Good morning. For those who haven't heard, Gabe's daughter, Isabella, has
come down with the virus. And I talked to him last night. And she had had a pretty rough
night the night before, but yesterday was doing pretty good. She had
gotten a good night's sleep and was feeling better. And I'm sorry
to say, I did not call him this morning and ask how she was yet.
I'll have to do that later. So be remembering them and that
the Lord will be pleased to save, well, to save and to heal Isabella. We're going to be in John chapter
17 this morning, if you want to turn there. Recently, a brother and I were
talking and during the conversation we shared with one another how greatly the Lord has just
recently, to both of us, laid on our hearts thanksgiving for
being where we were, at the time we were, doing what we were. And if you've ever been somewhere
where you're discontent, you're just not glad to be where you're
at, what you're doing, In the time frame you're doing it in,
you know what a blessing it is when the Lord gives you that heart of thanksgiving to
just be pleased with where you're at at this time. Myself, it's something to struggle
with. to be content with where you
are, where the Lord has placed you. And after our conversation,
my thought turned to Psalm 122, verse one. We've read it many
times. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And for a while,
the Lord allowed me to meditate on that verse of scripture. It
was applied to my heart. There was a time I could quote
that verse. I knew it. I could quote it.
But I didn't mean it when I said it. Going to church was not something
I looked forward to. My parents drug me to church.
Later on, I went out of duty. I was supposed to go. Then one day, I found that I
needed to go. I didn't need to go to a church
service, but I needed to go where the Lord's people gathered. I
needed to go to where the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was
faithfully proclaimed. I don't know the last time, I
don't know if ever, really, I sat down and personally thought about
that scripture. I've heard it preached on and
enjoyed the messages. But after that conversation,
I really thought of it and I got to considering why I got glad
when they said, let us go into the house of the Lord. And three
things came to my mind. The first that I thought about
was I get to go see my family. Although most of us are not natural
blood relatives, we don't come from the same family tree, my
blood, my family is bound by blood. The Lord Jesus Christ
shed his blood for us and He redeemed us, and He has adopted
us into His family. Every sinner that Christ has
mercy on has a family that is closer knit together than any
other family can be by nature. Not only in this building, but
when we travel and go to other places, we're with family. We're
with brothers and sisters. And it gives me great joy to
come into the service and see my family one more time. Excuse
me. Another reason I found that I
was rejoicing at the prospect of coming to worship was when
we gathered together for the sole purpose of worship. It's a time of rest and refreshing. Paul, in a word of warning to
us, exhorts that we be not moved from the simplicity that is in
Christ. Our gospel is not yea and nay,
meaning our gospel doesn't change with the opinions and the time
of man. But in Him, the Son of God, our
Lord Jesus Christ, in Him our gospel is yea. In the world,
work, school, even to an extent within our own homes, and most
certainly within ourselves, we find conflict, strife, and continual
change. But when God gathers His people
together for worship, He brings us together in a time of peace
and rest. And the last thing I considered
for rejoicing at the thought of coming into the house of the
Lord was I will be reminded one more time of what great things
God has done for me through Christ Jesus. That's a thought that can and
will consume all other meditations. And that's the thought that became
the basis for this message this morning. In a moment, we're going
to read chapter 17 again. And then we're going to focus
on all that the Lord himself proclaimed to have done for us
in his high priestly prayer. Here, he proclaims who he prays
for, why he did what he did for them, what he did, and we'll
finish with the results of his finished work. And let's read
this. chapter again. John 17, verse
1. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As Thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, 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 have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given
me are of thee, For I have given them the words which thou gavest
me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.
Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one as we are. 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. And now I come to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word. and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, 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. Excuse
me. 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, 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. from this passage, the first
thing we observe is that our Lord Jesus Christ prays for us. And in his prayer, he makes it
very clear there are people he prays for, and there are people
that he does not pray for. Verse nine says, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world. O my soul, fall down in wonder
and adoration, for God prays for men, men who are sinful,
rebellious, godless creatures by nature, who of ourselves neither
deserve nor desire his prayer. David wondered at this in Psalm
8. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? With all the
great wonders of God's creation, that he should be mindful of
such a loathsome, wretched sinner as I am? and not just that he's
mindful, but that he prays for us. Who's made the difference? Who
has determined those for whom our Lord prays and those he calls
the world? Again, in verse nine, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." God
has made the difference. Salvation is not, as we naturally
think, in my work, in my doing, in my being better than or better
than the one that came before me. Salvation is not my nor I. God saves. God is the alpha,
the beginning. God is the omega, the end. And God is the all and in all,
everything between, beginning and end. God is all in all in
the sinner's salvation. God saves and God alone. God the Father has chosen a people. God the Son has redeemed those
people and God the Spirit will call those people to himself. Salvation is of the Lord in its
entirety. Secondly, why has it pleased
God? And it has pleased God, for He
alone is able to do as He pleases, and He alone does as He pleases. Why has it pleased God to save
some? In His prayer, our Lord gives
us two answers. The first we see in verse 1,
Father, The hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. Why has God chosen to save some
of Adam's sinful fallen race? Ephesians 1 says, to the praise
of the glory of his grace. He has saved so that he alone the glory. Secondly, God has
been pleased to save for love's sake. The end of verse 24 says,
For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. And
verse 26, That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them, and I in them. God the Father loves the Son. God the Son loves the Father. As the Father set his love upon
a people, a rebellious, stiff-necked, sinful, hell-deserving people
who only deserve God's wrath to be shed upon them, God the
Son saw our sad estate, and He said, Father, I will be surety
for them. They are unrighteous. I will
make them righteous. They are dead. I will take their
death, and I will make them live. Because, in verse 23, thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. For His love of us, for His love
of the Son, for His love of the Father, God has been pleased
to save sinners, and in doing so, He gives all of the glory. So far we have looked at our
Lord's Prayer and been shown that the Lord Jesus Christ prays
for those that the Father has given Him. And he does so that
God, God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, is glorified
in their salvation. And because of the love of the
Father to the Son, and the Son to the Father, and their love
for the elect sinner. Now let's look specifically at
how our Lord Jesus Christ saved us. And as we do, It can be summed
up in one word-substitution. Christ our Lord, being what we
are not-holy-took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh,
yet without sin. He fulfilled the law and the
prophets. He obtained, as a man, a righteous
standing before God. He earned it. He did what pleased
God perfectly. Then he took that which was not
his, the sin and iniquities of his people, He bore the wrath
of God. He died. He was buried. He rose again. And in so doing,
He made us what we are not. He made us holy. As He is, so
are we in this world. In his prayer for us, our Lord
gives specifics of how he saved those the Father gave him. We'll start in verse 4. I have glorified thee on the
earth. What a statement. No other man No man born of Adam
can make that statement. Every one of us must admit that
we have not glorified God in any way, at any moment, at any
time. We are incapable of glorifying
God. He is holy. We are unholy. He is life, we are dead. Best thought we've ever had of
him is full of sin. If we have any honest thought
about us, we must declare all we, like sheep, have gone astray. And speaking personally, I didn't
just wander off, I ran. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Lord Jesus Christ is the way,
but I prefer my way. But this man, This man, Lord
Jesus Christ, he glorified God on the earth. He obtained, he
earned a righteousness he didn't need. He was righteous when he
came. He could have done nothing and
he would have been righteous still. but he walked this earth
as a man and he earned a righteousness. He glorified God on the earth
so that he could save this wretched sinner. Verse six, he earned a righteousness
for us. Verse six, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. What
does he mean by thy name, speaking of the Father's name? I can declare unto you my dad's
name is Gary, my mom's name is Jan, Given enough time, I'll
get their age range close for you. I can give you some factual
information about them, but you won't know them. You'll know
things about them. But until you meet them, you
won't know them. You won't know what their characters
are, what they're like, how they conduct themselves. Our Lord Jesus Christ declares
here that He manifested the name of the Father. In doing so, in
revealing the name of the Father, He says that He caused those
men, and not just those men, all that He saves, we're all saved just as the disciples that
were standing there hearing this prayer at that time were saved
in the same manner. He caused those men to know the
character, the person of the Father. He revealed to them the
just God and the Savior. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, He revealed to them the Prince of Peace. In knowing the
Lord Jesus Christ, these men knew the Father. I and my Father
are one. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Not all who saw our Lord while
He walked in the flesh on this earth saw the Father. Otherwise,
they would have never crucified him. But those to whom he manifested
the Father's name knew, Jesus Christ is God. In knowing Christ, all those
that are saved by grace have the character The attributes,
the person of God, revealed to them that we may know him. We know a person. We don't know
words and facts and doctrine. We know a person. To make something manifest means
to make known or reveal what was hidden. Is God hidden? Not at all. For the heavens declare
the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. We look
around us and God is declared in everything. But just as a man who is born
deaf, blind, lame, without strength, cannot know the beauty and the
glory of looking on a mountain range or looking at a sunset
over the ocean. Just as that man cannot know
that glory, it's there for him to see, for it to be described
to. But he can neither see it nor
hear about it. So are we. who are born spiritually
dead, who are born lost, who are born without any knowledge
of the true and living God. We can't see it if someone declared
it to us until the Spirit of God comes and reveals Himself
to us. until we are made alive by the
Spirit of Christ dwelling within us. Christ Jesus came into the
world and manifested the name of the Father unto those He came
to save. How did He manifest the Father's
name? For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me." The true and living God
does not change. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Those saved in the Old
Testament Those saved in the days of Christ, those saved in
the days of the apostles, and in all the generations since
then, have all been saved by the declaration of God's word. For the sinner God has chosen
from the foundation of the world, He will cause that sinner to
hear the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that word declared
will be received, just as we take a seed and plant it into
the ground and cover it up in good ground, and that seed takes
root. The Word of God is implanted
in the sinner's heart, and God changes that stony heart into
a living heart and gives that seed root. and causes it to grow,
and in time it bears fruit. Our Lord glorified the Father
on the earth. He manifested His name by giving
us His word and bestowing us with faith to believe, and He
sanctified Himself. and for their sakes I sanctify
myself." Our Lord Jesus Christ is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He is the seed
of woman who is the only man to not inherit the rebellious
nature and the rebellious seed of our Father Adam. How could
Christ be more sanctified than what He already is in His glorious
nature? He sanctified Himself. He set
Himself apart as the sin offering for His people. As the Passover
lamb was separated out and observed that it should be without spot
or blemish, Jesus Christ was observed as a man in this world,
and he was found to be without spot or blemish. The adversary
tempted him but found no blemish. The Father observed him and declared,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The government
observed him and had to say, I find in him no fault at all. And the religious leaders of
the day observed him and could not find a single witness to
find fault in him. But they had to pay. They had
to bribe those to testify against him so that they could lay charge
against him. Our Lord sanctified himself. as our just God and our Savior. Jesus Christ glorified the Father,
manifested His name, sanctified Himself, and He finished the
work. Back in verse 4, I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. What is this work that the Father
entrusted only to the Son? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Having done no violence, no sin,
no unbelief, Christ sanctified Himself, the Lamb of God, to
the work given Him. Glance over at John 18, verse
37. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice. The hour to which Christ came
into the world being fully calm, He was taken out and crucified. Bearing our sin, our iniquity,
our griefs, He suffered on the cross as the wrath of God fell
on Him. He shed His precious blood and
laid down his life to pay the debt he didn't owe. But he freely
took my debt, my guilt, and he took it and bore it as his own. Buried with the wicked, on the
third day he arose as he had received commandment from his
father. As He hung on that cross, all our sin, all our shame, born
in Him, the Father looked on Him and saw me. I hung on that cross. I was crucified
with Him so that when He rose, My sin debt was paid. I still hadn't kept God's law. But He arose, and that righteousness
which He had obtained, which He didn't need to obtain, He
freely laid on me. And the Father sees me as He
sees the Son. Having finished that work, what
is received? First, what does Christ receive
for the finished work? He receives all the glory and
all the honor. God hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name. He alone is worthy of all praise
and adoration, and he alone shall receive the glory forever and
ever. This is our theme here, and this
is the theme of the saints in heaven. Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honor, and glory, and blessing, and all ahead forever. Amen. Then what do those redeemed by
His precious blood receive because Christ finished the work? John
17, verse 2. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. Those Christ saves receive eternal
life because He has manifested to us. the name of the Lord God. We also have this testimony from
God the Son in verse 6. They have kept thy word. Have I ever kept his word in
this flesh of myself? No. But my Lord did. and he took my not keeping as
his own. He suffered, he died for my sin,
and when he arose, he granted me his righteousness." We have a marvelous substitute
that what he did was accounted as our own doing. Those redeemed souls upon the
authority of God have kept his word. We have kept his word in verse
eight. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have
known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed
that thou didst send me." By God's grace, we believe the
Word of God and we are sure that Jesus Christ is God and He has
given us His Word. We are a blessed people. The Son of God prays for us,
and specifically He prays that we be kept. Verse 11, And now
I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are. Through our glorious Savior,
God has dealt exceedingly abundant with us. Continuing on in his prayer,
he declares he has sanctified us. He has given us the glory
which the Father gave the Son, that we may be one with them.
We are loved of the Father, and he prays where He is and see
His glory. I was glad when they said unto
me, Let us go into the house of the Lord, for that is where
I have gone for family, for refreshing, and to hear one more time what
great things God has done for this sinner through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He glorified the Father. He makes
us to know the true and living God. He by Himself has purged
our sins. He is seated at the Father's
right hand. And He gets all the glory. Pray the Lord will make that
a blessing to us. Services are canceled for Wednesday
night. And Lord willing, Cody will be
bringing the message to us Sunday morning, next Sunday morning
at 1045. We won't have Sunday school or
evening service next week either. Just as a word of closing, remember
to pray for one another. Lord's given us something special
here. And Brady, he keeps his hand
on us. Eddie.