Let's turn back in our Bibles
to John chapter 17 and we want to spend some time, if the Lord
will allow, looking at these first two verses because they're
linked together by the first word in verse 2. These words spake Jesus, lifted
up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son. that thy son may also 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. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that
in the glorious power of your Son over all flesh, that you
might exercise that power once again amongst us this morning,
Heavenly Father. We thank you that we look at
outward things, but you look at our hearts and we pray, Heavenly and worship you and enter into
the glory of this amazing prayer that our Saviour prayed on his
behalf and on our behalf, our Father. We thank you. We thank
you for prayer. We thank you especially for the
prayers of your dear and precious son. May we pray his prayer and
rejoice For his glory and his sake and
your glory, our Father, we pray. Thank you, amen. There is a blessed
people in this world, aren't they? There is a blessed people. The people that know their God,
Psalm 9 says, will put their trust in him. If they know him,
they'll put their trust in him and hear the Lord Jesus Christ
as he will be exposed publicly before all the world and all
creation. the next morning he will be hung
physically naked on that tree and all the world will see and
they will mock and in the words of lamentation he says what happens
to him on the cross he says behold oh lord and consider behold i
am become vile we were born vile we became vile
in our father adam in the garden He's the only one that can say
that. That's what your sins and my sins are. Then he says, is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? You pass by in this world, life
is a vapour. You just pass by in this world
and where you've been will never remember you again. Is it nothing
to you, all you that pass by, behold and see if there is any
sorrow like unto my sorrow. Which is done unto me wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day. cross the next day and yet his
heart in this night, his heart is full of his prayer to glorify
his father. and for him to be glorified in
the glorification of his Father, and that's exactly what's going
to happen on the cross. He will be exposed and all of
the glorious, majestic attributes of God that David prayed about
and rejoiced in in that passage you read in 1 Chronicles 29,
will be seen by the children of God
in this world through a glass dimly, upon the throne. The lamb as
if he'd been slain upon the throne. But here in this prayer, he speaks
in verse two of a divinely given people. These are a people that
are given, isn't it? He speaks of them as many as
thou has given him. In verse 10 and even further down, he says
there are divinely He said, and he prays to his
father, you keep them through your name. In verse 14, there
are divinely taught people. I have given them thy word. They are a divinely sanctified
people in verses 17 down to 19, that they all might be sanctified
through the truth. They're a divinely united people. They are united to Him and united
by Him to the Father. There are divinely blessed people,
verse 22, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given
them, that they might be one. They are a gloriously and divinely
perfected people, verse 23, that they may be made perfect in one. And ultimately, at the end of
it all, I want to be one of them. Six
times in this short prayer the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of his
people and gives them that designation. Those that thou hast given me. I want to be one of them. I want to be one of them. This
is the most remarkable night, isn't it? The next day, if the
hour has come, then this is part of that hour. The Garden of Gethsemane
and the abuse that you'll suffer at Gabbatha and then the Cross
of Calvary, it's all part of this hour. This is the hour for
which the universe was created. This is the hour for which the
universe is still in existence. Everything about our salvation
is here on display. It is so precious. He was going
to give this night, within a very short time of praying these words,
he was going to begin shedding his blood. And he was going to
give his blood as an offering to his father for sin. He was
going to give his righteousness as the perfect sacrifice, his
faith. was going to be tested unto the
death, the death of the cross. He was going to give his back
to the smiters, his beard was to be plucked out, he was going
to give his humility to the mockers, his life was a ransom, and the
promises are sealed with the redemption blood of the eternal
covenant. He emptied himself and became
obedient as a servant, obedient unto death. Pilate asked him,
And we'll look at this in the next chapter. Pilate asked him,
what is truth? What is truth? Effectively and
possibly Pilate was saying, is truth worth all of this? We can
all have a little bit of our own truth and we can all, is
truth worth this? The question that's asked here
isn't, is the glory is the glory of God Almighty. It's precious to Him and He wants
us to hear that from His lips. This is all about the glorification
of the Son of God and the glorification of His Father. And the people,
we will have our glory as He is glorified. What a gift that's
going to give us the glory. He's going to give us the glory. He's going to give us to behold
the glory. And what's the prayer of a forgiven
saint of God? Moses' prayer. Show me your glory. Show me your glory. It's the
prayer of one who is the recipient of the grace of God and the favour
of God and the calling of God in his life. It's the prayer
of one who is called in this world to bear witness to the
Lord Jesus Christ and all of you children of God are called
to bear witness to him and that's our prayer. Show us your glory.
What is at the heart of all false religion of all sorts? Who gets the glory? Who gets
the glory? If a tiny bit of your salvation
brings you any glory in your flesh and your obedience and
your works, then he gets none and you get it all. I beg of
you, I beg of you to plead as Moses plead. He promises not to share His
glory with another, and yet here He reveals in this glorious prayer
the wonders of who He is and the blessings that come to His
people. So let's read this verse and
may the Lord take and exercise as He's promised power over all
flesh, that this flesh of ours might rejoice and might be able
to say Amen with him. It's the glory. There are several
gifts in here and of course the first gift of all is the gift
of God's Son to this world. For God so loved the world that
he gave. He gave. And he begins, he says
in verse five, Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. The Lord Jesus Christ is appointed
by the Father to this office of his. He's praying not as God,
but he's praying as the God-man Christ, our mediator. And he
begins this second verse, he says, as, even as, according
to, as well as, the glory given to the Son by the Father, to
reveal the Father to His children, to reveal the unity between the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the children of God.
This is a prayer about the union and the unity that we have. These words speak Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son that thy son may glorify thee as thou has given him power
over all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many
as thou has chosen him. He's saying on this hour, I've
come to stand and bear witness and bear all the sins of the
children that you've given me in my body and in my soul. I'm to stand between thy justice
and the sins of all of thine elect as a covering for those
sins. I am to sustain the whole curse
of the broken law due to the iniquity of thine let. I am to
make my soul an offering to you. The offering of Christ was an
offering to God. This world gets it so wrong.
It says it's an offering to mankind. There wasn't an offering made
to mankind. The gospel is not an offer. He's
not offering things here. He's declaring what's being done. If the Gospel is an offer, everyone's
lost. Because no one dead in sins can
accept an offer. This is a glorious, glorious
declaration of the completeness of salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, I'm going to make my
soul an offering to you for your sins. I'm going to sustain the
whole stroke of thy wrath. I'm going to endure soul travail. I'm going to lay down my life
in obedience to thy covenant will. And he says, my soul rejoices. And he said in John chapter 14,
he said, if you knew what was going to happen to me, you'd
rejoice that I'm going away. He was rejoicing. and he's rejoicing in the fact
that he now says, it's my great desire and it's
my prayer to glorify all the perfections of God Almighty.
to save my church with an everlasting salvation. He says there, glorify
me therefore by fulfilling all the covenant engagements and
promises under me, that on completing my work of obedience under death,
even the death of the cross, God the Father will be glorified,
that I might glorify thee in all One of the things that is so
glorious about our God, in his exercise of grace and mercy and
love to his people, is he comes as a lamb, and the Holy Spirit
comes as a dove. And yet this lamb here says that
he has power over all flesh. That word power designates both
the right and the authority to rule. It also obviously speaks
to strength. Graham read it earlier in Colossians
1. God has all power. The Lord Jesus
Christ has all power. He created a universe by a word. And we talk and cringe at the
power of men. He created a universe. Just look around. He created
it with a word. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Creator. But he has power. Only an omnipotent
God can fulfill all the promises declared in scripture. No one
under God are all his works from the foundation of the world.
And he's given him power over all flesh. Don't you love that? Everyone that moves and wriggles. according to the decrees of God
Almighty. And they do as they will, and
they do as they wish. And all of their doing is in
the providence of God Almighty. If you have your Bibles open
to John 17, just turn over to John 18. This is one of the most
glorious miracles in all of the scriptures. So says Robert Hawker,
but it's remarkable, isn't it? There's a crowd of people, and
according to the designation of the officer, there were a
crowd of possibly 750 people plus those that came from the
high priest and Judas with them. And they come to the garden,
just this same evening they come to the garden and he goes out
to them. They don't find him, he goes
out to them. And he says, whom seek ye? And they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am. I am God Almighty is what he's
saying. And then soon, verse six, and
as soon as he'd said unto them, I am, they went backward and
fell to the ground. Excuse me. Sorry, Norm. That'll hurt someone's
ears. Oh dear, okay. What power, the power over all
flesh, He is. He has power over all flesh. Like Graham read it in Colossians,
he said in Colossians 1.16, for by him are all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, that are visible and
invisible. Everything that's invisible he created. We can't
even see them, but he created them and he rules and controls
them. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. a remarkable mediator. He is
before all things, Colossians 1 said, and by him all things
consist. They're all held together. He
is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning
and the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence, for it pleads the Father that in him all fullness
should dwell. Fullness of nature, fullness
of providence, I just love those verses at the
end of Romans 11. Who has known the mind of God
and who has been his counsellor? How do you deal with a God who
is this big? How do you deal with a God who
is so majestic? Bow, kiss the sun. Who has known the mind of God
and who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him
that it should be recompensed unto him again? What are you
going to give to him? David said, if you keep on reading in 1 Chronicles
chapter 29, he said, all that we've given, all the gold, all
the silver, all of the other, it's all yours. We're only giving
back to you what you've already, it's all yours anyway. Where's
the glory for man in all of that? Recompense. For of him and through
him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. He is an absolute sovereign.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all of His
works. People are horrified by what
the Lord says about His creative power and His right to rule.
Only those who are made sinners by God will bow and kiss the
sun. Proverbs 16 verse 4 says, The
Lord has made all himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day
of evil. Amen. The Father gave him this power
for his glory and after the resurrection when this prayer is answered
in the most remarkable ways he says, All power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth. And then he says, you go. And
his people have gone ever since. Go, therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son
and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always to
the end of the world. He must reign till all of his
enemies are put under his feet. What security there is for the
child of God in the arms of such a saviour, and he says at the
end of it doesn't he, he says, Lo, I and the children thou hast
given me. our great and glorious God. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life. So this is the
purpose of all of this power and all of this creation and
all of this majesty, that he should give eternal life. Eternal life is a gift. We're
going to look at it more, Lord willing, next week. This gift, as he says in John
17.3, this gift, eternal life, is that they might know Thee,
as he declares himself to be in his prayer and on the cross
and throughout the rest of the scriptures. And let's remember
again, every time where the Lord says there's a giving, there's
always a receiving. There's no giving unless there's
a receiving. It's not an offer. There's always
a receiving. And how wonderfully, throughout
all of the Gospel accounts and throughout time, all that are
needy sinners come to Him and are received, aren't they? You
cannot find in all of the Gospel accounts or the scriptural accounts
a needy, mercy-begging sinner coming to the Lord Jesus Christ
and not being filled. When all of their other hopes
have failed, they come, they come to that fountain filled
with blood drawn from Emmanuel's side. All that the Father has given
Him, all that the Father, as many as the Thou hast given Him, I love how our Lord delights
in sovereign, electing love and grace. They've given him from
the Father. You think about that gift, that
gift from before the foundation of the world. God the Father
gave son of Adam's fallen race into the hands of his son as
to be a bride to his son. You think of all of the attributes
of God that were there on display when they were given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Were they accepted? Well, they
were given. So he got them in his hands. This is what he's praying here,
isn't it? I love how he begins, he says these words speak Jesus
and he promises us that these words are a blessing and a comfort
but having it begins suddenly having loved his own which are
in the world verse 13 chapter 13 verse 1 he loved them to the
end He loved them completely. So six times in this prayer,
the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of those that are going to be
given to him. I want to be one of them. I want
you to be one of them. I want you to plead with God
and come as a mercy beggar to him that you might find yourself
one of them and find yourself delighting in them. So let's
just look at these. verses in this prayer where the
Lord Jesus Christ speaks and designates these people as those
that thou hast given him. And let's look at the blessing
that's given. In the verse before us, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. The first blessing
is, that the first blessing they're given is the blessing of eternal
life. For those who know themselves
to be sinners, what a remarkable promise from God Almighty. Eternal
life. Eternal life doesn't have a beginning
and eternal life doesn't have an end. But eternal life is only
seen in the new life, in the new birth. It's only the new
creation that sees us. That he should give eternal life
as to as many as thou hast given him. Turn down to verse 6 of
John chapter 17. He says, I have manifested thy
name unto the men. And manifesting his name is what
it is to have eternal life, that they might know him. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. To keep his word is to attend
to it carefully, to guard his word, to treat his word and every
part of his word as precious. Listen to what he goes on to
pray. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast
given me are of thee, for I have given them the words. He's given
them eternal life. He's given them the words. How
do we ever know the words of God? How do the words of God
become spirit and life to us? When the Lord Jesus Christ gives
them to us. When they become words that aren't
just black ink on a piece of paper, but they are words that
speak powerfully and spiritually for Him. You give them eternal life. He's
manifested his name to them. They've kept his word. His word
has been precious. Verse nine, he says, I pray for
them. That's what he said to Peter,
didn't he? At this same supper on that same evening, Satan's
asked to sift you. And if Satan sifts you, you'll
find out what sifting's all about. Satan has to ask to sift. It's at the good hands of God
Almighty. And then he says, What was the difference between
Peter and Judas? I've prayed for you. What a blessing,
what a precious, precious blessing. He says, I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. you'd pray pretty quickly wouldn't
you but he says I'm not praying for them all mine are thine and thine
and mine and I'm glorified in them verse 11 These people that are his are
kept. He says, and now I'm no more
in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to thee,
Holy Father, keep through thine own name. Keep through all of
the glory of your attributes, your name that's going to be
revealed in the most extraordinary way throughout time and history
by my ax on the cross. Keep them, you keep them, you
guard them. He says in the next verse, He's
kept them, He's kept them, and none of them is lost. To be kept by God. Have you wandered
like me? I need to be kept by God 100%
of the time. I love what the Shulamite says
in Song of Solomon. She says, I'm black. I'm black,
but beautiful. And she's been made the keeper
of the vineyards, and she says, I haven't kept my vineyard. Do
you reckon you've kept yours very well? Some people think
they have. Those who believe in progressive
sanctification believe that they're keeping it, and they're making
it better and better all the time. That's not the testimony
of scripture, I'm sorry. God's people are always in need
of being kept. He says, I've kept them and none
is lost. In verse 13, these people have
a glorious joy. The ones that he has kept, the
ones that thou gavest me, I've kept that they might have my
joy fulfilled in them. Verse 24, He says, Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory. Are you one of them? Are you one of them? God's children will know his
name. God's children will rejoice in all of the attributes of God
Almighty as they declared in the Scriptures of Truth. God's
children will rejoice in His Name being manifested. God's
children will know that if it wasn't for Him manifesting it,
we wouldn't have a clue who He was. He has to reveal Himself. He has to reveal Himself. And
He's going to reveal Himself through those words, and He's
going to reveal Himself as the One who prays for us, and He's
going to reveal Himself as the One who keeps us. He's going
to reveal Himself as the One who brings joy. They might have
His joy, For the joy that was set before him, let's not think
of our saviour being miserable. Let's not think of our saviour
being anything than absolutely sovereign. He went out to them,
he told them and showed them that at the cross he wasn't a
victim going up that hill to cower under his tree. He was
a sovereign, reigning, ruling Lord, and He bore in His own
body all of the sins of all of His people that the Father gave
Him from before the foundation of the world. He was going up
there as a Saviour who saves, not someone who tries to save.
He's an absolute sovereign. That's the name that's manifested
to us, isn't it? And He's praying, and He kept
praying. Even on the cross He prayed for
them, didn't He? It's finished, he said. He prayed
to his father, he's finished. The name, we love the name of
the Lord. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord that
healeth thee. Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our banner. Jehovah-Kadesh, the Lord that
sanctifyeth thee. Jehovah shalom, the Lord our
peace. Jehovah rah-ah, the Lord is my
shepherd. Jehovah sekinu, the Lord our
righteousness. Jehovah shamah, the Lord is there. Are those blessings, our blessings? All that the Father giveth me,
John 6, 37, shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that all of
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on Him
may have everlasting life. Son as is manifested in the scriptures,
in the glory of His person, in the wonder of His works. The
Father's love gift to the Son is a bride, His beloved, His
sister, bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh, united to
Him completely. He says, I am their life. In
this world created, I am their life in everlasting life. And
he says, because I live, you also shall live. I am their eternal
life-giving, life-continuing, life-maintaining head. And the body cannot be without
the head, and the head be glorified. I now give my life for them,
is what he's saying. My light, my righteousness, my
purity, my glory to them. How full is Christ? One of the extraordinary things
that you have done some sort of mathematics and I did some
at university, infinity is the most remarkable number. It doesn't
operate like any other numbers. Christ is infinitely infinite love and care, and still
be full. He can exercise infinite power,
and still have infinite power. He can give infinitely of his
fullness, and the fullness might not be diminished. From his fullness,
John, and we'll close with John chapter one, This is a giving,
this is a receiving, this is eternal life, a knowing, he says,
of his fullness. have we received grace for grace,
fullness of his glory, fullness of his power, fullness of his
willing obedience, fullness of his love. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and that life was the light of men. And that light shines
in the darkness. The Word, verse 14, was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace. How much grace? Full of grace, infinitely full
of grace and truth. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given him. Hallelujah. What a saviour. May the Lord
bless his word to our hearts and may we be made by his power
to come as mercy beggars and keep on coming and coming and
coming and never stop coming. Amen.