All right, turn with me, if you
would, to John chapter 17. John 17, if the Lord is willing,
we're going to be in John 17 all day today. This precious,
intimate chapter of John 17. When you mention certain portions
of Scripture immediately, You just know this is a special
place to be, special passage of scripture. Three things stood
out to me in this chapter, and I want to look at them over the
course of all three of our messages today. That's the reason why
I ask our older kids to come into this Bible study with us.
I thought that it would be good for them to see the whole chapter
with us. I may do that again next week
because there is something on my heart that I feel led to bring,
and I believe it'd be good for all of our older children to
hear it too. But let me give you the title
of each one of these messages today. The title of this Bible
study is what the father gave to Christ. That's what we're
going to focus on. What the father gave to Christ. And then the title of our message
in a moment will be what Christ did for his father. All right. So what the father gave to Christ
is it's just them. what the Father gave to Christ,
and what Christ did for His Father. And then the Lord willing, the
title of the message tonight will be what Christ did for His
people. As a result of what the Father
did, as a result of what the Son did for the Father, what
Christ did for His people. All right, now let's read the
first two verses of John 17. 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 has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. This chapter is the Lord's Prayer,
the prayer that the Lord prayed to His Father. Many people refer
to the prayer in Matthew 6 as the Lord's Prayer. There's a
prayer listed in Matthew 6 and it says this, Our Father which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread and forgive us our debts. Forgive us our sins. Christ didn't have any sins. Christ didn't have any sins.
He didn't have any sins of his own that needed to be forgiven.
So that's not the Lord's prayer. That's the disciples prayer.
That's the prayer that he gave and he taught the disciples to
pray. And if we're his disciples, that's
our prayer. But this is the Lord's prayer. And it is just so, um, Incredibly
amazing to think of the Lord praying. That is just such an
awesome thought to me. To think of the Lord praying,
the Lord prayed. Is it important? Should we pray?
You just think about this. God almighty prayed. What an
awesome thought that is. But this is the prayer that he
prayed on his own behalf. in his own communication to his
father. Verse one, it says, these words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father,
the hour is come. Glorify thy son that thy son
may also glorify thee. He said, the hour is come. The
hour is here. Father, the moment has come. The moment of what the hour of
what, what's he talking about? Glory. He's talking about glory. The hour that the sun must be
glorified. When the angels sang at his birth,
our Lord came and those angels appeared to the shepherds and
they sang glory to God in the highest. Peace has come to the
earth. Goodwill has come to sinful man. When they sang that, they were
singing about this hour. The hour that eternity hinges
on. The hour that salvation hinges
on. Hinged on. The hour of the accomplishment
of the king. The hour of victory, the hour
of crowning, the hour that the Son would glorify the Father
by accomplishing what He sent Him to do. The Father sent Christ
into the world for one reason only. And this is what I want
to preach on TV. This is what I want this community
to know. The father sent Christ into the
world for one reason only. If we stop and think about it,
why did Christ come into the world? Everybody has an opinion
on that, a view on that. Well, he came to do all. The
father sent Christ for one reason only. It was to accomplish the
glory of this hour. And once it was done, he went
back. Skim the book of John with me for just a second. Turn over
to John chapter two. John two, verse one, it says,
and the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother
of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and
his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the
mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine. Jesus saith
unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not
yet come. He said, this is not what I was
sent to do. This is not what I was sent to
do. Now in love for his earthly mother and to begin his miracles,
to begin revealing who he was, he did make them some wine. But
he made it very clear, I was not sent to provide earthly things
to people. You think about that. I was not,
you know, we pray, don't we? We pray and we're praying for
things and we pray for things. And he said, I was not sent to
provide earthly things to people. Earthly pleasures. I didn't come
to bring earthly health and earthly wealth and earthly happiness. I didn't come for that. I came
for a particular accomplishment on a particular hour. And he
said, that hour has not yet come. Look at John four. Verse 21, Jesus saith unto the
woman at the well, woman, believe me, the hour cometh. The hour is coming when you shall
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the
Father. He said, you worship, you know
not what. And isn't that the case until
God reveals the truth of the gospel to a sinner. Men and women
are worshiping. And they don't know what, they
don't know what, they don't really know what salvation is. They
don't really know who God is. He said, verse 22, you worship,
you know not what, we know what we worship for salvation is up
the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is
when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him. He said,
the hour is coming when you're gonna know what it is you worship. And that's what he reveals to
his people. He told that woman right now, you don't know what
you worship, but he said, the hour's coming when you're going
to glorify God, because you're going to know exactly what it
is you're worshiping him for. And God's people do exactly. Look at John five, verse 25. It says, verily, verily, I say
unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. Only God can do that. Only God
can do that. I cannot do it. No man can do
it. You know, we preach. Scripture
says, if any man preach, let him preach as the oracles of
God. Let him stand up here with absolute authority and declare
the truth in all of his might, in all the ability that God will
give him, but no man can give life to a dead sinner. Men and
women sit there in their deadness and their blindness and their
coldness and their nothing. But when God in mercy sends his
spirit with his word, life happens. And all of a sudden they know,
I was lost and now I'm found. I was blind and now I see. I
was dead and now I'm alive. He said, the hour is coming when
the dead are gonna hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. Look at John 7, verse 30. John 7, verse 30, it says, then
they sought to take Him, But no man laid hands on him because
his hour was not yet come. What are you gonna do with Jesus?
Let me ask you a question. What are y'all gonna do with
Jesus? Nothing. Nothing. Man tried to take him
and do what they would with him in both ways. Right here, they
wanted to kill him. No man takes his life from him.
Only he can take his life. Only he can give his life, lay
down his life. Whether they wanted to kill him,
one time they wanted to make him a king. Wouldn't allow that
to happen. You can't make him king, he already
is king. Look at John 12. Verse 23. And Jesus answered them, saying,
The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified."
He's saying it's coming. It's coming. These next few chapters
are what He said leading up to John 17. These words speak Jesus,
talking about everything He said right here. And He said, it's
coming, and now He's gonna illustrate to them what that means, what
the hour is, what the hour means. Verse 24, He said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die. It abideth alone. If it does
not go into the ground and die, that corn of wheat will just
stay a corn of wheat. It'll just stay what it is. But
if it die and goes into the ground, it will bring forth much fruit. Speaking of what he came to do,
what that hour was all about. Verse 25, he that loveth his
life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world
shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If
any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul
troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. Am I gonna cry out and say, "'Save
me from this hour?' He said, "'Absolutely not. "'For this
cause came I unto this hour.'" For this cause, this was the
only reason I came. It was for this hour. John 13,
verse one, it says, "'Now before the feast of the Passover, "'when
Jesus knew that His hour was come, That he should depart out
of this world unto the father, bearing the sin of his people,
bringing the sin of his people to his father, standing before
the judgment throne, suffering in the place of his people. Verse
one says, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew
that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this
world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end. He willingly came for this
hour, and He willingly came to this hour. All right, now back
in John 17. Verse one says, 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 has given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life. to as many as thou has
given him. He said, lay the sin of our people
on me. All right, now the message that false
religion preaches and the message that everybody's wanting to know
is what about my sin? But what about my sin? What do
I do about my sin? How do I fix my sin? Where do
I put them? He said, Father, lay all of their
sin on me so that I can put it all away.
And he said, the reason that I'm asking you to do this, this
is his prayer. I pray the Lord will let us enter
into this. This is his prayer. All right, this was his prayer.
Our prayer is, you know, would you please make sure I'm provided
for and make sure I have plenty of food and make sure I have,
you know, his prayer was, would you please lay all their sin
on me? And he said, the reason I'm asking
you to do this is because you've given me three things. Lay it all on me because you've
given me three things. Number one, verse two, he said,
as thou hast given him, your son, me, power over all flesh. Now, let me emphasize this to
us. The Father has given to Christ
the Son power over all flesh. Power over all flesh. Let's let that sink in. The Father
has given to Christ the Son power over all flesh. Christ has power over all flesh. That means he doesn't need anybody's
help. He doesn't need anybody's permission. He doesn't need anybody's
anything. Christ has power. The Father
gave to him power over all flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
control and all authority, all power over all flesh. It doesn't matter who it is.
It does not matter who it is. Turn with me to Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21 verse 1, it says,
the king's heart, lowercase K, the king of the land, whoever's
ruling over the land. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. But what if it's a wicked heart? It's still in the hand of the
Lord. As the rivers of water, he, the
Lord, turneth it whithersoever he will. It does not matter who
the king is. Let's just have a little side
note for one second. It doesn't matter who the king
is. Doesn't matter. David or Saul,
Solomon or Nebuchadnezzar, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter
who the king is. Do you know that All of us see
ourselves to be our own kings of our own little kingdom here.
Doesn't matter who the king is or who the king thinks he is.
Power over all flesh has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Lord was standing before Pilate, Pilate said to him, knowest
thou not that I have power to crucify thee and I have power
to release thee? Jesus answered, thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above. What he said was the only power
you have is the power I am allowing you to have right now. He is
above. He is from above. The only reason
you're doing this is because I'm allowing you to do this right
now. Look with me at Matthew 22. Matthew 22 verse 29, Jesus answered
and said unto them, you do err not knowing the scriptures nor
the power of God. Every time we err, which is all
the time, it's all the time. Every time we err, it's because
we're not looking to, we're not knowing, we're not trusting,
we're not believing the scriptures or the power of God. Look at Matthew 24, verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then shall appear the
sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great Glory. Man thinks he's gonna shake things
up down here. You know, he's not happy with
how something goes, so he thinks he's gonna shake everything up
down here. A shaking is coming. The only reason that any goodness
and mercy is still in place is because our Lord is restraining
His power at the moment. But He said He's coming in great
power and great glory. Look at Matthew 28. Matthew 28, 18. And Jesus came
and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. It's easy for us to believe that
all power is given unto him in heaven. People don't have a problem with
that at all. But if we could ever get ahold of the fact that
it's and in earth, It would bring such comfort to
us. He said, all power is given unto me. And then he went on
to say in verse 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of 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, even until the end
of the world. He said, all power is given unto
me and I'm with you always, even until the end of the world. So
our Lord said, Father, glorify me in this hour, number one,
because you've given all power to me. And number two, back in
our text, back in John 17, verse two, He said, as thou has given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life. He said, you've given me the
ability to give eternal life, eternal life. God has eternal
life. There's no beginning with God. There's no end with God. Man
in his flesh has a beginning and man has an end. We write
that on our tombstones. Man has a beginning, man has
an end, but God has eternal life. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
Father, you have given me the ability to pass that eternal
life on to our people. Eternal life is in the Son. He that hath the Son hath life. As long as a person has Christ,
the person has life. So Christ said, Father, glorify
me in this hour. by laying the sin of our people
on me, because you've given me alone the ability to give eternal
life, to take away all the sin of our people, which would bring
death, take away all the death, and to in its place give eternal
life, only me. I love the story of Ruth. I love that precious story. And
it says in that story that one man had the right to redeem her. One man. There was a nearer kinsman
who was going to redeem Naomi, but he said, I can't redeem Ruth.
One man had the right and the ability to redeem her. And that's
how it is with us. Only one man. Only one man has the right and
the ability to redeem us. If God is holy and must punish
sin and sin is all that we are, how can God justify us and set
us free? One man, one way. The God man. One man has the right and the
ability to redeem us. One man made himself to be flesh
and to dwell among us so that he could redeem us from our flesh. And that's what John 5 said when
we were over there. It said, he has the ability to
do this because God made him to be the son of man. The son
of God is the son of man. one with the Father and one with
His people. He took the nature of His people,
joined Himself to them, and in doing that, joined them to His
eternal life. So Christ said, Father, glorify
me in this hour, number one, because You've given me power
over all flesh, and number two, because You've given me all of
the ability to give eternal life. And number three in verse two,
he said, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. He said, glorify me in this hour
because you have given me our elect. Our elect, You've given me our
people, You've put them in my hands to save." God has an elect
people that He's chosen to save. If you look at verse 9, He said,
I pray for them, I pray not for the world. In this prayer, did
Christ pray for everybody? Did Christ pray for everybody? What did he say in verse nine?
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them. Who's he talking about? Them
which thou hast given me, they are thine. Did Christ die for
everybody? He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. I'm not laying down my life for
the goats, those that don't belong to me. Does Christ love everybody? Having loved His own, we just
read, He loved them to the end. God has an elect people that
He chose to save. There's an old story that has
been told of this way back in the day. pastor of this church,
small town. He was out in his front yard
working in his garden, working in his yard. And a woman in town
who knew him and had some association with him didn't attend where
he pastored. She came up and was talking to him for a minute.
And she said, you preach election, don't you? You believe in election,
don't you? And he said, I do. And she said,
I just, I can't go along with that. And he said, well, it's
in the word of God. And she said, yeah, but I just
can't see that. I just can't believe that. I
don't know why you preach that. I don't see how you could believe
that. And he said, well, let me ask you a question. He said,
who saved you? Did God save you or did you save
yourself? She said, God saved me. He said,
well, did he do it on purpose or was it an accident? She said,
he did it on purpose. He said, honey, that's election. God choosing to save somebody
on purpose and saving them. God has an elect people. In Psalm 2, the father said to
the son, if you ask of me, I'll give you the heathen for your
inheritance. Who are the elect people? The
heathen. The low ones. He said, if you ask of me, I'll
give them to you. The son said, I'm asking. I'm asking. John 17, I'll take them. I'll
have them. So God the Father chose a particular
people and gave them to Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
Father, you've given me all the authority. You've given me all
of the ability and you've given me all of the elect. That's what
the father gave to Christ. All the authority, all the ability,
and all the elect. And he said, father, the hour
is come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. He's saying, because you've done
this for me, this is what I'm gonna do for you. And if the
Lord's willing in just a minute, we'll see what that is. We'll
see what Christ did because the father gave those three things
to him. We'll see what Christ did for His Father, how He glorified
His Father in what He gave to Him. All right, you're dismissed.