God by him. And here's why. He ever lives to make intercession
for them. John said, if any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father. That means Jesus Christ the righteous
ever lives to make intercession for his people to God. All right,
in John 17, we've been looking at this prayer of our great high
priest, of the intercessor. This is him interceding for his
people. And what he's prayed here in
this prayer is what he intercedes right now at God's right hand
for his people. We saw number one, he said, Father,
the hour has come, glorify thy son that thy son may glorify
thee. The reason we can be sure that
every chosen child of God shall be saved is because Christ glorified
the Father and the Father glorified Christ. And God the Father will
continue to glorify Christ in the hearts of His people so that
He gets all the glory. We can be certain of that. Number
two, Christ prayed for those He had given faith. He prayed
for them to be kept by God. Now, the reason we can be certain
that all His people will be kept and not one will be lost is because
Christ intercedes for them to be kept. This is the power of
God by which we're kept. It's the intercession of Christ,
the power of God. And then thirdly, Christ prayed
for His people who shall believe. He said, neither pray I for these
alone, not for these believers alone, but for them which also
shall believe on me through their words. The reason a sinner comes
to God through Christ, believing on Christ, is because Christ
intercedes for His people to believe on Him through the Word
of the Gospel. That's why we believe, because
of Christ's intercession. Now, our subject this morning
is Christ's fourth request. John 17, 24. John 17, 24. He
said, Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world." Christ intercedes for His people to be with Him
where He is. Now, first of all, notice to
whom He prays and notice the power in which He prays. He says,
Father, I will. Father, I will. Now, the Lord Jesus here prays
in the power of the Son of God. He says, Father. That means He's
praying in the power of the Son of God. If you men here who are
fathers, and you have some stranger come up to you, and they ask
you for something, And then your son comes up and asks you for
something. Which one has more power with
you, the stranger or your son? This is God's son. This is the
one of whom God said, this is my beloved son and whom I'm well
pleased. He plays with the authority of
the son. And then Christ prays here as
the firstborn son among many brethren, who's doing the will
of his father for the whole household. You know, before the world was
made, God chose who His family would be. He chose them sovereignly
because He can. He can choose who He will. He
chose them freely by His grace, not based on anything in them.
And these sons and daughters that He chose, He would manifest
His righteousness to them. And the way He would manifest
His righteousness to us is by Christ being made preeminent
before us by Christ manifesting His glory, by Christ manifesting
God's righteousness, by Christ coming and saving the whole house
from our sins. God gave this whole family to
His elder son, to His firstborn son. He gave us to Christ for
Christ to redeem us from the curse of the law, to justify
us, to purge our sins, to gather us all together in one body,
and to present us to God the Father as the whole house spotless
and without blame. The Scripture says this. Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This is what's going to take
place in the end. And this was the end purpose
for which God gave this family to His Son. God did this that Christ might
be the firstborn among many brethren, the elder son above many brethren. This is what He's going to do
in the end. 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Then cometh the end. when he shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign
till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that
should be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under
his feet. But when he saith all things
are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted. God the
Father is accepted, which did put all things under Christ.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall
the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all. It means in that day,
there'll be just God. There will be a mediator between
us and God because we'll be one and we'll be united so that now
there's God. God is all and in all. And if
you know yourself, you know this is a great blessing because we,
all like sheep, have gone astray. That's what the Scripture says.
We're prodigal sons. He chose us to be his sons, but
we're prodigal sons. We took our inheritance and wasted
it in sin, in Adam, and in ourselves, and went away backwards into
the world. And we'd have stayed lost in
this world if it wouldn't have been for God sending his eldest
son to fetch us out of this world and bring us to him as one united
holy and righteous family. And that's how He's going to
present us to God. He won't fail in that. And so He's praying
here as the firstborn son, the head of the house, fulfilling
the will of the Father. And so that's what He's doing.
And then look, He's praying also as one whose will is one with
the Father, because He and the Father are one. When He says
Father, God the Father and God the Son are one. And when He
says I will, It's God's will that He wills. We can't ever,
me and you, can't ever pray to God and say, Father, I will. We can't do that. We come to
God and say, not as I will, but as Thou will. That's our prayer.
But when God makes your heart, your will, your very desire to
be one with God so that what you desire is for God's will
to be done and not your will to be done. When God makes that
to be the case, He makes that to be the case. Everything you
ask of God, you'll receive. Because the only thing you'll
ask of God is, Father, Your will be done. When we sit here and
pray, we're not praying for God to do something contrary to His
will. We're asking Him, Lord, if it's Your will to do these
things, do them. And that's what we desire. And
the Lord said this, Delight thyself also in the Lord. That means,
Take pleasure in His will. Take pleasure in His will being
done. Delight yourself in the Lord
doing what pleases Him. And He says this, And He shall
gift thee the desires of your heart. When you delight yourself
in God's will being done, you'll get all the desire of your heart.
When that's the desire of your heart, that's what you'll get.
And that's what we see here. The will of the Son is the will
of the Father. So when He says, Father, I will,
He's getting what He desires because it's what God the Father
desires. And then also, don't forget this, Christ is praying
here in the power of the successful mediator. You know, when He walked
this earth, Christ never did say, Father, I will. In fact,
back in John 6, in verse 38, He said, I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
But now, when he started this prayer out up there in John 17,
verse 4, he said, I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Now he is praying as the
faithful servant who has completed that work that God the Father
sent him to do. And so he can pray now in full
authority, in full power because he's praying for his purchased
people, that he's purchased with his own blood, and so he can
pray with full authority, Father, I will. I will. Now, secondly, notice who he
prays for. He says there in verse 24, John
17, 24, Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me. That's who he prays for. You're
going to say, well, Clay, you've told us this in every one of
these four requests, in the three prior requests, you've repeated
this to us over and over. The only reason I've repeated
it is because Christ has. That means it bears repeating. Verse 2, He said, You sent Me
that I should give eternal life to as many as you have given
Me. He said in verse 6, The men which thou gavest Me out of the
world. He says in verse 9, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me. He said in verse 11, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. He said
in verse 12, I've kept them in thy name, those that thou gavest
me I have kept. This is who he's praying for
now. At the right hand of God, he's praying for those God the
Father gave him. The Scriptures are crystal clear.
You can't deny it if you read the Scriptures. The Scriptures
are crystal clear that God chose a people and gave them to His
Son, and that is the people God shall save. That is the people
God shall save. It's not what men say, well,
there's some sense in which Christ died for everybody and wants
to save everybody. No, no, no. These are the people He shall
save. They're called in the Scripture those God ordained to eternal
life. They're called those that are
the elect, the beloved of God, the Israel of God, that holy
nation, His royal priesthood. They're called a number that
no man can number. They're called the travail of
Christ's soul. This is who He travailed for
on the cross. This is who He birthed spiritually
when He gave His life a ransom for many. They're called His
purchased possession, that He purchased with His own precious
blood. They're called His inheritance because they are that which He
will be given as a reward for His obedience. They are His inheritance. They're His inheritance. He prayed,
this is those that are there said, all of them shall come
to Christ. And of all that come to Him,
He won't cast out any, but He'll raise them up at the last day.
That's who we're talking about here. And the reason that Christ
intercedes for them is because the Father gave them to Him. They were the Father's and the
Father gave them to Him. By grace alone, without respect
of their persons, without respect of anything in them, God the
Father loved them, He chose them, and He gave them to Christ. And
Christ redeemed them. And He gave them to Christ for
Christ to sanctify them. He gave them to Christ for Christ
to perfect them. He gave them to Christ for Him
to be glorified in them and for them to glorify Him. That's why
He gave them. Christ said, these and these
alone are the object of my prayer. Now, somebody will object. but
I'll object. And they'll say, well, I don't
think that's fair. Let me tell you what Scripture says. Scripture
says this, it warns us, don't object to God performing His
will. It says this, O man, who are
you to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Now, if anybody
claims to be the Son of God, there's no way they're going
to object to God their Father doing what He's pleased to do. They're not going to object to
that. They're not going to... They're not like spoiled brats on this
earth that object to their Father having His way. God makes His
people willing for God to have His way. For God to do what pleases
Him. And especially when it comes
to the Father choosing His people so that it's certain that none
of them will be lost. Who could object to that? But
the Scripture warns us, don't object to it. But here's what
the Scripture tells us to do concerning the election of God.
Make your calling and election sure. That's what the Scripture
tells us to do. You seek to know, am I one of
these elect children? That's what the scripture tells
you to do. Have you been made to see that you have a need that
you can't provide, you can't fulfill it, you cannot make yourself
righteous and holy. You can't make yourself believe,
you can't make yourself bow, you can't make yourself do anything
God requires. Have you seen that need? Has
God made you willing to bow to the fact that God alone can do
this for His people? Has God brought you to see that
all this mercy and all this grace is in His Son because He will
have His Son to be exalted? Has He made you want His Son
to be exalted? These are all marks of an elect
child of God that God brought to see and behold the grace and
mercy of God in Christ. This is true. We don't object.
We want to see that our calling and election is sure. And if
you know your sinfulness, you won't object because this is
all our salvation. You won't object to knowing my
salvation is ordered in all things and sure in Christ Jesus. If
you know you can't do anything, you won't object. I promise you.
Now, thirdly, let's look here at what the high priest prays
for. Now he wills that each one that
the Father gave him, verse 24, he says, be with me where I am. That they be with me where I
am. He prayed for his people here
to receive what his people are longing for. This is what we're
longing for. He prayed here for his people
to be given the inheritance that we seek. This is the inheritance
we want. He's praying here for us to receive
the reward, the only reward that the believer wants. He says here,
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am. He doesn't say, I will they be
where I am. He says, I will that they be
with me where I am. Where's heaven? Where is heaven? It's being with Christ where
Christ is. That's what heaven is. What's
our eternal inheritance from God our Father? It's being with
Christ where Christ is. What's the reward that we seek,
brethren, when it's all done and it's all over? What is the
only reward that we want from God our Father as a reward of
His free and sovereign grace to us? We want to be with Christ
where Christ is. That's what we want. I told you
the story about those fellows one time that were telling me
about works and how they had worked so hard and they were
going to have a better place in heaven and a better position
in heaven and all this. And I asked them, I said, well,
will I be in heaven? And they said, oh, yeah, you'll
be in heaven. You just won't be where we are. And I said,
well, will Christ be where I am? And they said, yeah. And I said,
that's all that matters to me. It don't really matter to me
where those fellas are. I want to be where He is. And Christ
wants that. Christ said, I will that they
be with me where I am. Where I am. Where is He? Where is Christ? He's seated
at God's right hand. He's accepted of God the Father.
He's perfect, complete beside God the Father. That's where
we are right now, brethren. In Him, spiritually, all His
people are right there with Him right now. That's what Colossians
3.1 through 3 or 4 tells us. We're with Him. And sometimes
He lets us see it. He shows it to us. I was talking
to Brother Donnie Bell about this. Sometimes we see so clearly
that we're right there with Him. This thing is done. It's complete.
You know, trying to explain in time language eternity is just
impossible. But this thing, all God's got
to do is remove us out of time and time out of our way and it's
done. We're there with Him. And sometimes
you see it and you understand it and it's so real to you. But
it's interrupted very quickly. And we're back in this His flesh
and His earth and His sin and all that. But there's coming
a time real soon, brethren, when it won't ever be interrupted.
Immediately when we die. Immediately when we die. We're
going to open our eyes and the first thing we're going to see
is that we are face to face with Christ where He is. Where He
is. You reckon anything else is going
to matter? You reckon when you're there, anything that you suffered
or any memory you had or anything that bothers you now, you reckon
any of that's gone? None of that will even be a memory. None of
it. Brother Donnick told me, he said,
Clay, he said, right now Mary don't even remember me. She don't
know who I was or anything about us. He said, and I like it that
way because she sees him. She's where he is right now with
him. And then look what he says, verse
24. Here's why he prays that. That they may behold my glory
which thou gavest me. It's the Father's glory given
to the Son. And yet, it's the Lord's glory. He says it's my glory. And each
saint's going to behold that glory. By His grace, we're going
to behold that glory. By His prayer for us, we're going
to behold that glory. seeing the glory of God in the
face of Christ Jesus. Face to face. That's the glory. God the Father gave Him the glory
of being the mediator of His people to fulfill this work for
His people. And part of that glory He gave
Him was to manifest the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And
when we get to glory, we're going to see God face to face in all
His glory. We're going to see Him face to
face in Christ the Lamb. Imagine seeing Him. We see His
glory now in the Gospel like a mirror, but we see it so dimly
and so darkly, but then we're going to see His glory face to
face, see Him face to face. And then imagine beholding the
glory of His person. You remember when He arose from
the grave and He came to His disciples and He said, touch
me, handle me, fill me. I'm real. Can you imagine looking
Him over and touching Him and beholding the glory of His person? Think about beholding the glory
of His throne. Look at Revelation 4 in verse
3. He said there in verse 2, I was
in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat
on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon
like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round
about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. Round about
that throne were four and twenty elders, and on those seats I
saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and
they had on their head crowns of gold. And out of the throne
proceeded lightnings, and thunders, and voices, and seven lamps of
fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of
God. And before the throne it was like a sea of glass, like
crystal, in the midst of the throne. And round about the throne
were four beasts full of eyes, before and behind. And He says
all this, but you just think about that. That's glory. Those are words to try to get
us to enter into something of this glory, this glorious high
throne that is our God, our Savior. You're going to behold the glory
of His throne, the glory of His power, the glory of His monarch,
the glory of His dominion, the glory of His sovereignty over
all, the glory of His kingship. Can you imagine all the pomp
and everything, and earthly kings, and the pomp of the White House,
and if you went over to Buckingham Palace, and all of that pomp
and circumstance of earthly kings, when you behold their glory,
imagine when you behold His glory. And then imagine beholding the
glory of His praise. Look at Revelation 5.13. Listen
to this. Every creature, which is in heaven,
and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the
sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and
honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." Everything, everybody,
everywhere praising this One with one glorious voice. Imagine the glory of His praise. Reckon that'll be a thunderous,
booming glory they will hear? And then imagine beholding the
glory of His love and His care for us. Revelation 7, 17 says
this, The Lamb which is in the midst
of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes. You're going to behold the glory
of Him constantly feeding us by revealing more and more of
Himself to us. Everything you ever wondered
about these scriptures, you're just going to see it opened up
for you. Things that you never imagined, you're going to see
it just open up fully to you. You're going to see all the providence
and everything that He worked and everything He did in your
life and realize, see it fully, perfectly, clearly, all His wisdom,
all His love, all His grace, all His glory in everything He
did, so that you sit there and say, that is just astounding. His love and His care. This is
what He's talking about when He says, you're going to drink
some new wine in my kingdom. You're going to drink wine at
my table eat at my table. It's going to be Him constantly
loving us and caring for us and wiping away all our tears by
showing us more and more and more and more of Him. Then imagine
this, imagine beholding the glory of His endless life within us. We went to a movie yesterday
and one of the trailers, a movie that's coming out is about a
woman who can't ever age. I don't know if she could never
die, but she could never age. but it was never being able to
age, staying in this life, in this world, with sin and all
the stuff that goes on in it. That would be hell, brethren.
But this we're talking about is an ever-living, never-changing,
endless life because of the glory of His life being made complete
in Him. When we've been there 10,000
years, bright, shining as the sun, We have no less days to
sing His praise than when we first began. I wish I could say more about
this glory, but you know what it's like? It's like a little
child, a little toddler. This is what I'm like. I'm like
a little toddler who's just dipping his little finger in the edge
of the ocean to talk about this glory. You imagine that little
toddler could tell you all about the ocean and everything that's
in the deeps of it, everything that's over that horizon. I can't
tell you. I'm just dipping my little finger
in this ocean. Oh, sinner, if you don't have
this hope, seek Christ now. Seek Him while
He may be found. We were listening to a sermon
Henry preached Friday night. We were listening to this. He
said this, stop reasoning and start receiving and you'll start
believing. You think it's wise to question
God. You think it's wise to question,
question, question, question. Here's what's wise. Receive what
God says right here. If you start receiving this,
I'll tell you what will happen. God's gonna do something miraculous. He'll make you believe Him. And when you believe Him, that's
when you realize, that's when you understand this world. That's
when you understand why things are happening like they're happening.
Right now, you that don't believe God and are rejecting God, you're
blind, ignorant ignoramuses. I can't help but tell you the
truth. That's what you are. And you think you're wise and
you think you know so much and you understand so much, and you're
a bumbling, blind, ignorant, dark, sin-dead sinner, just groping
around, stumbling around, not knowing a thing. You'll understand
something and have some true wisdom when you know God. I'm
telling you. And look, Christ prays as one
who's pleased the Father. He says here, this is the certainty
that Christ is going to get what He received, right here, verse
24. He says, for thou lovest Me before the foundation of the
world. That speaks of the glory He gave
Christ in choosing His Son to be the mediator. But it also
means this, brethren. Remember Christ said this. He
said in this prayer, He said, You love them as you have loved
Me. And He says here, You love Me
before the foundation of the world. When He chose His Son
to be the mediator of His people, Christ loved His Son as being
that righteous, perfect, holy, faithful, well-pleasing servant
of God. He loved Him right then as our
surety, as surety of His people. He loved Him right then as that
one who He was, as already having accomplished His will, as already
having been to the cross, as already having put away sin,
as already having brought in everlasting righteousness, as
already presenting His people to the Father. He loved Him,
knowing the end from the beginning. He loved Him with full complacency
and delight as that righteous, holy, faithful, Man of God. And He said, and you love them
just like you loved Me. He looked at His Son and from
that time in eternity forever, He's always loved His people
the same way He loved Christ. Perfect and holy and accepted
in the Beloved. And that's what he's saying here.
Father, I want them to behold that glory I had with you before
the world was, because you looked at me as that perfect righteous
servant. And that's what I'm praying they
behold. And it's because God looks at
us the same way He looked at Christ. And He's always looked
at Him that way. That God says, I'm going to give
Him just what He wants. I'm going to give Him exactly
what He wants. He raised Christ and He said, I've set my King
on my holy hill of Zion. And in Psalm 2, verse 7, Christ
said, and I'll declare the decree. The Lord God said to me, thou
art my son. He said, this day I've forgotten
thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine
inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
When did He set him on that holy hill? Before the foundation of the
world? Then after he accomplished the work, He set him right there.
And he told him, you ask me whatever you want, I'll give it to you.
And the Lord's showing us right here what he wants. Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold the glory which you gave me because
you love me from the foundation of the world. And because He
loved him, and because He sees him there at His right hand who
is our intercessor, what does it mean He ever lives to make
intercession for us? It means when God looks at Him
from eternity and time, right now at His right hand, this is
what God's always seen in His Son. Full atonement completed. Propitiation accomplished. He's
looked at him and he's seen satisfaction for sin. He sees sin blotted
out. Not even a remembrance anymore.
He sees his elect redeemed and his covenant ratified. He sees
himself glorified in every single child he chose. Just by looking
at his son. Just by looking at his son. August
Toplady wrote this. With cries and tears he offered
up his humble suit below, but with authority, he asked, enthroned
in glory now. For all that come to God by him,
salvation he demands, points to their names upon his breast
and spreads his wounded hand. His covenant and sacrifice give
sanction to his claim. I will that all my saints be
with me where I am. You look on this prayer right
here, brethren, as a promise which has and shall be fulfilled. That's what it is. What Christ
asked for in this text, He asked at God's right hand now, and
He'll receive it. There's no doubt about it. You
don't have a reason to doubt your salvation. You don't have
a reason to doubt you're going to be with God in glory. This
is why. The will of God is the supreme
law. The will of God is the supreme
law. He said, Father, I will. And
the scripture says, He does according to His will. in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? He will have his
will. He will have his will. I guarantee
it. And what is his will? I will
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. That's where we're going to be.
That they may behold my glory. That's where we're going to behold.
We all behold that He loved us just like He loved Christ from
before the foundation of the world. Oh, I wouldn't give you
two cents for this. Maybe it might just happen. Salvation. This is sure and certain
salvation right here. Amen. All right, brethren, let's stand
together. Father, what can we say to express the
thankfulness and the gratitude that from before the foundation
of the world we had an intercessor, we had a high priest, we had
a surety, we had a righteousness, we had a sanctifier and sanctification,
a redeemer and redemption. And Lord, You've brought it to
pass in time and brought us to see it, behold it, and rest in
Him. Thank You, Lord. You've raised
up Your Son to intercede for us, and You would delight in
everything He wills. Father, we pray that You'd hear
Him. We pray You'd hear Him praying
right now for His sheep to be called out, for Him to be glorified
in it, for those that you've called out to be kept and for
those that you're calling away right now to be with you in glory. We might understand, Lord, this
is the reason your saints depart. This is the reason that our loved
ones that believe go and be with you. It's because you will it.
You call them home. We wouldn't have it any other
way. Make some poor sinner here see, Lord, what great salvation
this is. Lord, hear Christ and bring him
out. If it's your will, we ask it, Lord. That's what we want.
Thank you, in Christ's name, amen.