I'm going out to preach for him
in April this year, just notified me by email that he's not had
a heart attack, but he's having chest pains and sweating and
went to the doctor. The doctor's going to do a quadruple
bypass on him. He's 61 years old, so remember
him in your prayers. But, you know, nowadays those
things are almost commonplace, those heart operations, but evidently
his veins were so compromised that a stent's not gonna do the
work. So remember Drew in your prayers. Also Cheryl, Sharon's
daughter, has had an inflammation around her gallbladder. She's
in real pain and they're gonna do something to her. I don't
know, they're trying to transfer her to a hospital room, I think.
Steve Lomax, who also had a heart attack, is a friend of Stan's.
Remember him in your prayer. And Wanda, who's, still suffering
severely from the shingles. And her doctor said it was the
worst case he had ever seen. So she's in some severe pain.
So remember her in your prayers. Seek the Lord's help for her
and also the rest of those who've listed on the prayer list. Happy
birthday this last week too. Arlene, the reason we didn't
do it, because we had a Sunday off because of snow, and then
we just kept that previous week's bulletin, so that name, we missed
a week. Happy birthday, Arlene. You've
seen her birthday. Do what? What was that? Still, you're wonderful. You're
holding real well. She enjoyed her birthday by going
away into a beautiful villa over near Gatlinburg, wasn't it? Man, the view was beautiful.
I don't know what the house looked like, but the view was beautiful. She
said the house was beautiful, too. So we're glad to have you
back. Good to see you. Other than that, I can't think
of any other announcements. We'll go back on a regular schedule.
We'll have an afternoon Bible study after we eat today. Let's
begin our worship service with hymn number 258. This is Winnie's
favorite hymn, He Hideth My Soul. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. in the glint of a rock that shadows
a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. ? And covers me there with His
hand ? A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord ? He taketh my
burden away ? He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depth
of his love and covers me there with his hand. ? And covers me
there with His hand. ? ? With nondescript blessings
each moment He crowns, ? ? And filled with His fullness divine. ? ? I sing in my rapture, ? Glory
to God for such a Redeemer as man. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth
my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with
His hand, and covers me there with His hand. When clothed in His brightness,
transported ? To meet him in clouds of the
sky ? His perfect salvation, his wonderful love ? A sound
with a million's own eye ? He idled my soul in the cleft of
the rock ? That shadows a dry thirst feeding He hideth my life
in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand,
and covers me there with His hand. After scripture reading
and prayer, we'll sing hymn number 128. If you have your Bibles,
turn with me to the Gospel according to John, chapter 17. I'm going to read three verses
of Scripture. The title of my message this morning is Knowing
God. John chapter 17. These words
spake Jesus, and that's referring to what he said to his disciples
in the 13th through the 16th chapter, preparing them for his
leaving this world. 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 or because 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. Let us pray. Our Father, we come
in the blessed name of Jesus Christ the Lord, that name that
is above every name, the only name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. We thank you, Father, For the
blood of Jesus Christ, that perfect sacrifice that he offered unto
you and you accepted, that propitiated you, that satisfied you concerning
your law and your justice, that put away the sins of his people,
that purged their sins, that made it where you could
make him to be unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. We rejoice to know the gospel
of Jesus Christ. What a joy it is in our hearts
to rehearse it in our minds. For we know what we are, our
own frailty, inability, the fact that we are sinners, weak, cruel,
evil by nature. But you have forgiven us our
sins because of what Christ did for us. We can never praise you
enough for that kindness, that grace, and that mercy. We pray,
Father, for those who are sick, these who have been added to
the prayer list. Remember, especially Drew Dietz, as he's getting prepared
for this operation tomorrow. Ask, Lord, you'd be with him.
Be with Sharon's daughter, Cheryl. It's Mr. Lomax, who's had the
heart attack, with Wanda, who's still suffering with these shingles.
We ask the Lord your help for these and all the others who
are on our prayer list. We ask the Lord you'd be with
them, comfort them, and fix their hearts and minds upon Jesus Christ. This life is soon ended and all we have
is what we have in Christ. We thank you for eternal life.
We thank you for sanctification, for justification, for redemption. Whom have I in heaven but thee,
and whom on earth do I desire but thee, saith the psalmist,
and is the heart of every child of God. Help us now this day,
this hour, to worship you, to give praise and honor and glory
to you alone, for you alone are due glory and honor and praise.
Help us now, Lord, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Remember
128, Wounded For Me. Wounded for me Wounded for me Here on the cross, he was wounded
for me. God, my transgressions, and now
I am free. All because Jesus was wounded
for me. There on the cross He was dying
for me Now in His death my redemption I see All because Jesus was dying
for me Risen for me Risen for me From the grave He is risen
for me. Now evermore from death's sting
I am free. All because Jesus has risen for
me. Living for me. Living for me. Up in the skies
He's living for me. Daily He's pleading and praying
for me. All because Jesus is living for
me. Coming for me, coming for me. I want to ask Steve and Stan
to receive the offer this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again, we
approach in the name of Jesus Christ. You have told us to approach
in that name. We thank you that you have given
him to your children as the unspeakable gift and with him freely given
us all things. We have nothing that we have
not received. Let us not boast as if we not
received it, knowing that this Whatever we have belongs to you
because we belong to you. We are bought with a price. Let
us return unto thee these gifts. With thankful hearts, we pray
in Christ's name, amen. Mm-mm-mm. I invite your attention back
to John chapter 17. This is the high priestly prayer
of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Lord's Prayer. What
is called the Lord's Prayer is actually the prayers that our
Lord was teaching His disciples to pray. For they had asked Him,
how shall we pray? And He showed them our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. This is the Lord's
Prayer. Now remember, this is just before
the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is finished preparing
his disciples for the fact that he's going to leave this earth
and go to be in glory but he's going to leave with them according
to John 15 and 16 the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them in
all truth to take the things of Christ and show them unto
him so this is like the day of atonement
this is that picture that is pictured in the Old Testament
And one person said, this is the smoke in the censer that
the holy high priest would lift up the curtain that led into
the Holy of Holies and put the censer with the smoke from the
golden altar or from the coals on the golden altar and the incense
and fill that room with smoke, that 15 by 15 foot cubicle. because
nobody could actually look into the face of the Shekinah glory
of God and live. And so that place was covered
with a fog or a smoke. They said this is the smoke before
the Lord went into the Holy of Holies with not with the blood
of bulls and goats but with his own blood where he obtained eternal
redemption for us according to Hebrews chapter 9. Now John wrote
of this also in first John chapter 5 in verse 20 when he wrote these
words and we know that the Son of God is come and hath given
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and that
we are in Him that is true this is the true God this is eternal
life Now our Lord said, This is eternal life, that ye might
know the true God, even Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. Now
this is a very wonderful passage of Scripture. I love it when
a passage of Scripture is precise and concise and envelops a certain
truth and principle and this is one of those. A very important
truth and principle. Our Lord, as I said, has prepared
His disciples for His crucifixion. He's prepared them for His life
without His physical presence. And now He lifts His eyes to
heaven and prays to His Father. And He says this, The hour is
come. The hour is come. The day of
His divine predestinated appointment has come. THE HOUR UPON WHICH
ALL HUMAN HISTORY AND ALL ETERNAL GLORY HAS ARRIVED AND EVERYTHING
HANGS RIGHT ON THIS HOUR. Think about it. The cross of
Christ defines the world. The cross of Christ defines human
history. For before the world began, ere
the first star was plugged into its socket, or earth was made,
or man was made, it is said of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation
13, 8 that He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world, prior to the conception of the world. Years and years
go by, centuries pass, The Old Testament is written from Genesis
to Malachi. All the prophets gave witness
of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, first pictured when the Lord
slew those beasts to cover Adam and Eve for their sin. Years and years pass, and now,
2,000 years ago, on a lonely hill outside Jerusalem called
Golgotha, That prophecy, that purpose that was the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, now it is about to take place.
The hour has come. The hour has come. Our Lord spoke
of that hour in John chapter 12 when He talked about the hour
of His power. The hour of His power. when he
would cast out Satan and draw him into himself, speaking of
the death which he should die. This hour is the hour of the
cross. It's the crux. We get the word
the crux of a matter from the word cross. It's the crux of
time, the hinge upon which time and eternity swings is this hour. This addresses the hour of glory
because that's the subject that's being addressed here. The glory
of God the Father and the glory of God the Son. This glory for
which our Lord prays to be glorified with is necessary in this text
in order that He would glorify the Father. If He's not glorified,
the Father's not glorified. In whatever's being spoken of
here, If He is not glorified in this, the Father is not glorified,
and we know that is an impossibility because God gets all the glory
for everything. Why does He get all the glory
for everything? Because He did it all. He did not have no part
in it. You are not involved in this situation. You are not involved
in this prayer, this glory. That is, the glory of the Father
is not the essential glory that He possesses as God because He
possesses all glory and all power. This glory is the glory not of
being, but of accomplishment, of doing something. This glory that the Son desires
to glorify His Father with is that which glorifies the Father
in all His attributes. It is the glory of the full,
free, and accomplished salvation of God's chosen people. For this task our Lord, as a
man, must be glorified. He said, I have to be glorified
so I can glorify you. That's the language. Listen to
it as he reads it. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son. Glorify me, thy son, that I may
glorify you. glorify me that I may glorify
you and then he says this is how this glorification is going
to take place this is what must be done and must be accomplished
in order for him to be glorified that he can then in turn glorify
the father as or because thou hast given him power or authority
over all flesh now if you flesh you're under
the authority of the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. As thou
has given him authority over all flesh. Why did you give him
authority over all flesh? Well, so he could be glorified,
that he might glorify the Father. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. So, it's absolutely necessary
that those who were given to Christ be given eternal life
in order that Christ might be glorified so he can glorify the
Father. It's an absolute necessity. Those
things cannot be separated. That's why I said this is so
precise and such a tight-fisted thing here. You cannot escape
what it is saying. The glorification of Christ has
to do with Him giving eternal life to as many as God has given
Him. Now that glory, that glorifies
Christ and enables Him to glorify God in the purpose that God has
given Him before the foundation of the world as the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. The psalmist said when he spoke
of Christ, Then speakest thou in a vision of the Holy One and
said, I have laid help On one who is mighty I have exalted
one chosen out of the people, speaking of Jesus Christ. And
there is some plain truth here, some plain and glorious truth.
First, the glory of salvation belongs to the Father and the
Son. The glory of salvation is about the Father and the Son.
Man was not involved in this glory. Men were oblivious to
what was going on here and apart from divine revelation remain
oblivious still today. This hour is the hour of God.
This is the hour of His beloved Son. Secondly, this hour is the
hour of unqualified success. The Father cannot be glorified
if the Son does not glorify Him in this redeeming work. That's absolute necessity. This
is what He says here. There's no possibility of failure
if it is God that is glorified Everyone for whom Christ suffers
and dies must finally and fully be redeemed or the glory that
the Father gives the Son is wrongly invested. Everyone for whom Christ
suffered and died must be redeemed. This could never be lest the
words of this book fall to the earth and perish he shall not
fail is the promise given in isaiah the father always hears
the prayer of the son and he's speaking now to his father according
to john chapter 11 thirdly this is the hour of the sovereign
will and purpose of god this is the hour of determinate capital
he was delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge for
knowledge of god and you have taken and slain This is the hour
when the enemies of God and His Christ will be gathered together
by His sovereign power and by His sovereign will. Corralled
in, if you will. Corralled in. To do what? Why are those crying? Why are
we crying in the courtyard? Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Let
His blood be upon our heads! Why has Herod and Pontius Pilate
suddenly become friends as though they were former enemies because
they're against Christ? Scripture says, against thy holy
child Jesus, both Pontius Pilate and Herod gathered together along
with the Jews and the Gentiles. Why did they do that? They're
going to kill God. They're going to put Him out
of business. They're going to get rid of this one and say, we'll
not have this man reign over us. Why are they doing it? They
are doing precisely, exactly, succinctly, and by the numbers
what God has ordained to be done. This is sovereign purpose. Here is the astonishing character
of the glorification of Christ by the Father. It is the glory
of Him dying in the room instead of His people and actually being
forsaken of the Father. God turned His back on His Son.
Why? Because His Son was made to be sin for us. The glorification
of this mission is that help laid on Christ that in the moment
of His mighty accomplishment, this is what He came to do. Christ
did not come to set up a kingdom on earth. He did not come to
die as a martyr. He didn't come to give the world
some kind of hallmark love letter from God. He didn't do that.
He came to die. He came to die. That's why He
came. He set His face like a flint to Jerusalem. He said to the
disciples on the road to Emmaus, Must not Christ suffer? And then
enter into glory. He must suffer first. He must
die. This is why He came. He came
to die. And when he did, before he gave
up his life, nobody killed him. God didn't kill him. Men didn't
kill him. He died of his own power. He finished the work of salvation.
And in that greatest moment of his greatest accomplishment,
his father turned his back on him. Because God's eyes are too
pure to behold evil. And even though Christ was never
evil and never a sinner, sin was laid upon Him. Our sin was
laid upon Him and God turned His back. And God laid help on one who
is mighty. And in that moment in John chapter 19, three words
pop out as Christ was on the cross. All three words are actually
the same word. Fulfilled. Accomplished. It is finished. All three of
those words are the same word. Perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Three times perfect on the cross
it is finished. The glory given the Son for the
accomplishment of the task is authority over all flesh, every
human being. When humanly speaking, our Lord
appeared at His weakest in agonies and blood, torn up by men, He was actually controlling and
manipulating every breathing thing that walked on the face
of the earth. How did men have the power to drive those nails
in his hand? He gave them that power. How did they have the power to
take that whip and rip him apart? He gave them that power. That's
how they did. Before, they came to him and
said, in John chapter 18, they said, he said, whom do you seek?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, Ego, I am. And just
those words, just the words of his mouth, knocked all those
soldiers and priests and lawyers flat on their backs. Just the
words of his mouth. You think they could drive a
nail in his hand? You think they could plant a
crown of thorns and put it on his head? You think they could
take sticks and beat him? You think they could clear their
throat and spit in his face without him giving them the power when
all he said was, I am, and they fell away backwards? This is
a voluntary thing he did. because he came to die in the
room instead of his people. This is the divine scheme. Glorify
thy son, that thy son may glorify thee, according as thou hast
given him power, authority over all flesh. With glory given,
authority exercised according to purpose, the surety of accomplishment
was as good as done. In fact, it was done. A thing
purposed by God is done when it's purposed. It's done when
it's purposed. What we see as the accomplishment
is but the revelation of that which is purposed. For our Lord
says in verse 4 of this, I have glorified thee on this earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. I've done it. Okay. The Son has
been glorified. And in turn, having finished
the work of giving eternal life to as many as God has given Him,
He glorifies the Father. That glorifies the Father. You
see, if one for whom Christ died ends up in hell, God can't be
glorified. Not if this is true. Eternal life is the thing most
treasured. People talk about it all the time. In fact, if
you believe what goes on today, no matter whether you're a serial
killer or a whoremonger or a harlot or a drug addict, if you die,
you're up yonder looking down. Everybody says, I know they're
looking down on me. I wouldn't be so sure, but people
believe that. Everybody thinks and believes.
It's a thing inside of human creatures as they are born into
this world. They have a sense that there's
more than this life. There's got to be more than this.
Got to be more. So it's a treasured idea among
men to live forever, to return from the dead, to reincarnate,
some say, to reside as a disembodied specter in the invisible ether. These are simply different ways
of describing what men call eternal life. For all religions save
one, eternal life is the product of a life well lived. A life
well started by the will of man and finished by the works of
man? The Hindus keep coming back until they get it right. The
Muslim arrives at obedience through the Quran. The radical Muslim
achieves it by blowing himself up and killing infidels. The
fundamentalist gains it by generating and exercising faith revealed
by some sort of public profession, walking down an aisle. The legalist
arrives at it by saying he keeps the law. The intellectual attains
eternal life by propter doctrine. The moralist gets it by good
deeds. In truth, none of these are eternal life. This is eternal life, that you
know God, the true God, even Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.
Eternal life is attained singularly because the Father glorified
the Son, so the Son would glorify Him, according as the Father
authorized the Son to give that life to as many as God had given
His Son. Eternal life never goes outside this little capsule here. Right here is where it's all
settled. It's all settled. It's a closed
fist community. Our Lord described it that way
when He talked about eternal life. He said, My sheep hear
My voice and they follow Me and I give unto them eternal life.
No man is able to pluck them out of My hand. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. all
right here you see glorify the son that the son may glorify
thee as thou has given him power over all fleshly to give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him what a thing those who possess
eternal life possess it because god the father has glorified
the son and the son has glorified the father in giving eternal
life For man to insinuate himself into this great and successful
transaction is to disannul it altogether. If man is in this
glory, this glory is not. If glory is in it, man is not. If the glory is not, eternal
life is not. Since God has glorified the Son
in order for the Son to glorify Him, as many as God has given
Christ according to this, have eternal life. They have it. Every
one of them, every last one of them, what is eternal life? That's a question worth asking,
I suppose. Some think it's the length of
life. Some say it's the quality of
life. Some say it's heaven and all its attendant glory. And
surely all of these are involved in this state called eternal
life. Those who possess eternal life will live forever and never
die. They will live full and free
and perfectly and abundantly. They will live glorified and
everlasting joy in the new heaven and the new earth. They will
sing in harmony, worship in purity, and forever bask in the presence
of the Savior. These things, rather than defining
eternal life, more accurately define the benefits of eternal
life. These things are, for the most part, speak of a futurist
state, an expectation, a spiritual hope of things to come, things
looked for. But eternal life is a singular
thing. It is a thing now possessed by those to whom it was given as Christ glorified His Father.
Our Lord reveals what eternal life is in the precise and exact
language in verse 3. He says this is eternal life.
This is it. What is eternal life? Christ
said this is it! This is eternal life! This is eternal life. Eternal life is knowing God. Knowing God. To understand what this means,
we probably have to look at what it does not mean. The reason
for doing so is that men may know God in a certain capacity
and yet not have been given eternal life. Knowing God in any other manner
than the manner that is spoken of here, revealed here, is in
fact eternal condemnation rather than eternal life. Men may know
God in creation. Romans 1 says they do. They know
God in creation, but they do not acknowledge Him as God. They
say God did it. People say, well, the outside, the wood, nature, that's
my chapel. That leaves you without excuse.
according to Romans 121. This law leaves men without excuse
and eventuates in idolatry, according to Romans chapter 1. And finally,
reprobation. Men may know God in the law of
commandments, but only as a God incensed against sin and unrighteousness,
not in mercy. There is no mercy and grace in
the law. The law wasn't given so people would look for mercy
and grace. The law was given because transgression had occurred,
and now there is a way to punish it. The law entered because of
transgression. The law entered that sin might
abound. In that capacity, God is not revealed in mercy in the
law. There is no love in the law, no grace in the law, and
man is by such knowledge guilty and condemned. What the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth might
be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. This also does not speak of knowing
God fully, for such a thing is impossible for a finite human
being to really understand the infinite. No man can perceive
it. this is simply finally outside
the scope of humanity's knowledge secret things belong to God Deuteronomy
29 says that was revealed belongs to us and our children
that we might do the works of this book no man can know God
yet our Lord is clear eternal life is knowing God even Jesus
Christ. In what manner does knowing God
equate to eternal life? That's the question. I want to
know that. As always, the text is explained
by the context. The subject and substance of
this whole prayer is God being glorified by glorifying Christ
in order for Christ to glorify Him for the purpose of giving
His people eternal life. This is how we know God. This
eternal life is precise. It is the revelation of God in
this singular capacity. This singular capacity. This
is so very precise. Knowing God as He is revealed
in the gospel of substitution, which fully fulfilled the penalty
of God's law and propitiation which satisfied God for sin and
reconciled His people to Himself by imputed righteousness. The
sacrifice of Christ declared that God was just when He justified
His elect. And that with which He glorified
Christ to accomplish is that which glorified God in all His
attributes, mercy, grace, justice, holiness. Simply stated, this
is how you know God. if you know him as he is glorified,
as he is revealed in the gospel of his Son, the Savior, the substitute
for sinners. This alone is knowing God in
eternal life. Any other knowledge of God is
described as condemnation. It is just that simple. How do
we know God? In what capacity? We know him in the capacity,
truly know him in the capacity of Savior. Jesus Christ is God. He is the
fullness of the Godhead in a body according to Colossians 2. He is the God we know. He is
the God we will always know. And we know Him because 2,000
years ago He was given power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. and therein
he was glorified finishing the work therein he glorified God
and that's how we know him that's how we know God it's a good way to know him because
if you know him that way you know what that means if you really
know him that way you were one of the many that he was given
to give eternal life to Father, bless us to understand and go
pray in Christ's name, amen.