy
son that thy son also may glorify thee. So what's Christ's first
desire? To glorify God. To glorify the
Father. His first desire. And our Savior,
He's thinking of His intimate relationship that He has with
the Father. He says, thy son, thy son. And take note, this prayer is
personal. It's personal. And the first
expressed desire maintains the sense of a relationship that
He has with the Father. He just wants to glorify Him.
He just wants to glorify him. The hours come. Glorify thy son,
that thy son may glorify thee. He's expressing his desire that
the son might be glorified. Oh, and that the son may glorify
the father. So we see that the deepest passion
of our Lord Jesus Christ was to glorify God. And how is he
going to do that? By the sacrifice of himself. by the redeeming of his people
with his own precious blood, paying everything God demands
for their souls. My, and then we reach his second
desire in verse five. He says, and now, oh Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was. And notice again how personal
this is. Glorify thou me with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. He has a desire
to return to heaven. Do you remember when he left
heaven, angels were falling down before him and worshiping him. worshiping Him. And in His humiliation,
He comes down to the sin-cursed world, perfect holiness, to redeem
us, to purchase our eternal souls. What love! Not only is the love
of the Father manifest in sending Christ, but the love of God the
Son is manifest in Him giving His life. In Him, the love of
God the Holy Spirit is manifesting his regenerating power, performing an operation of God
upon us, born again of the Holy Spirit of God. My. And the only way that he could
go back to glory was through the cross. And he knew it. He
knew it. Scripture says he set his face
like a flint to Jerusalem. And he expresses three desires
for his apostles keep them in thy name That may they may be
one even as we are keep them from evil and sanctify them in
the truth Sanctify them in the truth We see this in the following
verses look at John 17 11 and now I am no more in the world
But these are in the world and I come Holy Father keep that
keep through thine own name those whom thou has given me that they
may be one as we are. The only way we don't go off
astray is because we're kept by the
power of God. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's
so wonderful. So wonderful. And then we see
in verse 15, he says, I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil.
And then we see in 17, Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word
is truth. Those are his three desires for
the apostles. My, and the first desire again
is, is for the apostles, keep thou through thine own name,
those whom thou has given me, that they may be one as we are,
that they may be in glory with us. You know, a track said, hell
or paradise, it's up to you. I'm glad that God chose me before
the foundation of the world and Christ, are you? Oh my, my oh my. And in verse 20, we see the Lord
praying for all the elect of all the ages who would believe
on Him through the word of the apostles. And what did the apostles
preach? They preached Christ and Him
crucified. What did Paul preach? He preached Christ and Him crucified.
They didn't preach 50 ways to be a better Christian, did they?
No. or how to know the will of God.
Norm showed me a picture. This guy's, Lord, what should
I do? What's your will? And it shows
a hand coming down from heaven with a Bible. You know God's
will in his word. He speaks to his people in his
word. That's where he speaks to us. Through the Holy Spirit
of God. You ever notice sometimes you
can read a passage and you're like, you don't see nothing. You don't see anything, you're
thinking, oh, okay. I don't see anything there. And
then a year or two later, five years, 10 years down the road,
you read and you go, oh my goodness. See, the Lord just illuminates
the scriptures that we need when we need them. He reveals himself
to us. Otherwise we never know him.
We never know him otherwise. Look at this, he's praying for
all the elect of all the ages, all who would believe. Look at,
neither pray I for these alone, verse 20, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word. This is the third section
of this wonderful prayer where Christ is praying for his people,
for those who would believe on his name. That's you and I. That's
you and I. We believe what the apostles
preached. We believe In Christ Jesus and
Him alone for salvation. There's no other way for salvation.
Not by any works we do. No. You add a pinprick of man's
works to grace, it's no longer grace. You just made it void.
We're saved by grace alone plus nothing. Through Christ alone. That's the only way we're saved. And we've been taught that. There
was a time when we didn't believe that. But praise God, we believe
it now, don't we? And we rejoice. We rejoice in
that wonderful truth. And all who are members of the
one church of God, they are so because they've been born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, and they've been granted faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace you say it through
faith, and not in yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And we say hallelujah. What a
great God. Let's read verses 20 to 26 again. Look at this. He's praying for
us here, beloved. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them which also shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. In the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one,
I in them, That's Christ in us, the hope of glory, beloved. I
in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. We're gonna look at that specific
part the last day on Sunday. Man, look at that. Thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. See, God's love's unchanging,
isn't it? It's eternal. It's only found
in Christ, nowhere else. Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
from before the foundation of the world. We're chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, aren't we? Christ is a
lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. My, oh my. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
thee, that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Again, he's bringing
before the Father the whole church. And the one desire, the one determination
we see that's brought forth concerning his church is brought forth in
verse 21, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. He desires
that all believers will be one with him and the Father. Remember, our Lord, he's the
head, and we're the body. We believers are the body of
Christ and we're soon to be all gathered up together in glory. One day we're going to all be
gathered up together in glory to be with the Lord forever.
Forever. To worship and adore him forever. What a great day that'll be.
And we're gonna glorify God forever. And we're gonna glorify God with
no sin. See, we praise and worship God
while we're here on earth, but we're still sinners. We have
no sin up there. Oh, perfect worship, perfect
praise, perfect adoration for our great king and what he's
done for us. And to Him who's washed us from our sins by His
blood. Oh my. And let's look here at
the determination brought forth in verse 24. Remember, salvation's
of the Lord. All of the Lord. Look at the
determination brought forth here. He says, Father, I will. that
they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou has given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. See the words, I will,
in the Greek that means I determine. I determine. Oh my. Determination bought forth
here in this verse our Lord is proclaiming his will and we know
that his will is the same will as the father The same will is
the father He's setting He's setting before the father
his will And we see salvation for the
church is his will His will. He's saying, this is my will.
This is my determination. This is my decision. This is my decision and it is
concerning all the elect of all the ages. What is our, what is our Lord
determined? Father, I will that they also whom thou has given
me be with me where I am and we will be. You know, every time
a saint goes home, this prayer is answered. Isn't that wonderful? Every single time. This part
of the prayer is answered when a saint goes home to be with
the Lord. My, that they may behold my glory,
which thou has given. We're gonna see him face to face. We're gonna see the King of glory.
all because of His grace and mercy. So marvel at what's set
forth before us here. Our Lord is just about to go
to the cross. He's just about to go through the sufferings
of the cross to redeem His people from their sins by the shedding
of His blood. And then He'll return to glory, the glory which He had before
His humiliation, before His decrease. And he's praying for all of us
who are the redeemed of the Lord. He's praying for all the blood-washed
saints that they would be with him in glory. And every time
a saint goes home again, that prayer is answered. That prayer is answered. He gives
us back to the Father, beloved, to be in his care. And note this, he says, for thou
has lovest me before the foundation of the world. This is proof that God has loved
his people from before the foundation of the world. Because if he's
loved Christ from the foundation of the world, then he's loved
all who are in Christ from the foundation of the world. We can't fully grasp that, can
we? But we believe him. by the grace and mercy of God.
We believe it. So we see here that it's the
Lord Jesus Christ's will, his determination that we would be
with him in glory. And how can we be with him in
glory? By the shedding of his precious,
precious blood. Substitution and satisfaction. The Lord was a substitute for
his people at Calvary's cross, and God is absolutely satisfied. Absolutely satisfied. So satisfied
that when God looks at us, those he has clothed in the perfect
righteousness of Christ, he says, I see my son. I don't see. I don't see your
sin. I see Christ's righteousness. And let us remember who's praying
this prayer. It's none other than the Son of God, the Word
of God incarnate, who came to save his people from their sins,
and he did it. It is finished. Praise be to God.