Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 12. John chapter 12. This morning we referenced the
end of John 17. And we are going to go back to
that chapter for our text tonight. But let's begin reading what
our Lord said here in John 12. Beginning in verse 23, And Jesus answered them, saying,
The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. 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 watch what he said here in
verse 27. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it
thundered. Others said an angel spake to
him. Jesus answered and said, this
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me." This he said, signifying what death
he should die. Our Lord was constantly in communion
with His Father. constantly praying to His Father. He prayed without ceasing. He
prayed without ceasing. He prayed in His heart, in His
soul, continually. He prayed privately to God the
Father. He was constantly, constantly
praying to God His Father. But on a few occasions, For our
sake, He prayed out loud. And aren't we so glad? He was
constantly in communion with His Father at all times. His
soul was at all times speaking to His Father. But on a few occasions
he let us in on God communing with God. A few times he let
us listen in. And how awesome is that thought?
God communing with God. The mind, the will, the heart
of God. We never could have known had
he not spoken it out loud. Never could we have known. We
have the mind of God. We have the will of God. And
we never could have known had He not told us, had He not spoken
it out loud. He said, this voice came not
because of me. I didn't need this voice. I'm
in communion with my Father. I'm speaking to Him. He's speaking
to me. He knows what I'm saying. I know what He's saying. This
voice came not because of me, He said, but for your sakes.
This voice came for your sakes. Look at chapter 11, John 11.
This is our Lord calling Lazarus from the dead. John 11 verse 41, Then they took
away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, And
Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that
Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest
me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it. Because of all these people who
are standing by right here. I said it, that they may believe
that Thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, and this
is one of my favorite lines in the scripture. He said, Loose
him and let him go. Loose him and let him go. How
thankful we are to be allowed in. We are allowed in to the
inner secrets of the will. You know, our Lord could have
stood there silently. And all of a sudden, Lazarus came forth
and everybody's wondering, what in the world? He spoke it all
out loud. He let us enter in to the will
and the work of God. Well, John 17 is another one
of those moments. It is another one of those moments.
It's His high, high priestly prayer. He let us in on praying
to the Father. Our Lord is praying to the Father,
and the disciples heard it. The disciples heard what He said,
and John recorded what he heard. In John 17, verse 1, 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 also may glorify Thee. He said, Father, in this, the
hour is come, in this, You are going to be glorified in Me,
and I'm going to be glorified in you. You are going to glorify
me and I am going to glorify you. Glorify thy son that thy
son also may glorify thee. Why would man ever believe that
he has any room to glory in redemption for sin? Why would man ever believe
that? Where does he get any room in
this book to glory? How could a man possibly believe
that he earned any of the glory in redemption from sin? God says through what He's revealed
to us, that all the glory of the Father went to the Son. All
of it. And all the glory of the Son
went to the Father. He said, glorify me that I may
glorify you. Turn with me over to Psalm 85. Psalm 85 verse 1 says, Lord,
thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back
the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Sometimes I enter into verses. You think about that. He said
you've covered all their sin. Don't we hate our sin? Don't
we regret our sin? Don't we regret our sin? Lord, I regret it. I regret it. I'm so sorry. I regret that I'll
do it again. I'm so sorry. He said in verse 2, You have forgiven
the iniquity of Thy people. You have covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all Thy
wrath. Thou hast turned Thyself from
the fierceness of Thine anger. You turn Yourself from the fierceness
of Your anger. He said in verse 4, Turn us,
O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt Thou be angry with us forever? Wilt Thou draw out Thine anger
to all generations? Wilt Thou not revive us again,
that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? Show us Thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us Thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for He will speak peace unto His people and to
His saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely His
salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in
our land. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the
Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield
her increase. Righteousness shall go before
Him and shall set us in the way of His steps. That is glorifying
the Son. That is the glory of the Son. Now this is the glory of the
Father. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 4 says, Surely
he hath borne our griefs, speaking of Christ. Surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. The Father
laid this on His Son. The Father laid this on His Son. This was the Father's will. This
was the Father's purpose in His heart. This is what His will
was for us, toward us. This was His purpose for us.
Verse 9 says, And He made His grave with the wicked and with
the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither
was any deceit in His mouth. The Son did nothing wrong. Nothing wrong. He was God's spotless
Lamb. Verse 10 says, Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Not Pilate. Not those Roman soldiers. Not the Jews. It pleased the
Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. The Father glorified His Son. in laying this indescribable
weight of all the sin of His people on Him. The Father glorified
His Son by revealing that He was the only one who could carry
that weight. He was the only one who could
carry that sin. And the Son glorified the Father
by what He did with all of that sin. Verse 10 goes on to say,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. and
He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bared the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors." The Father glorified
the Son by forsaking Him. The Son glorified the Father
by willingly being forsaken. Christ said, for this cause came
I into the world. This is the reason I came into
the world. He said, I delight to do thy
will. I delight to do it. He said,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He said, it is finished. And
having said thus, he gave up the ghost. And the Father said,
behold, my servant. Behold my servant, I am glorified
in Him. I can be both just against the
sin of my people and I can justify my people in Him. I have seen the travail of His
soul for their sin and I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied and I'm glorified
in Him. My people are justified and they're
glorified in Him. And because of what He accomplished,
my Son is glorified in Himself. Glorified by Himself. His name
is glorified. His office is glorified. His love is glorified. We glory
in it, we magnify it, we praise it, we thank Him for it. It's
so glorified. His love for us, even while we
are sinners, is glorified. His grace is glorified. His mercy is glorified. His truth
is glorified. It's all glorified. And it's
because He did what He said He'd do. He's a man of His Word. He said, this is what I came
to do and He did it. And in that, everything is glorified. Go back to John 17 with me. Verse 1 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 hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has power
over all flesh. He has power over all flesh. Not just human flesh. This is
something good to remember. Not just human flesh. All flesh. All flesh. Do you remember the
time that Peter needed some money to pay his taxes? They came to
him and they asked him, does your master not pay taxes? Peter
came to the Lord and he said, they're saying we have to pay
taxes. The Lord said, okay, I want you
to go fishing. You need to pay your taxes? Here's
what I want you to do. Go get a rod and go fishing.
He said, the first fish you pull up is going to have a coin in
his mouth. You know, that fish came from
who knows where. was telling Peter, I have purposed
for a man to drop a coin into the ocean. And I have purposed for a fish
to eat that coin. And I have purposed for you to
go cast a hook. You're about to go cast a hook.
And you're going to hook that fish. And when you pull him up,
reach inside his mouth, there's going to be a coin in there.
It's the exact amount that they told you you had to pay. You
go pay it for us. It doesn't have to be human flesh. This man has power over all flesh. It doesn't have to be living
flesh. We began this message by him telling a dead man, Come
here. And He that was dead came forth. It doesn't matter if it's living.
It doesn't matter if it's dead. It doesn't matter if it's celestial.
It doesn't matter if it's terrestrial. All flesh is in this man's hands. That's the glory of what He has
revealed, spoken out loud to us right here. Here's the truth of this flesh.
He said in John 5, this flesh right here will not come to him
that it might have life. In John 6, He said this flesh
cannot come to him that it might have life. But the glory and
the good news of the Gospel is, He has power over this flesh. He has power over all flesh. He said, if my Father gave you
to me, you are coming to me. He said, my people shall be willing,
whether they want to be or not, they're going to be willing. And the reason is because it's
the day of my power. It's the day of my power. Thank
God. Lord, overrule me. I'm worthless flesh. I amount
to nothing. I've ruined everything. Overpower me. Draw me to Yourself. Overpower my will. Overpower me. Even though filth is all I want,
Lord, wash me in Your blood. You're able. Lord, if You're
willing. That leper came to him and said,
Oh, if You will. I know You can. I know you can. Everybody who comes to Him asking
that will receive. I know you can if you will. I know you can overrule this
flesh right here, if you're willing. You have the power to do it.
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. God has a particular people.
God's love is on those particular people. What made Him particular? The Father gave Him into the
hands of Christ His Son. That's what sets Him apart. As
thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. Look with me
at John 6. I won't be much longer. John
chapter 6. Verse 37, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day." That's what makes a sinner particular. He or she has been given to Christ. That's what makes them particular.
They are a gift. They've received the gift because
they are a gift. The Father gave them to His Son. Put them in the hands of Christ. Put them in the care of Christ.
Put them in the blood of Christ. Back to John 17, verse 3. He said, And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent." Salvation, eternal life. Eternal life is
not a club. It is not a club. It is not something you join.
That's what everybody thinks salvation is. Well, I've got
to join salvation. Now, have you joined salvation?
Did you get your membership to South? It's not a club. It's
not something you join. Eternal life is not in being
a member of a religious organization. That's not where eternal life
is. Eternal life is not better manners. Now mind your manners,
that's not eternal life. Mind your manners, but that's
not eternal life. Eternal life is not in my ability
to stop doing bad things and start doing good things. That's
not eternal life. Eternal life is not in knowing
facts about God, not in knowing facts about the Jews, not in
knowing facts about anything. Verse 3 says, this is life eternal
that they might know Thee, the only true God. The Apostle Paul
said in Galatians 1, I knew all those facts about all that stuff. And I was just as dead as dead
can be. He said, but when it pleased
God, He revealed His Son in me. When it pleased Him, He revealed
His Son in me. He changed all of that from a
what to a who. When it pleased God, He changed
it all from a what to a who. He said, This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. Is our Lord saying that He's
not God? The only true God and Jesus Christ. Is he saying he's
not God? He said in John 14, if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. He said in John 10, I and my
Father are one. And turn with me over to 1 John
chapter 5. 1 John 5 verse 20, And we know that the Son of God
is come, and hath 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 in eternal life. The One who came, the One who
we are in, this is the true God. God was manifest in the flesh. The One who the Father glorified
and the One who glorified the Father. This is the true God. This is life eternal that we
might know Him. That we might know Him. That
He might reveal Himself to us and He has through His Word.
He has thanked God for His revelation, for Him openly revealing the
things concerning Himself, the secrets of His will. If we believe
it, He's given it to us in His Word,
if we believe it, it means He gave us faith to believe it.
If we believe it, It means He gave us faith to believe it.
And if He's given us faith, then it means we're one of the particular
people that He is praying to God the Father for. He's in this
wonderful, wonderful prayer. He's praying for a particular
people. And if we believe the words He's given us, He's praying
for us. If we do, without God-given faith,
it is impossible for a man to believe on Him. So if we believe,
He has said all of this for us, concerning us. I want to close
this by just listening to the rest of what He said. Go back
to John 17, and let's read through the glory
of these verses. Verse 4, He said, 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 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. 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 come I 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 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 has 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 Lord could have said every
bit of that silently. But verse 1 says, These words
spake Jesus as He lifted up His eyes to heaven. That's holy,
holy, holy, isn't it? Thank God. Alright, Brother Dwight,
come lead us in a closing hymn.