John 17, go back there with me,
John 17. I would love to be able to preach
this in such a way, love to preach this in such a
way that God, that Christ are truly honored and glorified as
they deserve to be, the Spirit of God. Christ would be lifted
up, exalted. Christ said, if I'd be lifted
up, I'll draw all men to me. Love for you, for me to be drawn
to Him, like Solomon said, draw us, we'll run after you. I'd love to preach this so that
all believers who look to Christ, the weakest believer in Him,
who looks to Christ, who trusts Christ, believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ, will get great peace, great comfort from what
our Lord said here. The Gospel is comfort. Comfort,
great comfort. It is my heart's desire and prayer
to God that someone in here might be truly saved. Look to Christ,
someone who's not yet looked to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, the Word
of Christ. The last verse of chapter 16,
our Lord just preached to his disciples, the greatest sermon
ever preached. And he concluded by saying, these
things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace.
In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. He said,
these things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace
in me. Look to me. Trust me. Believe on me, Christ
said. Have peace. In the world you
have tribulation, but cheer up. I've overcome this world, Christ
said. He said, I reign and rule over this world. As your surety,
as your covenant head, I overcame the world. This is for our peace, the Word
of God. These words, He said, these things
have I spoken unto you. Now, so He preached these things
and these things are written for our peace, for our comfort,
God's people. These things are spoken to us,
written to us for our peace. Now, Christ prays for us, to
the Father. These words, verse 1 of chapter
17. These words speak Jesus. And
they were written down for our learning, for our hope, for our
peace, for our comfort. He spake these words to the Father
for us. He spake those words from the
Father to us, and now He speaks these words to the Father for
us. Are you with me? This is His
private prayer, but He lets us in on it. You know, you can tell
a great deal about a man by his private prayers. And you know
something? You can tell a great deal about
a man's character by what he says in private about other people.
Or rather, what he doesn't say. A man's true heart and feelings
and real love for someone can be measured by what they say
in private about those people. Or refuses to say about them. Are you with me? And he prays
for his disciples. And not just them, he said, but
for all that shall believe. That's me. I'm a disciple. Are you? A follower? A lover of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you? Do you believe Him? He said, I've given these words. Look at verse 9. He said, I pray
for them, not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me. There are nine. Do you believe God has an elect
people? Do you? Sure you do. It's in the Scripture.
It's clear. It's clear. Do you believe you're one of
the elect? I don't know about that preacher. Well, I'll tell
you how you can know. Look at it, verse 20, he says, I pray
not for them alone, but these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word. Do you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you? That's all I'm asking you. That's all I'm asking you. Do
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He all your salvation?
Is He all your hope? Is He all your hope of being
saved? Yes, I do. I don't know if I'm
one of the elect. Yes, you are. Have you received his words?
Our Lord said, I've given unto them your word and they've received
it. Look at verse 8. I've given unto them the words
you gave me and they have received them. Have you received the word
of God with gladness? The people in Acts at Pentecost,
it says, after Peter preached, it says, they that gladly received
his Word, they heard it, they received it, they loved it, they
loved what he preached. It says, they gladly received
it, and they were baptized. Have you received this Gospel?
Do you believe this Gospel? Huh? With joy and gladness. You're one of the elect. You've
been given to Christ. That should have made somebody
shout and say something. Not, what have you done, or what
do you do, or what you haven't. Do you believe? I mean really believe. Now, from
the heart, love his salvation. These words he spake, he's praying
for you, he's praying for God's people. Those that believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's praying for them. And this
is my anchor, like John Knox. This is my anchor. Whatever Christ
says here, He says about His people to the Father. Look at verse 1. He says, These
words spake Jesus. He lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy
Son also may glorify Thee. As you've given Him power over
all flesh, do you believe Christ has power over all flesh? Do
you? Well, He does. Are you flesh? And He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal. Do you have eternal life? Here
it is, He says. This is life eternal. That they
might know Thee, the only true God. Do you know God? Do you know that God is God?
I don't mean just know in your head. But I mean on the bottom
of your heart. The bottom of your heart. You
know and believe that Thy God reigneth. That Thy God reigneth
and ruleth. And does as He will with whom
He will. That Thy God is God. Do you believe that? Do you love
that? Do you love that it's so? There's
a scripture over in Revelation that says, God says He reigned
and the people rejoiced, but it said the world was angry.
I didn't like it. That's what our Lord says in
this prayer. He said, I've revealed to you in their name, I've revealed
to them you and they have received and believed. Who you are and
who I am. The world hates them like they
hated me. Anybody risen up against you for just declaring who God
is? Anybody? Anybody take an issue
with you for just declaring who Christ is? For declaring the
truth? Anybody? You're one he's praying for. You have eternal
life. You know the true God and Jesus
Christ whom God has sent. Do you know Christ? Do you? He that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath the need for the
Son hath life. He that hath the hunger for the
Son hath life. He that hath the thirst for the
Son hath life. He that hath faith in the Son,
believeth on the Son, hath life. He that seeth the beauty of the
Son hath life. Do you? Not perfectly, no, but
do you? Come on now. This is life eternal. He that hath the Son hath life. And I'm here to tell you from
the words of Christ, He hath you. That's why you have that. That's why you have this love,
this belief, this faith. And there's peace in Him. Peace
by His blood. All right? Our Lord is going
to the cross. I went over those same things again, first three
verses, because I love them. It gives me hope, gives me peace. Our Lord is going to the cross.
This is His prayer before He goes to the cross. This is His
prayer before He is Forsaken of the Father. This is his prayer
before he has made sin for his people. This is his prayer before
he is rejected and killed by everyone. And yet this prayer
is not of uncertainty, but finality. What he says in this prayer,
there's no uncertainty in it, but finality. This prayer is
of power. He speaks of power. He's going
to be crucified in weakness, Paul wrote up. But he says it's
actually the power of God. This prayer speaks of power.
This prayer... Stay with me here. Lord, help
us all. This prayer speaks of power. This prayer speaks of
glory. This prayer speaks of victory.
This prayer does not speak of frustration. This prayer is no
plea for his own deliverance, but a proclamation of our deliverance. This prayer is no desperate cry
for help, but a declaration of our help, of our hope and glory. He's not pleading with the Father
to keep Him from this work. He's saying, glorify me that
I may finish this work. He declares the end from the
beginning. He hasn't gone to the cross yet. And yet He says,
it's finished. If we could get a hold of that.
Known unto God are all the works from the beginning of the world.
God who orders all things. God who's made this covenant,
ordered in all things. And what? Sure. People, this
was David's salvation. David said, this is all my salvation.
This is all my hope. That God who declares the end
from the beginning. that God who purposed all things,
ordered all things concerning me, all work together for good
to them that love God, who is called according to His purpose,
whom He gave to Christ, whom He put in Christ, whom the Holy
Spirit revealed Christ to in the end by the preaching of the
gospel, every one of them, it's sure, it's certain, their salvation
is certain. It cannot be otherwise. And this
is what Christ is praying here. Look at it, verse 4. This is
all we're going to look at, this one verse. Every verse deserves
a message by itself. Are you with me? Every verse.
He says in verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Now, gird up your loins, people.
Gird up your loins. Christ said, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work. which
thou gavest me to do." This is why he came. This is why the
Father sent him. The Father sent him to do a work.
Number one, that work was to glorify God as a man. Man was created in the image
of God. Adam. He was created in the image
of God, wasn't he? Male and female, created he then. Who created him? Jesus Christ. That's who this is speaking.
But man failed, didn't he? Man not only failed to glorify
God, he failed and came far short of the glory of God. He not only
failed to glorify God, but he positively dishonored God, rebelled
against God, rejected God. And man's gotten worse and worse.
until God looked down from heaven to see that there were any."
He said, there's none. Not one single person glorifying
Me. Created for His glory, but they
all have sinned and come far short of the glory of God. Guilty. But God, rich in mercy, For his great
love wherewith he loved a people, some people, yea many people,
not all people but some people, a number which no man can number,
purposed to save them from destruction, purposed, willed, planned if
you will use that term, made a covenant, an agreement, a testimony
written with a pen of iron and rock that he would save these
people from certain destruction, save them from their sin, and
sent his blessed son, the captain of their salvation, to do this
work by himself. By himself. Sent by the Father
to do this work. To glorify God, number one, as
a man. Glorify God. Listen to Daniel.
Listen to Daniel chapter 9, verse It says this, this is in prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen. It says, the Messiah
is coming to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make
reconciliation for iniquity. I hope you're hearing it. To
bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy. Nothing else needs to be written. Fulfill it all. and to anoint
the Most Holy." Daniel said, he's coming to finish, to finish. Christ came, he said, I've done
it. I've glorified thee on the earth. Man has not, but Christ came
to glorify God as a man. This is why he's declared to
be the Son of God by the Spirit of Holy. Thought, word, deed,
Everything he did was for the glory of God. Everything he thought
was for the glory of God. Everything he said was for the
glory of God. Whether he ate or drank, it was
for the glory of God. Pure heart, clean hands. Never went after any vanity in
the world and never murmured or complained. Only glory and
thanksgiving and praise and honor went to God out of His blessed
lip. Grace poured from His lip. Mercy, love, goodness, glory. And God said, I'm well pleased. Never said before about a man
that God looked down from heaven and said, Well, for His righteousness sake, you
see what He's doing and what Daniel wrote, and I just quoted
to you. He's bringing in an everlasting righteousness. He's bringing
in an everlasting righteousness. He glorified God on the earth
in thought, in word, in deed, with His heart, mind, body, and
soul. That's what Scripture tells us to do. And He did that. He did that. He wrought it out. He worked
it perfectly for his people. He worked as it were. He wrought,
he sewed as it were a perfect robe, a garment to cover our
nakedness, to cover our sin and our transgression. You know the
scripture speaks of coats and it begins in the garden. began
in the garden with the first man and woman, sinners, standing
before God, guilty, not knowing if God's going to destroy them
or what. Guilty, naked, fearful, cold, but God. This is Christ, says
He killed a lamb before their eyes, shed its blood, and take
and made coats of skin and wrapped them up in it. And I believe
that man and woman quit trembling. I believe that man and that woman
got warmth from that. Got security from that coat.
They were covered. Their nakedness, their shame
began to diminish as Christ himself spoke peace and said, I'm coming. I'm coming. Another instance
of a coat. Jacob, he had a well-beloved
son named Joseph. Well-beloved. his favorite son. And Jacob, it says, sewed him
a coat of many colors and gave it to his blessed son Jacob.
Well, lo and behold, his brethren, who were sinners, they despised
and rejected him. And they stripped him one day
of that coat. They didn't rend it. They didn't
tear that coat. It says they dipped it in blood. And they took that coat back
to the father. Somebody got a hold of that.
They took that coat back to the father saying, thy son is dead. The father looked at the coat.
That was his son's blessed coat dipped in blood. Now Jacob mourned. But our God, he sees this coat,
this robe that Christ wove. that he gave to the son to cover
his people in, dipped in blood. I started thinking about old
Jacob. What do you think he did with that coat? Think he threw
it away? Oh no. Oh no. He preserved it. He probably took it to Egypt
with him. Said, here son, here's your coat. Coats. Coats. Oh my. Then on the cross, when Christ
was crucified, right before that, they said, it says that they
took his robe His seamless robe. They stripped him of that robe
and they didn't tear it. They didn't tear it. They cast
lots for it. Somebody got it. Somebody got
that blessed robe of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Psalm 45
says this. It says, the king's daughter,
her clothing is of wrought gold. It says, she shall be brought
unto the king in raiment of needlework. That's the robe of Christ's righteousness. He said, I've glorified Thee
on the earth. I've brought out this perfect
righteousness, this covering for Your people. And when He
went to Calvary's truth, He was made sin for us who knew no sin,
stripped, became the sinner for His people. At the same time,
mysteriously, God gave us His perfect righteousness, this robe
of righteousness. covered us. And we're going to
enter into glory covered by His bloody coat. Well, you got to
say that. as if it were finished before
He went to the cross. He said, I've done it, I have.
I wrote down several things and He said, I have, I have, I have,
I have. I have glorified, I have finished
the work before He went to Calvary's tree because it's as certain
as God is. When God spoke it, He said, I've
spoken, I'll do it. I've purposed it, I'll bring
it to pass. It was as good as done when God purposed it. Isaiah
wrote, Behold my servant, mine elect. That's what he's called. You love election, then you love
Christ. And you know that you're elect
in Him. Not chosen for anything in you,
but chosen in Him. Mine elect, it says, He shall
bring forth judgment. It says, He shall not fail. That's
what Isaiah prophesied of. Not fail. Then in Isaiah 43,
listen to this. He says, I have declared and
I have saved. But wait a minute, you haven't gone
to the cross yet. It's done. I have saved. And then in Isaiah
45, it says, listen to this, Surely shall one say in the Lord,
I have righteousness." I have it right now. I'm a sinner. God says, no, you're righteous. You have a righteousness. You're
covered in it. I can't see it. You don't need to. God does. And God sees it. Somebody once said, However God
sees it, that's the way it is. That's the way it is. Thee have
I seen righteous. He said of Noah. Same with us. And in the Lord shall all the
seed, Isaiah said, shall all the seed of Israel be justified.
Justified. And glory. I must be one of the seed of
Israel. I must be. How about you? Before the cross,
The Lord Jesus Christ declares, I finished this work. You think
about that. I finished this work. See, this
is the true God. This is the true Christ. The
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation is that whatever
God said, it's done. Whatever God promised, the promises
of God in Christ are yes. And amen to the glory of God
who can't lie. This is a true God. He's no frustrated
failure. Listen to me now. This is not
that poor Jesus who wants to save everybody. Jesus Christ
doesn't want to save anybody. He came to save His people. To
want something means it's something you don't have. Christ said,
I have. They're mine. They're yours.
I came to save them. I did it, He said. It's done. This is not that poor Jesus who
tries to save, who's done all He can do, and now it's up to
you. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
who said, I've done it all. Not all He can do, now you do
the rest. No, He said, I've finished it. I would have finished right there.
I would have just stopped right now. Brethren, people, brothers and
sisters, any gospel that says less than that is not the gospel. It dishonors God, it dishonors
Jesus Christ. Any gospel that leaves salvation
in the hands, in the will, in the choice of mankind dishonors
the Lord Jesus Christ who said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O
God. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of everyone which thou hast given me, I should
lose nothing. Everyone that seeth the Son,
everyone that believeth on the Son, I'll raise him up, all kept,
none lost. Do you hear me? This is not doctrine,
but this is His glory. This is your salvation. What
He says here is my salvation, is your salvation. I finished
it. I finished it. This is no frustrated failure.
This is the victorious King. This is a conquering King. This
is the reigning Lord. This is the Son of the Highest
who came sent by the Father to do this work of redemption, this
work of salvation. And He said, I finished it. I
finished it. I glorified You on earth. By
Himself, He came to fulfill the law. He did it. He blotted out
the handwriting of ordinances, Brother John, against us. He
blotted them out. It's the end of the law for righteousness. Everyone that believes. Do you
believe? Righteous, accepted, justified, sanctified. He glorified God. Why? Show us
how. Well, He did it for me. I come far short of the glory
of God. Have you worshipped God with all your heart this morning?
Why not? We ought to, shouldn't we? For
so great a salvation? Well, He knows our frame. And
this is who He did it for. He paid the sin debt in full. And it just remains for Him to
come back and get what He paid for. He said, I will. I'm coming back to get what's
mine. They're mine. Paid for them.
You're not your own. Bought with a price. Oh, I hope
you come for me. Do you believe on Him? He said,
I finished the work. As a 12-year-old boy, it's in
the volume of the book, in all his life was spent doing this
work. As a 12-year-old boy, I love
that story, don't you? He was in the temple. And his
supposed mother, you know, and father Joseph, he was missing. And they got worried. Three days
journey, I think it was, and went back looking for him. How
did they know where to find him? That's where he always loved
to be, in the temple. And they found him, this 12-year-old boy
in the temple, asking questions, not as if he needed to know anything,
and telling people. They were astounded by this young
12-year-old boy, the wisdom. the understanding he had of God's
will, God's Word. And his mother said, son, don't
you know that your father and I are worried about you? And
he said, first recorded words out of the Lord Jesus Christ's
mouth, the first words he uttered as a human being on this earth,
the first written words of the Lord Jesus Christ were these,
wished you not, don't you know, that I must be about my father's
business." He said, I'm come, sent by my
father to do a work even as a 12-year-old boy. Twelve years old is an age of,
oh my, it's a traumatic, it's a tough time and it's a time
You're starting to become an adult, and you're still a child,
and you become responsible for your actions, and your thoughts. You're a sinner. Christ, as a
12-year-old boy, sinless. As a 12-year-old boy. Think of
that. Lived completely 100% for the glory of God, for the good
of others. And He did it as my substitute. Twelve-year-old boy. I must be
about my father's business. Oh my people, this is all our
salvation. All our salvation. Our Lord says,
I have glorified thee on the work, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. Men and women boast and brag
of their accomplishments, don't they? They quite often say, I
have done this, I have done that. When it's all going to come to
naught. Whatever you think you're finished is going to be destroyed.
Whatever you think you've finished, whatever you think you've accomplished
is going to be destroyed. It's going to come to naught.
All the works, all the accomplishments, all the deeds, all that ever
any man has done, all the words of man are going to be obliterated,
destroyed forever. But not one word of Christ shall
fail. Not one work of Christ shall
fail. Not one for whom He came to save shall fail, shall fall,
shall die. by His power. He said, I finished
the work. Men may boast of that, but Christ can truly say. And He didn't do it in boasting.
He did it for the glory of God. He did it for our peace and for
our comfort. He said this, I have. I finished. I finished. These works of Christ
are perfect, complete, finished, final, and forever, and for His
people. Let me say that again. The work
of Christ is perfect, complete, finished, and final, and forever,
and for His people. God's people, all who trust Him,
all who look to Christ, are completely justified from all things. They
are made righteous by Christ. They are sanctified, set apart,
redeemed, forgiven, loved by God, accepted by God, very soon
to be with Christ, to be with God in glory forever. We have His Word on it. He said,
I finished it. I finished it. Forever, O Lord,
Thy Word is settled in heaven. I believe for Your peace, for
Your comfort. Christ said, I have and You shall. You shall. Alright, let's sing
in closing number what? Number 33.