All right. Thank you. I like
that. That was a blessing. All right. Our first speaker this morning
is Pastor Tim James. We've been dear friends for a
lot of years. Met in the early 70s. God knitted
our hearts together and the hearts of our wives together. And we're
thankful for you, Tim. Thankful, give God the glory
for keeping you faithful to the gospel through the years, and
you come and preach the gospel to us this morning. So glad to
have you. First of all, I'd like to thank
all of you for being so kind generous and merciful
to me. I've been joyously coming up
here for a long time, once a year, and it's always a pleasure to
be among the brethren here in Alma, to be with my good buddy
Jim, his wife Nancy, and the crew. You all are a blessing to me. John chapter 17, verse 3. These words spake Jesus, and
the words that he is referring to here is not the words he is
about to speak, but what he spoke up to this point, especially
in reference to his instructions to the disciples as he was getting
ready to go to the cross. These words spake Jesus, and
then he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is eternal life. that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, or
even Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Our Lord, having spent the last
four chapters of John preparing His disciples for His crucifixion
and their life without Him in His physical presence, lifts
His eyes to heaven and prays to His He says His hour is come. His hour is come. The day of
His divine appointment is come. The hour upon which all human
history and eternal glory hangs has arrived. This hour is why
our Lord left glory. This hour. He left the glory
and laid aside his majesty and left the ever-present song of
the six-winged beast singing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. He said in John 12, Now is my
soul troubled, but what shall I say? Father, save me from this
hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. And this hour
is the hour of the cross. We use the word crux. That's
another word for cross. When we talk about the central
of anything, it's the crux of the matter. This is the cross,
the crux of human history. This is the crux of all time
and all eternity. The hinge upon which the doors
of time and eternity swing. This is the hour of glory. Our
Lord says, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. This
is the hour of glory. It is the glory of God the Father
and the glory of God the Son. And this glory for which our
Lord prays to be glorified with is necessary in order that He
glorify the Father. The glory that is to glorify
the Father is not His essential glory that He possesses because
of who He is. This glory is the glory not of
being, but the glory of accomplishment. Now in verse 4, our Lord said,
I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which
thou hast given me to do, or thou gavest me to do. Now, O
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world began. He is not talking
about his essential glory. He's talking about He as the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that glory. Now
glorify Me with that glory of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. This glory that the son desires
is to glorify the father, and with that, which glorifies the
father in all his attributes. He wants to glorify God, and
his desire and intent is to glorify God the father in all his attributes,
as he truly is. It is the glory of the full and
free, accomplished, successful salvation of the elect. That is what this glory is. And
for this task, our Lord, as a man, must be glorified. For He says,
Glorify thou me, that I might glorify thee. He must be glorified as prophesied
in the Psalms. When the psalmist wrote, Then
thou speakest in a vision unto thy Holy One, and saidest, I
have laid help on one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen
out of the people. There is some plain truth here,
some very plain truth. First of all, the glory of this
accomplishment belongs to the Father and the Son. This is a
conversation between Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father. The
glory of salvation is about the Father and the Son. Man was not involved in this
glory and he is not involved in it today. Men were oblivious
to what was going on here and apart from divine revelation
remain oblivious still. This hour is the hour of God. This hour is the hour of His
dear Son. And secondly, this hour is the
hour of unadulterated success. The Father will not be glorified
if the Son does not glorify Him in this particular way. God will
not be glorified. There is no possibility of failure
in the work of His Son. If God is to be justified, Christ
must succeed. That's what this text says. That's
what it says. Everyone for whom Christ suffers
and dies must be finally and fully redeemed or the glory that
the Father gives the Son is wrongly bestowed. Because the Son had
failed to glorify the Father if one for whom Jesus Christ
perishes. This could never be the case
lest the words of the prophecy fall to the earth. He shall not
fail. He shall not fail. Likewise,
this must also be because the Father always hears the prayers
of His Son. He lifted His eyes and prayed
to the Father. In another place, Christ said,
Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that
Thou always hearest me, but because of the people which stand by,
I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me. Thirdly,
this must come to pass because this is the hour of sovereign
will and purpose. What a thing! This is what God
would have us know about Him, about His will and about His
purpose. This is the hour when the enemies
of God and His Christ will be gathered together. rounded up,
moved, manipulated, brought to their appointed historical station,
herded in, punched like doggies to do whatsoever the Lord's hand
and counsel had aforeprepared and ordained to be done. Here
it is the wonder of this glorification of Christ by the Father. It is
the glorification of the Father. It is the glory of being forsaken
by the Father. The glory of being forsaken by
the Father. The glory of the decease which
Christ should accomplish at Jerusalem. The glorification for this mission
is the help laid on Christ. that in the moment of His mighty
accomplishment, in the moment of His greatest accomplishment,
the glory of the Father was revealed this way. He turned His back
on His Son. All of this is a proof of the glory, the
glorification of Christ for the glory of the Father and is proof
of the success of the imputation of all the sins of all God's
people on His Son. You want proof it's a success?
See the back of the Father. This is the hour of finishing,
the hour of perfection, the hour of authority. The glory that God gave His Son
for accomplishing the salvation of the elect is that Christ has
authority. Has authority over all flesh.
He's Lord over all. He's Lord. Out of control. Just does what He wants to do.
He's Lord over all. He has power over all flesh.
Now, if you're flesh this morning, that means you. That's the one
truth that is so true So plain that we can call it a universal
truth. Now, I can't tell you that God loves you, because I
don't know whether He does or not. I hope He does. But I know
this, if He does, you're in good shape. I can't tell you that
Christ died for you, because I don't know whether He did or
not. He died for His sheep, His elect, His church, His bride.
But if He did die for you, you're in good shape. But I can't tell
you for sure that He did. But I can tell you this for sure.
When the Son glorified the Father, God gave him authority over all
flesh. He's your Lord, right there. You say, well, I don't
acknowledge it. That don't matter. That don't matter. Next time
a cop pulls you over and says, we'll give you a ticket, say,
I don't acknowledge you. I don't acknowledge your right to give
me a ticket and expect to be handcuffed and be thrown in jail.
because he acts upon the authority of the state. God has given him
authority over all flesh. When, humanly speaking, our Lord
appeared at his weakest and his frailest, from that cross in
agonies and blood, he was controlling every facet of time and tide,
even to the minutest detail. the events and the people that
were there were actors on a divine stage. Glorify thy Son, that
thy Son may glorify thee according or as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, all flesh. With glory given and authority
exercised according to purpose, the surety of accomplishment
was as good as done. In fact, it was done. It was
done. A thing purposed by God is done
when it is purposed. It is done. What we see as accomplishment
is but the revelation of a sure thing. On that cross of Calvary, the only time in human history
where God was perfectly worshipped He was worshipped by His Son. Worshipped by His Son. Perfect
worship service that day. Accomplished by Jesus Christ.
You see, worship. We've heard messages talking
about worship this week. And that's why we're here today,
to worship God. Worship is about glorifying God. Have you ever heard anybody say,
I didn't get much out of the worship service today? You ain't
supposed to get nothing out of the worship service. Worship
ain't about you. Worship is about God. Worship
is about praising God and thanking God. That's what worship is about.
I didn't get anything. You're not supposed to. God's
supposed to get something from worship. Your praise. your honor, the calves of your
lips. That day our Lord God was worshiped. He glorified the Father, and
the Father glorified Him. And our Lord makes it clear that
the purpose He revealed is that those for whom He would die would
be given eternal life. Eternal life. Now he's already
established who it is that God has given him. There were those
in John chapter 6 who didn't believe him. And you would think
by according to today's religion that that would really upset
him. Because he's painted as one who just wants to do something
for you, is trying to do something. Bless his old heart, he can't
get nothing done because you won't let him. That's not the way it is. Our
Lord said to those who were unbelievers, He said, I know you don't believe
me. I know that. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is my
Father's will which is sent me, that of all He has given me I
should lose nothing, but raise it up again in the last day.
Unbelief don't bother God. A lady told me not long ago,
she said, I don't believe in God. I said, you reckon he's
losing any sleep over it? I lay down my life for the sheep,
Christ said. The Father gave me this command. My sheep hear my voice. They
follow me and I give unto them eternal life. And no man is able
to pluck them out of my hand. And my Father which gave them
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. The glory of
the Father and the glorification of the Son is the salvation of
the elect, the chosen, the selected, the severed, the picked out,
however you want to put it. The glory of the Father and the
glorification of the Son is simply that, the giving of eternal life
to as many as God has given him. Eternal life is a thing most
treasured by everybody. By everybody. Now, they might
not act like it while they're living, but I've sat at their
bedsides and I know that's what they want. And the emphasis of every religion
is eternal life. To live forever. to return from
the dead, to reincarnate, to reside as some disembodied specter
in the invisible ether. These are different ways of describing
what men call eternal life. For all religions except for
one, eternal life is the product of a life well-lived or a life well-started by the
will of man and finished by the works of the flesh. The Hindus
keep coming back until he gets it right. The Muslim arrives
by obedience to the Koran. The radical Muslim achieves it
by blowing himself up and killing some infidels along with him.
The fundamentalist gains it by working up and then exercising
faith manifested by trotting down a church aisle to some man-made
Kleenex-covered altar. The legalist arrives by keeping
the law. The intellectual attains eternal
life by proper study of doctrine. The moralist gets it by good
deeds. In truth, none of these things
inherit eternal life. They are just one of the many
thousand ways to die. There is a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Eternal life is attained only
and solely and precisely because God the Father glorified the
Son so that the Son would glorify Him according as the Father authorized
the Son to give eternal life to as many as God has given Him.
That's how it happens. Eternal life never goes out this
two-fisted, tight-fisted community of God and His Son. No man is able to pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than
all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
Two-fisted community. And that's where eternal life
is, in the Father and in the Son. Those who possess eternal
life have it only because the Father has glorified the Son.
That's why you have it if you have it. has been glorified for giving
eternal life. And the Son has glorified the
Father in the giving of eternal life. For man to insinuate his
puny, impotent self into this great monumental and successful
transaction is to despise the grace of Almighty God. If man
is in on this, the glory of God is not. If the glory of God is not in
this, eternal life is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Since God has glorified His Son,
in order for the Son to glorify Him, as many as God has given
to Christ have eternal life. Are they going to get it? No,
they got it. They just might not know about it yet, but that's
what we do up here. We tell them about it. John said in 1 John, He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not
life. And this is the report that God's given. This is His
report. This is His report. What is eternal
life? That's a question worth asking.
Is it length of life? Is it quality of life? Is it
heaven? People talk about heaven. What's
heaven? I have no idea. I'll be honest with you. The
more I read scripture, the more mysterious that whole concept
seems to me. I know some people like to think
it's a place where the watermelons grow as big as Volkswagens, and the trouts you catch out
of the stream are the size of Moby Dick, but that's not true. Is eternal life heaven in all
its attendant glory? Surely all these things are involved
in this thing called eternal life. Those who possess eternal
life will live forever. They will never die. They will
live full and free and perfectly and abundantly. They will live
glorified in everlasting joy in a new heaven and a new earth.
They will sing in harmony, worship in purity. and forever bask in
the radiance of the Savior without spot or blemish, they'll get
it right for the first time and never get it wrong again. But
these things, rather than defining eternal life more accurately,
define the benefits of eternal life. These things, for the most
part, speak of a future estate, an expectation, a spiritual hope
of things to come, things looked for that have not yet been seen.
Eternal life is really a singular thing. It is a thing now possessed by
those to whom it has been given. Our Lord reveals what eternal
life is in very precise and exacting language. Verse 3 of our text
says this, and this is eternal life, that they may know Thee. the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Eternal life is knowing God. To understand what that means,
what it does not mean must be addressed. The reason for that
is because men may know God. They may know God in a certain
capacity. and yet not have been given eternal
life. Knowing God in any other manner
than the manner here revealed is in fact eternal condemnation
rather than eternal life. You see, this knowledge is knowing God, knowing God as
He's revealed in these three verses. as the one who has glorified
the Son, that the Son may glorify Him in the full and free and
successful salvation of the elect. Men may know God in nature according
to Romans chapter 1 and verse 20. His deity, His Godhood is
plainly revealed in what He created. But to know God in that way,
It leaves a man without excuse according to Scripture. And ultimately
leads to idolatry and all manner of perversion. Men may know God
in the law of the commandments, but only as the God angry against
sin and unrighteousness. In that capacity, God is not
revealed in mercy and love and grace. And man, he is by such
knowledge guilty and condemned. Whatsoever the law saith, it
saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth might
be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight." Men think they keep the law. I'm going to tell you here this
morning, every one of you is going to keep the law. How do
you keep the law? How do you do it? You die. That's it. Nothing else. How did Christ keep the law?
He died. You say, well, didn't He keep
it while He was living? Well, He fulfilled it. But you see, the righteousness,
the law has nothing to do with the righteous man, does it? What
Scripture says, the law is not for the righteous man. like to think this way, and I'm
not saying it's necessarily wrong that Christ worked out a righteousness
while he was here on earth by keeping the law, but that's not
really scriptural. He is our righteousness, a person. He is our righteousness. He didn't have to keep the law,
because the law could not find any fault in him. You see, the
law was added because of transgression. How come they got speed limit
signs out here? Because y'all are lawbreakers,
that's why. That was added, and if no man
had ever speeded, there wouldn't be no law there. Everybody would
just drive safely at 55 and no rips, and everybody would be
happy as a hog in mud. But the fact is, there's a law
out there. Why? Because you're a speeder.
By nature you are. And the law says, I'll catch
you when you do, and you're going to be punished for it. And that's
the full extent of what the law can do. Define, reveal, assign
punishment for sin. How did Christ keep the law? After he had suffered what we
deserve in an eternal hell. After he had given himself over
to men to show what men really think about God. It says, after
he said it was finished, he gave up the ghost. Why did
he die? Because the law has got to be
satisfied. And the law says the sinner must die. And Jesus Christ
was made to be sin for us. And the only way the law could
ever be satisfied was that Jesus Christ died. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He satisfied that law. That's
why Deuteronomy is quoted over in what our brother just read
this morning. Of course, it is everyone that
hangs on a tree. But if you look back at the text there, the evidence
that the justice was satisfied was that they were taken down
from that tree. Justice was done. The law was satisfied. Jesus
Christ is perfect, righteous. But it is not His life that is
imputed to us. It is His death. For in that He glorified the
Father. And the Father glorified him,
and gave him authority over all flesh, that he might give eternal
life to as many as God had given him." Eternal life. This text does not speak of knowing
God fully. For such a thing is not possible
for a finite being. No man can perceive the infinite.
This is simply and finally outside our scope. Our finite capability will not
rise to those heights. The secret things belong to God,
and that which is revealed belongs to us and our children, that
we might do the works of this law. Canst thou by searching
find out God? Who can know the mind of God?
Who hath been his counselor? T.T. Shields, a Canadian preacher,
said one time, we'd sooner empty the Atlantic with a teaspoon
than we would begin to know the fullness of God Almighty. And
yet, our Lord is clear, eternal life is knowing God. Knowing
God. In what manner does knowing God
equate to eternal life? I want to know that, don't you?
As always, the text is explained by the context. The subject and
substance of this whole prayer is God being glorified by glorifying
Christ to glorify Him for the purpose of giving His people
eternal life. That's where you're going to
know God, in that little scope there. The subject and substance of
this whole prayer is simply that. This eternal life is then the
revelation of God in a singular way, in a singular way, in a
singular capacity. Knowing God as He is revealed
in the gospel is how we know God. Knowing God as He is revealed
in the concept and doctrine of substitution which executed and
accomplished the penalty of God's law, in propitiation which satisfied
God for sin, and in reconciliation when God reconciled His people
to Himself by imputing righteousness unto them. And that righteousness
is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath made Him. God hath made
Him to be to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is our righteousness,
our only righteousness. He is that imputed righteousness,
and I don't want to make nobody mad. But, the only righteousness that God
accepts is the righteousness that He has already accepted
in the successful work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Now, I've got friends who don't
agree with me, but I don't agree with them either, so that's all
right. It's kind of an even deal. Show me another righteousness.
Say, well, I believe in imparted righteousness. Well, are you
going to let your imparted righteousness stand for God? Lord, I want you to look on what's
inside me and accept me on the basis of that. The only righteous is this one. And if you think that ain't enough,
you're a lunatic. It's that simple. God has made
Jesus Christ who glorified the Father so that the Father could
glorify Him. in order to give eternal life
to all that God had given him. He has made Christ to be my righteousness. And that's enough, folks. That's
enough. Isn't that enough? He is our
righteousness. Philip Henry, Matthew Henry's
father, wrote a little book on Christ is all. And he said the
fact that Jesus Christ is our righteousness will do us well
three times. When we do something awful, how sweet it is to know that
Jesus Christ is our righteousness. When we do something good, how
necessary it is to know that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. And when we come down to die,
and we know that in moments we go out to face the Most Holy
God, the thrice holy God, the God before whom the stars and
moon are not pure in His sight, the God whose eyes are too pure
to behold evil. I'll tell you what I want. I
want Christ as my righteousness. And that righteousness is the
righteousness accounted to us, imputed to us. based on the fact
that God the Son glorified God the Father and gave us eternal life. The sacrifice of Christ declared that God was just when
he justified the elect. And that which he glorified that which he glorified Christ
to accomplish, glorified God in all His attributes, simply
stated, God is glorified and known as He is revealed in the
gospel of His dear Son, the Savior, the substitute for sinners. And
this alone is knowing God. This is knowing God. And this is eternal life. Any other knowledge of God, now
listen very carefully, any other knowledge of God is condemnation. This is eternal life. This and only this. But how do we know God in the
way that it is described here, in this capacity? as glorifying
the Son, that the Son could glorify Him, that He should give eternal
life to as many as God has given. How do we know God in this capacity? We know Him in this manner if
He is revealed to us in Christ Himself. For in Him dwelleth
the fullness of the Godhead in a body. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the true and living God, even Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. Our Lord, when He preached to
folks who John the Baptist had also preached to, and neither one of them listened
to Christ or John the Baptist. Nobody listened. They thought
Christ's message was sweet and kind and full of grace. And these were Pharisees. They
didn't know anything about those concepts, so they said, well,
he's just piping. He's sort of like a flute playing,
and we're not going to dance to that. And then they heard
John the Baptist, who was austere and tough and came out of the
wilderness wearing camel hair and eating locusts, and you know,
he was just tough. He called a bunch of snakes and
a bunch of vipers, and oh man, just really give him a time. And they said, well, he He's
just grievous. He just wants us to mourn. And
we're not going to mourn. We're not going to mourn. And
our Lord looked at those people and He lifted His eyes to heaven.
And He said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
Thou hast hid these things from this bunch of nutballs over here, screaming religionists over here.
I think you hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and have revealed them unto me. No man knows the Father saved
the Son, nor the Son saved the Father, and He to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him by revelation. This is eternal life. This is
eternal life. We know Him in this manner only
as He is revealed in the Gospel. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ. Paul said it. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. What's to do? To reveal the glory
of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is eternal
life. We know God in this manner by
knowing Christ by God-given faith. Do you believe? Well, if you can, you will. I
know that about you. Do you believe? How do you do
that? Want to explain that to me? Explain
belief to me. You can't even explain it to
yourself. Neither can I. I know one day,
a millisecond, I was an unbeliever. I was. The next second, I was
so absolutely convinced of the fact that Jesus Christ had paid
for my sin, that I haven't got over it since. Absolutely. How in the world did that happen?
Well, I studied a long time, and I've come to this conclusion.
Well, I joined a church. I pray a lot and read my Bible
a lot, and I've come to this conclusion. Well, I was saved
in Arminianism, but you know, I've come into grace. How in
the world did that happen? I have no idea, except what God
says. One day, sitting in a church
in Winston-Salem, Fred Wood's church, W.R. Cruz was preaching,
me and Moose Parks, Jim was there that night. I don't even remember
what he preached about. I remember he was preaching about
Christ, but I couldn't tell you the text or anything else like
that. I can't even tell you the day when it was, and I know that
puts me in a lot of jeopardy. In the moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, I was utterly convinced that
Christ was my only hope. Before that, I wasn't. You can
ask Jim, I was pretty sure that my words were going to get me
there. Though I talked about grace, I sure did give everybody
else a hard time. In a moment, I was a believer.
What happened? Somehow through that Word, that
blessed incorruptible semen, God gave me faith. And I could not not believe. And I can't do it. I can't stop
believing. I can't. Can you? But I wonder, by grace you're
saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It's a gift of
God and not of works, lest any man should boast. I tell you,
this is a wonder. We live in a strange and wondrous,
invisible world that no man has ever seen that we can't explain,
that we can't prove, that we can't get up any evidence of,
and yet not one who believes can ever be convinced otherwise.
Cut off his arms and his legs if you want to. You can't touch
his faith because God gave it to him. Isn't it wonderful? There's
a world out there, cars driving by. Going to church this morning,
hearing men talk about this and that. One fellow last night was
telling me that he was talking to a lady at his work and invited
her to church because he was having the conference here. And
he asked her, what book does your preacher preach out of? Which book does he preach out
of? There was just one. You imagine what the world thinks
of you, you actually believe every word of this thing. That's the stupidest thing I've
ever heard. Barney, you say nothing but a fool or a Christian would
believe this. You're a believer. That's how you know you have
life. That's how you know you have
eternal life, because you're a believer. You believe it. You believe the
truth. This is knowing God. This is
eternal life. This is eternal life. Jesus lifted up His eyes from
heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son,
that Thy Son 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. And this is eternal life. that they may know thee
the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast seen. This is
my prayer. May God, in His grace, grant
you faith now to believe that God glorified the Son, that He
might glorify the Father. and give eternal life to all
that God has given. This is eternal life. This is
how we know God. This is the capacity in which
God is known. That's my prayer for you and for me. God bless you. We have a song picked out already
to sing, but I'm looking for another one now. In your red
folder, number 5. In your red folder, number 5,
All I Need. And here's what I want us to
do, six stanzas of this. Let's just sing all six stanzas,
and then we'll sing the chorus one time at the end, all right? So we'll sing the six stanzas,
one right after another. Then we'll just sing the final,
the refrain or the chorus, just one time at the end. John, you
come and lead us. Number five, let's stand together. The sky's too big to be All I
need, all I need Me alone is all I need Me is all I need He is all I need. He brings me
peace. Make me Thine, all I need, all
I need. I will be crucified, it is all
I need. My Savior will I be All I need,
all I need He will not discern and flee He is all I need He's the treasure of my soul. Make me whole with all I need. Glory, glory to the Lamb. All I need, all I need. He is all I need. Rhythm, righteousness, and power. Glorious forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. We'll leave a few minutes for
writing. When you hear Tara playing the
piano, then please find a seat.