Go back with me to John 17. I have the benefit of reading
a portion of scripture 30 times before we all come together and
look at it in the message. I have the benefit of thinking
about it and praying about it. I have the time. That's what
I have, is time to enter into it. Just sit there and enter
into it, if God will open it up. If He does not open it up,
then I just sit there. But if He opens it up, I have
that benefit of just taking the time to think about it and enter
into it. I've preached from John 17 before. We have read this so many times,
haven't we? We are constantly coming to John
17 for a scripture reference, all the time. But I don't believe
that I have ever entered into this chapter, this portion we're
going to look at like I did this week, like the Lord allowed me
to enter into it this week. I read what some dear men had
to say throughout the years on this. I have commentaries in
my study. And I read what men like Martin
Luther and Matthew Henry and John Brown and J.C. Ryle and
John Calvin, I read what men wrote about it. And as I read
what they wrote, The holiness of this chapter was pressed on
me. I wish you could take the time
to read it, to read what I read. With each one of them, it was
like they had to take a minute. You know, they have commentaries
on the Bible, and you read through them. I use them, and we go John
15, John 16, John 17, and they're writing. And with each one of
those men, it's almost like they had to just take a step back
and gather themselves before they approach this chapter. And
that's what I'm doing right now. This is what Arthur Pink said,
and here's what I want to say. Take a minute right now and call
on the Lord in your heart and ask Him to let you enter in to
His word and His message. All right? Here's what Arthur
Pink said. In John 17, the veil is drawn
aside, and we are admitted with our great high priest into the
holiest of all. You know, only the high priest
could go into the holiest of all. But he said in John 17,
the veil is drawn back. We are admitted to go in with
our high priest into the holiest of all. Here we approach the
secret place of the tabernacle of the most high. Therefore,
it behooves us to put off our shoes from off our feet, listening
with humble, reverent, and prepared hearts, for the place whereon
we now stand is indeed holy ground." This is holy ground. Martin Luther
said, it is so deep, so rich, so wide no one can fathom it. I thought I had been fathoming
it up to this point. J.C. Ryle said this chapter stands
alone and there is nothing like it. Now the prayer that our Lord
gave in Matthew chapter 6 is commonly called the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who 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 as we forgive our debtors. Forgive
us our debts. Forgive us our sins. The Lord has no sin. He is sinless. He's absolutely sinless. The
disciples came to Him in Matthew 6 and said, Lord, teach us to
pray. And He said, after this manner,
pray ye. That was the disciples' prayer.
This prayer is the Lord's prayer. This is the prayer of intercession
that our Lord made to his Father on our behalf. He made intercession
for us. He made intercession for us.
This is the prayer he prayed. The thing that struck me is God
wrote it all down. Dwell on that. God the Son made
intercession with God the Father on our behalf, and God the Spirit
wrote it all down. Is that not holy? How many times have we said,
He made intercession for us? It rolls off our tongue, doesn't
it? He made intercession for us. He made intercession for
us. He made intercession. Well, here
it is. Here it is. Verse 1, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. You remember when he kept saying
my hour has not come. My hour has not come. This is
the seventh time that he deals with his hour. And on the number
of perfection, on the seventh time, he said, the hour's come. What hour? What hour is he talking
about? He's talking about the hour that
all other hours were created for. One hour. The hour. The only reason God made time was for this hour. You know that? It's the only
reason. It was to mark this hour. Every hour before it led up to
this hour. It pointed to this hour. Every
hour after it hangs on this hour. And I mean hangs on this hour. What was done and who it was
done for in this hour. The great hour of salvation. Father, the hour has come. Now this holy word is so glorious,
but my poor flesh can't help but have a favorite every now
and then. Let me show you my favorite scripture right now.
Go to Zechariah chapter 3. It's the second to the last book
in the Old Testament, just before Malachi. Zechariah 3, look at verse 8. Hear now, Joshua the high priest. Who's that? That's Christ. Thou and thy fellows that sit
before thee, for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will
bring forth my servant, the branch. Who's that? That's Christ. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua. Who's that stone? That's Christ. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes,
the number of perfection. All eyes are going to be on this
one stone. Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the
Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in
one day. All that sin for all those years
are going to be removed in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, Shall you call every man his neighbor under the vine and
under the fig tree? Let's all go sit down. Father, the hour has come. Everything that happened in time
happened for one reason only. It was to point us to this hour,
everything. There is only one reason Abraham
brought a lamb to that sacrifice. It was to point us to this hour.
There was only one reason Noah built an ark. One reason only. It was to point us to this hour.
There was only one reason Moses put a brass serpent on a pole.
It was to point us to this hour. In one day, I will remove the
iniquity of the In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall
you call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the
fig tree." Thank God for that hour. Don't you believe we'll
be crying that in glory for all eternity? Thank God for that
hour. Go with me back to John 17. Verse 1 says, These words spake
Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father,
the hour is come, glorify thy Son. Glorify thy Son, that thy
Son also may glorify thee. Father, reveal our glory. Father, reveal the glory of God
in me. that I might reveal the glory
of God in you. What is God's glory? What is God's glory? Turn with
me to Exodus 33. Exodus 33 verse 18 says, And Moses said to God, and he
said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And God said, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee. and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. That is my glory. That's my glory. I'll show mercy. I'll be good. I'll be kind to
sinners by showing mercy. When he came to this earth, he
was born of a virgin. And when he came to this earth,
The whole host of heaven cried, glory to God in the highest. The reason they cried that is
because they were all acknowledging peace is on earth. God is going
to be merciful. When our Lord said, Father, glorify
me, what he was saying was, lay their iniquity on me. Father,
the hour has come. Lay their iniquity on me. Show them my ability. Show them
my compassion. Reveal my love to them. Lay their iniquity on me that
I might redeem them back to you. Glorify me that I might glorify
you. Here they are, redeemed right
back to you. Go back over to John 17. 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. Power over all flesh. All flesh is grass, isn't it? That's what all flesh is. All
flesh is dead, dead in trespasses and sins. Here is the good news
of our gospel. He has been given all power from
God the Father over that dead flesh. He's been given power
over that grass. He has the ability to raise that
flesh up to eternal life. And He's going to do that to
as many as the Father has given Him. Every one of them. Now God
the Father did not give Christ every soul on earth. Look at
verse 6. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest them me." Verse 9, he said, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given me, for they are Thine. It is
a lie on God's glory. It's an absolute lie on God's
glory to say that Christ died trying to save every soul and
couldn't. It's a lie on His glory. It's blasphemy against the glory
of God. He has all power over all flesh. All power over all flesh. And
He is going to give eternal life to as many as His Father has
given Him. Verse 3, He said, And this is
life eternal. Does anybody want to know what
eternal life is? He's told us a lot of things
about eternity, but there's a lot of unknowns. Does anybody want to know what
eternal life is? God himself said this. God said
this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true
God. and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. This is life eternal, knowing
Christ. Knowing Christ. He did not say
this will lead to life eternal, did he? He said this is. This is. Knowing Christ is eternal
life. It is. You know what eternity is going
to consist of? What eternal life is going to consist of? Do you
know what we're going to do throughout eternity? I've always wondered,
what are we going to do? I'll tell you this, do you know
what we're going to do throughout eternity? We are going to know
Christ. That's what we're going to do. We're going to know Christ. We
are going to spend eternity knowing Christ. We're going to walk with
Him. We're going to talk with Him.
We're going to ask Him questions. He's going to tell us things.
What do you do? We know Christ. That's what we
do. You know, to a sinner that is
not a child of God, that is the most boring sounding thing ever. You mean that's it? You know
what that sounds like to a child of God, though? Heaven. Sounds like heaven, doesn't it? He that hath the Son hath life. Turn over to Philippians 3. Philippians 3 verse 7 says, But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ." I counted all loss for
Christ. In verse 8 he said, I counted
all dung. What do you want, Paul? What do you want? What is the one thing in life
you want? Verse 10, that I may know Him. and the power of His resurrection,
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto death,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead." I just want to know whom I have believed. I believe Him.
I just want to more so know whom I have believed. David wrote
in Psalm 27, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek
after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in
His temple. One thing have I desired, I want
a chair in His presence. That's all I want. To behold
the beauty of the Lord and hear Him talk. I just want to know
Him. It is life eternal. Go back over
to John 17. Verse 4 says, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. In Psalm 40, our Lord said, Lo,
I come. I'm coming. In the volume of
the book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. I'm coming
to do thy will. When he was 12 years old, he
said, Know ye not that I must be about my father's business,
the work of the Lord? In John 4, He said, My meat is
to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work. And
now He says to His Father, I have finished the work which Thou
gavest Me to do. I've earned heaven. That's what
He did. I have earned heaven. I have
lived perfectly. I've obeyed perfectly. I've loved
perfectly. I have done for my people what
they couldn't do for themselves. It's finished. It is finished. Verse 5, And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. Now, like Martin Luther said, no one
can fathom this. No one can fathom this. Listen
to what our Lord said in verse 5. Now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Let's understand what he's saying
right there. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with
God because the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh. He said, A body hast thou prepared
me. And what he's saying right here
is, Father, the hour has come. It's time for me to endure separation
from you. Separation from God. It's finished. Father, receive me back. I believe you're going to raise
me from the dead. Receive me back as the man. as the God man who accomplished this work. Glorify
me as the man Christ Jesus, the perfect man. I lived perfectly. I earned heaven. I earned sonship
from God. Glorify me with all the glory
that I had with you before the world was. Are you saying God
changed? No. Well, didn't he walk in the garden
in the cool of the day 4,000 years before he was born of a
virgin? Yes. Well, you're not making any sense.
It's because I can't fathom it. But I know the man who's going
to say, you see those scars right there? That's the man who the
father said, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, the man,
the God-man. Glorify me with the same glory
I had before the world was. Verse six, 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. I told them who you are, I told
them what you said, and they've kept your word. Now a believer
hears that and thinks, No, I haven't. Yes, you have. That's the great
news. Yes, you have. Christ kept it
for us. He just said, I finished the
work you gave me to do. What was that work? The work
they couldn't do. He kept it for us. And when the
Father laid our iniquity on Him, the Father laid his perfection
on us. And he says, in absolute truth, they kept your word. Verse
7, 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." Everything he just said,
Christ did for us. Everything he just said. He earned
it, he believed it, he received it, and he gave it to us. Every bit of it. So he said in
verse 9, I pray for them. I'm praying. Father, this is
why I'm coming to you right now. I'm praying for them. He is interceding
for us. Father, I pray for them. Has the Lord Jesus Christ ever
asked anything of His Father that His Father didn't give Him?
Ever. When He was hanging on that cross,
He said, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. It was just a very short time
later that 5,000 of those people fell on their knees crying, men
and brethren, what shall we do? And here is his intercession
for me and for you. Verse nine, I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. All mine are thine and thine
are mine. And I am glorified in them. What
he's saying is we are all one. We are all one. This is all for
the glory of God. Every bit of it. They're glorified
in me. I'm glorified in them. They give
all the glory to me, Father. They believe me. They bow to
me. They give all the glory to me
for the work I have accomplished. They acknowledge that it's all
to the praise of the glory of His grace. And amazingly so,
by God's grace, we do, don't we? We really do. We bow to Him. We love Him, we
thank Him, we believe Him, and we say it was all to the praise
of the glory of His grace. That's His work in us, too. Amazing,
isn't it? That's one-third of this glorious
prayer. One-third of this amazing prayer.
Lord, thank You for interceding on our behalf. Great intercession. All right, let's stand together.