When Brother Angus Fisher left our
house last Wednesday morning, he left a note for me in his
room. And he wrote a scripture on it.
And it touched me so much what he wrote and the scripture that
he wrote down, just the thought of it and the reality of it and
the wonder of it, the blessing of it, the love of it. It really
touched me so much, I thought we could look at it for our message
this morning. Let me read to you what he said at the end of
his note, okay? It was his ending part and then
I'll read the scripture he jotted down. He said, thank you and all your
family and the dear brethren here in Kingsport. I counted
a great blessing to know you all here before we spend forever
with him. It's good, isn't it? And the scripture he wrote down
was John 17. If you want to turn with me to
John 17. He wrote down John 17 verses
22 to 26. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ
speaking to God the Father. He said, in the glory which thou
gavest me, I have given them that they may be one even as
we are one. I in them and thou in me. that they may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. 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. O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them and I in them. Our brother said, I count it
a great blessing to know you all here before we spend forever with
him. What a thought. What a reality. What a reality. Forever with
Him. Forever with Him. The Lord God
Almighty is one God. Father, Son, and Spirit. These three equal persons are
one God. And there's never been a moment
in time, there's never been a moment when they did not exist. That's
something I just don't know if I can get my mind around that,
but they have always been, I am. Okay, they have always been,
I am. Before time was ever even created
into existence, they were the eternal I am. Moses said one time, who should
I tell the people sent me? He said, you tell them I am sent
you. Our Lord said before Abraham
was, I am. He said, I am Alpha and Omega. He wasn't in the beginning. He
is the beginning and the end at the same time. The eternal I am. And here's
the thing about it. See if the Lord will let you
enter into this. The eternal I am had an eternal
purpose. He had an eternal And that purpose
was to redeem a selected number of sinful people from their sins
against the Eternal I Am. That was His eternal purpose.
That was His eternal purpose. Before sinful man was ever even
created, before the world was created, before time was created, The eternal Son of God was the Lamb slain of God. Slain for the purpose of bloodshed. That's why you slay a lamb. It's for the purpose of bloodshed. Bloodshed for the purpose of
redemption. paying the sin debt price of
redemption. Redemption for the purpose of
an eternal union, an eternal life, an eternal love with Him,
forever with Him. His eternal purpose and desire
was to live an eternal life, to live an eternal love, an everlasting
love with his redeemed selected ones,
collected ones. for a never beginning eternity
of existence, for a never beginning eternity of existence. His thoughts
were toward his people. You notice when the scripture
talks about the thoughts of God, do you notice that it's always
concerning his people? Isn't that amazing? That's so amazing. For a never
beginning eternity, his thought, he had a purpose. And that purpose
and those thoughts were toward his people. They were thoughts
of love. They were thoughts of peace. Toward his people. Toward his people. Those who
were not his people, those were not his thoughts. to his people, it was thoughts
of redemption. Thoughts of redemption. So when
the fullness of time was come, God created all of these things.
God created the heavens and the earth and man and everything
in the earth and immediately man fell into ruin and sin just
as God knew he would. Had God not known that mankind
would fall into sin, he would have never provided a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. He knew man would and
man did. Man rebelled against him. Man
hid from him. Man lied to him. Man rejected
him. Man turned to and desired other
gods. Man tried to become his own God. And in the process, man broke
God's holy law and sentenced himself to an eternity of judgment
and wrath and condemnation. But God. But the eternal God. He came to man and he fulfilled
the eternal purpose which he purposed in himself. He came to redeem his people
from everything that they were and everything that they were
going to have to suffer because of themselves. Because they had
lived nothing but a life of sin against God. For that reason, God became a
man. He didn't just come to man. You
know, we think of him coming to us. He did not just come to
man. He became a man. He became the
man. And he lived for his people. He lived a life for his people
that they could never live for themselves. He lived a life for
me that I could never live for myself. He lived a life for you that
you could never live for yourself. You, I want to like just get
real for a second, okay? Let's just get candid for a second.
You have lived the worst life, honestly. Depending on your age, either
you have lived the worst life, you are living the worst life,
or you're about to live the worst life. So true, isn't it? You haven't hardly done anything
right. Let me tell you where you are. Everything about you is wrong. I know that's the case for you.
I know it is because that's the case for me. And we both came
from our father, Adam. We were both cut from the same
rotten, filthy lump. But God, that makes my heart smile. But God, When the fullness of
His perfect time was come, the time of love for His people,
the time of redemption for His people, He came to His people
as His people. As the substitute for His people,
literally in the place of His people, and He lived for His
people. And thank God He died for His
people. And in His death, this is what
He accomplished for His people. Before He went to the suffering
agony of the cross and the grave, He declared what His accomplishment
would be in the suffering agony of the cross and the grave. Look
right here at verse 22. He said, Father, the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." Think about
that. This is God the Son speaking
to God the Father. He said the glory, the glory
of God. What even is that? How do you even describe that
other than to say Christ? Christ is the glory of God. But
we read in the scripture of men going blind from beholding his
glory. We read of his glory filling
the temple to the point that nobody could even enter into
it. Those were just small glimpses,
just very, very, very small glimpses. In Exodus 33, he told Moses,
nobody can see the fullness of my glory and live. Moses said,
show me your glory. What a thing to ask. Show me
your glory. He said, if I do, you're gonna
die. If I do, if I were to go, okay,
boom, boom. He said, he'd kill you on the
spot. He said, no one can see the fullness
of my glory and live unless it's seen from the safety of the rock. If it's seen inside the rock,
from inside the rock, if it's seen inside Jesus Christ, the
rock, the merciful one, the gracious one, you know, he said, show
me your glory. And he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before
you. I'll be merciful to whoever I want to be merciful to. I'll
be gracious to whoever I want to be gracious to. Jesus Christ, the merciful one,
the gracious one, the one who came down, God said, if you want
to see my glory, it can only be seen in Christ. And that is
so true. You know, the sun is literally
a picture. It is actually a type of God's
glory. Nobody can just, you know, at
high noon, turn up and look at it. You just can't do it. You cannot look directly into
the glory of the S-U-N sun unless that 12 o'clock high noon sun
comes down. At the end of the day, when the
glory of that sun comes down and touches the earth, what we
call the sunset. The moment it touches the earth,
that's the moment and that's the only way you can, with these
eyes, Look straight into the glory of it and behold the beauty of it.
That's the only way you can behold the beauty of it. And that's
how it is with the glory of God. It can only be seen. It can only be beheld in the
Christ who came down. He is he possesses because he
is the glory of God. Now, with that being understood,
let's listen to what he said again right here. Verse 22, he
said, the glory which thou gavest me, the glory that Christ has
and is, I have given them. That they may be one even as
we are one. One with God. God the Father
and God the Son are so one they cannot be separated. They just
can't be separated. Look at John 14. Verse 8, John 14, 8. Philip said
unto him, Lord, show us the father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith
unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou
not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the father? Why are you saying that? You've
seen me, you've seen him. They are so one, they cannot be separated. Christ is the only begotten image
of the Father. The only begotten of the Father
that there is. Back in John 17 verse 22 says,
the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. that they may be one even as
we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one. That's the only way that a sinner
can be made perfect, in one. That's the only way, in one,
in oneness. Two being made one, breaking
down that middle wall of partition. Oneness with God. That's what's
so amazing about this, he's not just saying that his people are
going to be with God, he said they're going to be one with
God. There's a big difference there. An amazing difference there.
What did Christ accomplish for his elect people in delivering
them? What did he accomplish? Union
with God. In Christ, being joined to Christ,
we are one with God. Verse 23, I in them, thou in
me, that they may be made perfect in one. and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
Can you fathom the thought that in Christ, every elect soul that
is in Christ, in him, God the Father loves us just as much
as he loves Christ? That's just amazing. You say, well, doesn't he love
everybody like that? Doesn't he love the whole world
just as much as he loves Christ? No. No, he doesn't. If a soul was not elected in
Christ, if a soul was not given to Christ to be redeemed by Christ,
not only does the Father not love that soul, but the Lord
Jesus Christ said, I don't even pray for that soul. Look at verse
nine right here, John 17 verse nine. He said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them, which thou hast given me, for they are thine. He said, that's who I'm praying
for. I'm praying for the ones you loved and gave to me. Look
at verse one. He says, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee as thou has given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. Christ has power over all flesh,
but he doesn't have union with all flesh because the Father
did not give him all flesh to be joined to. Look at verse 6. He said, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. That's who I've manifested your
name to. Verse 12. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 19, he said, and for their
sakes, I sanctify myself. For their sakes, I set myself
apart. I separate myself to accomplish
this work. Verse 19 goes on to say that
they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also, which 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
the world may believe that thou hast sent me. and the glory which
thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as
we are one. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me Be with me where I am. I want them to
be with me. That they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. Oh, righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. The love that
the father has for the son, he's put that love in us for the son.
The father loves the son, his people love the son. The father loves the son, the
father loves his people. Oneness, one love. Now, I want
you to just think about something with me here for a second, okay?
I'm closing up shop here, but think about this. So if you have
given any thought to these things, if this concerns you at all,
I believe most everyone here may have asked the question,
Why did man have to fall in the first place? Why did God's people
have to go through sin and rebellion and redemption? I've thought before, I really
have thought before that I hate sin so badly, and I'm talking
about my sin. You know, you have self-righteous
religious people who hate sin, but it's not their sin. It's
outside other people's sin. I hate my sin so badly. I hate what I am so badly. I wish I could have just been
one of the angels who didn't fall, who didn't leave their
first state. Like Gabriel. I wish that I could have just
been with Christ this whole time, just sinless with Christ this
whole time until all of this was over. Doesn't that sound
better? Well, I want to be very careful
about this. I have a deep love for God's
beloved angels, but I want us to think about this. For all
of eternity, those beloved angels will never know the experience
of feeling and truly realizing that the Lord God omnipotent in pity, in compassion, in love,
willingly took upon himself their fallen nature and humbled himself to come to
them where they were and endured such great sufferings and such
great afflictions and endured so great of a condemnation And
in the process accomplished so great of a victory just to bring
them back to him. He went through all of that just
to bring them back to him. You know, the angels that fell
are still fallen. And the ones that didn't fall
will never know the experience that God's people will know that
he loved me. And he did all this for me, he
endured all this. In the great design of this so
great salvation, we have the greatest display of love that
could ever be shown. And because of that, all of God's
people are gonna get to know that love, and they're gonna
get to experience that love. The height of it, the depth of
it, the length of it, the width of it. That special love, that indescribable,
passing, all-understanding love. Because He did it this way, we're
gonna know that love forever with Him. We're gonna know that
love forever, forever with Him. And until that moment comes,
that moment's coming for God's people. And until that moment
comes, I counted a great blessing to know you all right here, right
now, before we spend forever with
him. It's a good thing, isn't it?
Amen. All right.