So we're in John chapter 17,
and we're going to read verse 4. Do you know what? We're going to read from verse
1. Verse 1 through to verse 5. 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. 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 life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this short reading from his word. Pastor Don Fortner said of this
17th chapter of John, I quote him, more sacred, more instructive,
more comforting, more spiritual than John 17. We have before
us John's inspired record of our Lord's high priestly prayer
for his elect. What a blessed passage of scripture
this is. And I think it would be hard
to disagree There are things most precious here for us all
if we have eyes to see. May the Lord grant us such spiritual
discernment today and if we may not be too presumptuous in the
weeks that follow as we go through this passage of John chapter
17, and dwell lightly on some of the wonderful things that
it contains in this high priestly prayer of our Saviour. Here,
in this passage, God the Father beheld the perfect, pure devotion
of his Son, the Son of his love. Here in this passage, the disciples
heard the most intimate expressions of the Saviour's love for them,
as he carried their needs upon his heart to his Father's heart. And here in this passage, you
and I, brother and sister, you and I are allowed to hear the
Lord of glory, who loved us and gave himself for us, making intercession
on our behalf according to the will of God at the throne of
God. Intercession based upon the plea
of his perfect obedience and righteousness. And nothing that
the Lord Jesus Christ ever asked for was withheld by his loving
father from him. God willing, we shall have opportunity
to think on some of these things more completely in the coming
weeks. But today, I would like to extend
our studies on these opening few verses. just a little bit
longer, if I may, and touch upon this idea of pure devotion, the
pure devotion that Don Faulkner spoke about of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the Father, and especially the Savior's accomplishment of
his Father's will and his finishing the work that he had been given
to do. In fact, I'm going to go out
on a limb here and say that if we agree with Don Faulkner that
there is nothing written in the book of God more sacred, more
instructive, more comforting, more spiritual than John 17,
then perhaps There is no more reassuring and
inspiring verse in this chapter than verse four, where the saviour
tells his father, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Let us all give attention
to what the Lord is saying here. He had finished the work he had
been given to do. This is the work of salvation
and redemption and reconciliation. This is all the will of God. This is every duty. that had
been laid upon Christ to perform. This is every demand and obligation
laid upon the God-man, the messenger of the covenant, as Malachi says,
by Jehovah God in the eternal counsel of peace. Brothers and sisters, our salvation
is absolutely and irrevocably secure because Jesus Christ said,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. Adam never glorified God on the
earth. You and I cannot glorify God
on earth except in Christ. Even nature itself, beautiful
and majestic as it appears, is weighed down by the curse under
which it labours. It cannot glorify God as it might. Only Jesus Christ has glorified
his Father on the earth. And he did it by finishing the
work he had been given to do. If you take nothing else from
today's service, take this. Jesus Christ told his father,
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The Apostle
Paul tells us that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And Christ says, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. The Apostle continues. The Apostle John. He says, for this purpose the
Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of
the devil and take away our sins. And Christ says, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. God sent his only begotten
son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins, that
we might live through him. And Christ says, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. so that the work is finished. Christ has saved sinners. He has redeemed his people. We
have been brought by adoption into the family of God as sons. Our sins are forgiven and we
live through him because the work which Christ was given is
finished. We mentioned yesterday in the
little note that I sent out as an introduction how everything
our Lord Jesus Christ did as a man, he did according to the
will of God and for the glory of God. Throughout his ministry,
whether it's his preaching, whether it's his miracles, whether it's
where he went, who he spoke to, whatever it was he did throughout
his ministry, the Saviour constantly attributed glory to God for all
things, for all the things that he did. And he taught his disciples
to do likewise. He told the Jews in John chapter
5, the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the
same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent
me. He said, the living Father hath
sent me and I live by the Father. And again, he said, I do nothing
of myself, but as my father hath taught me, I speak these things. So the miracles that Christ performed,
the doctrine that he preached, were given to him by his father. The mission of salvation and
reconciliation upon which he was engaged was undertaken at
the behest of the father. and it was well-pleasing to the
father. The saviour was always obedient
to the father's will. And even from a child, he was
sufficiently aware to tell his mother that he must be about
his father's business. Christ's great work as the God-man
was to fulfill the terms of the covenant of grace. And this required
him to satisfy God's righteous demands, the demands of the Holy
Lord God, which is his father's will, and to accomplish the restoration
of God's elect people from the consequences of Adam's sin. This was the great end and objective
of the covenant of grace and peace. And these covenant obligations
were the work that was given Christ to do. This is what he
had to accomplish, the covenant obligations. To accomplish them,
he must be the Lamb of God without spot and blemish. He must be
a worthy, fit and able sacrifice for sin. No mere man, no other
man, no angel could fulfil this role. Therefore it was given
to Christ alone to secure the redemption and salvation of God's
elect people. And this was his work under the
terms of the covenant of grace. Let me, for the sake of comprehensiveness,
just give us all a brief recap about what we mean when we talk
about the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace and peace
was made between the persons of the Godhead, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. It was made before the foundation
of the world. It was made when they agreed
to the salvation of the church of God in Christ. Now this is
sometimes called the everlasting covenant because it was formed
from everlasting, before the world began, before there was
time, this covenant was entered into by the persons of the Godhead. And it secures the everlasting
happiness and eternal life of God's loved and chosen people. It is this covenant and God's
purpose to save his people that the Apostle Paul is speaking
to Timothy about when he writes in 2 Timothy chapter 1 about
God in his power who, quote, hath saved us and called us with
an holy calling not according to our works but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. So his own purpose and grace
is this covenant agreement that the persons of the Godhead settled
upon to accomplish the salvation of God's beloved people. Each
of the divine persons, party to this covenant, agreed to fulfil
certain parts to complete the whole. The Father elected to
salvation those whom he loved. The Holy Spirit set them apart
in Christ and recorded their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. The father set forth the terms
for his people's redemption. They must be ransomed from sin
and death by the blood of a worthy representative. And the Lord
Jesus Christ agreed that he would come and take the place of the
elect whom he loved, bear the punishment due to their original
sin and take responsibility for their personal sin and transgressions. The Father sent the Son, the
Son willingly came, and God the Holy Spirit agreed that He would
quicken and convert all for whom Christ died, all the chosen to
eternal life, all whose names were written in the Lamb's Book
of Life, And so Paul continues telling Timothy that this covenant
purpose of grace and peace in verse 10, that is 2 Timothy chapter
1 verse 10, that it is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. So this gospel that is preached
is the message of God's saving purpose and Christ's accomplishment
of that purpose and the Holy Spirit's quickening of those
for whom Christ died. This is the covenant of grace
and peace. And we know it, the everlasting
covenant. We know it that the Savior did not simply assume
the role of Redeemer by himself, but was called and appointed
to that role in this divine council. Christ stood forth, as it were,
and he was commissioned to serve in his covenant duties and in
his mediatorial office. He became, by his recognition
of this role and his acceptance of this role, the willing servant
of God. he delighted to do his father's
will. Even although as true God and
perfect man, he knew all that he must suffer. He knew the cost
that would have to be paid. He knew the price of our sin. He knew the agony that had to
be endured. And yet he did not flinch from
the role of mediator. He came, he served, and he finished
his work. So that in this high priestly
prayer, our Lord affirms the successful completion of his
father's will together with every duty and obligation of his mediatorial
role. in his human nature, in his own
body, our Saviour fulfilled all righteousness. He satisfied every
divine requirement of God and he obtained full atonement for
his people. He was a worthy sacrifice. He
glorified his Father in his death by bearing the sin of God's elect
in line with the divine will and counsel, the covenant, the
everlasting covenant of grace. And now here on the eve of his
crucifixion, and no doubt intentionally for the spiritual care and wellbeing
of his disciples, the saviour claims his rightful glory. for accomplishing his task. He says, I have glorified thee
on earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And he calls for the benefits
that accrued to him in the covenant now to become his own. By his sacrifice and death, Christ
would defeat death and set free all death's captives for whom
he suffered. He destroyed Satan's realm and
he purchased salvation by his own precious blood. He secured
his bride's liberty. He delivered the body, the church. He pleased his father. He satisfied
justice and he honored God's grace. So that upon the basis
of the fulfilment of his work, the Lord Jesus claims his crown
of glory. He claims his rights of office. All the rights to God's covenant
promises now become due to Christ for the successful completion
of this work. The work finished, Christ looks
to the outcomes as agreed upon in the divine councils before
the world began. Now, we may call these outcomes
the covenant settlements. I thought that was a good phrase
when I came across it. The covenant settlements. This
is what Christ won. This is what Christ obtained.
Principally, these covenant settlements gave the Lord Jesus full control
and determination over all flesh, to judge and dispose of all men
and women as he sees fit, We can compare verse 2, we read
it together, where he speaks about having been given power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given him. This is what he earned, this
is what he gained, this is what he won by these covenant settlements. The glory sought by our Lord
was that which had originally been given to him as the God-man
mediator when he stood forth as surety for his people and
assumed responsibility for our deliverance even before the world
began. This glory accrued to him when
he said, here am I, send me. It was His glory before He made
Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men. And this settlement of grace
is our blessedness. What a wonderful thing it is
for a believer to know that that one who has all the rights to
dispose of men and women as he sees fit is the one who loves
us and gave himself for us. He, this is our blessedness,
he has power to do his bride good. And indeed, that was the
joy that was set before the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity, for
which our beloved Saviour endured the cross, despising the shame
to bring many sons to glory. When the Saviour hung on the
cross, Isaiah tells us, that is, God's covenant grace, the pleasure
of the Lord, God's covenant grace prospered in the hands of Christ
because he finished the work that he had been given to do.
In John chapter 4 verse 34, Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to
do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. This desire never left Christ
until he had finished it. The pleasure of the Lord succeeded
and prospered with him. It could prosper by no other
than our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ. and his duties accomplished,
his victory complete, it is Christ's glory to be set down at the right
hand of the throne of God, reigning forever as the mighty king in
his kingdom, as the everlasting father over his own house and
the head of his body, the church. And here's one final thought
that I want to leave with you in this matter. We note from
Christ's words here in verse 4 and verse 5, we note that Christ
is glorious with the Father. It is the glory of Christ with
the Father that is in view here and that for which Christ asks. The glory the Lord sought was
not only from the Father, like give it to me from you, but with
the Father. Glorify me with thine own self
is the way the Lord explains it. so that Christ was not asking
for the Father's inherent divine glory. He always possessed the
divine glory of the Godhead, for He is the eternal Son. He
is ever the all-glorious, ever co-equal with the Father and
the Holy Spirit. Rather, the glory requested here
is uniquely the glory of the God-man upon completion of his
work. And here is uniquely the glory
of Christ in this role. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as a man,
is seated with God. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, being made so much greater than angels,
the angels. as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. We read that together in Hebrews.
So this request, this high priestly prayer, this request of the Lord
Jesus, that he, having completed his work, might receive this
glory with the Father. This tells us these points, and
with this we're done. Firstly, nothing can be added to the work
given and to the work completed by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, stop trying to justify
yourself with God. The work is done. Nothing can be added to the work
given and the work finished by Christ. Secondly, nothing can
enhance his work. Brothers and sisters, nothing
you do will make you more holy, and nothing you do will make
you less holy, because nothing that we do can alter or change
those things which were won by Christ upon completion of His
covenant duties. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And thirdly, we learn from this
high priestly prayer and the Lord's request expressed here
before his disciples that nothing can withstand the power of his
blood, and Christ's sacrifice cannot be frustrated. It has already accomplished and
secured all the covenant promises of grace. Not one of those for
whom he died will be lost. And God the Holy Spirit in fulfilling
his role in the covenant. will make sure that all for whom
Jesus Christ died will be brought to a knowledge of the truth and
to confess Jesus Christ alone as the only way of salvation
and the only ground of acceptance with God. Fourthly, this finished
work teaches us this. In his high priestly prayer,
in the presence of his disciples, the Lord speaks of his work as
finished and completed because the time was now come to finish
it. and he was sure of its accomplishment
and success. The Lord Jesus Christ was on
the eve of his crucifixion. Now the hours of darkness lay
before him. Now the suffering of the nails
and the spear and the crown of thorns lay before him. But he
knew that this cup would pass. He knew that this suffering would
be endured and the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross fully
aware that everything that was required was now complete and
finished. And then lastly this, because
the Lord Jesus Christ finished the work, there is a man in heaven. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
obtained that glory which he had with the Father, before the
foundation of the world, there is a man in heaven. And we have
good hope of being in heaven with him. The glorified disposer
of all flesh says this, Father, I will that they also, whom thou
hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory, which thou hast given me. And as we said at the beginning,
there is nothing that the Lord Jesus Christ has ever asked for
from his Father that he has not obtained and received. May the
Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.