Chapter 17, John 17. If it can be said that we're
truly entering holy ground, it's right here. There is no part
of God's Word that is not precious. But this passage of Scripture,
John chapter 17, the Spirit of God has allowed
us to hear the verbalized words of the Lord Jesus Christ, God
the Son, given the Spirit of God without
measure, He who is God the Mediator, speaking to God the Father on
the behalf of His elect. Oh, may the Spirit of God give
us ears to hear today. John 17, verses 1 and 2, these
words. spake Jesus and lifted up his
eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy
son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou has given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou has given him. His Word endureth forever. The Word of God, even to say those words, the
Word of God, is a miracle that we can even hear it. God who is Spirit, God who must be revealed, declared. And Almighty God has been pleased
to send His only begotten Son. The only one begotten comes forth from the
Father. The very image of God. this holy discourse. Just a couple
of verses I want to deal with this morning. But there are truths
that are revealed in these two verses that I'm telling you this
side of glory we cannot plumb the depth. I mean that we are able to even
read it. That He's given you a heart to understand and to desire to
hear it. If you want to hear this, oh,
you're a blessed person. If I want to hear what he has
to say, these words speak Jesus. What words? Chapters 13 through
chapter 16. Those chapters that we dealt
with for quite a while, that all took place in just a very
few hours. And He took His disciples in
just in those last few hours. He spoke to those that He had
chosen. Twelve apostles, one of them
was the devil. And Almighty God from before
the foundation of the world had ordained there'd be eleven elect
and one reprobate found in his group of twelve. A reprobate,
a reprobate is one left to himself. And leave a man to himself and
he will manifest himself. Give him time. He will. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to intercede for those eleven that he'd everlastingly loved,
and he's going to deal in just a little while. Lord willing,
it'll be a few weeks, I'm sure, before we get there. But he says,
I've only lost one. I've lost none except. I don't
even want to say it. He's only lost one. I don't even
want to say it like that. He said, I've lost none but the
son of perdition, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. But here's
our Lord. These words speak Jesus. All of the instruction, I must
go away. It's expedient that I go away.
I'm the vine, you're the branch. I must go away. Comforter will
not come unless I go away. When He comes, He will reprove
the world of sin, righteousness, judgment. These words spake Jesus
and lifted up His eyes to heaven. If you want to know the right
thing to do, and there's times that it's recorded, you know,
they would bow their heads. He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
Here's the point. He's making a revelation of the
one to whom we appeal. He lifted up his eyes to heaven,
teaching us in action that God Almighty, who is omnipresent,
here's the fact, where two or three are gathered together in
my name. I am in the midst of you. Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, I know you're here. I know you're
here. And my heart's desire this morning
is that he might be honored. If there's two or three here,
and surely, as I've said before, surely there's two or three.
I'm convinced many. He said, I'm in the midst of
you. And he knows. He knows. Let me just be honest. He knows. He knows my heart. He knows my
thoughts. He knows everything's gone through my mind. And I ask
even now, Lord, forgive me for the disrespectful thoughts that
I've had already this morning. He lifted up his eyes toward
heaven. What did he say when he taught
his apostles, his disciples? He said, Lord, teach us to pray.
He said, when you pray, Pray in this manner, Our Father, which
art in heaven. David, where's your God? Our
God's in the heavens. And he's done whatsoever it's
pleased him to do. Our Father. He lifted up his
eyes to heaven. He said, Father, the hour has
come. Now's the time. The hour on which
all things hinge. Everything is based on this hour. This is the hour of judgment.
This is the hour of redemption. This is the hour of reconciliation. This is his hour of suffering.
This is our hour of peace established. Father, the hour has come. This is the hour, Father, that
you've always seen. You've seen the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. This is the hour that was predicted,
prophesied, back in the garden, when the Lord Jesus Christ who
walked in the garden after Adam and Eve had rebelled against
God. And the Lord told him, he said, concerning the serpent,
you're going to bruise his heel. He's going to crush your head.
He's going to crush you. It's what God's going to do to
rebellion. He's going to crush it. The hour
has come. Up until this time, you know
how many times are up. Many times. His hour was not yet come. They
wanted to lay hands on Him, but His hour was not yet come. My
hour is not yet. My hour is not yet. The hour
has come. Here it is. All prophecies are
going to be fulfilled concerning His crucifixion. All the types,
all the promises concerning God's redemption of His people fulfilled.
Here is the rock smitten. Here is the brazen serpent lifted
up in the desert. Here's the ark on which fell
the rain from heaven. Here's the Red Sea rebuked. Here's
the lamb slain and whose blood was applied to the doorpost. Here's the scarlet thread hung
in Rahab's window. Father, the hour has come. glorify thy son. Lord, give honor, openly display
the honor of your son, openly display that which you have everlastingly
purposed. Lord, your precious desire, express
it to redeem a people. that you've everlastingly loved. Glorify thy Son. Glorify your Lamb. Oh, as God Almighty, no glory
could be given unto Him. He's God. He is the Lord of glory. But as the Incarnate One, as
God in human flesh, as the Messiah, as the Christ,
the God-man, the one to whom the Spirit must be given without
measure. What a mystery! You would think,
well, being God, nothing would have to be given to Him. The
Scriptures revealed all things had to be given to Him. We're
going to read it in just a minute. Verse 4, "...as thou hast given
him power." This is God speaking. God in human flesh, praying to
His Father, glorify thy Son. Father, support me, uphold me
in that which I shall and must do. Can you imagine Him having
to ask for support. Father, glorify Thy Son. Uphold
me, and man by nature thinks he's so powerful. Here's the Son of God Himself,
asking His Father to do that which only the Father could do.
For if the Father could not do it, the Lord would have never
asked it. Glorify Thy Son. Honor Me. Honor Me concerning
the work that You gave Me to do. Render unto Me the honor
as Your Lamb. He who must increase. We who must decrease. Here is
the one who humbled himself, made himself no reputation. Here is the one who deserves
to be glorified, deserves to be honored. The one who made
himself no reputation. And truly what the son asked
the father is so much deeper than you and I could ever consider.
But let's consider in the light that we have his glorious petition. Father, the hours come, glorify
thy son. In asking the father to glorify
him, here's what he's asking. I'm asking, praying, he lifted
up his eyes to heaven. and said, Father, the hour has
come. Pour out your divine wrath upon
me in the place and in the stead of your elect. Father, judge me in their stead. Glorify me. Now let me tell you
the amazing thing about his request. He asked that wrath and judgment
be poured out upon him because of... I want you to completely understand
what I'm about to say. He asked that the Father pour
out judgment and wrath upon Him totally because of His obedience. He laid down His life, the Father
who made Him sin. The Father made Him sin. And
He willingly gave Himself to it. He willingly bore the guilt. He did nothing against His own
will. He did nothing against His Father's
will. He said, I do only always those
things that please the Father. Here is the willing, holy, harmless,
undefiled Son of God who did right, this is the one in whom
the Father was well pleased, and He willingly subjected Himself,
He obediently, I, Father, beseech you, glorify Me, pour out upon
Me, because of My obedience, He was not made a sinner. He was made sin obediently. Now, I understand we don't understand
it. I understand that. But I'm telling
you, he was obediently made sin. And God Almighty justly did to
him what he did. where sin was found, the Lord
Jesus Christ bore the brunt. God's just. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
asked, pour out justly wrath upon me and spare them. Let those that you've given me
from before the foundation of the world I redeemed them willingly. Glorify me. All other wrath will
be because of disobedience. Here is wrath poured out because
of obedience. Obedience. All giving Him and
electing grace, all chosen unto salvation. Here, the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to bear their guilt. So he prayed the Father,
that the Father would glorify him. Glorify me as the one bearing
their guilt. Glorify me as the Redeemer. The Lord of glory Himself. That's
the one that that thief saw. He said, Lord, when you enter
into your kingdom, will you remember me? Glorify me. The incorruptible, undefiled,
redeemer that shall be raised from the dead because God was
pleased with what He did. You think the Father would be
pleased with disobedience? What is sin? Transgression of
the law, disobedience. I'm telling you what we're seeing
right here. He's asking that the father do
that which is right and honorable and good because of his obedience. Made sin. He didn't do this against
his will. He did this. Glorify me. Why? That thy son may glorify thee. That thy son also may glorify
thee. Father, You are the God of all
mercy. Father, you're the God of all
grace, compassion. You're the electing God. You're
a God that has chosen, and not apart from the Son and the Spirit,
I know, but the Scripture revealed. You go back and read Ephesians
1. The Father has been set forth as He who chose us in Christ. as it pleased Him, predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of His Son, who predestinated
us to be made like His Son, in His Son, by His Son. For His Son's honor, the Father
who was pleased to show mercy to whomsoever He would, Glorify
Thou me that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." And here's the
certainty of Christ being glorified as the Redeemer. The Father being
glorified as the God of all grace. Verse 2, "...as Thou hast given
Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to
as many as Thou hast given Him." The Father chose to show mercy
to a race of people chosen out of every kindred, nation, tribe,
and tongue. A people that He was pleased
to not allow to perish. He was not going to leave them
to themselves. He was going to save them in
spite of them, by grace, by power. and how the hour has come and
the Lord Jesus Christ confessing, Father, the hour has come, now's
the time. Glorify me. Do what you must
do. Do what you shall do. Do what
you're pleased to do. As I lay down my life, you've given me power over all
flesh. For this purpose, for this purpose,
thou hast given him power over all flesh in order that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. All power, he said to his disciples.
You go into all the world and preach the gospel. Every creature.
All power is given unto man. You go preach the gospel. And those to whom the Lord is
pleased to reveal the truth, He's going to reveal it. Why?
Because all power is given to Him. He's going to get His people
under the sound of the gospel. He's going to move. He'll move
heaven and earth to get one sheep. I'll raise up a nation. I'll
put down a nation. I'll destroy this king. I'll
raise this king up. I'll put these people together.
I'll move this. I'll judge you to save this one. Why? Because he's God and has
the right. Has the right. Has the right. I'll show mercy and compassion
to whomsoever I will. Thou has given him power over
all flesh. All of the peons of this world. All of the nations, all of the
this and that, and all the nobodies of this world. They think they're
somebodies, and they're nothing, they're nothing. Now you say,
boy, you're putting them down kind of hard, don't you? The
whole, everything, less than nothing. How about that? How
about that? Won't even give them the credit
of being nothing. All the nations of this world are reputed as
less than nothing. Grasshoppers. Thou has given him power over
all flesh in order that he might give eternal life. To who? To as many as the Father
has given him. Oh, the blessed truth of election. Election. I love the truth of
election. Number one, God's declared it.
Number two, that means I might be found in that group. God's
got a people. All that the Father's given me,
what are they going to do? They're going to come to Him.
I know that. How are they going to come? Under the sound of the
gospel. Lord, let me hear. If I've never truly heard, I've
heard this message before. I've heard this message before,
but I can read of in these scriptures. Old Simon, the sorcerer, he heard. He was baptized. And it was revealed
later, Peter told him, he said, your heart is not right. Bound up in the gall of iniquity. Demas have forsaken me, having
loved this present world. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Lord, don't leave me. How am I going to know that God's
chosen me if I endure to the end? If I'm kept by the power
of God? I know I'm not going to endure
by myself either. I don't have the power to that. But I know
that He gives unto His sheep eternal life. I know that. And
I'm telling you, those sheep that He's given eternal life
to, They cometh. He that cometh to
me. How did you come? Well, as a
poor wounded smitten beggar. And you don't find a believer
coming any other way but that way. That's where they always
come. In fact, the more they grow in grace, the more you'll
find them groveling. That's a believer. Groveling
believer. a helpless believer. That he
should give eternal life. Here in closing, I want you to
turn to John 10. John 10. John 10, verse 22 to 29. It was at Jerusalem, verse
22, chapter 10, John. That Jerusalem, the feast of
the dedication, it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple
in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man 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. Father, glorify me. Glorify me, glorify thy son,
that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. I pray that the Lord be pleased
to bless these words to our hearts. And as we begin this 17th chapter
of the book of John, this high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I encourage you, read the rest of the chapter. And
as we consider that which he prays, may the spirit of God
settle our hearts to hear him. Amen.