John chapter 17, and we look
at one verse of Scripture, but I'm going to read verse 1 down
through verse 10, and take our thought and message from verse
10. These words spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son. that thy son also may glorify
thee. For 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 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. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, that they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them." Remember the last phrase
in verse 10. I want us to consider this wonderful
truth, and what a wondrous truth it is. He said, I am glorified
in them. Much is said in these ten verses
that I read to you concerning the glory of the Father and the
glory of the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed
to His Father in this chapter, what we call a high priestly
prayer, and He thanked His Father for His glory. the glory that he
had given him here on this earth in the accomplishment of the
work that he had sent him to do. I want us to consider for a few
minutes the glory of the Church, the
glory of the Church of God, the Church of Jesus Christ. He said,
I am glorified in them. Glory is that which distinguishes
one from another. This message is, by the way,
connected to the message last Sunday, Beholding is Glory. The
Lord Jesus Christ is distinguished from all others by his virtue,
his character, his quality, his person, if you will. There's
no other like him. His people are identified in
him, and that's another thing concerning glory is it's one's
identification. His people are identified in
him and with him. The church being the body of
Christ, The church is not an earthly organization. The church
is a spiritual organism. The church is begotten by God,
born of God, called in the Scriptures the
born again, living stones. the temple of the living God.
It is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The local church is the
visible body of believers that meet together in His name, that
are members one of another, Christ being the head. Now the local
church, the visible church, there may be terrors among the wheat. There may be unbelievers among
believers. It's always been so. But we must
not be remiss in remembering that those whom do not believe
that we might consider as tars may be indeed the elect of God
that he's put among us to sometime reveal Christ to by the preaching
of the gospel. And if indeed they are not, and
they are indeed terrors, he will take them out as he pleases. But the church is the mystical
body of Christ. And when I say mystical, I don't
mean weird and some kind of hallucination, but the unseen by the natural
eye, a body of believers, those that Christ has revealed Himself
to that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the soul.
Who is a believer? I ponder this question as I try
to outline this message, and I believe that I have found one
Scripture, many Scriptures, but one that seems to zero in on
identifying a believer, who a believer really is. And if you'll turn
with me to the book of John or continue in the book of John
to chapter 10. Turn back a few pages to John
chapter 10. I want to try to identify the church
and those that are members of this body are believers. They believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Trust Him. Believe Him. They live in Him. John chapter 10. And I'll begin
reading in verse 14. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
said, I am the good shepherd. He did not say, I am a good shepherd. He said, I am the good shepherd. There's only one good shepherd. That's Jesus Christ. And he said,
I know my sheep. Believers, members of this body,
are considered to be Christ's sheep, his flock. And he said, ìI am known of mine.î
He said, ìMy sheep know me.î Thatís what heís saying here,
ìI am known of mine, they know me.î And here in John chapter
17, where we took our text, he said, ìThis is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and know me as
well, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.î In verse 15 he said,
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. And I lay
down my life for the sheep. He did in fact and indeed and
in truth and love and in mercy lay down his life for his sheep. He died for his sheep. He died
to put away their sin forever. Those for whom he died have no
sin. We have no sin before God. We're
accepted in the beloved. He's put away all of our sin
forever. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He died for sin. God made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. He is our sin offering, our sin
bearer. our substitute, our sacrifice, our Redeemer. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. There is one fold and one shepherd. He's speaking here primarily
of the salvation of both Jew and Gentile, being one in Christ. Here he makes all sinners one
by nature, and all believing sinners one by virtue of the
death, the work, the satisfaction of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
He said, There is one foe and one shepherd. Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it up again. No man takes my life from me,
but I lay it down to myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. This identifies the sheep. This identifies the believer,
the church, or those that know the Lord Jesus Christ. Last Sunday we had a baptism
upon the confession of an individual's faith. in the Lord Jesus Christ. By that confession of faith,
by that symbolic ordinance of baptism, the confession of that
person's faith is that I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is all my salvation. The Church of God, the Church
of the Living God is identified as believers, believing only
singularly, particularly in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Those who are identified as believers
of the Church of the Living God, as identified in the Scriptures
as a glorious Church, glorious because it's Christ's Church,
glorious because it's God's Church, glorious because of its glorious
head, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not the head of the
church. You're not the head of the church.
No one's the head of the church except Jesus Christ. He's the
head of the church. He gives its glory. The other
night, I was setting out. It was a full moon. It became
full the 19th. And I sat and looked at that
moon, and I was filled with wonder. I thought that moon is so bright,
so round, and it gives so much light. Turned out all the outside
lights. And it even got brighter, it
seemed, after those lights were turned out. And then I watched
the sun come up. And you know what happened to
that moon? Couldn't see it much because of the brightness of
the sun. But the moon received its brightness and its light
from the sun. Take the sun away and it would
be a dark, dead orb with no use, no benefit, just floating out
in space waiting to be destroyed. But oh, the glory of the moon
is the glory of the sun, and the glory of the church is the
glory of the Son, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. If God in His grace ever unloads
on us the glory which we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, He
may just have to take us out of here. But it is a living reality
that you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ believe in
your heart that know Him, that have come to Him by God-given
faith, you have a glory that shines like the stars in the
moon, even brighter, displaying His glory. And you know, I thought
that how many are setting out tonight looking at the moon that
don't realize this wonderful truth. To them it's just the
moon, and the sun comes up, it's just the sun. And how many look
at the gospel, look at the Lord Jesus Christ and his church as
just something. But oh, aren't we something? Clothed with the righteousness
of Christ, having no sin, wondrously displayed as a great work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. A glorious church. Isn't this
who a believer is? He's one that follows the shepherd,
the sheep. One that is glorious because
of the shepherd. Glorious because of Him by whom
we are associated with. The church is glorious. The church is a body, it's a
unit, if you will, a fraternity, a family, a group, a collection,
all of these things. I looked up what a body is or
a unit is, and it's all of these things. All of these are things
applied to the church. Congress, when it meets, it's
a body. When the Senate meets, it's a body. When believers meet,
we meet as a body. We're not an earthly organization.
We are indeed gathered together. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
head, and we sit at his table. He teaches us and instructs us.
And the Church's great, great work is to glorify our head,
to speak well of him, to tell of the great things he's done,
to give him all glory and honor and praise. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 22. Ephesians 1, 22. Well, I can't begin reading there.
I need to go back a few verses. Look at verse 16. Paul said,
I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, notice this, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, not
just knowing about him, but in the knowledge of him and knowing
him. I know George Bush. I have some
knowledge of him. But to be honest with you, I
don't know the man. I doubt very much as many times
I've seen him on TV, if he walked in the door, I probably wouldn't
recognize him. I don't know him. I know Loyal
Rogers. But I'll just bet you anything
I don't know him like Wilda does. She lived with him. That's when you know somebody,
when you live with them. And we live with Christ. We live
in Christ. He's our head. This is a greater
knowledge than just the mere knowledge of someone. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. God enlightens us, don't He?
Light. Like He gave the moon light.
Like He gives His people light. He gives us light and understanding
and the knowledge of Him. That we may know what is the
hope of His calling. And what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints. The riches of His glory. Riches. Not earthly riches. Some folks, that's all they can
see. That's what they live for is earthly riches. Oh, but the believer, he lives
for the riches of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else is passing away,
but his glory excels, becomes more glorious, brighter. And what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe? The exceeding greatness of His
power to us who believe. Do you know what God is powerful
to do? He's powerful to call us from
darkness into light, from bondage to liberty, from death to life,
from total ignorance to the wisdom of God. His mighty power to us
who believe according to the work of His mighty power which
He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. He set the Lord Jesus Christ,
the man Christ Jesus, He set Him at His own right hand in
heavenly places. Hold your finger right there
and look over in chapter 2. This is amazing. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, He just prior has
been speaking of our deadness in trespasses and sin. But God,
He's rich in mercy, rich in love, and He loved us even when we
were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved, and has raised us up together and made us set
together in heaven and places in Christ, that He might show
us off. as trophies of His grace throughout eternity. Glory. We're glorified in the Lord Jesus
Christ and He's glorified in us. And we'll be glorified in
Him throughout eternity. We'll be a wonder to angels.
A wonder of God's grace. Far above Far above. How far above? I don't know.
Long ways. Far above all principality and
power are some mighty powers. But all powers that be are ordained
of God. Far above all the powers and might and dominion and every
name that is named, not only in this world but in that which
is to come, and hath put all things under his feet. That means
He's sovereign over all those things. He rules all those things
under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the
church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. And I thought about this. The
Lord Jesus Christ in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. That's what the Scripture says.
All the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Christ. What
dwells in the believer? Christ does. Therefore, hold
on to your seat, therefore in the believer, if therefore indeed
Christ does dwell in us, in the believer dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Is that believable? That's what the book says. That's
what God said. What is the glory of God? Christ in you. Christ in you. That's the glory of the believer.
Christ in you. Oh, that God would make us conscious
and ever aware that He resides, He rests in His love in the child
of God, in the believer. That's a wonder, isn't it? But
it's so. I believe that. But I don't believe
that I really, really get all of it. I know it's so because
God said it's so. But I'm a-looking. I'm a-looking. I'm rejoicing in it. I believe
it by God's grace. But I want to see more of it.
I want to understand more of it. Who I am in Christ. who I am in Christ. In Ephesians
5, 25, 26, and 27, if you want to read that with me, you're
welcome to. Never hurts to read what God
said. I'm going to read it right in
the book. Husbands, love your wives. Well, I'm going to love my wife
because God said I had to. And all husband loves his wife. If he's a husband that he ought
to be, and this is a good union, he loves his wife, and his wife
loves him. Husbands love your wife, but
he gives a manner of this love. He's drawn us a picture. Even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. He loved
the church. The church, who is the church?
His sheep, his people. Those that he chose before the
foundation of the world, that he predestinated to become heirs
of eternal salvation, conformed to the image of Christ. Those
in time who Christ came and died for, that he called by his Spirit,
called by the Gospel. and regenerated them, those that
now He resides in and His glory is revealed in, the church, that
He might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word. The water here is the Word of God. He cleanses
us by the Word, washes us, that He might present it to Himself
a glorious church. He did this that He might present
it to Himself. A glorious church, the glory
of the church. It's glorious because He gave
Himself for it. He washes it, cleanses it by
His Word. He's glorified in it. A glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. I look at myself. I had a look
at myself this morning. I shaved. I had a look at myself. I thought I did. I could have
shaved my eyes shut, but I chose to open them. But anyway, I looked
at myself and I saw lots of spots and lots of wrinkles. He's not talking about that.
He's talking about the soul that has been washed and made white
in the blood of the Lamb. not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing before God, but it should be holy and without
blemish. Now this is the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who He is and what He done. No other one
like Him, no other could do what He did. He takes dead, rebellious, God-hating sinners. and makes them acceptable to
God. Makes them white and pure and
spotless and holy without blemish. God's love is fulfilled in the
glory of Christ and in the glory of the church. God's love is
satisfied. He rests in His love. Justice,
the law is satisfied. Justice is satisfied. The law
can't find one thing wrong with the church, the true church. Someone passed away this week that our neighbor knew, and she
said, I hope he's okay. He didn't go to church, but we
shouldn't judge. Well, now, would he have been
okay if he went to church? Would he have been okay if he had been
baptized? Would he have been okay if he had made some sort
of confession? Not necessarily. The only way
that a man will be accepted by God is if he's been made okay
by the righteousness and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not being judgmental.
That's just saying what God said. If a man doesn't know Christ,
He'll perish. Washed in the blood of Christ
is glorious because we're clean. We're clean. We're washed. We're
holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
head. Turn with me to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter
1. We'll go from the beginning to
the end, in the middle of the message. Revelation 1, verse
5, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and
the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth, unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins,
in His own blood. And the Holy Ghost didn't put
on in there by mistake. He washed us from our sins in
the shedding of His own blood, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
Him dying for us. Hebrews 9.22, almost all things
by the law which is shed of the truth, were purged by the shedding
of blood. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. And where the shedding of blood
is by the Lord Jesus Christ, there is always remission of
sin. Everyone that he shed his blood
for is without blemish, without spot, holy, without blame, before God,
showing forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in this great
work that he has done. Isn't that what it said? And hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father, to him, to the Lord Jesus Christ, be
glory To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. In Revelation, I'll read this
to you. You can join me if you'd like to in Revelation 7, verse
9. The glory of the Church is Jesus
Christ. That's what I'm saying. By God's
grace, that's what I'm teaching this morning. We have no glory
of our own. The glory of man is his sinfulness, if you will. If you should say we have something
that distinguishes us from God, from the Lord Jesus Christ, it's
our sinfulness. It's his sinlessness. We have
no glory of our own as the glory of God. In Revelation chapter
7 verse 9, After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which
no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues,
stood before the throne." Stood before the throne. Now
that's going to happen, and I don't know how to say this,
but it's already happening. I have a problem, Bobby, with
time and eternity. and getting it right, saying
it right. I know what I'm thinking, but I don't know how to say it.
It's already happened. It's like as Christ stood as
a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. As we are seated
together in Christ in heavenly places, this multitude which
no man can number stands before the Lamb, before the throne of
God, before the Lamb. Stands before Him. Oh. Stands before Him. How in the world can man stand
before the throne of God and before the Lamb in the midst
of the throne? How can he stand? Such glory, such intrinsic, wondrous,
majestic glory and holiness. How can we stand? Just like we're
standing now in the glory of Christ. They stood before the
Lamb. The Lamb always, always, when
the Lamb is mentioned in the Scripture, the Lamb, it always
points to His sacrifice, doesn't it? That's what a Lamb was, sacrifice. He sacrificed for us. Clothed
with white robes. What are these robes that this
multitude is clothed with? The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The righteousness of the saints.
The chosen ones, the sanctified ones, the righteousness of the
saints is the righteousness of Christ. The Church, we are even
now clothed in His righteousness. We now stand before Him and before
the Lamb guiltless. clothed with white robes and
palms in their hands. What does that mean? What does
that signify? They're giving all the glory and the praise
and the honor and the power and the majesty to Him. That's what
these palms represent. They're giving Him all the glory. The preacher said
one time, we stand before God, we won't be stretching our galluses.
standing on tiptoes and prating about like we've done something.
We'd be standing not in our own strength, but by the strength
that comes through the efficacy of the eternal blood of the covenant,
standing before our covenant God in His strength like we stand
right now. Don't take your calling like
that. You are now the sons of God.
It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He does appear, we'll appear with Him in glory. What was this multitude saying?
Saying just what we're saying now. What were they saying? Salvation to our God. which setteth
upon the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne." What they did, I believe they were standing
there with their mouth open. That's such a wonder. Knowing,
angels knowing, from the depraved race of Adam. that now these
that are dressed in robes, white, having no sin, having
the perfections of Jesus Christ Himself, stand there and are
not destroyed. And all the angels stood round
about them, and about the elders and the four beasts that fell
before the throne on their faces and worshiped God. They stood. They took in this side of the
Lamb and the throne, and they were compelled by the greatness
of what they saw to fall down and worship God. Isn't that what
we do? That's what we're doing now.
Oh, we stand in wonder and gaze upon Him, and at that sight we
fall and we worship. They worship God saying, Amen,
blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
power and might be unto our God forever and ever. The glory of the Church. It's
Jesus Christ. That's the glory of the church. All those that preach His gospel
and all those that believe His gospel give Him praise and honor
and glory. All of them. How do I distinguish who's preaching
the truth and who believes the truth? Well, we can't do it with
100% accuracy. But I'll give you a clue. Those
that give him all the honor and the glory and the praise. They never have. If they do not, they're not the call of God. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
2 and verse 9. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.
Well, there's a lot said about the church in the Scriptures, the body of Christ, those that
really believe and know Him, those that He's given life. 1
Peter 2, verse 9, here He's speaking to the church. But you are a
chosen generation, chosen of God, chosen to show forth His
glory. He chose to be glorified in His
church, and He will be. A chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, royal priesthood. How much more royal can one be
and positionally be than in the Lord Jesus Christ? A holy nation, chosen, Royal,
holy, a peculiar people. That means a certain people,
a particular people. Peculiar to God. You know what the word peculiar
means. The way I was raised, peculiar meant, well, he's peculiar,
he's weird or something. And I guess we are weird in this
world of religion. All you preach is Christ. All
you talk about is Christ. That's peculiar in the religious
world. That's all I want to talk about
is Christ. That's all you want me to talk
about, ain't it? Christ. A peculiar people. That means
a people that's chosen, set apart by God. That's what that means.
Why? Here we come back to our text
and answer the same question. That ye should show forth the
praises of him, the glory of him, who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. His marvelous light. O children of God, if you could
see this morning, if you have eyes to see, and ears to hear
and a heart to believe, you're indeed in his church. Which in time past you were not
a people. What he's saying here, we didn't
know him, we didn't love him, we didn't understand, we didn't
have light. We come through the lawns of Adam, we were indeed
sinners. But now, you're the people of God. Is that saying
that God didn't know you and didn't love you as His people
before you were converted? No, that's not what it's saying.
He's saying that now He's revealed Himself to you. You have His
life. You have His glory. His glory
has been revealed in you, in His salvation. Which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. He explains it. This is the glory of the church, being the people of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
43, and I'll try to bring this message to a close. Isaiah chapter
43. The Church is spoken of often
in the Old Testament Scriptures. Isaiah chapter 43. And I can't read the whole chapter,
but I'm going to read some portions of it. Isaiah 43, 1. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel.
Jacob and Israel here is speaking of the Spirit of Church. That's
who he's speaking of, the church. He said, I formed you, fear not,
for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. You're mine. It's my church. He gave his life for his church. He owns and is identified with
his church, and his church owns him and is identified with him. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. He's my Great High Priest. He's
my Redeemer. Okay, look with me in verse 4.
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up to the south, keep not back, bring my sons from far
and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone is
called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. Often I ask myself, and I'm sure
you do, why did the Lord save me? And often when we ask ourselves
that, we'll be thinking in this manner, why did He pass by this
one and save me? Why didn't He save him or her
and pass me by? Well, I don't know. But I do
know this, that everyone He saves, the reason He saved you or me
is for His glory. for the magnification of His
great love, His great power, His great grace, His great mercy.
That's why He saved us. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His great namesake. Now look with me at verse 21. This people have I formed for
myself. Formed This people sounds like
more than one, doesn't it? This sounds like the church,
doesn't it? This sounds like all the church.
This people have I formed for myself. They. They is more than one. All of
them. That multitude that we read about
in Revelation. They shall show forth my praise. And my praise
means my glory. They shall show forth my glory. The church of God is a glorious
church. Glorious because of its head,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the glory that we have is incomprehensible to our finite
mind even by the aid of the Holy Spirit. It's still so great it's
incomprehensible. And I would wager that we'll
not fully understand these words that I've read to you until we
awaken His likeness and we see Him as He is. And we see ourselves,
then we'll see ourselves as we really are. Now we know in part
We see through a glass dimly, and oh, the glory that we see
even dimly. Isn't it wondrous? Isn't it wondrous? I wish that everyone, not contrary
to God's will, But I think the heart's desire of every believer
and every minister of God's gospel is that everyone could hear and
see and behold the glory of God as it's displayed in the face
of Jesus Christ. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I feel like I've so Come up short
this morning in trying to give to you what God's given me by
the weakness of this flesh. But search the Scriptures and
see if these things are not so. May the Lord bless you.