Before we turn to our text tonight,
I want to thank those of our church family who have visited
some in the hospital, some of the members in our congregation.
I really appreciate those of you who do that. What a blessing
it is to those in the hospital. We really appreciate your faithfulness
in visiting the sick. Now, if you will, let's open
our Bibles to John chapter 17. Tonight, we began to look at
the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest. Now many people wrongly think
of the model prayer as the Lord's Prayer. In fact, you hear that
hymn sometimes sung and it's entitled the Lord's Prayer. But we know that that is not
the Lord's prayer, that is a model prayer that he gave to his disciples. If you keep your place here,
but look over to one place where it's given in Matthew chapter
six. Matthew chapter six and verse nine, he said, after this
manner pray you. This was a prayer, a model prayer
that he gave to his disciples who came to him and asked him
if he would teach them to pray as John had taught his disciples
to pray. And our Lord said, after this
manner, pray you, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts. Now the Lord Jesus Christ could
never pray, forgive us our debts, because when you check with the
prayer as it's given in the Gospel of Luke, it is our sins. Our sins are considered as debts,
debts that we owe unto God. The Lord Jesus Christ had no
sin. He had no debt. You and I, we
have a mountain of debt. I love that. parable that our
Lord told Simon the Pharisee, don't you? When that woman who
was a sinner came into Simon's house and she went to the Lord
Jesus Christ and began to bathe his feet with her tears and wipe
them with the hairs of her head. And Simon thought within himself,
well, if he was a prophet, he would know what manner of woman
that is who is touching him. And so the Lord spoke that parable
to Simon the Pharisee, a man who trusted in himself that he
was righteous and despised others. That's what self-righteousness
always leads to, to despise others, where the grace of God leads
us to love others and care for others. to be kind and compassionate
towards others. But self-righteousness, it puffs
a person up, and we think we're better than others. The Lord
Jesus told him that parable of the two debtors. One owed 50
pence, the other owed 500 pence. There's a big difference between
the amount of the debt But the truth, as you know, was neither
one. If you owe 50 pence and you have
zero, it doesn't matter if the debt's 50 or 500 or 5,000, you
can't pay it. And that's all of us by nature.
We have a debt that we cannot pay. And Christ paid a debt that
he did not owe. He took our debt, didn't he,
and paid it for us. But this is a model prayer here.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For
thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever,
amen. And when I say this is a model
prayer, that doesn't mean that this is a prayer that we should
recite, we should learn by memory and recite over and over. There's
nothing wrong with doing that, but we have the freedom, we have
the liberty to use this as a model to teach us how to pray and to
teach us what we should pray for. So back in our text tonight,
we're beginning to look at the high priestly prayer of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He doesn't say at the beginning
of this prayer, after this manner, pray you. As our high priest, we know that
He is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. One
of the writers that I read this past week pointed out that the
Lord Jesus Christ prayed here on earth, he intercedes, or makes
intercession, rather, in heaven. He prayed here on earth, and
this is his prayer for us. And this gives us an indication
of His work of intercession for us. It's always ongoing. He's
always making intercession for those who come unto God by Him. He doesn't have to articulate. He's just there. His presence,
the wounds in His hands and His feet, His side, they plead for
us. He intercedes for us, just Him
being there. but he prayed here upon the earth. And as we begin this prayer tonight,
we learn a very simple lesson, but yet a very important lesson. He had just finished one of his
longest discourses, chapters 13, 14, and 15, and 16. These
words speak Jesus. Now that doesn't refer to the
prayer, it refers to the teaching that had preceded the prayer.
These words speak Jesus. And he lifted up his eyes to
heaven. And the simple lesson for all
of us is that we should pray before the message, during the
message, and after the message. How much more we would gain,
how much more we would realize from the messages that God gives
us if we would do that, if we would come asking the Lord to
bless us, to speak to us, and as the preacher is preaching,
continue to pray that God would speak to us, that his word would
come to us, and then after the sermon is over, to pray and ask
the Lord to seal that upon our hearts, the message that God
has for us. One old writer pointed out that
while this is not the model prayer, and it's not, yet there are two
truths, two truths that we can learn from this prayer by our
Lord's example. First of all, we see the Lord
Jesus Christ in His prayer. It is the glory of God. The glory
of God that is the purpose of His petitions. The glory of God. So when we go to pray, we should
remember that. That our prayer should first
of all be for the glory of God. And then secondly, He prayed
for others. He does pray for Himself. And
that's the way we will divide the prayer. into three parts. The first part, the first five
verses, we see the Lord especially praying for Himself. And then
the next part for the disciples, and then the last part of the
prayer for the church, universal. So tonight we'll only look at
the first five verses, where the petitions that He he offers
are in respect to himself, especially in respect to himself. He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
Heaven is the throne of God. Heaven is the place where God
reigns and rules over all. He lifted up his eyes unto heaven
and said, Father, the hours come Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. He addresses God as his father,
Abba, my father. He is the eternal, the only begotten
son of God, who in eternity covenanted to become flesh, to be made man,
to be the God-man mediator. He agreed to take into union
with himself the body that the Holy Spirit prepared him of the
Virgin Mary. And remember the writer of Hebrews
reminds us that he did not take upon him the nature of angels. He didn't take the nature of
angels. God passed over the angels that sinned, that failed, and
provided no savior for them. no mediator for them. He did
not take the nature, the eternal Son of God. He did not take the
nature of angels, but took on Him the seed of Abraham. Remember,
it was to Abraham that God promised a seed in whom all the nations
of the earth would be blessed. The hours come. Every event,
every event and its time in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
was ordained of God. Every event. The scripture says,
known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
And this is just an aside, but you and I, we may be confident
that the same is true. concerning us. Every act, everything
that comes to pass in our life, every event, is ordained by God. Ordained by God in eternity. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. He says the hour has come. Now
in this Gospel of John, We have the Lord saying on several occasions
something similar. He said, my hour is not yet come,
my time is not yet, but now the hour is come. And when we think
of this, my hour has come, we naturally think, and rightly
so, He's speaking of His death. The hour in which He would finish
His work. finish His work on earth in offering
Himself as that one sufficient sacrifice for the sins of His
people. We sang that hymn just a few
moments ago, There's Power in the Blood. And why is there power
in the blood? Because it's the blood of the
God-man. That's why there's power in the
blood is because it's the blood of Him who is both God and man. And now His hour has come. All
the prophecies. All the prophecies that spoke
of His death. All the types. And we know there
are many types and shadows in the law which spoke of the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord is now saying
the hour has come that all the shadows and all the types and
all the prophecies concerning my death, the hour has come,
that those prophecies are fulfilled and that the substance of the
shadow, the reality of the shadow is revealed. But we know that
this hour would include him finishing the work of his earthly ministry. The next day on the cross when
he cried, it is finished, that should settle the matter, shouldn't
it? It really should. It should settle the matter.
It is finished. And yet, man would rather believe
that there's something left for him to do. There's something
left for us to do. But the Lord said, it is finished.
The hour has come. But this hour would not only
include His death, but it would include His resurrection, it
would include His ascension, and it would include His enthronement
at the Father's right hand. The hour has come. The Son of
God was glorified both at the cross. Notice He says, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son. He was glorified
at the cross. strengthened him, God upheld
him in the ordeal of bearing the sins of his people. You know, that's an amazing text
in Luke that tells us that in the garden an angel came and
strengthened him. That's amazing, isn't it? An
angel, a created creature, came and strengthened him. The Lord
God glorified Him both at the cross and in His ascension. Both the cross and Him raised
to the throne, the Father also is glorified. And this is not
a selfish prayer as we see as we go through it. This is not
a selfish prayer for He prays to be glorified in order that
the Father may be glorified. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power,
verse two, power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Now, when the Lord Jesus
Christ speaks of something being given to him, he's speaking as
a mediator. As the eternal Son of God, everything
is His. Always has been His. But in His
capacity now or in His office as the mediator between God and
man, the God-man, God gave Him power over all flesh, over all
the elect and over all the non-elect, over all flesh at all time and
all ages from the beginning of the world. He's always had power
over all flesh. Notice, that He might give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given Him. He's given power that He might
give, arrange everything. in order that those that were
given unto him might receive eternal life. The very fact that
you came under the sound of the gospel is attributed to the truth
that he has power over all flesh, that he worked everything out
so that one day you would come to hear the gospel and to believe
if you're one of his children. Made him to be the head over
all things to the church. That's what Paul says in Ephesians
chapter one. Eternal life is a gift, isn't
it? He might give eternal life to as many, no more and no less. Think about that. We usually
think about no more to give eternal life to as many as and no more,
but let's remember and no less. No less. Everyone, each and everyone
that the Father gave unto Him, He's going to give eternal life. He's received that power, that
authority over all flesh. that he might give eternal life
to as many as the Father gave unto him, no more and no less. Verse three, and this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. There's only one true God. There's many gods, but there's
only one true God. There are gods many, the apostle
Paul says. There's probably as many gods
as there are people, because everyone has the ability to make
himself his own god, and we all do it. He's like a wax figure that can
just be fashioned according to the way we think he ought to
be. And that's one reason when people, many times, who have
fashioned their God and made Him exactly like they think He
ought to be, when they hear the truth about God Almighty, the
true God, they get mad. That's not my God. How many times
have we heard, that's not my God. My God would never do that. And they're telling the truth.
Their God would not. But that doesn't mean that the
true God doesn't. If he tells us in his word, that's
the way he works, that's the way he works. Keep your place here, but over
in 1 Thessalonians chapter one, in verse nine, Paul is speaking about what had
taken place when he came there to Thessalonica preaching the
gospel and how the Lord had saved individuals there, raised up
a church. And he said, For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you
turned to God from idols. Those are those other gods. You
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, the
living and true God. There's only one living and true
God, and eternal life, the Lord Jesus Christ, is to know Him. Now this is not a definition
of what eternal life is. Eternal life is to know the Father,
the true God. And this includes, of course,
knowing Him through Jesus Christ, because He's the only way to
the Father. That's the reason when you hear
sometimes people will make comments like, well, there's good in every
religion. Well, that word good may be relative,
but my friends, there's no knowing God apart from Jesus Christ. And there's no eternal life apart
from the true God and Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God
and man. He's the only way to the Father.
William Hendrickson, in his commentary on this, he said, to know the
Father and Jesus Christ is not merely abstract knowledge. In other words, it's not just
to know facts and figures about Him and about God and Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to explain
this knowledge must include at least these three truths. First
of all, joyful acknowledgement of His sovereignty. That's one
reason I know people say, well, you know what you preach most
people don't like. If you want to build a big church,
you want a lot of people to come, don't preach those things. Don't
say those things. Don't mention those things. Well,
if that's your objective, to build a big church, get a big
crowd, then don't say them. But if your objective is to honor
God and be faithful to Him and the Word of God and to recognize
that one day you're going to give an account unto God for
what you've told people about Him, then yes, it's not an option
to declare that God Almighty is the sovereign God. He's not
waiting to see what man will do with Him. But we are in His
hands, and it's a matter of what He will do with us. So that's
joyful. And I rejoice in the sovereignty
of God, don't you? Now I haven't always. I haven't
always. I was raised in a Baptist church
and religion, free will, religion, And my friends, my wife will
tell you, when we heard that God is sovereign, that God chose
a people, I didn't rejoice in that. Not at all. That wasn't the God I believed
in. That wasn't the God I'd been raised hearing about. Not at
all. But thank God, God didn't pass me by. He taught me. He brought me. to submit to this
truth, to acknowledge, yes, He is sovereign. And yes, He can
save me or He can damn me. He can have mercy upon me or
He can pass by me, and He'll be right. I rejoice in the sovereignty
of God now, but I haven't always. But I know God. See, that's what
He's talking about, to know God. One thing is to rejoice, in the
sovereignty, in his sovereignty. And then a second thing is glad
acceptance of his love. Glad acceptance of his love that
God so loved us that he gave. And we never get over that. I
don't think we ever get over that. I know if we don't. To
think that God would love me And He would love me so much
that He would give His only begotten Son, that I might know Him, that
my sins might be forgiven. That just overwhelms us, doesn't
it? And number three, intimate fellowship
with His person. God's a real being to me. I know
He is to you, too, if you know Him. He's real. He's not some
imaginary thing, a person, object somewhere, no, he's real. He's
someone that I may speak to, and I do. And I experience in
my heart fellowship with him. I rejoice in the fellowship I
have with him. Intimate fellowship with his
person, and yes, through the scriptures, through the word
of God. and through our word, through
his word to us, the word of God, the scriptures, and through our
word to him, our prayers, we have intimate fellowship with
him. This is life eternal to know
thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Verse number four, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. The Father sent him into this
world to do his work. The Father's work was that he,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is referred to as the second Adam,
the second man, that he come into this world and do what the
first man failed to do. The first man, he failed to glorify
God on the earth. He disobeyed God, he disbelieved
God. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
do what the first Adam failed to do. He failed to glorify God
by his obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. He finished this
work, he glorified the Father by his perfect obedience in all
things. Recently, I was reading about
holy Adam. It's been a few weeks ago. And
just to stop and think about Adam as he was first created,
holy in the image of God. Can you imagine what that was
like? to never have an unclean thought, to never have anything
in you that concupiscence, as it's called in Romans chapter
seven, that very beginning of lust to do something that is
against God, to be completely holy. Adam was until he sinned,
until he disobeyed God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
was that way. all his life. And that's what
we have to look forward to, isn't it? That one day we will be like
him. We will be like him. That doesn't mean we'll just
have his image as far as a physical image, but we'll be like him.
We will be without sin. Some, when they read this, they
may question, well how? How did the Lord Jesus Christ
say, the night before he was crucified, I have, that is past
tense, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He spoke, we know, as though
it were already finished. Remember in the prophecy in the
book of Psalms, he said they pierced, there it is, past tense
again, they pierced my hands and my feet. He had not at that
time even been made flesh, and yet in prophecy he speaks in
the past tense. He could speak this way because
there was nothing uncertain about it being done. It was going to
be accomplished, no doubt, no question, no ifs, maybe buts,
or anything else. I finished the work. It was certain.
It was ordained of God. He came to do the work, and no
demon in hell, not Satan himself, could deter him in doing what
God had sent him to do. I finished the work. You know, it must have been a
comfort for these 11 disciples. Now, they hear this prayer. You
and I, we can read it, but they are in the room, or wherever
he prayed it, And they're listening. Don't you know it was a comfort
to them? And isn't it a comfort to us
to hear this truth stated? He finished the work. He accomplished
his mission. Remember that TV program years
ago, Mission Impossible. Mission Impossible. I tell you,
they always finished the mission, though, didn't they? That's just
make-believe. The Lord Jesus Christ, he did
finish the mission. And it was, for anyone else,
it was a mission impossible to glorify God on the earth, to
satisfy God's justice, to bring in an everlasting righteousness. But he finished it. And the last
verse we'll look at, and now, O Father, glorify thou me, with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Now, I meant to say this before
I began, or at the beginning of the message, I didn't. But
there are things in this prayer that are certainly difficult,
if not impossible, for us to understand. And this should certainly
be one, as far as I'm concerned. Glorify thou me, what, you say,
well what's difficult about it? Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Now as the eternal Son of God, that's no problem. But that's
not what he's asking for. He's not praying as the eternal
Son of God only. He's praying as the mediator
and yet he asks the Father to glorify him with the glory that
he had before the foundation of the world, that he had with
him before he ever came into this world. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ did not have a body until the Holy Spirit prepared him
a body from the Virgin Mary a little over 2,000 years ago. What can
he mean here? Well, different people have different
ideas and different thoughts. But he now requests, as one writer
said, to return again to the very presence of the father so
as to be face to face with him. John Gill said something to the
effect that as the media do. Not as though he had already
taken flesh. Not as though he had already
become a man. That didn't happen until he came
into this world. But in the purpose of God, he
was set up as a mediator. He had a subsistence in the purpose
of God before his actual incarnation. And it is with that glory that
he asked the Father to glorify him with. Maybe we will just have to wait
till we get to heaven to understand that fully. But I know this, I know he's
glorified, don't you? I know he's there, seated at
the Father's right hand, crowned with many crowns, King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. I pray the Lord would bless these
words to us this evening.