Well, putting this message today
together, I found myself stopping and pondering Christ's
translucent glory. Just how he is so far above us. And several times I just had
to stop and again think about who our great king is and I was
having a hard time putting the message together at first and
then as it always happens everything just starts flowing and we're
going to continue our study in John chapter 17 tonight now again
this chapter is broken down into three different sections First,
Christ is praying to the Father about himself, which we see in
verses one to five. Then secondly, Christ is praying
to the Father about the apostles, verses six to 19. And then thirdly,
Christ is praying for the elect, all the elect of God, all the
chosen, all the elect of God, all who were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, and those are verses 20
to 26. But in those breakdowns as well, we see Christ praying
for all that the Father gave him. All those he was sent here to
this earth to redeem. Now, I was reading today that
there were several heretics of old who proclaimed
that Christ was a mere man. We're gonna see tonight the pre-existence
of the Word of God. And remember, Christ is the Word
of God. He's God in the flesh. And he's
a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In wonder of wonders, Christ
came to this earth, this sin-cursed world. Gil said he laid aside his glory
even though his glory was still with him. But we're going to
see tonight that it was obscured. But it did come out a few times.
It did come out a few times. And when Christ is praying for
we who are his people, he's praying for all the elect. of all the
ages. I was talking to my daughter
this week and she thought that the elect were a very small number.
And I said, sweetie, the elect of God are a number that no man
can number. And that seemed to change her
whole perspective about that. She thought it was just a small,
tiny number of people. No. It's a number that we can't
even comprehend. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. Saved by the same grace, saved
by the same blood, having the same spirit, the Holy Spirit
of God in us, having the same Father now, Father in heaven,
and redeemed by the same Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And wonder of wonders that Christ
shed his blood to save a sinner such as I, and a sinner such
as you, if you're one of God's people. Be in awe of that, what
mercy has been shown to us, what grace has been bestowed upon
us in Christ. And he left heaven. We saw in Isaiah 6 this weekend,
The angels covering themselves, holy angels covering themselves
at his presence. And he left that and became a
man. And was spit upon, despised and rejected. A man of sorrows
acquainted with grief and he did all that for us. Did it all for us. And then he sends the comforter.
Then he sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God. He doesn't
leave us comfortless, does he? And the Holy Spirit, what does
he do? Well, he guides us into all truth. Who's the truth? Christ, he's the way, the truth,
and the life, isn't he? And the scripture says the Holy
Spirit won't speak himself, here exalt Christ. You know something
I noticed too? in preparing this study is that
Christ never glorified himself. He always glorified the Father.
Always. Always exalted him. Well, he's
the second person of the Trinity. Yep, he is. But he's come as
a servant. Willingly submitting himself
to the Father's will. That's humility, isn't it? Becoming
a man. to die for my sins and yours
if you're one of his people. Now the word transcendent, which
I name this Christ transcendent glory, the word, the definition,
when speaking of God means existing apart from and not subject to
the limitations of the material universe. He's not subject to limitations.
His power is unlimited. His grace is unlimited. His love
for his people is unlimited. His mercy towards us is unlimited. His blood is of infinite unlimited
value. My oh my, that's why God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. Because God himself became a
man and died in our room and place. And we're going to see here that
our Savior's thoughts transcends human thoughts, because he's
God. Now we think of worldly things,
don't we? Because we're of the world. Only after the Lord saves
us do we start thinking about heavenly things. And even then,
we get so distracted by the things in the world, Right? That we're still thinking about
worldly things. And that's why we gospel preachers say to you
and to me, myself too, let's keep our eyes on Christ. Let's
keep our eyes on Him. Oh my. And look at this. He prays in
what we're going to look at tonight. He prays that the Father would
glorify Him. with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. So he's proclaiming, he's proclaiming
that he came from glory. And notice who he's asking to
glorify him. He's asking the Father to glorify him. Now that
glory is not the glory that he has is the word of God, because
that can't change. The glory that he's speaking
of here is of him as the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Glorify me, Lord, he says. Glorify
me, Father, with the glory that I had with you before the world
began. Now let's read the first five
verses. And verse five will be our text for tonight. These words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. Look at that, he's in full submission
to the Father, isn't he? As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. That's us. That's all the elect
of all the ages. My oh my. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee. Remember we saw on Sunday that
he has to reveal the Father to us, otherwise we don't know him?
So how do we become to know him? Because he reveals the Father
to us. That they might know thee, the
only true God. There's only one true God in this whole world.
Only one. All other supposed gods are just
false refuges of lies. and they will only lead to the
damnation of those who are trusting in them. Look at this, and Jesus Christ
whom thou has sent, remember we looked at all through the
passages in John, he is sent by God. There's no doubt, he's
sent by God. I have glorified thee on the
earth by his full submission to the
Father. his full submission to the Father's will, fulfilling
the law, living the perfect life. No other man could do that, because
we're a bunch of sinners, aren't we? He's sinless. He's glorified God by his life. He's fulfilled the law of God
in our place, beloved. That's wonderful, because all
we are is lawbreakers. He's the law keeper, isn't he?
He's the law keeper. And He does it without sin, as
our substitute. Again, sister, you were saying
last week, I love that, that substitution and satisfaction,
that is the heart of the gospel. That's the heart of the gospel.
Christ died as our substitute, and God is absolutely satisfied.
Because of who Christ is, He's God. Then God the Father can
be pleased with what He does. And we're only saved on His merits,
aren't we? We're only saved by His grace and by His mercy. Look
at this, I've glorified thee on the earth. I've finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. Last week we looked at that,
it's perfect, isn't it? It's perfect. Can't add anything
to perfection, can you? We just mess it up. If anything's
added to perfection, then it's not perfect anymore. See the
fallacy of man's works to save themselves? Christ's already
done it. And he saved sinners. He saved this old sinner. I know
he saved you, sister. He saved you, sister. Your sister,
brother, and brother. Saved our souls. Let us rejoice. Let us rejoice. He did that which
we could never do for us. My, it's wonderful. And then he says, and now, O
Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was. Now this verse,
verse four, look at verse four again. We're just gonna go over
that a little bit more. He says here, he's finished the
work that God's gave him to do. You know what the first words
recorded in the Bible of our Savior are? The first words recorded of our
Savior in the scripture was when Joseph and Mary were
seeking him. They were seeking him in Jerusalem.
And where was he, beloved? Well, he's in the temple, right?
They found him in the temple. He's talking with the elders
there and the rulers of the synagogue. And they said, don't you know
we've been searching for you? And his first words that were
recorded in the scriptures, "'How is it that you sought me? Wist
you not that I must be about my father's business?' "'I'm
going about my father's work.'" My, oh my. You know what the
last words recorded of the Lord Jesus Christ is? Three words. "'It is finished.'"
Speaking of the same work. First words recorded, he speaks
of the Father's business. The last words he speaks on this
earth, before his ascension and resurrection and his death on
the cross, he's dying on the cross, he cries, it is finished.
He finished the work, didn't he? He's finished the work that God
gave him to do. Whose work is it? Well, it's the Father's work,
isn't it? It's not our work. Lord Jesus
Christ came to do the Father's work, His business. What kind
of work is it? To save sinners. It's a work
to save sinners. And how? With a perfect holiness.
And with a perfect sacrifice. And His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Perfect in all ways. Perfect. And only a perfect man could
offer a perfect sacrifice, couldn't he? Oh my. Only he could do that. Well,
did he finish it? Did he finish that? What's the
father sent him to do? Oh, he did, didn't he? Praise be to God, he did. And
the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hallelujah. What a Savior, beloved. What a merciful, wonderful Savior
is Jesus Christ our Lord. The heart of the gospel again,
substitution and satisfaction. See, God couldn't say, well,
I'm satisfied with Wayne or Dave or Brian. He couldn't say that
with us, because we're a bunch of sinners. But he looks at his
son, the sinless one. And you know, he sees us in him.
He sees us in him, beloved. Our sins are forgiven, right,
as far as the east is from the west. And he says, this is my
beloved son in whom I'm pleased. Well pleased. I like what Brother
Henry says. If he's well pleased with the
son, then he's well pleased with everyone in him. Now, if we could
just grasp that. Lord, help mom believe. Help
mom believe. Oh, increase my faith, Lord,
please. Please. And then verse 4, he proclaims
it. He's finished. Look, he says,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. He's looking right to the cross,
isn't he? Is he going to fail? Nope. Because Isaiah says he
shall not fail, the Messiah. He'll never fail. He's God. If it was just you and I, we'd
fail all the time. We fail all the time anyways, don't we? But
praise be to God. He says, I remember your sins
no more. We fall and our sins are bought and paid for with
the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
hope we have. What peace that brings we who
are sinners saved by the grace of God. Wonderful. Best news I've ever heard. My. Now let's read verse 5 with
that in our minds. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self for the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Now our Lord has presented his
petitions to the Father. He now petitions about his glorification. This verse brings, A.W. Pink says this verse brings us
to a place that far exceeds human understanding. far exceeds human understanding.
He says, this brings before us a height which we have no means
of scaling. No means of scaling. All we can
do, he says, is to humbly ponder its words in the light of context
in parallel scriptures. And he's right, isn't he? Look
at these words. Look at these words. They're
marvelous. Oh Father, Glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Before there was ever a universe. Before there was ever angels.
Before there was ever anything created. Before all of us. Far before
all of us, right? My. And he speaks here, glorify
thou me, he speaks as a mediator. He speaks as the God-man mediator
of his people here. He speaks as the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's been humiliated. The word of God has been humiliated,
right, when he came to this earth. He's humbled himself, beloved.
Do you know the Lord loves those of a humble and contrite spirit?
We've been humbled, haven't we? By the grace of God. And we're
thankful that the grace of God has humbled us. Now we still
battle with pride, don't we? Yeah, we sure do. But you know
what? Praise God, he saved our souls. We're not what we used to be.
I was talking to my daughter about that this week. I said,
sweetie, I'm not the man I was before. I'm not at all. I'm a new creature in Christ.
And she sees the difference between when I was in religion and when
I was in grace. And I thank God for that. But it's all by the grace of
God. We can't glory in any of that. We can't glory in any of
that. My oh my. Now as the word of
God, he has divine glory. But in this world, that glory
was obscured, as I said before. It came forth a little bit in
his miracles. And it came bursting forth at
the Mount of Transfiguration, didn't it? But it was soon covered
again. It was kept... It was obscured, that's the best
way to say it. It was hidden. My oh my. And you know in the
old days when they were out in the wilderness? You've heard
me say this, but I'm going to repeat it again. Do you know
that the temple area, the Holy of Holies, was covered in badger
skins and all the other? You couldn't tell that building
away from all the other buildings. But inside, oh my golden. See, Christ is veiled in flesh.
You can't tell him from any other man. That's why people looked
at him and they thought, oh, he's just a man. But inside,
beloved. Oh my, in him all the fullness
of the God had dwelt bodily. See, man looks on the outside.
God looks at the inside. Doesn't he? Oh, it's wonderful. This is our Savior. This is the
one who redeemed our eternal souls. And here the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the God-man, in his humility, is asking the Father to glorify
him with the glory which he had with him before the world was.
You know what this shows us? This shows us the pre-existence
of the Word of God, doesn't it? He's from eternity. Scripture
says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. Same was in the beginning with
God, and then further down, the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us. My, it's amazing. Turn, if you
would, to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. This, again,
shows the pre-existence of the Word of God, the second person
of the Trinity. He took upon himself flesh. And
he dwells among us as the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see in this
high priestly prayer that he desires to be glorified, to be
glorified by the Father. He came to finish the work. He
finished it. And now his hope, and he knows
it's going to happen because he's God the Son. But he still
petitions the Father as a servant, doesn't he? That shows us we
need to just keep coming to God, bringing our prayers to Him.
Just keep coming to Him. Don't matter how small we are.
Don't matter how long your prayer is. Oh God, forgive me for this.
I'm so sorry, Lord. You know I'm but a sinner. I
know I'm saved by your grace, but I confess my sin to you.
Don't have to tell anyone else. Talk to the one who can forgive
your sin. The only one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says
if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So even
though we're saved, we still confess to Him, don't we? Oh
my, what a Savior. Look at this in Acts chapter
2, verses 32 to 36. Now, in the prayer we're looking
at, He desires the Father to glorify Him, right? He desires
to be glorified once again with God the Father and God the Holy
Spirit. Here's the answer to that prayer. Look at this in
Acts 2, verse 36. It's being answered, beloved.
Look at this. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. So they saw him die, put into
a tomb. They saw him risen from the grave,
didn't he? When He's saying this, they've
already seen Him. They've seen Him in His risen
state. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, they saw Him go up, didn't they? They
saw Him go up, beloved. And they know He's at the right
hand of the Father. And having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth this, which you now see
and hear. For David is not ascended into
heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand. That's how they knew he was going
to be on the right hand of God. Scripture proclaimed that of
the Messiah, didn't it? Yeah. Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Look at this, here it is. Therefore,
that all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath
made the same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and
Christ. Now this glorification, look at that, he's being raised
from the grave. The prayer has been answered.
He's now glorified with the Father, sitting at the right hand of
the Father. My, oh my. This glorification
must be confirmed, is the remainder of that verse says. Oh my, Acts
2.36. I'm going to turn there quick. Acts 2.36. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." He's glorified,
beloved. He's sitting at the right hand
of the Father. Now turn, if you would, to Philippians chapter
2. Do you know that as the eternal Son of God, He humbled Himself
and became a man? Remember, He is the Word, right? In eternity. He's equal with
God. And he humbles himself, puts
himself into a submissive state to the Father, trusting the Father,
wholly trusting the Father. I'll tell you what, there's no
humility like this humility. Travis said something that was
wonderful after the service on Sunday. He said he was the greatest
man who ever lived. And there'll never be anyone
who will be greater than him. It's so true, isn't it? He's the perfect man. He's the
perfect man. He's God in the flesh. Look at
this. Philippians chapter two. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2 verse 5, Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God thought it not equal, or thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. Now we see reputation
there, we think of man's reputation. Do you know what it means in
the Greek though? To make empty. To make empty. That's a whole different way,
isn't it? Make himself of no reputation. Make empty. To make
empty. Figuratively, to abase. He abased himself by coming to
this sin-cursed world. The word of God. Abased himself
to save us from our sins. What love. Greater love hath
no man than this, and the man laid down his life for his friends.
That's speaking of Christ. There's no greater love than
the love that the Lord Jesus Christ has for his people. No
greater love. Calvin says of this verse, the
expression being made himself of no reputation is used to mean
being bought to nothing. Being bought to nothing. Christ,
indeed, could not divest himself of the Godhead. He couldn't.
He's still God. In him is all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. But he goes on, but he kept it
concealed for a time, that it might not be seen under the weakness
of the flesh. Hence, he laid aside his glory
in the view of man, lessening it, but by concealing it. He
concealed it from man. You know, the guy's spitting
on him, he could have just said, be gone. And they'd have just vanished
on the spot, wouldn't they? He's got all power, right? He
holds all things together by the word of his power. My, oh my, what mercy. The word
of God, the second person of the Trinity stripped himself
of all privileges and rightful dignity and became a man, a carpenter.
humble himself, became a, aren't you glad about this? Became a
friend of sinners. Oh, I love that. He's a friend
of sinners. Are you a sinner? Has God shown
you you're a sinner by the grace of God? Hallelujah. He's a friend
of sinners. Oh my. I had some good friends
in this life, but I never had a friend like Christ. I've never had a friend like
him ever. He's so wonderful. He's so wonderful. And then look
further on in Philippians chapter 2, and remember who this is.
This is the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity.
He stripped himself again of all his privileges and rightful
dignity, became a man. But I say to you, behold the
Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of
the world. Behold him. Behold him. Look at verses 8
to 11 in Philippians chapter 2. And being found in fashion
as a man, he's fully man, and he's fully God. He humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He was sent here to die. And he obediently went to the
cross to die for you and I. Oh my. And then look at this. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him. He's glorified. He's glorified,
beloved. The Father answered his prayer.
He's glorified, he's at the right hand of the Father, and look
at this. He's so glorified that God's given him a name which
is above every name. Now I remember hearing Henry
preach a message on this one time. And he told a story about
World War II, when he was in World War II. And he was a Navy
guy, and he drove those landing crafts onto the beaches. And
he was actually there at Imojima and all that. And he was talking
about this chaplain that got up. And this chaplain got up,
and these men are going to go face death. You know what that
chaplain spoke on? Make sure you have a good name. Speaking about themselves. These
men are facing eternity. Henry said he didn't even mention
the name above all names. He's basically telling them to
trust in themselves. And Henry said he never forgot
that. That's why we need to preach Christ and Him crucified. He
is the only name that's exalted by God. He's the only name. He's the only one whom God will
accept. It says that in the name of Jesus,
every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth
and things under the earth. He has all control and power,
doesn't he? That's my savior. Is he yours? Hallelujah. Isn't that wonderful? He saved
my soul. The one who's got all power saved
my soul. And he can save you too if you come to him by faith
and rest and trust in him. And I pray God will give you
that faith to trust in him. Oh, he's wonderful. Just ask
the people of God how wonderful he is. He's the lily of the valley,
isn't he? Oh, he's the fairest among 10,000,
isn't he? Oh, he's everything to me. And then look at this, that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. He's gonna be glorified by man. Oh my, turn now, if you would,
to Ephesians chapter one. Now we see as the Son of Man,
the Messiah, He's exalted. Again, God's answered that prayer.
We've seen it in that portion in Philippians. We're going to
see it now in Ephesians, too. God answered that prayer, beloved.
He's glorified. He's back in glory. And He's
the ruler of all things. There's not an ant that crawls
in this world that He don't know about it. There's not even organisms
that are under the earth, in the ground, that are invisible
to our eyes, and he don't see everything they're doing. That's how controlled he is.
A.W. Pink, I love that saying. He
said, when I was a kid, I used to watch, sit there and watch
the sun come in, see all those, looked like a million pieces
of dust. And A.W. Pink says, not one of those pieces
of dust is floating except by the ordination of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh my. I'll tell you what, people
should fear him, shouldn't they? The power he has. They scoff
him. I can't say anything because
I used to too. Praise God he had mercy on me. I pray he had
mercy on you too. If anyone hears this message, does not know him,
I pray he have mercy on you. That's our prayer, isn't it?
God, be merciful to me, a sinner, but be merciful to other sinners,
Lord, please. Flee to Christ. He's the only
hope of sinners. Look at this in Ephesians 1, verses 17 to
23. Again, we see this prayer answered
again. Speaking of the Messiah, the Exalted One. He's exalted
and magnified. that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. How does
that knowledge come? Only through Christ. We saw that
earlier in John 17, didn't we? We saw that last Sunday too.
The Father has to reveal, or the Father can't be known by
us except the Son reveal Him. Oh my. Look at this, that the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That means be born
again, beloved. We got new eyes. We have spiritual
eyes now. Did you think about Christ like
you think about him now before the Lord saved you? Not at all,
Wayne. Not at all. But oh, now. I just cry out to him and he
hears me. He's so merciful. the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling. Do you know the hope of his calling?
His name's the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know him? Oh my, it's
wonderful. And what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding, look
at this, greatness of his power toward us. We were dead. We were
graveyard dead, beloved. We were physically alive and
dead spiritually, and he's made us alive. We're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. And that's his power being exercised
in us. There's nothing we can do. A dead man can't make himself alive.
Not seen one yet. I remember one of our preachers
one time, he was at a, he was at a, you're a funny fellow. He was at a graveyard. He was
out hunting and he stumbled upon this old graveyard and he said,
if any of you can raise, come out of the grave, I'll let you
marry my daughter. You know what happened? Nothing. Nothing. And he said, that is
a picture of how we are. in the ground buried. Spiritually, that's how we are.
And then the Lord makes us alive. Isn't that wonderful? It is wonderful. And according to this verse,
it's because of the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward,
who believe. See, it's not for everybody,
is it? But it's for all those who believe. All those who, by
God's grace, have been given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, because it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. Oh, this is wonderful. This is
just wonderful. Which he wrought in Christ, when
he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in heavenly places. There it is. The prayer's being
answered. He's being glorified. The God-man's
being glorified. He's sitting at the right hand
of the Father right now. Right now. Where is he? Far above all principalities
and powers and might and dominion. You know what that means? He's
so far above this world that nothing in this world can affect
him. But we're affected by things
in this world. Yep, we are. But our master, our king, our
savior is not affected by anything in this world. Because all things consist by
the word of his power. And when it's time, beloved,
when it's time, he's going to say to every one of his saints,
right, either at our death or at the resurrection, come forth. Come home. And he's going to
carry us home. Oh, he can carry us home, beloved.
All because he purchased us with his precious, precious blood.
And all by his exceeding greatness of his power. So he's far above
all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come. There's no one, there's no one
who even comes near him, like Travis said. He's the great one, isn't he? Look at this, and it put all
things under his feet. What does it mean when something's
under your feet? It means they have no power over you. Man, shake their fists at him
though and say, well, I don't believe what you say about Christ.
You're under his feet still. Men in the world say, well, we're
going to do this, we're going to do that. They're still under
his feet. Let us remember who's ruling
and reigning. Our sovereign King, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And look at this, and gave him
the head over all things to the church. He is the head and we're
the body. He gets all the preeminence, doesn't he? When you take pictures
of your family, you don't take pictures of each other's feet,
do you? I'm thankful they don't take pictures of my feet. What
do you take pictures of? The head. It has the preeminence. It has the preeminence, doesn't
it? He's the head. He gets all the
preeminence. He gets it all. All of it. And then it says,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
Oh, it's wonderful. So we see in the petition in
John chapter 17, verse 5, it's been answered, hasn't it? You
know, the scriptures we just looked at, that petition's been
answered, beloved. He's now far above all principality and power,
and all might and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but into that which is to come. He's so
far above it all. God the Father has glorified
him. And note the humility of our
Savior. He asks to be glorified. He doesn't demand it. He asks
the Father. And he's speaking this way as
the God-man. Because again, his essential
glory as the Word of God has not changed as a second person
of the Trinity, but he's speaking that as the God-man, as our mediator. That's what I wrestled with a
little bit today. And several of the commentators said, too,
this is, as Pink said, far above any depths we could even come
close to. He's praying to the Father about
his glorification as the God-man. And note again, He's a willing
servant. He's a willing servant, beloved. He's a willing servant. He asked
the Father to glorify Him. And He doesn't glorify Himself,
does He? We see that all through the Scriptures. He doesn't glorify
Himself. The whole time He's on this earth, He's glorifying
the Father. That's what he's sent to do. He's sent to manifest
the Father to us. He's sent to save his people
from their sins. And you know, he's sent to glorify
God as the perfect man in our place. And he did it, didn't
he? Praise God, he did it. He's the
perfect substitute. That's why God's satisfied with
his life and his death. Because he's perfect in every
way. We're imperfect. We're a bunch of sinners, but
he's perfect. So the perfect man does all that
as our substitute, because he has no sin. None at all. He's perfect. But he knew we
couldn't save ourselves, didn't he? And think of this, God's
plan of salvation, and that's misused nowadays. People say,
well, God's got a plan for you. God's got a plan for his people. And that plan was accomplished
by Christ when he redeemed us from our sins. And that plan
will come in consummation for us when we go to Gloria. Right? Right now we're stuck in time
and space, but not for long. Not for long. In the covenant of grace, Glorification
had been promised, as Isaiah brings forth it, that he shall
not fail. So the glorification of the God-man,
of the Messiah, had been promised. And now we saw its fulfillment
in Philippians chapter 2 and in Ephesians chapter 1. He's
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. My, oh, my. And that work that
God had set for him to do had to be accomplished in time, didn't
it? And he comes to this world in
time, comes into time from eternity. See, again, I can't even scale
this. He leaves eternity where there's
no time. and comes into this world to
redeem we who are sinners. I was telling my daughter last
night, I said, do you know why God made this world? So he could come into this world
and redeem his people from their sins. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my,
and he's made, we know he's made some vessels of honor and some
vessels of dishonor, hasn't he? But we are so thankful. We didn't
know it. I didn't even know what a vessel
of honor and dishonor was before the Lord saved me. I had no idea. I didn't even have a clue. I
didn't even know that was in the Bible, because I never read
my Bible. Had one, but it just collected dust on the table. And little did I know. Dave,
you too, Brian, Sister Linda, Dee, and little did we know,
we were vessels of honor. Now people would have looked
at us and probably said in our natural state, no way that guy's
going to be saved. I had people say that kind of
stuff about me when I was younger. Well, praise be to God, right? Hallelujah. He saves sinners. That's me. Chief, amen. We all think we're the chief,
don't we? Oh my. Oh my. Oh, it's wonderful. Oh, it's wonderful. He's so good
to us. So think, too, here, what comfort
can be found here. The sinless, spotless Lamb of
God, the God-man mediator, asked that the Father will glorify
Him with the glory which He had with
the Father before the world was. Now, there's comfort here for
we who are the people of God. Because the Father has glorified
the Son, that assures our glorification. He's the head and we're what?
Is just the head gonna be glorified and not the body? Nope. He's in heaven is our assurance
that we're going to heaven. Because he shed his blood to
save us, to redeem us. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Oh, praise God. You know that
blood was upon us, we didn't even know it. Didn't have any
idea. Till the time of love came. And
he revealed himself to us. Took the veil off. Oh my. And listen to these words that
he says to his people. Because there's such comfort
here. Again, because the father's glorified
the son, we know we'll be glorified. Listen to this John 14, one to
three. Let not your heart be troubled. This is the Master speaking this.
This is the Word of God incarnate speaking this. Let not your heart
be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you." That's for every one of his people. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself." Guarantee. What a guarantee of eternal bliss with Christ. Our King said that. The one who's seated at the right
hand of the Father. Can anyone thwart His power? No, everything's
under His feet, isn't it? Everything. See, no wonder he
says, fear not he who can destroy the body, but fear him who can
destroy both body and soul in hell. Oh, my. And he says, that where
I am, there ye may be also. That's the king's words. That's the king's words. Wayne Carrick's beholden the
Father right now. Jim's beholden the Father right
now. In glory, beholden the Lord Jesus Christ. Calvin's in glory,
beholden the Lord Jesus Christ. My. Richard, Myrene. March, yeah, March. Beholden
the King. Louise, face to face. We'll be
there soon. We'll be there soon. How do we know that? Because
he just told us, didn't he? He said, where I am, you're going
to be with me. That's the words of the King
of Kings, beloved. That's the words of the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords. That's not words of mere man. That's words
of the God-man mediator. And how are we going to be there?
All by the grace and mercy of God, right? That's it. Just like
our brothers and sisters who went before us and are there
right now. They're there by the mercy and grace of God. We're
gonna be right there with them by the grace and mercy of God. That's
it. Yeah. Amen. And this is also written
for our instruction. The Christian life is a life
of suffering. We all go through things, don't we? All of us have
went through things and suffered things in this world. trials
and tribulations, besetting sin, right? Every one of us struggle
with things. My oh my, but be a good cheer. He's overcome the world. He's
overcome the world. Be a good cheer, beloved. So
why must Christ be glorified? For our benefit. For our benefit. If he didn't
go to the cross and redeem us, we'd never be saved. If he didn't
rise from the grave, then God wouldn't be satisfied with his
sacrifice. He's risen for our benefit, beloved. For our benefit. He purchased us with his precious
blood. And he's not gonna lose one of those. There will not
be one sheep missing, no matter how strong we are or how weak
we are in the faith. there will not be one missing.
Every single one whom he purchased with his precious blood will
be glorified." So again, the glory that Christ
speaks of here refers to him as the God-man mediator. He was
set up from everlasting as the head of the church. He's the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That being the
Word of God, right? Who became a man. The Son of Man had this glory.
The Word of God had this glory. And as God-man, from the union
of nature of God and man in one person, when He came to this
earth to purchase the glory of redemption by bringing out the
church from the ruin of the fall, He's the second Adam. Purchasing
us with His precious blood, we all fell in at Him. We who are the redeemed are saved. Saved in Adam. And we can safely say under divine
teaching of God the Holy Spirit that Christ had a glory with
the Father before the world was, because he told us here in this
verse. And in the time of his humiliation, again this glory
was in a great measure obscured, hidden. But I'll tell you what,
in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And when our Lord is on this
earth, He appeared as a man of souls and acquainted with grief.
And let us remember that Christ as Christ is, the Son of God,
in our nature, He had a glory in His personal character with
the Father. My, oh, my. And that was all before the world
was. And the glory which Christ speaks
of here was a glory which he had again with the Father. And
you know what we see here? We see a distinction, don't we?
With the Father and the Son. And we know with the Holy Spirit
as well. The three are one. One in purpose, one in nature,
one in will, but yet three. The Trinity, the blessed Trinity,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So it's presented to us right
here. And thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ prays to be glorified
by the Father. With thine own self, that's the
way Jesus worded it, the unity and design of the whole Godhead
in all the purpose and pleasure of Jehovah concerning the church
is fully manifested and confirmed right here before us in this
verse. The Lord said, my Father worketh
hithero saith Christ, and I work, I'm here to do my father's business.
First words he spoke that are recorded, not the first words
he ever spoke, but the first words that are recorded in the
scripture, I'm here to do my father's business. The last words
that he spoke upon this earth before his resurrection, it is
finished. What's finished? The work. The work is finished. The work of redemption is finished.
So far in these first five verses, we see the Lord's prayed about
himself to the Father. And how glorious these first
five verses have been. It's been wonderful, hasn't it?
Just to look at what he says. How much mercy we see in these
verses. How much grace as he petitions the Father for his
people. Those who are redeemed with his precious blood in a
very short while. And what love is manifested that
the Son of God would leave glory to save sinners. It's incredible. So let us this
week meditate, the rest of the week we have, let us meditate
upon these two things. That Christ has set before him
the hour which he was come for. And he knows he must go to that
cross. That's the only way your soul must all be redeemed. He
knew that. He knew that. The very hour that He was sent
for, His death, is coming. And He's trusting in the Father,
isn't He? He's trusting in the Father. Remember, He said, He
said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but Thy will be done, Lord. Thy will be done. And we know He's speaking to
the Father there, isn't He? He's speaking to the Father. Then
the second thing I'd like us to think about for the rest of the week is that
he desires to return to glory in this verse we've looked at.
He desires to return to glory. And he's there right now, isn't
he? And you know what? We'll soon be there with him.
And you know what we're going to sing? I'm going to read these three
verses, and we'll be done. We're going to sing, worthy is
the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power,
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing
in every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea. And all that
are in them heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
forever and ever." And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell
down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Glory
be to God, beloved. What a wonderful Savior.