He will turn to John 17. We speak in our language of a
last will and testament. I have filled out many last will
and testaments several times. Every time you go to deploy,
you got to fill out a will and who's gonna get what and where
the children go and all those things and something that's,
I've been through a lot of time and gotta consider a lot. And I titled this Christ's Will
and Testament. He's gonna tell the Father what
his will is. I recommend we heed it. If you
have an interest in Christ, we may want to hear the reading
of his will. There might be some folks in this room one day that
will. see him as he is, see him face to face, and see his will
come to pass. I always think it's so amazing,
just in the world, it's always amazing to me that people, they
won't listen to a person while they're alive for anything, whether
it's a relative or a mom and dad or whatever, they won't listen
to a word they have to say and they despise them. They hate
them all the way to the grave. And then if their will, last
will in Testament says, I want you to wear a clown suit and
do hula hoops. They'll say, all right, well,
fine. They'll do it, won't they? They'll honor their final wishes,
won't they? And that's just one evil person
to another evil person. They obey a final request. Our
Lord has been speaking to these 11, these apostles from chapter
13. And he's praying after he gave
them all the instruction that he's given them from chapter
13. We've been looking at this for over seven months. I want
to look at the time. Not a drop in the bucket. We
could spend another seven years just looking at this chapter
alone and not scratch the surface. I want to look at one verse,
one sentence today. We'll see it darkly. Paul said,
for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as I am known. And I heard a friend of mine
say this from a couple decades ago. It just clicked with me.
It's like a welder's mask. I don't know if any of y'all
have ever looked through a welder's mask. You flip that little thing down
and you can't see nothing. And then after a little bit,
you kind of make out there might be something over there. That's
through a glass door clip. Though we know in part, it's
good for us to get the best sense of the text that we can. I'll
be as plain as I can be on this one sentence that we're looking
at. Who's speaking to whom? What are they speaking about? What's the context of this? Who
does it concern? And what's the result? What's
the outcome of it? Look here in verse 24, John 17,
verse 24. Our Lord's praying in his high
priestly prayer, and he's coming to the end of it. He said, all
the I haves we looked at before. He says here in verse 24, John
17, 24. Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. and that they
may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Who is speaking and to
whom? Christ is speaking. The Lord
Jesus Christ, in a human body, on this earth, as the representative
for his people, speaks to the Father. That's who he's talking
to. Six times in this prayer, he says, Father, Father, this
is the sixth time. He begins in verse one with Father.
That's how the whole thing starts. Father. He cries in verse five. Oh, Father. In verse 11, he calls
him the Holy Father. In verse 25, he says the Righteous
Father. Oh, Father, Righteous Father,
Holy Father. This is not a child buttering
up his parent. My children don't brag too much
to me about me, but I've heard from teachers, they have nice
things to say about their daddy. I was afraid to ask what it was.
I said, they talk a lot about you. I said, oh, but this isn't
a child buttering up the parent. This is holy communion from God,
the son to God, the father. And he speaks plainly. And he
says, father, I always remember that in John 14, he said, I will
pray the father and he shall give you another comforter. He
didn't say I was going to pray to the father. I will pray with
the father. He says, I pray the father. He speaks directly. We pray or
talk to pray our father. He says, I'll pray the father
and he shall. He shall give you another comforter that he may
abide with you forever. We read for our scripture reading
what some people call the Lord's Prayer, and that's not the Lord's
Prayer. This is the Lord's High Priestly Prayer. This is Him
praying in chapter 17 of John. In Matthew 6, he says, after
this manner, pray ye. He's teaching you how to pray. You
reckon we didn't have enough sense to listen and pay attention
and do what he says? It's plain as day, it ain't hard.
After this matter pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name, Holy Father. He's taught us that, his name's
hallowed. Thy kingdom come. Oh, glorify
yourself, your kingdom. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Your will be done. Give us this
day our daily bread. Feed us, whose body needs to
be fed, but give us Christ today. Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. Forgive us our sins as We forgive those that sin
against us and don't leave us in a temptation. Don't leave
us to ourselves, but deliver us from evil. We're not to be
flippant and we're not to make our demands to the Lord. We petition. We inquire of. It says there in verse 24, father,
I will. This is him praying. You pray
this way. Father, your will be done. And
this is God the Son praying to God the Father. And he says,
I will. I will. I've heard men say, I
command you in the name of Jesus, blah, blah, blah, or be healed,
or come out, or whatever. I've heard people say that they
will that this or that. We're just gonna will our health,
and we're gonna will money come to us. We're gonna pray to the
Father. Father, I will that I get that promotion at my job. I will
that the cancer go away. We ain't got enough sense to
know what trials we need and what trials we need stopped. And those that pray that way,
I recommend strongly to them, better be careful. You better
stop trying to twist God's arm and get him to do what you want
him to do with you if you go along the prayer list and all that nonsense. God
in the Bible kills people. Better watch how we approach
him, he's holy. Our master said, pray ye, thou will be done. You want something? Father, glorify
your name. Your will be done. Forgive us. Come quickly. Oh, what I need to learn. What
this world needs to learn. He said, Matthew eight. He said,
behold, there came a leper and worshiped him. We could learn
a whole lot from that cook, and I may stop her for a second.
That leper came to the Lord and worshiped him, and he said, Lord,
if thou wilt, thou can makes me clean. He didn't say, make
me clean. He didn't say, I want to be made clean. He didn't say,
I need this leprosy to go away, because I got five kids to feed,
and I need to get back to work, and blah, blah, blah. No. This
is what worship is. If you will, you make me clean.
This is who you are. I need mercy. You're the one
that shows mercy, and that's your glory. And he knew that,
if you will. You call it worship? God calls
it worship. Now if somebody thinks something
different, either you're wrong or God's wrong, and I don't think he's
wrong because he ain't. We bow to him. He said, if you will, if it's
your will, you make me clean. You do anything you want. You're
God. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him. He touched
a leper, a contagious leper. This world's full of wicked men,
isn't it? Right here's a wicked man. He came to save wicked men
and women. He came to save lepers, not those
people, this people. You get that? Not pointing away
with five fingers, pointing at this one. He touched that leper. He reached down his hand, he
touched me. That's a miracle. And he said, I will. If you will, you make me clean.
He just stated what he was capable of doing. And he said, I will
be thou clean. And he cleansed him of his leprosy
too. You get that? You get that? If you don't, the
Lord needs to clean us before he cleanses us of our leprosy,
don't he? At Archangel, Michael was there. He was contending
with the devil about the body of Moses. The Lord calls his angels, his
holy angels. And people have these little figurines of plump
white babies with wings on them. That ain't an angel. And if you
met one, it scared you half to death. And this is the head one,
Michael. And he was contending with Satan
about the body of Moses. And he durst not bring a railing
charge against him. He didn't bring back an accusation.
He said, let me tell you something, Satan. You shut your mouth. You
know what I know? Do you know who I am? He said,
but he said, Lord, rebuke thee. What wisdom, what wisdom. But for our Redeemer, that's
Michael the archangel, that's that leopard, that's us. Pray
ye at this manner. But for our Redeemer, the master,
the king, he's the only one who has ever
earned favor with the Father. He's the only one ever who's
earned the right to address the holy, righteous Father in such
a way, to say, Father, I will. The heavens opened. His actions
and his, the heavens opened up and it
declared, this is my son whom I'm well pleased. Our Lord prayed
once, and this is the whole prayer. We get long-winded, don't we?
And then one person tries to outdo the other person, and the
next thing they pray for 45 minutes. God prayed to God and said, Father,
glorify thy name, period. That's it. And there came a voice
from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again. Yes, son. He's so happy. Heaven's own nobody spoke down.
We can make people hear it. And you know what people said?
It thundered. Oh, we're dumb, aren't we? Because
of who's speaking, the Holy One of Israel, and who's hearing?
The Father. What can He do? Keep us for eternity,
can He? Anything. We know because of
who's speaking and who they're speaking to that this will be
heard. It will come to pass. That's assurance. Assurance. Prayer does not change things.
The God we pray to changes things. I don't want to credit that to
David Edmondson, but I think it's a little older than he. That's
so. He says in verse 24, Father,
I will. I will. If you've got a King
James Version Bible, it's accurate. It says, Father, I will. This
isn't a wish. In the New King James and the
Amplified and the American Standard, it all says, I desire. I desire. That's not a desire. It says,
I will. I looked it up. It's not a want. That's the NIV version and a
whole list of other ones, different translations of the Bible. That's
not what it says. It says, I will. This is the
will of God, the son. That means I determine. Here's
what I'm going to do. This is what's going to come
to pass. I will it. I will. What's His will? Well, we know Him and the Father
are one. We read in John 6, I came down from heaven not to do my
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. Is His will any
different than the Father's? Of course not. And this is the
Father's will, which He has sent me, that all of which He hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
the last day. He chose a people. He purposed a people, and I came
to purchase the people. They're one in will. That means
one in determination. And that's good news to the ones
that's given to Christ. That's good news. Hebrews 10
tells us, it says, then he said, lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. And then Paul goes on. by the
witch will because of that we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all because he's about this
the hours coming that took place and because of that because of
his will to save that people we're sanctified we'll see that servitude here
a little towards the end so god the son declares to god the father
what he wills he says father i will that they also It'll take
out that parenthesis part, those commas. I will that they also
be with me where I am. What does he will? That they
be with me where I am. His will is that they be with
him where he is. Who does this pray, this prayer for, this will,
for them to be in his presence? Who does that concern? Well,
now that's where the commas come in. Those whom thou hast given
me. We'll see the assurance of this
later that the Lord gives us. But it needs, this needs said
first. This is only for those, those
will be in the presence of Lord Jesus Christ for eternity, will
only be those that are given to him by the Father. He says
in verse two, thou hast given him power over all flesh that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Verse eight, for I have given
unto them the words thou gavest me, and they, those that I've
gave your words to, they've received them, and they know surely I
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me, it came in power. It says in verse nine, I pray
for them, not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me, they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I'm glorified in them. Verse 11, and now I'm 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." We're kept. Those that are given are kept,
they're given his word, they believe the word, it comes in
power, they're kept. It says in verse 14, I've given them
thy word. and the world's hated them because they're not of the
world even as I'm not of the world. Verse 22, and the glory
which thou hast given me, I've given them. Those you gave to
me, I've given my glory to 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 then he says, father, I will
that they also. That's who he's talking about.
Whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. I pray they're
with me where I am. Where is he? Where was he then?
And where is he now? Our minds read this. In our cell,
we sit down and pull out the word of God on a front porch
or a recliner and we sit down and we read these things. And
you know what I think of? Y'all probably different than
I am. He says, I pray father. I will, those you gave me, they
be with me where I am. I'm going to glory. I'm going
to be with him where he is. I'm going to see him face to
face. I'm here now, but I'm going to go to where he is. That's
what my mind. Thanks first. That's my heart's
desire to be with him. My heart desires that too. But
heaven is wherever Christ is. Man, I respect in the world and
worldly-wise, concerning worldly things, I thank highly of him. But bless his heart, no one's
ever told him that he's made his reservation. And he has a
good hope, because when he dies, he's going to heaven. You don't
know what that is. Some fella told Henry at one
time, a preacher, so-called self-appointed, self-anointed or whatever preacher,
he said, that's 40 years ago, I made my reservation in heaven. He said, I hope you didn't put
your name down. That makes sense. You're there on the name of another.
That fella was so worried to death that he's going to get
to go to heaven. Heaven's Christ. That's wherever he is. I don't
like the desert, and I don't like tents much, but if it's
a desert and a tent, and he's there, I'll love it. And if it's
real cold and windy, I'll love it, because he's there. That's
the best wind that ever blew. I love that snow. Look at all
that. I can't enter into that now, but it's so. That's where we think of right
now, where he is now. He's with us always. The hours
come. Christ is about to go to the
cross. He's wrapping up his prayer. Judas is coming next. And the
father, or Christ says to the father, I want him with me where
I am. He's about to go to those cross
and all those that given to him that were purpose before time,
they're in him on that cross. That's good news. That's good
news. Sin's been dealt with. Sin's
put away. Remember what I was talking about? We're the sin.
This ain't a math problem. This is a person problem, and
I'm the person. I'm the man. And he's put sin away. He told Matthew 16, he spoke
to his disciples. He said, if any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. He gave us the cost of discipleship, didn't he? If you don't forsake
your father, and your mother, and your husband, and your children,
and your grandchildren, and the place you grew up with, and everything
else, and your job, and all the comforts of life, and everything
else, if those things are more important than me, why I just
got to keep my family together, then you ain't worthy to be my
disciple. Kevin, that's too harsh. Take it up with God, he said
it. That's plain. This isn't a form we fill out. This isn't checkbox we got to
accomplish. This is a life. This is love. He said, if a man
won't take up his cross and follow me, be none of him. He said,
for whosoever shall save his life is going to lose it. Whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a
man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Or what shall man give in exchange for his soul? For
the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with
His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to
his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here
which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man
coming in His kingdom." There'll be some people in this room gonna
see God face to face. So we're going to have to bear
some affliction between now and then. Because this life's full of trouble.
He was in trouble. Did he go through a bunch of
suffering? You're about, what, 50 years old? He's way younger
than me. Being around this sin-cursed
earth. We're around this sin-cursed earth. He wasn't of this world.
We're not of this world. That took a toll on him. Takes a toll
on us. Much differently, though, because
we're wicked. And he said to us though, he said, verily, verily,
I'll send you a servant's not greater than his Lord. Neither
is he that sent greater than he that sent him. I went through,
do you think you're going to go through this stuff? You're
going to be where I am. You can be fellow sufferers with Christ. Not so we can say, oh, look at
all the things we had to endure. No, we're going to suffer those
things and say, I know what he suffered. This ain't a drop in
the bucket. It's a lot of afflictions. I was talking to Brother Angus
the other day and he said, how's it going? I said, a lot of afflictions.
Ain't nothing. He knows what I mean. He says
later in John 15, he said, remember the word I said unto you? He
told them. And he said, you remember? The servant's not greater than
his Lord. He goes, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute
you. Didn't he pray earlier in John
17? Leave them in the world. I've sent them. I got something
for them to do. Leave them there. The world's going to hate them.
He said, they'll persecute you also. If they've kept my saying,
they'll keep your sayings too. You'll walk together with those
you're with. You can't be unevenly yoked. You can't go worship with
somebody in a different boat. You can't fellowship with somebody
in a different ship, can you? With him in distress, in trial,
in service, that's where we'll be. Paul told Timothy, he said,
wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, like they threw me
in jail, even under bonds, that the word of God's not bound.
Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory. He says, it is a faithful saying.
For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. And
if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also
deny us. We're with Him in distress. We're
with Him on the cross. We're with Him in eternity past,
but we're with Him on the cross. We're with Him and He's with
us in our distresses. We're with Him and He's with
us in our trials. and in our service to him, what he sent
us to go do. He says, I sent them out. He's with me in fulfilling the
joy. I wrote this down, submission is not grievous, it's liberating.
I preached one wedding, I hope maybe in the future, if the Lord
is pleased, I'll be able to preach another wedding. We hear about submit
and submission, a wife submitting to her husband, and what that
truly means, not grit your teeth and say, I'll do what you say.
That's not submission, that's disgusting. But true submission,
it's a liberating thing. It's a good thing. It is. Karima experienced that one time.
Her grandma told her, I'd bought a truck. Karima said, I don't
know what he's thinking. What'd she tell you? She said,
he's got to pay for it. Let him worry about it. You don't need
to worry about that. That's so it. Now in practice, that was
worse. That was the only piece of advice
grandma gave you. It was bad. I went and bought two more trucks. That's
on me, not on her. You don't have to worry about
those things. Lord made me to worry about those things. And
that's just in life. When we submit to our Lord, take
everything, take your burden, Lord, leave it there. He's on
His throne. This is right. Eat your ham sandwich. You'll be okay. It's not grievous,
that's liberating. And service to God. For what
he's given us to do, it's not a chore. It's a joy. It's a joy. If we work as unto
the Lord, we ain't working for a company, we ain't working for
a bureaucracy, we ain't working for some wicked little old man
that ain't me. Working under him. That's what
that one man was in prison in Andover, and he said, I'm writing
from the Lord's palace in Andover. Paul was in the Lord's palace
in Rome, wasn't he? to joy. That's what the Lord
told us in chapter 15. He said, These things I've spoken
unto you, that you might have joy, that my joy might remain
in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment,
that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
He called us friends. He laid down his life for us.
What is it for me to sacrifice for my family? Nothing. It's
joy. That's love, isn't it? He said,
you're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I
call you not servants. For the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I've called you friends. For all things that
I've heard of my Father, I've made known unto you. This is
for your good and for my glory. You know that. The world don't
know that. Why are we here on this earth? You know the answer
to that. The Lord has people. He's going to save them. He's
gonna get all the glory for it. From the joy set before him.
Hebrews 12 says, who for the joy that was set before him,
he endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the
right hand of God, right hand of the throne of God. That's
where he is now. He went to prepare a place for us. Remember that
in John 14, he said, I go to prepare a place for you. What's
that place? A mansion? Streets? No, that's a place of
reconciliation. A place of atonement, at-one-ment,
oneness. He said, if I go to prepare a
place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. He was with us always,
yep, and it wasn't yet time for us to be with him in glory. How do I know if I'm one of those
that's given to Christ? He wills that they be with him. Will it be because of suffering?
Well, that couldn't be it. I know a ton of people that suffer.
Mean people and crazy people and everything else. Well, it
ain't the suffering that's going to prove that. Lots of people
suffer. What about clean living? You can quit smoking and cussing
and chewing and running with those that do. What about having
all the correct doctrines and you found the right place to
go to church? Hell be stocked full of those
kind of people. Beholding and adoring Christ
as he reveals himself. That's how our assurance comes
from. He said up in verse three, he said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. That's eternal life, knowing
him, loving him, adoring him. It says, Father, verse 24, I
will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am. That we're going to be with him. We'll be with him on
that cross. We're going to be with him in all of our trials
and all of our joys and all of our servitude and everything.
And then in that day, when he comes to take us home, we'll
be with him and we're going to be with him where he is that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. They can
see how glorious I am. Christ willed this. He willed
that we be with him, that those given to him behold his glory. Every one of them. Do you find him glorious? Or
is it stone cold facts? Is it deductive reasoning? Or
is it a person that saved you? He revealed himself in power.
Is he glorious? That's what Moses asked. He said,
Lord, if you don't go with me, don't let me go. And I get it. And he said, I'll go with you.
And he beseeched him one more time that he didn't say, I will
that you tell me about your glory. He said, I beseech thee. I beseech
thee. That's what Abraham went down
there and prayed for a lot and saw him. He said, Lord, he said,
I will that you bring a lot out of that. No, he said, if they're
50, could you? Would you bring him out? Would you spare this?
What about 10? What about five? Whittle down
to one, if there's one. And righteous lot was in there.
Just. And righteous lot. And brought
him out. Moses said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. I want to see you glorified.
Show me your glory, Lord, so I can rejoice in your glory.
And he said, I will. Make all my goodness pass before
thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,
and I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I'll show
mercy on whom I will show mercy. What's your glory? Mercy. What's
your glory? Grace. What's your glory? Revealing
your name to your people. Passing your goodness in front
of them. His glory is that he's the just
one and the justifier through Christ, showing mercy to an undeserving
people. Because he took Moses and he
put him in a cleft of the rock. And he said, now you can be my
presence if you're in the rock. That's merciful and gracious
and good. That's glorious. That's glorious. What's the result of seeing the
glory of God? love love turn back john 13 we
got time to do that john 13 verse 31 this is what it started with
wasn't it up in verse 1 john 13 This is 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. This hour,
having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them to
the end. Remember this all the same night.
That's how it starts. Now look down at verse 31. He'd
sent Judas out. They all thought he was doing
something important, but what was he? John 13, 31, Therefore, when
he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. And if God be glorified in him,
God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway
glorify him. That's the theme, isn't it? That's
what's concerning. Little children. Yet a little
while am I with you, ye shall seek me. As I said unto the Jews,
Whither I go, ye cannot come. So now I say to you, here's the
result of us seeing Christ high and lift up his glory. A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as
I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall
all men know that you're my disciples. Not if you have your doctrine
straight, not if you show up to church on time, not if you
read your Bible and you're real diligent and you're super churchy
and you got a bunch of stuff memorized. If you have love one
towards another. That's the stimulus for this
whole thing. That's the motivation. That's
the start of it, of purposing salvation, of purchasing salvation,
of proclaiming salvation, of doing all of it. It begins, this
whole night, it begins and it ends with love. Look back at
verse 24, John 17, 24. He's wrapping us up. And he says,
Father, I will. that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am, right now and forevermore, in
every way and everything, that they may behold my glory, which
thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. Because of the love of the father
that he has for the son, we're given life and we see this glorious
salvation. That ain't a bumper sticker,
is it? That's blasphemous. That's a love of eternal God
with an everlasting love towards the undeserving people in mercy
and in graciousness because he wanted to. It was his will and
we're with him and we will shall be with him. for his name's sake. Isn't that
it? I'd like to ask you, Christian,
unless they have another faith, you know, well, I'm a Muslim
or I'm a Jew or something. Who's gonna say no? Most people
say yes, but yes. Why? We used to call that in the army,
stump the chump. Why? If you're in Christ, why? For Christ's sake. for his glory's
sake, for his name's sake. That's what the Lord said over
and over, but one of my favorites, Isaiah 43 said, I, even I, am
he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake, for my name's
sake, and I will not remember thy sins. That's love. One sentence. I didn't scratch the one sentence
either, did I? All right, let's turn to hymn number 112. will stand.