Thank you, Sherry. I'll go back
to John 17. Let's read, and we'll just concern
ourselves with one or two verses. John 17. Verses 24-26. Let's read those again. John
17, 24-26. The Lord Jesus Christ says to
God, 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. 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."
When Brother Reibenbach quoted that 24th verse, as I said, I
read it over and over again, wrote it down, and read the whole
chapter. I was struck by how often the
Lord spoke of the Father throughout this. The Father. Six times here
he refers to the Father. And those of you who know something
about these chapters, someone said this was the greatest prayer
ever prayed followed by the greatest sermon ever preached. The Lord,
beginning back in chapter 13, began to speak to his disciples. And oh, what all he said in John
13, 14, 15, 16. And now he prays this prayer. Forty-seven times he calls on
the Father and speaks to the disciples of the Father. Forty-seven
times in three chapters he speaks of the Father. He keeps talking
about the Father and the Son. He refers to himself, the Son. The Father loveth the Son. And
he speaks of this special love that the Father has for his Son. And those of you who had a loving
father and had a wonderful relationship with your father, it's very special,
isn't it? Well, much more so, the Father,
God the Father, His Son. He speaks of the Father loving
His Son and giving Him all things. Giving Him all things, doing
things for Him and for His glory because this Son, this Son of
God is altogether loving. He's worth it. He's worth everything
that the Father bestows upon Him. He's a wonderful Son. He's
an obedient Son. The Father says He's well beloved. And he's well pleasing. Yet God
Almighty has many sons. Many sons and daughters. Ladies, include yourself on this.
Children is what they are. Many sons. He says this in Isaiah
53. He says, Bring my sons from far
and my daughters from the end of the earth. Everyone that is
called by my name. God gives that command to bring
them. He's going to bring them all. And over in Hebrews 2, it
says, it became Him, for whom are all things, by whom are all
things, God, in bringing many sons to glory, to populate heaven
with His children, His family, many sons. There are many sons
of God. Now, all men and women are not
the sons of God. All mankind, they are not the
sons of God. The scriptures are very clear about that. Romans
9 plainly says that. But the children of promise are
counted for the seed. But there are many of these sons
of Adam who are sons of God, and God loves them. Verse 23,
look at this. He says, Thou hast loved them,
that God Almighty loves them like He loves the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's hard to believe, isn't
it? Well, he said it, and he can't lie. John, who wrote this
gospel, who dictated this gospel, he also wrote the epistle, 1
John, 2 John, and he says in chapter 3, Behold, what manner
of love that the Father hath bestowed upon us, not good men,
not righteous, but the ungodly, while we were yet sinners. that
the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God. And he goes on to say, John,
now, right now, are we the sons of God. It doth not yet appear
what we shall be, but right now, as he is, he said, so are we
in this world. How is he? Loved of the Father. loved of the Father. They are
loved. God's sons are loved. They are cared for. They are
provided for. They are protected. He gives
his angels charge over them. They are taught by the Father. They are led by the Father. And
someday every one of them will be brought home to God's heaven,
to God's dwelling place. They will all be brought and
the Christ shall be shouted by Christ himself, Behold I and
the children which thou hast given me, all are here, none
lost." Just like he said, except that one according to the Scripture. I and the children. And they
are the sons of God, loved by God the Father, the Father and
his sons. The Father and his son. Now this
ought to give us great peace and joy if we can believe that
we are the sons of God. Because if we are, if we're loved
by God, we'll always be loved. And everything
is working together forever. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us. The sons of God. Can we know that we're a son
of God? Can we? Is it presumption to
think so? No, it's faith. Can we know? How can we know? Someone said, I just don't know
if I'm a child of God or want to be. I hope I am, but I'm just
not sure. Can we know? Yeah, we can. Right here from these Scriptures.
Our Lord is praying for His disciples. He's praying for God's children
whom He gave to Christ. Verse 9, He says, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. They are thine, and mine
are thine." Don't you love that verse? Thine are mine. I'm not
praying for the world, he says, but those you have given me,
the elect, those in the covenant. Verse 20, neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word. Lest we think he's just speaking
of those eleven disciples. He says, no, I'm praying for
every single believer that shall believe through the preaching
of the gospel. And he calls these disciples,
and he calls all of God's people, his children. That's what he
refers to. He kept referring to the disciples
as children, little children. And go back to chapter 13. I told you he keeps referring
to the Father. Go back to chapter 13. After
Judas went out, after he gave command for him to leave, then
he began to speak to the disciples. And in verse 33, this is where
he began speaking to his disciples. He says, little children. He
calls them little children. And chapter 14, look there, chapter
14. He says, Let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house." This is
the Son, the heir of all things. And in His Father's house are
many mansions, if it were not so. See, he can't lie. He says, I would have told you. And I go to prepare a place for
you. And there are many. There are many. Many reservations. Verse 7, he said, if you had
known me, you should have known my Father also. The Father. Verse 11. Believe me, I am in
the Father and the Father in me. Verse 21. He said, He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved of my Father. If you love me, you are loved
by my Father. Chapter 15. Go over there. Chapter 15. Verse 16. He says, You have not chosen
me. I have chosen you. All the children know that, don't
they? And I have ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it to you. The Father. Chapter 16. Go there. Chapter 16, verse 16. He says, A little while you shall
not see me, and again a little while you shall see me, because
I go. to the Father. Back previously
it says, knowing that he was going to the Father and having
loved his own. He loved them to the end. And
he's reassuring them of the Father's love for them. That he is indeed
their Father. Now here's a key verse, alright? How can I know that I am one
of these? He's speaking it. Alright, look
at verse 27. Verse 27, the Father himself
loveth you because you have loved me and have believed that I came
out from God. And that's what he just prayed
there. Because you love me. Here it is. Does God love me?
Am I a son of God? Am I a son of God? Well, let
me ask you this. Do you love the Son of God? The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, if you love me, you
are loved by God. You are loved by God. Go back
to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. He was talking
to some Pharisees one day, confronted by these Pharisees, who called
God their Father. Pharisees called God their father,
but they were arguing with the Son of God. They despised the Son of God,
yet they did everything they did in the name of God and called
God their father, but they hated the Son of God. What does that
tell you? And they argued with Him and
said, We won't have you reign over us. And our Lord said to
them, let's see, going down to verse 41, they said, We have
one Father, even God. God's our Father. Before that
they said, Abraham's our Father. He said, If you were Abraham's
son, you'd do the works of Abraham. Later he said, Abraham saw my
day. Abraham rejoiced to see my day
and was glad he saw it. Abraham worshiped. Before Abraham
was, I am. Abraham knew me and loved me
and worshiped me. They said, Abraham's our father.
He said, if you were sons of Abraham, you'd do what Abraham
does. Love me. And then they said,
well, God's our father. He said, if you were, verse 42,
if God were your father, you would love me. You would love
me. You see, the sons of God, the
true sons of God, love the Son of God supremely. The elder brother,
as the father does. He said, the love wherewith thou
hast loved me is in them, he said. The way the father loves
the son, that's the way this other son loves the son. Are
you with me? Peter said then, he said to the
people, he said, whom have ye not seen? Speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Whom have ye not seen, but ye love him. And rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Rejoice in Him. You
rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who you call Him. And
you love Him, the Son of God, supremely. Whom have ye not seen,
all the sons of God. This is how you know them. They
love, they adore, they worship the Son of the Most High God,
Jesus Christ. He's the object of their affection
and their worship. You see, they honor the Son as
they honor the Father. Listen to me. They honor the
Son as they honor the Father. But they call Him the Father. They've never seen the Father.
No man ever will see the Father. No man has ever seen God, never
will see God. But Christ said, He that hath
seen Me hath seen the Father. Didn't He? And so they believe. Having seen the Son, they see
the Father. And here's how you may know if
God is your Father, if you love the Son of God. What think ye
of Christ? Here's the question. This is
the question that he posed to everybody. He said to his disciples,
whom do men say that I am? And they began to say, good things,
great things, not good enough, not high enough. He said, whom
do you say that I am? What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? The Son of the Most High. Peter
said, We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the Most High God. We know who you are. We know
who you are. You're from above, we're from
beneath. You're the Son of God. You're God manifest in the flesh.
We believe and are sure. Oh, he said, Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, You see, no man knoweth the Father but the Son. No man knoweth the Son but the
Father, and no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to
whom the Son will reveal. Nobody's ever going to see God.
No man has, no man can. God is a consuming fire, but
we will. Job said, with mine eyes I will
see God. Who? The Son of God. Who is God? Very God of very God. Equal with the Father, though
a son. Though a son. Equal. Jesus Christ is the only
begotten, well-beloved Son of God. Now, this is important. Because
John said, whoever believes this is born of God. Isn't it? Born
of God. This is how you know. He's declared
to be the Son of God by God. This is my beloved son. Remember,
that God could not contain himself. He was so pleased with his son.
God, in old sundry times, in divers manners, spoke unto the
fathers by the prophet. God never spoke to men, but through
the prophet, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. Christ said, the words that I
speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father that's in me.
Well, but two times though, three times, God spoke out loud, didn't
He? And the people just said it thundered.
But we know what He said, don't we? We know what He said. Speaking
of the Son, He's so in love with the Son. He adores the Son. The Father worships the Son. The Father worships He said,
let all the angels worship the Son. Even the Father said, thy
throne, O God, is forever. There's a wonderful story in
the Old Testament of this that illustrates this. David was still
king of Israel. He was on his deathbed, 70 years
old. And there was a bunch of impostors
trying to call themselves the heir. David said, go call my
son Solomon. we're going to have a coronation.
I'm going to crown my son king right here in Zion. Does that
sound familiar? David said, go call my son Solomon.
And he invited the elect, the ones who didn't invite him, he
commanded them. And they came. And it says the king, when he
crowned his son Solomon as king, it says the king bound himself
to the Son. Now, David's still king. He won't
give that up. But he says to the Son, You're
king. Even the Father worships the
Son. So do the sons. He's declared
to be the Son of God, you heard this Sunday, by the Spirit of
holiness and the resurrection from the dead. Everything he
said, everything he did, He did what God can only do. Killing,
making alive, wounding, healing, quickening. He says, as the Father
quickeneth whom he will, even so the Son quickeneth whom he
will. He said the Father has committed all judgment to the
Son. I'm the judge of heaven and earth. I'm the judge. Sounds
like God to me, doesn't it? And though a son, yet he's equal
with the Father. He's equal in power. He's equal
in glory. He's equal in honor. He said,
everyone should honor the Son as they honor the Father. That's
what Scripture says. What do you think of all that? You know, there are many millions
who go door to door in God's name, mind you, go door to door,
even using the name Jesus Christ. They go door to door in Jehovah's
name, God's name, whom they call their Father, but they vehemently
deny that Jesus Christ is equal with the Father. And John says
they're anti-Christ. What about you, though? Do you
believe he's equal with the Father? Equal in all things? Blessed
art thou. No man knows the Son. But the
Father, whom the Father reveals Him to, Jesus Christ, why is
He called the Son of God? Because He's less than? Because
He's inferior to? No. He's only begotten. A son is begotten of his father. Am I less a man than my father?
Am I less human? Huh? No. Is Christ inferior to
The Father. Less God than him. Less sovereign. No. Equal. He's the only begotten,
the image of God. God is Spirit. But now, God in
the very beginning. Remember, when God created all
things, God said, God said, let us create man. Who'd say that to
the angel? No. They weren't created yet. They're created beings. He said
that to His Son, by whom He created. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. By Him were
all things created. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. The same was in the beginning
with God. The same was God. And God was manifest in the flesh. So, Jesus Christ called the Son
of God is the express, Hebrews 1 says, the express image of
God. Image of God. All the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. In a body. Do you believe that? That that man, see this, you
see, Jeanette, you know this, those that I was referring to,
those Russellites that go door-to-door, call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses,
and the Mormons and all that, they say he's the Son of God,
don't they? They say you are too. They say
he's no more a son of God, though, than you are. Don't they? That's
what they believe. They believe he was made, Kelly.
They believe he was actually created like you and me. No, no, no, no. This is the priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Having no father or mother, no
beginning of days, no end of days. This is the eternal I am. Whom do men say that I am? If you believe not, he said,
that I am. Tell us plainly who you are.
I told you. Even the same that I said from
the beginning. The same one Moses heard from.
is here, but you don't know Him. You don't know God, and therefore
you don't know me, he said. Do you believe that He's the
I Am? Huh? Well, my, my, we say, you
know, most call Him, they refer to Him as Jesus. Most people
perceive Him as merely a man, and that's how they refer to
Him. You will refer to Him the way you perceive Him. You know
that? The fear of the Lord. That's
the beginning of wisdom. When the disciples finally started
realizing whose presence they were in, oh Lord, they never
called Him Jesus. They started calling Him Lord,
didn't they? Until finally, Thomas dropped to his knees. Every knee
shall bow. Thomas dropped to his knees and
confessed with his mouth, My Lord and my God. And the Lord did not correct
him. Didn't correct him. My Lord and my God. What do you
call him? Do you call him Wonderful Counselor? The Mighty God? The Everlasting Father? Huh? Do you call him like Thomas?
My Lord and my God? Do you call him Immanuel? God
with us. Like Isaiah 25 now. They'll say
it in that day. This is our God we've waited
for. He'll save us. Here He is. God with us. Immanuel. Go to 1 John 3 with me. 1 John
3 which I quoted. John wrote this epistle and I
quoted it. He said, Behold what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Verse 1, that we should
be called the sons of God, therefore the world knoweth us not because
it knew Him not. It knew Him not. Look at chapter
5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And every one that loveth him
that begat, that's God, loveth him also that's begotten of him. Now he's speaking, I believe,
primarily of Christ, the only begotten well-beloved. The sons
of God love the son of God. Yes, they do. And they love the
begotten of the brethren of the Lord. They love Him. John writes
about this. Here we know we've passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. Do you love Sammy
Park? Do you, Stephen? Do you love
Stephen Park? You can't help it, can you? It's
blood. You love your own. You were born
loving them. You grew up loving them. You
can't not love them. It's blood. If you're a son of God, you have
to love the brethren. That's just a fact. You'll make
yourself love them. This love of God is shared abroad. You love the Son of God, and
you love all the sons of God. If they're family, you love them,
don't you? And pretty much recognize them. They all talk alike, begin to
look alike. Paul wrote of this, "...of whom
the whole family in heaven and earth His name, Christ, Christians. That's their surname, all of
them. Sons of God. And they love the Son of God,
their older brother, their elder brother, and they love the sons
of God, all the sons of God. I've got to hurry. I'm going to give you a scripture,
a passage of scripture that illustrates perfectly what I'm trying to
say here. And let me read this to you. Isaiah 54. Go there with me.
Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. Our Lord quoted this.
You know this. Our Lord quoted this in John
6.45. He said, They shall all be taught
of God. Remember that? Who? He's quoting and he wrote
this book. He can quote it how he wants.
All thy children, he says, verse 13, all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. They shall all be taught of God.
Every one of them. Loved by God, chosen by God,
taught of God. Taught what? Who God is. Christ
said that. This is life eternal, to know
the living, the true God. They know who God is. They all
know. All the sons know the Father.
They know He's God. They're not trying to be. He
is God. They know that. My, my. Sam and Stephen and Shannon,
they didn't have different conceptions of Joseph Hart, did they? Sammy didn't say, well, he's
red-headed and 5'4", and Stephen said, well, he's 6'10", and has
blonde hair. They knew the same father. They
were taught by the same father, right? They loved the same father. They knew he was in charge. No questions asked. That goes
without saying. All the children know who God
is. The first thing He teaches them,
they know who God is. They know who Christ is. It says
there in verse 13, they'll all be taught of the Lord. And our
Lord said, every man that hath heard and learned of the Father
does what? Comes to me. Comes to me, Christ said. The
Father says, You go to the Son. Not me. No man can see my face
and live. Can't deal with me. He said,
there's a place by me though. Remember what he said to Moses?
There's a place by me though, cleft of a rock. I'll put you
there and you'll see my back tarts. Christ is that rock, isn't He?
And the Father says to all His sons, you go to that son, the
elder son. I've given him all things. The
Father has given, Christ said this, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. God has given me all power over
all flesh that I should give. It's the sons to give eternal
life to as many as God gave me. And you know, every one of these
sons, God teaches them what they are. They know they're worthless. They all know they're a bunch
of prodigal sons. If they're sons, they're prodigals.
Christ is the lamb without spot, and they're black sheep, if sheep.
Don't they? And they love the Son. Well,
here's a perfect illustration of that. All right? Perfect. God's illustration. True story. Back in the Old Testament, you
know the story of Joseph and his brethren? You don't have
to turn there, but the story of Joseph, in case some of you
don't know, I'll tell you. The story of Joseph. Joseph was
the well-beloved son of Jacob. The most loved. It says Jacob
loved Joseph more than any of the rest of his son. And after
you got to know the rest of them, you didn't like them either.
Even Jacob said, they're a sorry lot. Remember that? Jacob said
of all of them. They were a bunch of sorry sons.
But now, he said, my Joseph. You know, Kelly, the rest of
them, most of them were illegitimate sons of the other wives. Joseph was from Jacob's rightful
wife, Rachel, the true son. But he was most loved. And the
father, Jacob, gave him a beautiful coat. of many colors that distinguished
him from the rest of the sons. They just had old coats, you
know, rags. But the son, the well-beloved
son, Joseph, had a coat of many colors. Do you understand who
I'm speaking of? Oh, you're blessed if you do.
This is Christ. This is all speaking of Christ.
Well, Joseph dreamed The Lord gave him a dream, a prophecy,
that all the sons of Jacob would bow down to him. And he told
them. He told them that. And they said,
no, we won't. And they got angry at him. And
he told the father that. John, he says, the father pondered
these things. Jacob said, hmm, sounds good
to me. But the sons, these worthless
sons, all of them, Levi and Simeon and all of them. They said, we
will not bow down to you. You're just a man like we are.
We'll see about that. So God Almighty, anyway, it says
that Joseph went to his brethren and found them where they were,
and yet they took him with wicked hands. They took their brother
with wicked hands. He came to his own. His own received
him not. And they took him with wicked
hands and cast him into a pit and were going to kill him. Sold him for 20 pieces of silver.
Amazing, isn't it, this story? True story? Of the greatest story
ever told. I thought about this. Patrick,
I thought, what do you suppose that Joseph was saying when he
was down in that pit? He was down in that pit for a
while, and his brethren were thinking about killing him. Scripture
went on to say he was good, full of goodness. You reckon he might
have been saying he knew the Father. He knew God. God knew
him. He loved God. You reckon he was praying, Father,
forgive them. You reckon? Forgive these brothers
of mine. They don't know what they're
doing. Well, anyway, so he was sold into Egypt, but God, it's
a long story, but I'll make it short. God, in His marvelous
wisdom, purpose, and power, made Joseph Lord of lords, King of
kings, sent him on the most powerful throne in the world at that time,
Egypt, and made him head over all. And it says he prospered
in everything. Everything Joseph did prospered. All these said came true. Every
prophecy came true. And that all things were delivered
into Joseph's hand. And when the world was in famine,
it says if anybody was going to get anything, it had to go
to Joseph. All goodness gifts were in his
hand again. This is Christ. It's all about
Christ. And he was seated on his throne
with all authority, but he wasn't known by his brethren. They didn't
know him. And God Almighty brought those
worthless sons of Jacob there one day. They were hungry too,
and they came just to get something to eat. But God, but Joseph knew them. He knew
them, saw them coming, and he was determined. He purposed that
he was going to reveal himself to them. But first, they've got
to repent. They've got to loathe themselves
for what they've done to the Son, the well-beloved Son. They've
got to loathe themselves for that. And they did, John. They
came to loathe. They got into all sorts of trouble.
And they all decided, it's because of what we did to the Son. We're
getting what is coming to us, like the thief on the cross.
We're getting what's coming to us. He didn't deserve that. We
deserve this. Until they were broken men. They
were changed men. Broken. They came before the
one they did not know. And it says, Joseph couldn't
refrain himself any longer. And he made himself known to
his brethren. He said, it's I. Joseph. And he recognized Him. King of
kings and Lord of lords. What a story. God hath made this
same Jesus whom we have crucified. Yes, all we. Both Lord and Christ. And all the sorry sons of Jacob
who despised Him and rejected Him, like those sons, will come
to see Him who He is. And love Him. And know Him. And
bow to Him. When it was over, Nancy, those
sons of Jacob, they were sure glad that Joseph loved them first.
They were sure glad that Joseph made himself known to them. Could
have destroyed them. And you know, here's another
part of that story. What do you think Jacob thought
of those other boys when he found out what they'd done? But Joseph reconciled them all.
Do you get that? Joseph reconciled them all. They are all reconciled. The
Father, with all the sons, reconciled by who? That Lord on the throne. Man, oh man, what a story. Jesus
Christ, the Son, the well-beloved Son of God, and He provided for
them all the day. So Christ said, and so they beheld
Joseph's glory, and Christ said, Father, I will, that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am." Joseph said, you're
going to stay right here from now on. I'm going to provide
for you. You're not going to lack a thing. I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am. What? To do what? That
they may behold my glory. For thou hast loved me before
the foundation of the world, and you put this love in them."
They love my glory. Are you a son of God? Do you
love to hear Jesus Christ glorified? I know we're all ashamed of our
love, but do you not? Here's a better illustration.
The bride loves the bridegroom. The bride loves the bridegroom.
Rejoices. The friend of the bridegroom
rejoices at his boy. The bride loves the bridegroom.
In glory, Christ is going to come walking down the aisle.
We've got it all backwards, don't we? But Christ, the bridegroom,
is going to come walking down the aisle. And all the bride
is in love with him. And I was saying I couldn't help
but think about your wedding. And I was thinking of this illustration.
I'll never forget it. Steve was there. We were standing
there. And I remember the look on your face when Hannah came
walking down that aisle. You remember, Steve? And it was
adoration is what it was. It was like, I can't believe
she's mine. We can't either, Sam. You remember that? Steve, I remember
you looked at Sam, and he looked at you like, I'm here, aren't
I? This is happening, isn't it?
It really is happening. Well, all the sons of God, they
adore, they love the Son of God. And when He comes walking down
that aisle, and when somebody preaches Him, yes, am I Son of
God? Do you love the Son? Delight
to hear His glory? Then you're going to be there
throughout eternity beholding His glory. The Bride loves the
Bridegroom. All right, stand with me. Our Father, thank You. Our Father
in Heaven, thank You for revealing the Son to Your people and in
Your people. shedding abroad the love of God
in the hearts of your people, that they may love the Son as
thou hast loved the Son. Lord, we thank you. And as the
song, as the hymn goes, more love to thee, O Christ. Lord,
we do love Him because thou first loved us. Lord, increase our
love, we pray. Greater loveth no man than he
is. His love for us. And Lord, may we lay down our
lives for Him and for the brethren. Thank you. Thank you for the
gospel of Christ. And it's in His name we've met
here tonight. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Great subject.