John 17. John 17. It's absolute joy to be here
with you, dear saints. I was telling Todd on the way
up here, the first preacher that ever invited me to preach in
the first great church I ever preached in was this one right
here. I remember it was in back when Don had just been at Danville
just a few months. May have been his first or second
conference. Might have been his even first. And they'd have dinner
in this little electrical building there, that co-op building. And
Scott was there, and he had a big old cowboy hat he wore. And he
and I got to talking, fizzing around a little bit. And I'd
never heard him preach, and he just floored me. Just, oh my,
just such a preacher. And we got to talking and talking
and talking. Before that meeting was over,
I was sitting up in the front like these fellas are. Nobody
didn't even know my name, you know. And Scott sat down beside
me and said, ah, ah, ah. Listen, we have a little meeting
up in Katy about every Easter. Have several preachers in. Pretty
good meeting. We'll feed you good. If you got it in your schedule,
if your appointment book is just not filled up, He said, well,
you reckon you'd come up? I said, oh, boy. And the first time I ever preached
in a grace church that was called a grace church was right here.
And I preached on six things that give me assurance that I'm
one of God's sheep. And so that dear old man, I can't
tell you how much I love him. And first fellow that ever opened his heart and his home
and his pulpit to me. I love him. I do. John 17, verses
1 through 5. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, thou has come. 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. And this is life eternal,
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, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was."
These wonderful words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's praying
here. This is really the Lord's Prayer.
And as He begins to pray, lifted up His eyes to heaven, began
to call on His Father, addressed Him as Father, like we call God
our Father. And the first one He prays for
in this prayer is first for Himself. He prays for Himself. And he
says in the prayer that he prays for himself is, now, O Father,
glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. I thank you. Glorify me. And then he prays
for his disciples. He says down in verse 9, he prays
not only first for himself, but for the disciples. He said, I
pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. I pray
for my disciples, only for them. I'm not praying for the world.
And then he prays for the church. He prays for the church. And
he prays down there and he says, Father, in verse 20, watch what
he says. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
Christ was praying for me here, to cross my path with the gospel.
And I pray for them who shall believe on me through their word. And we believe on what the apostles,
the foundation is built upon the apostles and prophets, Christ
himself. And as our Savior prayed, the
words he used here reveal our whole salvation, the way of God
saving sinners. He said in verse two here, as
thou has given him power over all flesh. And I mean, when he
says over all flesh, that word power means not only authority
and rights, But he has the strength, the physical strength, the might,
the power to actually save a man. It takes more power to save a
sinner than it does to create a world. God speaks the world
into existence. But to break a heart, to subject
a will, to change a mind, to create a new nature, and to do
something in a man that only he can do, he says, I've got
the power to do that. I've got power over all flesh,
but I've got the power to do what I want to and what I want
to do with it. And he says in a list of this,
and that I give me this power that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And watch it now. And that's
what he says, as many as. Not everybody, just as many as.
And this is life eternal. This is life eternal. I want
to know what it is. Well, our Lord tells us that
they might know thee, not just know some things about you. not
just to know some correct things to say about you, not hopefully
to just say, well, God is sorry, but they might know thee, have
an intimate acquaintance with, a knowledge with, be the only
true God and know Jesus Christ whom thou hast saved. And you
notice that our Lord Jesus here starts out with God. The gospel
always starts with God. It starts with God's glory. And
the glory of God here, he says, Father, glorify me with the glory
of thine own self before the world ever was. Christ was interested
more in the glory of God than he was anything on this earth.
He came here and said, I came not to seek mine own honor, but
the honor of him that sent me. Not my glory, but the glory of
him that sent me. First and foremost in this world
is the glory of God. Christ himself says, you know,
I came not to seek my glory, but the glory of him that sent
me. And the Father's will was to bring glory to His blessed
Son. But this salvation that He came and revealed to us from
glory to glory, from the glory He had before the world was,
the glory He had while He was on this earth, the glory that
He made known to the Father, and the glory He's going to go
back to. Salvation is revealed between those two glories. From
eternity to eternity. From eternity to eternity. And
how do we deal with such things? These glorious truths, eternity,
the glory of God, the glory of the Son, the salvation of God's
elect to as many as thou hast given me. He prayed for us before
we were, before we were believers. And how do you feel in such the
presence of such God-honoring truths, truths that so honor
Him and bless His holy name? Well, I know this. It's hard
to be taken up with self, self, if you're taken up with someone
else. and all to be taken up with Christ. So I mean taken
up with Him. Taken up with His beauty, with
His glory, with His power, with His might, with His work, with
His will, with His blessed person. And there's two things I just
want to look at tonight. I won't hold you long. It's hot
in here, as old Scott said. I've heard him stop several times
and say, boy, it's hot in here. I believe I just quit. He's done
that a couple of times. But two things on earth to see.
First of all, Christ's preexistent glory. And that's there in verse
5. Now, O Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Christ had a preexistent glory.
And secondly, his predestinated work. He says in verse 4, I've
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gave me to do. He finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. Let's look at this preexistent
glory for a minute. Let's look at this preexistent
glory. He says, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was. And what our Savior is doing
here, he is saying, Lord, restore to me my place, my proper place,
my glorious place, the place that was mine from all eternity. The place that was mine before
you ever made the world, the place that was mine before there
was ever a star gave off its shine, before the sun ever gave
off its light, before the moon ever come up in its full glory. He said, I want you to give me
that glory that's mine, that's properly mine, that belongs to
me, before this world was ever began. That's what I want. And
all beloved, let me show you some over. You keep John 17.
Look in John chapter one with me just a moment. You know, our
Lord Jesus Christ, he had the same glory. John chapter one
in verse one. Our Lord had the same glory that
the father had. Whatever glory the father had
before the world was, Christ had that glory. They were one
in nature, one in essence, and they enjoyed one another. We
all enjoy one another, but after a while, you know you can get
tired of one another, no matter how much you enjoy one another.
But you can get weary of one another. Go do something else.
But one thing the Father and the Son never did, they never
wearied of one another. They truly enjoyed one another.
They enjoyed one another's glory. They enjoyed one another's presence.
They enjoyed one another's power. They enjoyed one another, rejoiced
in one another as they dwelt in eternity. And John Warner
says this, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God. Oh my, when was he with him? And the Word was with God, and
the same was in the beginning with God. Do you know when the
beginning was? When God said, this is the beginning. It was
the beginning. The only one there to know when
the beginning was, was them. Is that not right? And, oh beloved,
not only did he have this glory, but he had glory. And this is
the thing he had. He had glory there when he dwelt
with the Father as the Creator. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
is the first cause of all things, for by Him were all things that
created, were created. Whether they be visible, whether
you could see them, whether they be invisible, whether they be
dominions, principalities, powers, He's before everything, and by
Him all things consist. And so He's the, had the glory
as the Creator. And then back over here in our
text, he had glory as our surety, as our covenanted head. He says
there in verse 2, that thou gavest him power over all flesh that
he should give to eternal life as many as. Go through the scripture. Go through your concordance one
time and look up those things where he says as many as, as
many as. That's how many as Christ come
to save. And he says he was head over
as many as the Father has given him. He's the head of a covenanted
people. And he talked how many times
through this chapter, he says, those that's given me, they were
thine, you gave them to me. They were mine. And oh, beloved,
so when he begins to pray for this glory that he had, when
he asked to be restored to that glory, what happened to that
glory that he says, I want to be restored to it? What happened
to it? If he says, give it back to me, I want it back. I want
to go back where I was. I want that glory that I have.
What happened to that glory that He says, I want it back? I want
you to give it back to me. I want you to put me in my proper
place. What happened to that glory? I'll tell you what happened
to it. He became one with us. He became a man. He became flesh. And His glory, that glory that
He had from all eternity was veiled in flesh, veiled in His
humanity. Now, beloved, when He became
a man, He didn't lay aside His deity. He did not lay aside His
Godhead. But He laid aside the glory of
that deity. He didn't cease to be God. When
He came through the womb of a virgin, He didn't cease to be God. He
just ceased to manifest the glory of God that He had with the Father
before the world was. Now let me show you what I'm
talking about. You look and you keep John 17. Look in Matthew
17, just a moment. Matthew 17. You know, He When he became man,
that's where that glory went. It was veiled in his flesh. And
here on the Mount of Transfiguration, this is where they had never
seen Christ, those disciples, those who had been with him.
They saw something in Christ they had never saw before. It
says in verse 1, And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James,
and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain
apart. and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine
as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." Now that's
the way Christ looked. That's the glory that He had.
They saw Him like they never saw Him before. They saw His
face as bright as the sun. And they looked at Him, and just
looking at Him was just like looking at the very glistening
of the sun. It's as bright, as white, as
light they ever saw. And this is the glory that he
had. This is the glory that he laid aside. And when he appeared
to Saul of Tarsus, when he smote him down on the Damascus road,
Paul says, that was the light above the brightness of the sun
that appeared unto me. That was the glory of Christ
that he had. And, O beloved, and you contrast that with what
he told he would come into this world as. He'd come as a root
out of dry ground. There was no beauty about him,
no comeliness about him that we should desire him. His visage
was more marred than any man. I mean, he laid aside this glory,
and oh, when men looked at him, they didn't see the glory of
God. And the very fact that the reaction that people gave him
shows his glory was veiled. How many times did they say,
who is this son of man? Who is this man? Where did he
get his wisdom at? He didn't go to any school we
knew about. Why, this is just the carpenter. This is the carpenter's
son. We know his Mama Mary. We know
his Brother Joseph. And we know James. And we know
his sisters. What in the world is so special
about him? There was glory in him at all
that time. But the veil of that flesh that
veiled that glory said no one could see it unless he made them
to see it. And there was some who was looking
at Him, and they could see. They saw more than the carpenter's
son. They saw more than Mary's son. They saw more than other men,
because Christ would take that flesh and reveal Himself to them. And they saw a beauty in Him
that only God could make them see. And oh, Beloved, it's like
Moses when he came down off that mountain, put the veil over his
flesh. Why? Because they couldn't behold
the glory. And that's the way Christ was.
His glory was veiled in His flesh. And if our Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world, and had He come in power, come in great
power and great glory and great pomp and great circumstance,
come as a king, come robed in all the glorious robes of a king,
come and lived and He took and ascended a palace, That in itself
would have been wonderful. That would have been glorious
for Him to come to do that. But that's not the way He came.
Do you know how He came? He came in the likeness of sinful
flesh. I mean, you loved Him when you
looked at Him. He looked like a man. When you touched Him,
He felt like a man. When you slapped Him, He hurt
like a man. When you pinched Him, He pinched like a man. If
you cut Him, He bled like a man. When He hungry, He was hungry
like a man. He was a man! But he wasn't a sinful man. He
took upon, when you looked at him, you saw a man. And it was
in the likeness of this sinful flesh. But there was no sin in
that flesh. And oh, he took upon himself
the form of a servant. And instead of coming as a king,
he came in poverty. When they come to offer the Lord
Jesus Christ, the firstborn son, he's always offered to God. God
says that firstborn is mine. And they came to offer Him to
the Lord, dedicate Him to the Lord. And the cheapest sacrifice that there
was that they was able to offer was a pair of doves. And they
were so poor that that's all they could afford to offer to
dedicate their son to the Lord in his 40 days at his age. His
parents were so poor. And our Lord and His Father earned
their living as a carpenter. He didn't have a home that He
could call His own. Here on earth, He didn't have
the glory He had with the Father before the world was. And He
says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and bless
His holy name, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how
that though He was rich, rich in glory, rich in might, Rich
in wisdom, rich in power, rich in every, I mean rich in Godhead,
and the heaven itself moved at his beck and call. And though
he was rich, he laid it all aside and became poor, that we through
his very poverty might now have all them riches that you talked
about tonight. And so our Lord said here, glorify thou me with
the glory which I had with you. And you know, he said he's going
to return from where he come. You back over in John 17 with
me. He's going to return from where he come from. You know,
a lot of folks think that he just come when he would come
into this world, that that was his first existence, but no,
no, no. He's always existed. He just
became something he never was before. And once he became what
that was, he'll never cease to be that which is a man. But look
here in John 16, 28 what it says. He says, Father, glorify me with
the glory that you had with you for the world. He says in verse
28 here, he said, I came forth from the Father. I came forth
from the Father. That's where I come from. And
I've come into the world. And now what are you going to
do? I'm going to leave the world. Where are you going? Going right
back where I come from. Going right back where I come
from. He said, it's time for me to return to you, to return
to the glory which I had with you before the world was. Time
to return to that glory, that majesty, that worship that's
due me. And the astounding thing is this,
that He'll return to the Father. He'll go back just as God, just
like He always was. But also now He'll go back as
a man, which He wasn't when He first came. And, O Beloved, in
eternity he was pure deity, the Son of God. When he returns in
his glory, he'll go back both as God and man. And I'll tell
you what this means to me. This means to me that I have
someone in heaven, someone at the right hand of God, with all
the glory that the Father gave him before the world was, but
one who now can be touched with the feelings of my infirmities. the one who represents me in
the presence of God right now, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God
will restore that glory that our Lord voluntarily laid aside.
Psalm 24 says this. Let me just tell you about it
just a little bit. But it says this. Lift up your
gates, O you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come
in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord and host. Mighty in
battle. Who is it? The King of Glory.
Lift it up. Open up. He's coming in. And
oh, he went back with all that glory that he had before he left.
Before he left. Now let me give you the other
one real quick. There in verse 4. That's his preexistent glory. Bless his name. He's back. He's
got it now. He's got it now. In verse 4,
and here's his predestinated work. I love predestination. I love predestination. I do,
you know. I was predestinated to be up
here. Now, you know, me and you made
the plans. Todd made the plans. You was the daddy rabbit in making
the plans. But you know, we was predestinated. But there could
have been a lot of things to keep us from getting here. But when
God predestinates something, he's got the wisdom, he's got
the power, he's got the ability to carry it out. Nothing. He
ain't going to have no flat tires. He ain't going to get hung up
no place. And he says, I have glorified thee on the earth.
And listen, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to
do. What work did the Father give
him to do? What work was it? Well, first of all, it was to
manifest the glory of God while he was on this earth. I've glorified
you on the earth. I've glorified you. That's what
I've done. You sent me to glorify you. I've done that. I have done
that from the time I was born, and I'll do it all the way to
the time I take my last breath. I'll glorify you." And, oh, beloved,
then he goes on to say here this, and I finish the work. What is
that work? Verse 6 tells us this, to manifest
the name of God. I have manifested thy name. Now,
who did he manifest it to? unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world." What does it mean to manifest the name
of God? That means to show men who God
is. You know, a man's name is his
personality, it's his character. In God's character, he says,
I come to manifest your name. Your name, your character, your
glory, your power, your majesty. And he told Moses, hitherto you
have known me by the name, I am that I am, but hitherto you shall
know me by Jehovah, that is, the covenant God. And Christ
came to make God known, to manifest the glory of God. Now I'm going
to look down in verse 26. He said, I've declared under
them thy name. I've declared the name of God
under them. What did Philip say? Show us the Father and it will
suffice. He said, Philip, have I been with you such a long time
and you've not seen me? I and my Father are one. So he
manifest the name of God. And look what else he done in
verse 8. Not only did he manifest the name of God. In all the name of God. We don't
want to use it lightly. We don't want to use it in vain.
We don't want to use it uselessly. We want to use the name of God
according as Christ made it known to us. And then he says in verse
8, not only did he manifest the name of God, but he said in verse
8, I have given unto them the words which thou hast given me. The very words of God. Father,
why was it? He says, you know, the words
that I speak to you, they're not mine. They're not mine. You
know, have you ever been around Pentecostals, you know, that
believe in prophecy and all that, interpreting and all that rigmarole?
They're saying, you know, they'll go speaking in tongues, somebody
interpreting. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He says, when I open
my mouth, they're not my words. I didn't come here just with
my religion. I didn't come to start a new
religion. No, that's not what our Lord came here to do. He
came here, beloved, He says, Everything that my Father has
to say to this human race, everything that He has to say to my elect,
everything He has to say to anybody, anytime, under any circumstances,
I'm the one that's telling you about it. Huh? He was the Word made flesh. And, oh, beloved, He says, I
gave the words, the words of the Father unto them. What are
you saying, Lord? I'm telling you what my Father
said. And this is the kicker. This
is the kicker right here. Not only have I given them thy
words which you gave of me, and this is the kicker. And they
received them. It's one thing to hear them,
but another thing to say, I believe them. I'm going to take them.
They're going to be mine. You know, we receive them. He
preached something tonight. I've heard that. I believe that,
but the way he dealt with them, I've never heard dealt that way
before. You know, God says there are sins and iniquities, I will
remember against them anymore. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, he
that believeth in me hath life. And so here we are, sinless,
and the Father tells us that, but he by himself purged our
sins. And here he is, he comes and tells us, he says, nobody
come unto the Father but by me. Except I'm He, believe I'm He,
you're going to die in your sin. And here He comes and He gives
us these words. Give us these words. And then they receive
them. They believe them. I believe
what you said tonight. I believe it. I can't grasp it. But I believe it. And oh, look
what else He goes on to say here. Not only do you manifest the
name of God in the words of the Father, but in verse 3, He says, Verse 2, he says, and He has
given them power over all flesh that He should give eternal life.
Give eternal life. They don't earn it. They don't
work for it. They don't deserve it. They don't
merit. But He said, I give it to them. I give it to them. And who did
He give it to? The same ones He gave the Word
to. The same words He gave the Name to. The same ones He prayed
for here. And oh, how do we know we have
eternal life? That name that He made known
to us, that you might know Thee, the only true God. They know
you. They know you. Who do men say
that I, the Son of Man, am? Well, some say you're Jeremiah,
because you cry a lot. Some say you're Elijah, because
you've got such power. You work such miracles. Some
say you're John the Baptist, because you're so hard against
sin. You just will not tolerate sin.
And these Pharisees, but who do you say I am? God, the Christ,
you're the Son of the living God. How do you know that? My
Father hath revealed it unto you. God was in Christ, reconciled
the world unto Himself. And, oh, beloved, let me give
you one other thing here. I've got some other things, but
this is all I'll give you. I'll give you this. Down in verse 19, He come to
finish this work, this predestinated work, was this, to make atonement
for sin, to sanctify Himself, to be an offering for sin. He
said in verse 19, And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified through me. Now, when our Lord
Jesus says, I sanctify myself, does He say I'm going to make
myself more holy? I'm going to make myself pure?
I'm going to make myself more righteous? So what does He mean
here? That means I'm going to set myself
apart. That's what sanctify means. I'm
going to set myself apart. I'm going to set myself apart
to the cross. I'm going to set myself apart
as a sacrifice. I'm going to set myself apart
as a sin offering. I'm going to set myself apart
as a substitute. I'm going to set myself apart
as the satisfaction to God. I'm going to set myself apart.
I'm going to sanctify myself. And that cross is where I'm going
to do it at. That's where I'm going to set myself apart at. And on, listen to this, by bearing
their sin, by being made a curse in their sin, by shedding blood
unto the dead. And the only sacrifice that ever
put away sin from the beginning of the world to the end of time
is this sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ offered. No other
sacrifice ever put away sin. And he made atonement for all
sin, for all of his people, for all time. And not only that,
but he says, for their sakes I sanctify myself that they might
be sanctified. His death sanctified us and made
us holy. Holiness is a state of being.
You can't be no more holy at one time than you can another.
You can't be no more sanctified at one time than you can another.
And Christ said they're sanctified through me. Now, ain't that right? Oh, bless his holy name. And
then he came to save his elect eternally in verse 2 and 3. I've
given them eternal life. They know God, they know Christ.
And then he says down in verse 12, he said he's going to save
his elect. I'm going to give them life. I'm not going to try
to. I'm not going to offer it. I'm
not going to I'm not going to just beg with them and plead
with them. I'm going to give them life.
They're never going to perish. My sheep are going to hear my
voice. They're going to come to me. They're never going to perish.
But he also prayed here, and he's going to keep them, and
he's going to preserve them. Not one of them is going to be lost. He
says here in verse 12, he prayed and said, While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in my name. However one you gave
me, I've kept. I've not lost any of them. But
one man, And that is the son of perdition. And this was that
the scripture might be fulfilled. Look what he says down in verse
15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Keep them. Keep them. You reckon he's going to keep
us? All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I'll not cast out. And I'll keep them the last
day, and I'll even raise them up at the last day. And, O Beloved,
the work is finished. Do you reckon He's entered back
into His glory? Do you reckon the Father gave Him the glory
He had with Him before the world was? Where's it at? At God's right hand. All power
and majesty. And then look what He prays for
us there in verse 24. And I'm through. And this will
be the culmination of His work. Father, I will, that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which you give me. Oh, my. You reckon I'm going to get there
and see his glory? That glory which thou, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. I'm going to get there
one of these days. You know why? Because Christ says, I will. And I'm going to get there. Well,
the Lord bless you. Thank you for your kind attention.