warning our Savior's glorious
will. Arthur Pink says that these verses
are the pinnacle of our Lord's prayer, if he very well may be
right. As our Lord closes His high priestly
prayer for His people, He reveals to us something of His glorious
will for His people. He begins these final words of
verse 24 by saying, Now there's no other man who
could ever pray like this. Abraham was the friend of God.
Moses was the friend of God. They talked to God face to face.
Abraham was God's friend, but when he interceded for Sodom,
Abraham didn't pray this way. He besought the Lord. He humbly
sought the Lord. The Apostle Paul, a man of prayer. The man who wrote most of the
New Testament epistles, he couldn't pray this way. When he went to
the Lord in prayer by his thorn in the flesh, he besought the
Lord. He begged the Lord. But our Lord Jesus Christ did
not do that. He could pray, Father, I will. And only the Savior can pray
this way because our Savior is God. And since he's God, his
will is the will of God. His will is the same will as
his father's, so he can pray, Father, I will. The Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, they all have the same will. Their
will is the glory of God through the redemption of God's elect,
and this is what our Lord prays for, so he can say, Father, I
will. Now, let me ask you a question.
Well, those for whom Christ prays, will they be given everything
he asked for? He prays they'd be saved. Will they? Well, I
mean, that's a good question. Now we need to know, will they?
If God the Father wills your salvation and he sent his only
son to die for you, you must be saved. You must be. If the
son wills your salvation, And he went to Calvary to purchase
your salvation with his perfect, precious blood. Then you must
be saved, because it's the will of God. And who can state his
will? So our Savior can pray, Father,
I will. And it'll happen, because it's
the will of God. But our Savior can also pray
this way, Father, I will. Because as a man, he earned the
right to pray this way. Eternity passed. The father and
the son entered into a covenant agreement. The father chose a
people. They were fallen in Adam. He
knew they would be. And he gave those people to his
son. The son agreed to come as a man. He agreed to humiliate
himself and be born in human flesh, to be made a man. The
word was made flesh. And he did that so he could come
to where his people are and redeem them from their sins, their fallen
men. In order to be their representative,
in order to be their substitute, he had to become a man. He agreed
to do it. And he was born a real man. And as a man, he was born under
the law, made of a woman, born under the law. And he kept that
law perfectly. As a man, he produced a perfect
righteousness. that he would give to his people.
He would give that righteousness to his people, and at the Father's
appointed time, he would be made sin for his people. And he would
put their sin away through the sacrifice of himself. Now our
Savior says in his prayer, Father, I've finished the work. The work
you gave me to do is done. So Father, give my people, it's
my will that you give my people everything Do I earn for them
and everything you agreed to give them in the covenant of
grace? I fulfill my end of the covenant. Now, Father, I will
that you fulfill your end of the covenant and give them everything
you promised them in the covenant of grace. And you see what's
going on here? It's impossible for us to perish
if the Lord's praying for us here. Absolutely impossible. It's the will of God and the
will of the Savior who earned our salvation that His people
have it. Now, they're going to have it.
So our Savior says, Father, I will. Now, what is the Savior's will
for His own? I want to give you four glorious
statements here this morning about the will of our Savior.
First of all, It is the glorious will of Christ that all of his
people be with him." Isn't that what he says? Father, I will,
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. Now that statement thrills the
heart of every believer. It is our heart's desire to be
like Christ and to be with Christ. The songwriter said, how tedious
and tasteless the hours. when Jesus no longer I see. If
I'm not with him, the hours are useless. Sweet prospects, sweet
birds and sweet flowers, they all lost their sweetness to me
if I don't have the presence of my Savior. But while blessed
with the sense of his love, a palace of toy would appear. In prisons
would palaces prove if Jesus would just dwell with me there,
if I could just have his presence. That's what I long for above
everything else. We long for the presence of Christ. And that's what makes our worship
services such a blessing. Because here, when the Gospels
are preached, where two or three are gathered together in his
name, he's with us. It's His presence that makes
these times so precious to us and such a blessing to us. It's
His presence that's our joy in worship. That's why we look forward
to these times. His presence comforts us in times
of sorrow. When you think there's nothing
that can help your broken heart, there's one. He's able. His presence will comfort your
heart darkest of night, nothing can comfort the heart of a believer
like the presence of our Lord. Right now, if you're a believer,
you have His presence. He's with you. He's in you. You
have His presence. The prayer was answered. His
will was accomplished, wasn't it? We have His presence. Not like we will someday. Someday,
He's going to return. and gather us to Him, and we
will be like Him, and we'll be with Him forever. I mentioned
in the Sunday School lesson this morning how we long for a time
that I could just sit and stare in the face of the Savior. Not
just get glimpses of Him through the window, but I could just
stare in His face. We'll have that someday. What
soul rapture it will be. to be like Him and to be with
Him forever. And every believer will have
it. This is sure as you have His
presence now, you'll be in His presence someday. Because that's
the glorious will of our Savior. Well now, who will be saved?
Who is this will for? Who is it that will be in glory?
I can tell you. It's all God's elect. Every one
of them will be with Christ in glory eternally. Because that's
the glorious will of our Savior. Bobby died to make it happen.
His will is going to be accomplished. He will not be satisfied until
every one of his people are in glory. And he'll be satisfied. He's God. He'll be satisfied. And as the God-man mediator,
he accomplished everything the Father sent him to do. He'll
be satisfied. He will have his will. He'll
have his people with him in glory. Second, it is the glorious will
of our Savior that all of his people behold his glory. He says, Father, I will, that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. Now, it is the glorious will
of our Savior that his people behold his glory in three First,
that we behold his original glory as the Son of God. Back in verse
5, he said, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. It is the will of our Savior
that we behold the glory of the Son of God, who has always been
the glory of heaven. And every believer will behold
that glory face to face. Secondly, he means his glory
as a man. Now, it's impossible for us to
describe the glory of the man Christ Jesus. This man is perfectly
righteous. This man obeyed every jot and
tittle of the law. This man was obedient to all
of the will of his father. He loves God with all of his
heart. It's impossible to describe the
glory of that man. There's never been another man
like him. He's the only one. Every believer will behold that
glory of the man, Christ Jesus. Look back in John chapter 1.
Every believer will behold the glory of that man who is my righteousness. In John 1 verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." We
beheld the glory of that man who was God made flesh, who came
to save his people from their sins. Now, how can I behold that
glory? We can't see with eyes of flesh.
The natural man is blind. He can't see. So how can I see? this glory. Our Lord told Nicodemus,
you must be born again. You must be given eyes to behold
this glory in the new birth. Back up in verse 11 of John 1,
isn't this what he says? He came into his own, and his
own received him not. They didn't see. But as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name. Why did they see?
Why did they believe? Which were born. Not of blood,
nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but they're born
of the will of God. They were born of the glorious
will of our Savior. And every person that God has
ever saved sees the glory of the man Christ Jesus. He's all
my righteousness. He's everything that I need.
He's all. We see his glory. And thirdly,
when he says, I want, it's my will that my people behold my
glory. He means his redemptive glory. He means the glory that he has
as the savior of his people. This is the very glory that Moses
asked God to see. He asked God, show me your glory. God said, all right, I'll show
you my glory. Moses, I'll be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. Moses saw God's glory, the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his redemptive glory. Moses saw
Christ. He is the one that is how God
can be merciful to sinners through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What glory there is in the man,
Christ Jesus, in his redemptive glory, who saved his people from
their sins. Every believer sees that glory
right now, and every believer will see that glory in heaven
eternally. We will see that glory face-to-face. Now we see it by faith, through
glass and darkly, but then face-to-face. The occupation of heaven will
be to behold the glory of Christ. That will be the occupation of
heaven. I had a, this is going to thrill
Janet, I had a girlfriend once in high school, and her neighbor
died. She really liked this neighbor
lady of hers, a sweet old lady, and she said, I've got to start
living better, Mrs. So-and-so's looking down from
heaven, I can't disappoint her. I said, no she's not. I didn't
know nothing, but I knew that's not so. She broke up with me
over it. Maybe that made you happy, I don't know, but it was
a problem. But let me tell you this. There's
no time for anyone in glory to be looking down, checking up
on us here. They don't have time. Their occupation
is to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. What on earth
would they look at me for when they can look into the face of
Christ? They're not. When we look into the face of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we might take our eyes off of Him. There's
no disappointment there. There is here. There's none there. They can't be looking. If somebody
in glory is looking down at me, how I'm living, they're disappointed. There's no disappointment there.
Their occupation is to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
all the time. What an occupation. I can't wait. But you know, believers don't
have to wait until then to behold the glory of Christ. We see the
glory of our Savior right now. Now, we don't see his glory as
clearly as we'd like to. We don't see his glory as clearly
as we will then. But by faith, we see his glory. The reason we don't want any
other Savior, the reason we won't listen to any other gospel, is
because by God's grace we've seen the glory of Christ. And
we won't accept anything less. We see his glory by faith. Why? That was the glorious will of
our Savior, that his people behold his glory. Third, it is the glorious
will of our Savior that his people know why the Father sent the
Son. Verse 25, O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. Now, it is the will of our Savior
that his people not just know that the Father sent the Son.
I mean, especially at this time of year, people have some sense
that the Father sent the Son. He sent someone named Jesus to
be born in Bethlehem. A believer knows a whole lot
more than that. It is the will of the Savior for his people
to know why the Father sent the Son. The Father sent the Son
because his people are fallen in Adam. They're dead in Adam. And because they're dead, they
can't do anything for themselves. Not one thing. They can't take
the first step. Much less meet God halfway, they
can't take the first step. They cannot. please God. Because their nature is a sin
nature. It's a nature to sin and rebel
and go away from God. They can't please God. It's their
desire to not please God. Because we have a sin nature.
Because we're fallen in Adam. We're born with a mind that hates
God. That hates God's law. Not only do we have no ability,
we have no desire to please God. But God can only be pleased with
perfect righteousness. Not the best we can do. Perfect
righteousness. That's why our Lord calls his
Father, O Righteous Father. Now, the world didn't know the
Father. The world, the Jewish world,
they thought the Father would be pleased with their best effort
at keeping the law. They didn't know the Father.
The Lord Jesus Christ did. That's why he called him Righteous
Father. God can only be pleased with
perfect righteousness. or where the opposite of that.
So someone had to come and do for God's elect what they cannot
do for themselves, be righteous. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to be the righteousness of his people and to put their sin away. Well, all right, how are the
elect going to know that this is why the Father sent the Son?
Through the preaching of the gospel. This is the gospel that
Christ came to declare. He says in verse 26, and I have
declared unto them thy name. Christ came to declare the name
of God. Now the name of God tells us
who God is. The name of God tells us of the
grace of God. This is why Christ came, to declare
the grace of God. We never would have known grace
until Christ came. Christ came to declare who God
is. He came to declare God is love. We never would have known
God is love unless Christ came to reveal that to us. Christ
came to reveal the will of God. We never would have known it
was the will of God to save His people through the sacrifice
of His Son unless Christ came. We'd have been like the Jews.
We'd have thought it was through the law and the ceremonies. No, Christ
came to declare the will of God, salvations through a substitute,
through the righteousness and sacrifice of another. Christ
came to declare the covenant of God. We never would have known
there was an eternal covenant of grace unless Christ came to
fulfill that covenant, as the surety of that covenant. See,
only Christ can declare these things, because He is God. He's the Son of God. Only Christ
can declare those things. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to declare the righteousness of God. only Christ can proclaim
the righteousness of God, and that righteousness is only declared
in the gospel. Look over Romans chapter 1. Only the gospel declares the
righteousness of God. We can see God is If Paul talks
about this in Romans 1, we can plainly see God is, from just
looking at creation. We're without excuse. Of course
God is. Just look at the world he created.
But we don't see the righteousness of God in creation, do we? We
don't see the righteousness of God in the events of providence. But we see the righteousness
of God in the gospel. Paul says in verse 16 of Romans
chapter 1, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, For
it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth,
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein, in the
gospel of Christ, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." So
only in the gospel can we hear the righteousness of God declared. And the gospel declares God is
righteous, and because God is Every sin must be punished. God will not overlook sin. So he can't accept the best we
can do. Sin must be punished. It will
either be punished in us or in our substitute. But one way or
another, because God's righteous, sin will be punished. Every sin. The gospel declares that the
Lord Jesus Christ is righteous. That Christ is righteousness. Christ is the righteousness of
God revealed to men, and the gospel declares how God's elect
are made righteous. We're made righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ. His righteousness imputed legally
to his people, and his righteousness, the very righteousness of God,
imparted to his people in the new birth. When there's a new
man When God the Holy Spirit moves in power, he takes the
seed of the Word of God, and new life is born, a new man is
born. That man is born in righteousness. Righteousness is imparted. And
sinners are righteous in the character, in the name of God. Jehovah said to him, the Lord
our righteousness, here he is, come in the flesh. That's what
Christ came to declare. And he declared that gospel.
He declared that name. Well, he died and he's buried. He rose again. He's send it back
to heaven. Well, I guess there's no more declaration. Oh, no. He's still declaring the name
of God. He says, I've declared by name
and I will declare it. I'll keep declaring it through
my servants, through his servants preaching the gospel today. So
this is what our Lord prays. O righteous Father, give my people
all these blessings that I ask for because you are righteous,
because your righteousness demands that they have it. I finished
the work you gave me to do. Now in righteousness, give these
that are mine everything I ask for. Give them everything I earn
for them. Give them everything you promised
to give them in the covenant of grace. See, this is what gives
our Savior the authority to pray, Father, I will, because he finished
the work of redemption. And in righteousness, God gives
his people everything that he earned. Now, you know, these
are things every believer knows. Every believer just inherently
knows these things when you're born again. The new man just
knows these things. And you may not be able to articulate
them exactly, especially a new believer. But when you hear it,
you say, that's the truth. That's the truth. I know that
so. But, you know, we're not saved
because we know these truths. We know these things. We know
the name of God. We know the will of God. We know
why the father sent the son. We know why I need a savior and
who the savior is. Because we're born again. The
new man doesn't just know these things. We love these truths. We love these truths about our
Savior because we see him by faith. It's by faith, the world,
our Lord says in verse 25, the world hath known thee, but I
know thee, and we know the Father in Christ through union with
him. Now a believer knows these things
and loves them. But everyone does not know Christ. Everyone doesn't love Christ.
Everyone doesn't trust Christ. Everyone doesn't know why He
came. Why not? Because Christ didn't pray for
them. That's why. If He prayed for them, they know these things.
These things are in them. Christ didn't die for them. That's
why they don't have faith. That's why they're not cleansed
from their sin. Because Christ didn't die for them. The Spirit
does not reveal Christ to them. because Christ didn't die for
them. When Christ does not reveal himself to someone, now we know
that's so. There are people that don't know
the Lord, and it's because Christ has not revealed himself to them.
Well, when God does not reveal himself to someone, he's righteous. Now, it might
make me sad, but when God does not reveal himself to someone,
he's righteous. He's, no matter what he does,
he's still righteous father. When God reveals himself to someone
by mercy and grace, he's righteous. He's righteous to do it. Christ
earned it for him. He's righteous to give it to
him. And when God does not reveal himself to someone, he's just
as righteous. He's righteous. It's righteous
because he did it. Everything God does is righteous. So when God damns someone, He
does it in righteousness. He's righteous. And when God
saves someone and enables them to behold the glory of Christ,
he's righteous. Now, is that fair? The flesh
says that's not fair. Is it? Can't God do with his own what
he will? I will never be saved. Never. Until God shows me He would be
righteous to save every person in this room but me. Well, that's not fair. Really? Isn't it? I don't deserve
God's mercy. I can't earn God's mercy. It's
His to give, isn't it? I can't earn God's grace. So
if God damns me, He passes me by, He's righteous because He's
God. I won't be saved until God shows
me that. Well then, what should I do?
Worship Him. Worship Him. The leper came to
our Lord and worshipped. Before the Lord did anything
for him, he worshipped because Christ was his only hope. His only hope to be healed. My
only hope of salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't
owe it to me. He doesn't have to give it to
me. It's His to give if He will. That makes me bow before Him
and worship because I'm helpless before Him. You can call on the name of the
Lord. You can beg Him for mercy that
you do not deserve. gives us a good hope here, a
good hope to come beg for mercy. He doesn't say, O righteous,
eternal God, the world hath not known thee. He says, O righteous
Father, the world hath not known thee. Our Savior calls the eternal
God our Father. Our Father. Sinner, come to your Father. Come to your father. What a relationship
a child has with their father. Oh my goodness. Come to your
father. He's righteous, so don't come
asking for what you deserve. Come asking for grace from your
father. Come to our father who's the
fountain of all grace. Now it's the will of the Savior
that all of his people know what Christ accomplished for them
when the Father sent him. He accomplished the salvation
of his people. And that gives us the boldness
and the confidence to come to the Father, asking for mercy. Come, resting in Christ and finding
our joy in Christ, in Christ alone. That's the glorious will
of our Savior. And fourth, it is the glorious
will of the Savior that the love of God be in his people." In
verse 26 he says, "...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." He says it at the end of verse
24, "...for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world."
Now our Savior prays this way. He's not asking his Father for
favor. He's not saying, Give me this because you love me."
No, the Savior is asking that his people be given all these
blessings because the Father loves the God-man mediator who
has pleased the Father fully. In his perfect life he pleased
the Father completely, and in his death he pleased his Father
fully. So because the Father loves the
God-man mediator, the God-man Savior, He says, Father, give
these things to my people because you love me, because I've pleased
you. The man Christ Jesus pleased
his Father in every way, and that earned, that drew out the
love of the Father for him. The man Christ Jesus pleased
the Father by keeping his law perfectly. The Father loves the
man Christ Jesus because he's holy, because that man is holy. He pleases the Father's holiness.
It pleases the holy character of the Father. The man Christ
Jesus pleased his Father by fulfilling all the will of the Father. The
Father loves the man Christ Jesus because he was obedient. Christ pleased the Father by
suffering and dying for all the sin that was charged to him.
The Father loves the man Christ Jesus. Because his sacrifice
was a sweet savor to the Father. It pleased his justice. Now this
is not unconditional human love that loves even the wayward,
rebellious son. This is the love of the Father
who loves perfect holiness and perfect righteousness and perfect
obedience. That's why he loves the man,
Christ Jesus, because he's perfectly righteous. perfectly obedient. So let me show you one more time
the certainty of salvation that is purposed and willed by our
God. When did the Father love the man, Christ Jesus, as the
God-man mediator? When did He love him? When did
the God-man mediator fulfill the Father's will and redemption
and please His When? Before the foundation of the
world. He said, Father, you loved me before the foundation of the
world. Well, how can that be? How can
the Father love the man, Christ Jesus, who fulfilled all of his
will and redemption, who fully finished the work of the Father?
How could he love him before the foundation of the world?
Because that was God's purpose. Even before the foundation of
the world. Christ is the Lamb slain. from the foundation of
the world. The Father always saw his people
in Christ. He was always pleased with the
man Christ Jesus, with his obedience and his sacrifice. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the eternal Savior. Before time began, he stood as
the surety of his people. And when what we call time has
ended, he will stand forever before his people. in his glory
as the Savior. So the Savior prays, Father,
it's my will that my people be given everything I ask for because
I've earned your love. This is not unconditional love.
It's love based upon the obedience and the righteousness and the
sacrifice of Christ. I earned your love. Now love
my people with the same love wherewith you love me. Give them
the same love. Love them just like you love
me because I have union with them. I'm in them and they're
in me. When you see me, see them. When you see them, you love them
like you love me because of union. That's a glorious will of our
Savior. And I want to show you how utterly
glorious this will is. This is breathtaking. We think,
because in our human logic we think this, there's no way that
God can love me like he loves his only begotten son. Now I've
read his scripture, God loves his people, but he can't love
me like he loves his son. I never earned that kind of love.
I can see how Christ earned that love. I've never earned that
kind of love. I've never been holy, I've never been righteous,
I've never been obedient. In Christ you have. In Christ
you're righteous. In Christ you've been obedient.
In Christ you are holy. Well, now I see what you're saying. Now I see how that's true in
a legal sense, but it's just not the same. It's just not as
real as Christ doing it himself. God says it is. God says you
who believe have obeyed God. God says you who believe are
righteous in Christ. God says it is. God says we are
accepted in the beloved. God says we're joint heirs with
Christ of everything that God has. Well, you say, I know God
loves his people, but it's just not, it can't be just like he
loves his own perfect eternal son. I'm telling you, that God
loves all of his people, not like he loves his son, but with
the exact same love wherewith he loves his son. The same infinite, eternal, matchless
love. And here's the proof of it. How
much does God love his people? He loves his people so much He
killed his son to give them life. Breathtaking. What glory. He killed his son to give those
he loves life. Now that's love. What love. So if a sinner is going to be
saved, the love of God is not just for us, it's in us. Because there's union with Christ.
It is the glorious will of our Savior that the love of God be
in us, because it is His will that He be in us. And if Christ
is in us, then the love of God is in us. God puts His love in
His people by spreading abroad His love in our hearts by the
new birth. Look at Romans chapter 5. God
causes a sinner to be born again. There is a new heart born that
loves God. In Romans 5 verse 5, And hope
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. I told
you the only place that the righteousness of God is declared, the only
way we can learn about the righteousness of God is in the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He declared the righteousness
of God. And the only place we can know
God is love is in the gospel. The only way we can know God
loves us is if he sent his Son to be the sacrifice for our sin.
Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation, the sacrifice
for our sin. What love, what glorious love. So our Savior says, I'm in my
people. When we're born again, the spirit
of Christ dwells in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ who willed the salvation,
eternal life of his people. Christ who willed that you behold
his glory and be with him where he is. It's the hope of glory. What a hope. What a good hope. Because of the glorious will
of our Savior. because of his presence, because
of his glory. His glory as the Savior, the
main Christ Jesus who saved his people. The glory of his love. What a good hope through grace.
Let's bow in prayer.