I've enjoyed this conference.
I'm glad to be here. And I thank you ladies for the
food and the hospitality that we have received. Our hotel room
has been comfortable. We've been well taken care of.
We have many brothers and sisters. Someone asked me once how big
a family I have. I can't number them, really. There's seven in my family, four
sisters and two brothers and me. But my family is innumerable. And that's real. That's not just
a religious statement. That's real. I have a lot of
brothers and sisters on this earth and in heaven right now.
And I tell you what, when you look at us this morning, we think
we're a small crowd, but you realize how many's worshiping
with us this morning? How about all the angels of glory? They're worshiping with us this
morning. The host of heaven's worshiping with us this morning.
We are a large crowd when we're in Christ and we're all put together.
I don't see small crowds no more. I see just the tip of the iceberg
is what I see. It's a big iceberg. John 17. John 17, the hour has come. We've been going through the
book of John. I preached from this last week. I've enjoyed the study
in John so much. But the hour has come. Our Lord has been teaching his
disciples especially starting in chapter 13, when he takes
a towel and girds himself, and he stoops down and he washes
their feet, teaches them service and humility. They are about
to receive some power here in just a little while. But power
without true humility just leads to arrogance. But here's one
who has all power. and he stoops down and washes
their feet. No service was too lowly for him, the God of heaven
and earth. This is our God. When I read
the gospels, I love to just, in my mind, I love to just watch. I watch him. I watch him move. I watch him walk. I watch how
he deals with Pharisees. I watch how he deals with sinners.
I watch how he takes a little child and puts it on his knee.
This is God. This is God doing this. This
is God talking. This is God walking. Over there
in Jerusalem, God Almighty, 2,000 years ago, walked on this earth. He walked on this earth in the
flesh. Our God did that. The God of creation came into
this world, became a man, and just walked among us. Got up
and went to work as a carpenter. It just astounds me to think
this is God doing this. And when you read the Gospels,
watch him. Don't just read words, but watch him. Watch him work. Listen to him
talk to them and how he handles his disciples so graciously and
kindly. And I'm so thankful he allowed
them to ask such stupid questions, because I don't have to now.
I got the answers. I don't have to be the one to
ask those questions. He let them answer them for us.
asking for us, and he gave the answer. I'm thankful for that. But he's teaching them in chapter
13, 14, he told them he's going away, and their hearts were heavy,
and he said, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God,
I know you believe in God, believe also in me, exercise the same
faith in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. He came
from that place, he knows what's there. He said, I've told you,
if it's not so, I will tell you. He can only tell the truth. He
speaks truth, that's all he ever speaks. But much of what he had
to say, they didn't understand, but he said, when the Holy Spirit
comes, you will. We need the Holy Spirit this
morning to open the scriptures and take the things of Christ
and show them to us. He reveals these things to us.
But here in this chapter, chapter 17, he turns and he speaks to
the father, and I believe he's speaking audibly, and the disciples,
I think, are listening. And I have no doubt they're just,
I can't imagine, I can't imagine. But here this morning, this morning,
we are getting to listen to him pray the same prayer. This is
the Lord's intercessory prayer. First he prays for himself, then
he prays for the disciples, and in verse 20 he prays for us.
He's praying for us. We are included in this prayer
of our Lord's. And this prayer is still in effect.
It's still in effect. He says in verse 20, neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which I believe on
me through their word. And then he goes on to pray about
our oneness. Man, what a powerful, powerful
prayer. But in verse one, these words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son. He doesn't say glorify me. He
really makes a point of saying thy son, that thy son also may
glorify thee. He says, the hours come. Every
now and then, I wax a little nerdy. This morning, I was curious
as to the hours that have gone by since creation. Now, we know that it was 2,000
years from Adam to Moses, 2,000 years from Moses to Christ, and
it's 2,000 years since then. Now, give or take a few thousand
hours. But since the creation of the
world, from what we know of it, Until Christ, there was 35,040,000
hours, all leading up to this one. Since then, there's been
17,520,000 hours. Again, take a few thousand hours.
Add all that together, and there's 52,560,000 hours, every one of
them rotating around this one hour. You know what this one
hour is? Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the one hour. Our message
rotates around this one hour. Our lives rotate around this
one hour. Paul went to the Corinthians. He said, I'm determined not to
know anything among you except what? Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's this hour. That's this
hour. Now our Lord is the only one
who could lift up his eyes to heaven and look God in the face.
He could look God in the face and pray such a prayer. He knew
this hour was coming for him to suffer and die. There was
no surprise. He said, for this hour have I
come. Peter didn't want it to happen.
Peter, you don't know what you're talking about. He said, in just
a little while, you're going to deny me three times. But he knew this hour was coming. He's the only one who came into
the world to die. You get sick, you go to the doctor,
you try to keep on living. He didn't do that. He came to
die. Everything he did led to this hour to die. If he does
not die, all of this is no good. We all perish. He came to die. When he was on the Mount of Transfiguration,
and he was speaking to Moses and Elijah, what were they talking
about? It says the death that he should
accomplish. Did you count death as an accomplishment? He did. He counted death as an
accomplishment. He said, no man takes my life
from me, I lay it down of myself. And I have the power to lay it
down, I have the power to take it up again. His death that laid
down his life. to lay down his life was an accomplishment. It was an accomplishment. It
was the actual fulfilling of the law. It's like the period
at the end of a sentence. That's when he gets to cry, it's
finished. It's finished. And then he says
here, listen. Glorify thy son. Now as a son,
he needed no glory. As a son of God, he had all glory.
But I think there's three things here he's saying. First of all,
help me, sustain me. Glorify thy son and sustain me
in this hour. Enable me to endure this. When he's in the Garden of Gethsemane,
he said my sorrow, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto
death. I'm gonna die right here if I don't get help. It says in Isaiah 42, behold
mine elect whom I uphold. And he said, uphold me, as you
promised. And then thirdly, secondly, glorify
thy son by raising him from the dead. Thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, in the grave, and thou wilt not let thy holy one
seek corruption. Fulfill that. He looked to his
father for these things. Glorify thy son, and glorify
thy son by seating him at thy right hand. bringing me from
that grave, raising me up and seating me at the right hand
of power. It's the place of power. It's
the place of acceptance. It's a place of authority. And
he looked to his father to do this for him, to do this. And the reason for this request
is that thy son also may glorify thee. They sought each other's
glory. You know, we're told to seek
each other's good, aren't we? We're to look after one another,
look after one another's good. We are not to glorify ourselves,
we're to look after one another and we are to take the back seat.
The father glorifies the son, the son glorifies the father.
They seek each other's glory. Everything our Lord did, he did
in honor of his father. He did it to honor his father.
But the greatest glorifying of the father by the son is seen
in the redemption of sinners, all those sinners given to him.
Here's where the greatest glory of God is seen. It's in redeeming
sinners, it's in giving to them eternal life. We'll see that
in, I think, verse three. Glorify thy son for this purpose,
that thy son may glorify thee. Now, in order for the son to
glorify the father, he had to be given all power over all flesh. He says in verse two, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. This has to do with
his meditorial work. Everything's been turned over
to the son. Everything's been put into the hands of Jesus Christ. Every person, that has ever existed,
existing now, about eight billion people, and shall exist, every
last one of them is in the hands of Jesus Christ. He has power
over all flesh. You and I are not hard nuts to
crack. He has power over us. And I thank
God he has power over my flesh, because if I could help it, I
would not have been saved. Nobody here would be saved if
you could help it. Christ said, you will not come to me that
you might have life. Your problem is you got a will
problem. You will not come. But thank God he has power over
us because it says, thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. In the day of thy power, he breaks
us. He takes hold of us. He commands
life. He overtakes the house. The stronger
man takes over the house. I'm sure glad of that. I'm so
glad he has all power over all flesh, especially mine. Especially
mine. Now the word power means the
ability to act or produce an effect. Power to bring about
a given result. What's that result? Eternal life. That's the result. Eternal life. And note the word here, I pointed
this out last week, note the word should, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. This word should
here, it has to do with fulfilling an obligation such as fulfilling
a contract that binds one to a course of action. Now listen,
our Lord obligated himself through the Father in the covenant of
grace to a course of action. And that course of action is
just this, his incarnation. His obedience to the law in his
life and in his death. So that he might give God's elect
eternal life. A lot of meaning in that word
should, isn't there? A big, big meaning in that word should.
And then it defines eternal life in verse three. And this is life
eternal. I'm only gonna do the first eight verses. I'm not gonna
do all these verses. But here is in verse three, and
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. You know, our ancestry,
our ancestry, the Gentiles, worship many gods. They worship many
gods. You know, Paul went to, was it
Ephesus, and had to alter through the unknown God, just in case
one shows up we've missed, here's an altar for him. And here he
points out, you've given, in verse three, and this is life
eternal that they might know the only true God. There's only
one true God. There's not many gods. There's
only one God. And he came to make this known.
You know, and he says here, here's something, and this is life eternal. Everybody wants to live forever.
Well, they are. Everybody's gonna live forever.
Once you have an existence, it's forever. Now it's either going
to be in his presence and glory or it's going to be in torment.
It's one place or the other, but everybody's going to live
forever. So he's not talking about how long we live, it's
the quality of life. It's the life of God. It's the
life of God he's talking about here. It's the life of God in
the soul. You see, eternal life is a person. Turn over to 1 John chapter 1.
I want you to read this or look at this. Let's read it together. In 1 John chapter 1, that which was from the beginning,
verse 1, which we have heard, we heard life, which we have
seen with our eyes, we've seen life, which we have looked upon
and our hands have handled of the word of life. We've handled
life. For the life was manifested, and we've seen it. We've seen
life. Isn't that something? We've seen life. And bear witness
to show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father
and was manifested to us. Eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ. God
is eternal life. Christ is God. You see, eternal
life has a name, the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not, it
is not about two places. It's not about heaven and it's
not about hell. Salvation is about being made
one with God. How can this sinner, how can
this wretched sinner be made one with God who is holy? How
can that be? You see, look in verse 21 of
John 17. It says in verse 20, need to
pray after these alone, but for them also we shall believe on
me through their word that they all may be one as thou father
art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us. That's
salvation. That's the end of salvation.
It's not missing hell and going to heaven. Anybody's got enough
sense coming out of the rain wants that. It's being made one
with God. Sin separated me from God. How
can God be a just God and save a wretch like me? Now, I've told
this story several times, but I worked with a man one time,
and he was torn to pieces. He went out to his preacher's
house, come back, I got saved, he said. And he was still just
torn up, and I said, let me ask you a question. Which do you
fear the most, God or hell? He said, I fear hell. I don't
want to go to hell. I said, well, if you find favor with the judge,
you don't have to worry about going to prison, do you? I said,
you fear the wrong thing. You mentioned them showing that
movie, Burning Hell. They ought to hang those preachers.
They ought to publicly hang them, scaring children into a false
profession that they're going to hang on to throughout their
lives. It's not about heaven and hell.
It's about being made one with God. God our creator. God our savior. It's about being
made one with him. That's what salvation is about.
How can I be made one and have fellowship? How can I have fellowship
with God? Through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That's how. This is what Paul says in Galatians
chapter one. verses 15 and 16. But when he
pleased God, he separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace to reveal his son in me. He didn't say to reveal
his son to me, though he does when he saves us. But that revelation
comes from within. It's in the heart. God commands the light to shine
into the heart. Paul said, he revealed his son
in me. The light, God commanded that
light to shine in me. Eternal life is God, it's to
know God. It's not just knowing facts about
God. Paul said, oh, that I would know him and the power of his
resurrection. I want to know him. Paul knew him, he knew the
Lord Jesus Christ and met him. He received his gospel from him.
He says, I want to know him. I want to have an intimate acquaintance
with God. I want to know him. And then he says here in verse
four, here's the work of our Lord. He said, I have glorified
thee on the earth where God has been vilified and blasphemed. Our Lord came into this cesspool
of sin and he's the only man who glorified God. He's the only man who kept the
law and made it honorable. the only man, and he did it as
a substitute, our representative. And we did it in him. We did
it in him. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. But he says here, I have glorified
thee. That's past tense. With confidence, he could say
this. He knew he kept the law. He knew he kept it perfectly.
He knew he did his father's will perfectly. You and I, I want
to do God's will. You want to do God's will. He
knew he did God's will. And I can say we do the will
of God, but there's a lot we don't know. But he knew it. He knew it. He did his Father's
will perfectly, and he could say with confidence, I have finished
the work which you gave me to do. He hadn't even gone to the
cross yet. And yet he says, I finished it.
You know, it's written in Romans 4.17, the latter part of that
verse, he calls those things which be not as though they were.
As God, it's done. As God, it's as good as done.
You know, it says over in Isaiah 42, my servant shall not fail. He knew he would not fail, he
knew that. And therefore he could say, I finished the work you
gave me to do. I finished it. It's done. As far as God's concerned, it's
done. You know, as far as God's concerned, it's all done. You
and I are experiencing it. We're living it out. But as far
as God's concerned, this matter is settled. It's settled before
He created heaven and earth. It's settled. The work of redemption
was His to finish, and He finished it. He finished it. Now what? Now what? You know, when I finish something,
I just go home and, you know, I'm done. I'm done. He says here, and now, oh Father,
I've finished the work that you've given me to do. Glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Glorify me with thine own self. There's two important things
to consider here. First, the eternality of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Glorify thou me with thyself
with the glory I had with you before the world was. I had a
glory with you before anything else existed. As your son, I
had a glory with you before anything existed. But secondly, He speaks
here of returning back to the Father now as glorified man. Not just God, but the God-man. I mentioned this to you last
time. John 16, 28, I came forth from the Father and am coming
to the world. Again, I leave the world and
I go to the Father, but I go to Him as the God-man. I go to
him as the God-man. And I thought of Psalm 24 this
morning. It just struck me. He goes back as the God-man.
But let me read you Psalm 24, something here in Psalm 24. Listen
here. In verse seven, lift up your
heads, all ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors.
And the King of glory, the King of glory shall come in. The Lord Jesus Christ as a man,
seated at God's right hand, sits there as King of kings and Lord
of lords. You know, God told Adam, to have
dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air.
God made Adam king over this earth. Adam fell and he lost
that. Our Lord is king of the universe.
Our Lord is king over all, and he'll never lose that crown.
He'll never lose that crown. Lift up your heads, all you gates,
and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the king of glory
shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates. Even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors. And the King, King Jesus, King
Jesus, the Lord of glory, shall come in. And he's coming in. He's coming in with a whole train
of sinners saved by his grace, by his blood, and by his righteousness. O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. 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've kept thy word. Our Lord said that he revealed
the Father. He's the revealer of the Father. You can't know
the Father apart from the Son. You can't do it. Christ said,
he that has seen me has seen the Father. Philip says, show
us the Father that is suffice of. He says, you're looking at
him. You're looking at the Father.
He has seen me, he's seen the Father. Matthew 11, 27, all things
are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The Son reveals
the Father. Christ revealed the perfect character
of God. You can't see that in a tree.
You can't see that in the animal kingdom. You cannot see that anywhere
but in Jesus Christ. He glorified every attribute
of the Father. His justice, His holiness, His
love, His grace, every attribute of God is revealed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every bit of it. It says in 1
John 5 20, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given
us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we
are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ. This
is the true God and eternal life. And eternal life. And he says,
Father, you gave these men to me. You've given to me all the
elect. You gave them to me in the covenant.
You gave them to me to be their surety as their mediator. You
gave them, thine they were. You were his, I can't explain
this. You and I were his sheep. We've
always been his sheep. And he gave us to his son. And
he gave it to his son to be responsible to redeem us, to bring us home.
And set us before him without blemish and without spot. The Lord, he said, they were
thine, and you gave them to me to bring home, to save. Isn't that amazing? You are now the sons of God.
You who believe, you're the sons of God now. You're God's children
now. You're God's building now. That's
amazing. That's amazing. Thine they were,
and you gave them to me. And they have kept thy word.
You know, we have kept the word of God in Christ. In Christ, we've kept the word
of God. In Christ, we've kept the law. In Christ, we have satisfied
justice. In Christ, we have. He can say
that. Father, they have kept thy word. And now they have known,
and I'm gonna close, and now they have known They didn't know much when you're
reading the scriptures there in the Gospel of John. They didn't
understand much, but the Lord said, now they've known. They
know this, you know. They know this. They know that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. They're
sure of that. Are you sure of that? I'm sure that everything turned
over to the Son was turned over to the Son by the Father. And
that includes me and you, who believe, and all who shall believe,
and all who have believed. We've been given to him. And
I'm sure of that. I'm sure of that. God so mightily
put his stamp of approval on Christ that they could not but
believe. They could not but believe. And
then last of all, he says in verse eight, For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me. You know, he said
in one place, as I hear, I speak. The words I speak, he said in
one place, are not mine, but his that sent me. As I hear,
I speak. This is God speaking. The disciples
walked with him for three years, and every word that came out
of his mouth was God speaking. Every word. This book right here
is God speaking. It's not just another book. You
know that. This is God speaking. This is God speaking to his children.
It's God speaking to us. When we open this book, our first
prayer ought to be, Lord, speak. Thy servant heareth. Open my
ears. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, it says, is of the Lord. Give me ears to hear, eyes to
see. Give it to me. I've given them
thy words which thou gavest me, and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee. I came from God. And they have believed that thou
didst send me. They believe that you sent me. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that Jesus Christ was sent of God? There's not many who really
believe that. God's children, every one of
His children believe it. The ones that haven't will. They will believe it. I'm telling
you, Jesus Christ was sent of God to redeem our souls, to put
away our sins. And I tell you, I'm so glad I have
good news when I go places to preach. I'm so glad I got good
news. I'd hate to be the bearer of all the time, be of bad news,
but I have good news. And we have to wade through the
sewer of our sins and bad news at times, but it leads to the
good news. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those
who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Let's not forget the
comfort part, those who preach. Those who preach, let's not forget
the comfort part. Christ is our rest. He's our
comfort. All right, it's been good to
be here. I've enjoyed it. Thank you.