Turn with me to the book of John
chapter 17. John 17 verse 24. John 17 verse 24 says, 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, for Thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world." The Lord in His high priestly
prayer imagined that God in human flesh, praying for
His people. He prayed in verse 15. He said,
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil, from the power
of sin, from Satan, from apostasy. We're in this world. We live
in this world, don't we? We have to deal with the things
of this world. We're not of it, but we're in it. I wish I could separate myself
from it, but I can't. I'm in it, you are too. He prayed for their sanctification,
verse 16. 17. They're not of the world, as
I'm not of the world, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Now, when
he prayed, he said, sanctify them through thy truth. Now, there is an absolute truth. The believers are in Christ Holy. Sanctified. Saints. They all mean the same. Sanctified. Whenever someone speaks of progressive
sanctification, this is what they generally mean,
wrongly, but generally. They mean that we're getting
more holy. Now I want you to just stop for
just a second and just think about this. Who is our holiness? Who is our holiness? It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord our righteousness. Can I say it like that? Same
thing. The Lord our righteousness. So standing in Him, found in
Him, you cannot progress in holiness. You have to say that He has to
become more holy. So it's not that we progress
in being holy, but the Lord here is praying. He said, sanctify
them through thy truth. What this is concerning is our
growth in the knowledge of what He's done for us. Growth in grace. growth in our understanding. There's some things that we progress
in understanding. I have maybe some more light
on something. But as far as being found in
Him, I'm going to tell you something. If you're not holy in Him right
now, then you're not holy at all. Listen to this. complete in Him. In Him you are complete. Do you want to know where you're
going from that? You're not going anywhere other than that, and
you don't want to. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them which be in Christ Jesus. Those who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. There is no condemnation. Do
you know why? Because in Him, in Him, we are complete, perfect
in Him, robed in Him. Now I understand there is an
old man in every believer. An old man. And every believer
knows it. Every believer admits it. Every
believer is aware of it. Every believer sees it. And every
believer hates it. But I'm going to tell you something.
That old man, the debt that that old man ran up in the fall, being
born in Adam and by the transgressions, that's what you read Mark. My
sin is ever before me, against thee and thee only have I sinned,
done this evil in thy sight. John said if we say we have no
sins, we make God a liar. Don't say that you don't have
any sins. But Christ has borne the guilt
of it. He's borne the guilt of what
I've done, what I'm doing, and what I shall do. what I shall
do, that I regret to say that I admit I know I shall, I wish
I didn't, but I know I'm going to. And I'm not going to sin,
say, you know, well it's sin that grace may abound. God forbid,
I wish I could stop. I wish I could
stop. I'm going to have to be delivered
from the body of this death. But I'm telling you, what I have
done, am doing, and shall do, Christ bore. He bore the debt of it. He bore
the guilt of it. And He paid the debt in the shedding
of His own blood. And for that, I am thankful,
not as I ought to be or shall be. But I thank God that He put
away my debt. And I want to learn more about
that. I want to be knowledgeable. I want God to teach me and sanctify
me. Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. This is how
you learn. If you want to know how you learn,
this is it. You sit under the sound of the
Gospel and you listen. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Then he prayed for their unity,
verse 21, that they all may be one as Thou, Father, art in me,
I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that Thou hast sent me. Believers are united. Is the Son united to the Father? Are we united to Christ? Yeah. Therefore, are we united to the
Father? Yes. What do we have in common? Well,
we have a common faith. A common faith. Every believer
believes the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. Every
one of them. Every believer. Every believer believes it. Every
believer knows that salvation was according to God's will,
God's purpose, God's calling, God's keeping. Every believer knows that. They
have a common affection for the Lord. For each other. Just common. That they may be
one. They got one goal. I wish, I
wish. Oh, I'm going to read this scripture
right here. And I read this scripture and I think, I desire that. I
want to do that. And it's going to be convicting.
I'm going to read it and it's going to convict me. 1 Corinthians
10.31, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do,
do all to the glory of God. You want me to be honest with
you? There's times that I don't even think about it. There's times that I'm so just
oblivious to the way I act, then I think about it later. I think,
why did I do that? Why did I say that? Here now, the Lord continues
to pray. He prays that His people be with
Him. Here's one whose will is going
to be done. Not my will, but thine be done.
That's what the Lord prayed when He was in the garden. Father,
if this cup could pass from Me, nevertheless, not My will, but
Thine be done. But here is a will that He has
expressed, and it's going to be accomplished, it's going to
be satisfied. Father, I will. Here He speaks for everyone. that the Father has given Him,
and He calls upon His Father, who has chosen them in Him, and
He addresses the Father as truly He is, in the title of grace, unity, kinship. I told you this. Gabe and I are girls. I probably talk to Gabe more
because of his position there at Kingsport. But I talk to the
girls often. But usually Gabe is one to five
times a day. And he'll call me. Here's the opening conversation.
Dad? Dad? Father? I will. Father, I desire, I long, not
all men own the Father as being their Father in mercy and grace. Look at John 8.41. John 8.41,
the Lord is speaking here and He speaks Some of these Jews,
John 8, 41. He told them, he said, you do
the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be
not born of fornication. We have one father, even God.
Jesus saith unto them, if God were your father, you would love me. If you want to know If God Almighty,
the Father, is your Father, let me ask you this, do you love
Him? Do you love Him? And when I say
do you love Him, you know what I'm getting ready to say. As
He has set forth concerning the Gospel, this is the hymn that
we're talking about. Somebody tells me about a hymn
that's trying to do something and I say, well, I don't know
who you're talking about. I don't know who you're talking
about. I don't know that Jesus, that
little J. The one that died for everybody,
shed his blood for everybody and wants to save everybody but
can't because they won't give him their heart. He wants to
and they have to exercise their power. I don't know who you're
talking about. He's a figment of your imagination because that's
not the Lord Jesus Christ that is spoken of in these scriptures.
That's not Him. He's the Lord. Jeremiah, I think it was Jeremiah,
said, He shall not fail. He shall not fail. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. What if somebody doesn't come,
the Father didn't give them? Write that down. If a man, if
a woman leaves this world without Christ, I can tell you based
on the Word of God, the Father did not give them to the Son.
They were never His in electing grace, never. I'm telling you,
God Almighty is going to save His people. He's going to. Father,
I will that they also, concerning all these other things
that He's prayed for, their unity, their sanctification, their oneness,
that they also, Whom thou hast given me. I wish we could grasp hold of
that every time you read that. If you need to, highlight it. Every time you see that in scriptures. Whom thou hast given me. God has an elect. You say, well, Marvin, why do
you harp on election so much? Because the Scriptures declares
it, and declares it, and declares it. The whole realm of salvation
is concerning God's elect. God's elect. God's chosen. God's people whom thou hast given
me. Verse 2, John 17, Thou hast given
Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to
as many as Thou hast given Him. Verse 9, I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me. They
are Thine. Oh, thank God for election. Paul
said, if God had not left us a seed, a remnant, according
to the election of grace, we'd all been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
You say, how can you say that? Leave a dead man to himself and
he's dead. He's dead. He's dead. He's not
going to speak life to himself. He's going to die and perish.
Well, when men speak of election as if that is some kind of an
evil thing. No. Election is the greatest
exhibition of God's mercy that we've ever heard of. Father,
I will. They also whom Thou hast given
Me, given Me, chosen to give Me, be with Me. where I am. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know a whole lot. I don't know. I don't know much
of heaven. I don't know. All I know about
heaven is what the Lord has been pleased. Look at John 14, 2.
I can tell you everything I know about heaven. I'm going to just
read. I'm going to read three verses of Scripture. And the
other verses throughout Scriptures are going to declare these truths. But this is all I know. Brother Maurice Montgomery, Brother
Scott, Martha, Rob, these saints that have departed. Oh, what
they know. What they know now. What they
see now. What they understand now. They
don't see through a glass darkly anymore. They see Him as He is. And they
know Him. He knows them. But we see through
a glass darkly right now. We know in part, we prophesy
in part. This is what I know about heaven,
John 14, 2 and 3. In my Father's house are many
mansions. Many dwelling places. Now, what
I know about that? I know this, that there's many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. Look at Matthew 25, 34. Matthew
25, verse 34. We just read from this a bit ago,
Matthew 25, verse 34, Then shall the king say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. God prepared a
kingdom for His sheep the sheep that he put on his right hand
at the day of judgment, he said, I prepared this from the foundation
of the world. Look at James 2.5. This is, I'm
telling you, everything I know. James 2.5, Hearken, my beloved
brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich
in faith, heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them
that love Him? God Almighty has been pleased
to not reveal the fullness of heaven, the kingdom. the place of our eternal abode
with Him. I know this, not one of God's
sheep is going to fail to get there. I know the thief on the cross
said, Lord, would you remember me when you enter into your kingdom?
And he said today, you'll be with me in paradise. That's all
I know. That's all I know. I do know
that there is a place called paradise. And I know this, the
Lord's there. And I know this, His sheep are
too that have departed out of this world. I know that. What's
it going to be like? Here's what I know. Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
Those glorious blessings, benefits, of the Lord Jesus Christ being
found in Him that's hidden from the natural man, from the eyes.
We walk by faith. This is what we know. But to regenerated sinners, those
who truly admit that they do see through a glass darkly, but
God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. He's revealed. What has He revealed? What we
just read. This is how much we know. That's
how much we see. We anticipate. Here's what I
can say concerning heaven. The Lord is there. And you know
what? That's enough. That's enough. And here's the reason that He
expresses His will for us to be with Him where He is. that
they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." Now, there
is the glory of the Lord God, the deity, that was never given
to him. He's always been God. He's God. In the beginning was
the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I know
this, there is a glory that has never been given Him, but as
the glory of being the Mediator, the God-Man, the Great High Priest. That was a glory that was given
the Lord Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world.
That God would be manifest in human flesh. That was given Him
by the Father. That's what He says. That they
may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me. He said, I want them to be with
Me. That they may behold that which I have eternally. willingly,
powerfully, been their mediator, and done for them their redeemer. Found in Him, our husband, an
heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. Revelation 3.21 says, "...to
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne even
as I overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne."
I am so lost in the wonder. If the Lord had not said that,
I would say, sit with Him on His throne? That's oneness. To sit with Him. Seated. for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world." I want to, in closing, that last
statement, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world, I want you to look at the last line of the 23rd verse,
just before that, and that last line will make complete sense. It says, well I'll read the 23rd
verse, and thou in me, that they may
be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, now listen to this, and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me, now the last part of verse 24, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. So how long has the Father
loved his people? Everlastingly. There has never
been a time when the Lord God of heaven, the Father, Son and
Spirit did not absolutely love His people. There has never been
a time when there was not a mediator. There's never been a time when
there was not a great high priest to answer. There's never been
a time when there wasn't a lamb slain There's never been a time
that the Father did not see the blood. There's never been a time
when Almighty God did not declare who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling. Salvation is of the Lord. This
great prayer of the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, one day, Those
that know Him is going to understand it, going to see it, it's going
to be fulfilled. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. Him there by right, He being
there by obedience, and we being there by God's grace. And that's
all I can say about that. By the grace of God, we are what
we are. That they may behold my glory,
which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. O Lord Jesus, may Your will be
done for me, for Your sake, for my good.