that word, that song ran out
of Isaiah 53. And what a blessing that was. Thank you Susanna for selecting
that this morning. Such a sweet song. And if that didn't touch your
heart as a believer, I'm sorry. It sure touched mine. And it
always does when I think about our Lord Jesus who laid down
His life for us. This One who is the coming King.
Now, I invite you this morning to go to John 16. And in a few minutes, I'll direct
your attention to one verse of Scripture. We'll go to John 16. And this is, in some ways, a
preface for our message this evening, which is going to be
from John chapter 17, which is our Lord's High Priestly Prayer. What was the greatest message
that you can think of that was ever preached? Well, I'm not
sure what you'll think about or what your response is to that
question, but I do know the answer. It is that message our Lord Jesus
brought from John 14, 15, and 16. It's the greatest message
that was ever preached. I read the first few verses of
it to you in the beginning of this service. The one who did
the preaching was our Master. I enjoy reading sermons and the
works of Charles Spurgeon. Someone said of Mr. Spurgeon many years ago, he's
the prince of preachers. I beg to disagree. He was an outstanding preacher. especially during his earlier
years, but he was a sinner saved by
grace. Our Lord Jesus deserves the title of the Prince of Preachers. As they said, never a man spake
like this man. It's a very sweet thought to
me, preacher of the gospel, having
been trying to preach now for many years, it's very sweet thought
to me to remember that our Lord Jesus was a preacher. In Matthew
chapter 4 verse 17 it says, and from that time Jesus went forth
and he began to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. from that time. Well, from what
time? Well, after he defeated that
Prince of Darkness. After he dueled with him out
in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. And the old roaring
lion found that he could not devour our representative. And he went away licking his
wounds. And our Savior went forth then,
that triumphant one over the temptations of Satan. He went forth, our Lord did,
and began to preach. He went forth preaching many
messages, but this is the longest one. in John 14, 15, and 16. And those of you who are the
Lord's people, read this often, read it again. It's just so much
very precious food for our souls in this portion of Scripture.
And so this is the greatest message ever preached, John. chapters
14, 15, and 16. And then, after that, we get
to John 17. That's the greatest prayer ever
prayed. No prayer was ever greater than
the prayer that our Savior prayed in John 17. And the unique thing about this,
and I'll be saying more about it tonight, of course, is that
we are honored We are privileged, as it were, to sit in and eavesdrop
on our Lord's words to the Father. What a privilege is that! And this is not the same time
when our Lord went forth with Peter, James, and John into the
garden to pray. All of His disciples, all of
those men who loved Him, who believed Him, they were there,
listening to this message, really. Even though
it is a prayer, and the greatest prayer ever prayed, it's a message
to all of the people of God. Here's our great High Priest,
and He prays for us. He prays regarding Himself. He
prays regarding these disciples, and He prays about us. He prays for us. Now you think
of that. 2,000 years ago, the night before
He would be crucified, with all that great responsibility of
our salvation resting upon His shoulders, who's He mindful of? His people. His people. And as you read through this,
you'll see He prays that one of these days we'll be with Him
where He is. And when children of God die
in the Lord, when the people of God go home to Paradise, this
is an answer to the Savior's prayer. This is His great petition
to the Father. In this prayer, it says, Father,
I will. We can't pray that way. We pray,
Father, Thy will. Father, Thy will. And as we pray,
Father, Thy will, that brings us more into conformity with
His will. But our Lord Jesus, as the sovereign
intercessor, He prayed, I will. Only one equal with God could
do that. I say this is the greatest prayer
that was ever prayed. And it followed the greatest
message that was ever preached. And then we get to John chapters
18 and 19, and I would say this is the greatest miscarriage of
justice that has ever taken place. This
is the greatest miscarriage of justice. Our Lord Jesus was arrested,
taken before a religious jury, judges, and then found guilty,
and He was altogether innocent. And then He's turned over to
the Roman authorities And though the man who had the final word
said, this is Pontius Pilate, said, I find no fault in this
man. Though he said that after examining
all of the evidence and listening to whatever witnesses they brought
before him, and after questioning Jesus of Nazareth, he said, I
can't find any fault in him. but you take him and crucify
him. This is the greatest, greatest miscarriage of justice that ever
was. The arrest, conviction, and execution
of Jesus of Nazareth. And yet, yet this is the most wonderful
event, most glorious event that could ever take place. Because though this was, as man
views it, and as we view the actions of wicked men, though
it was the greatest miscarriage of justice, yet it's the greatest
event of all time. Since the beginning of this world,
until the very end of this world, nothing has ever happened like
this. This is the death of the Savior. This is the death of the Son
of God. This is our Lord Jesus laying
down His life to save His people. It's the greatest event that
ever took place. This was purposed in old eternity. In eternity, in the future, we're
going to be singing about this. And here right in the middle
is this event. A man died on the middle tree,
but he's more than a man, he's the God-man. And he died to satisfy
God, and he died to bring in righteousness for all of his
people. Oh, it is the greatest miscarriage
of justice, that's true. But it's also the greatest event
that ever happened. Our salvation fully hinges on
His death. His death. That's why the Scripture
says He's the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. And then, this greatest miscarriage
of justice And the greatest event that ever happened set forth
in chapters 18 and 19 as follows. The greatest evidence that the
Lord Jesus did the work the Father gave Him to do. Chapter 20, His
resurrection. His resurrection. The fact that
He came forth from the grave to live forever. this body that
had been laid in the tomb, and there three days and three nights,
that body that lay there in the stillness and the calmness and
the darkness of the grave, the soul of our Savior all the while
being with the Father in Paradise, His soul comes back, takes up
His abode once again in that body, And He didn't break the
stone to pieces to come out as though He were breaking out of
prison. No, He had served our sentence. He had paid our debt, not to
society, because He didn't owe anything to society. We didn't
owe anything to society. He paid our debt to the justice
of God. And God released Him. God told
the angel, roll the stone away. Opened the prison door. He served
His time. He served our time. He paid our
debt. God is satisfied. God demands
no more. No more. And our Lord Jesus came
forth from the grave. That is the greatest evidence
that God was very well satisfied with the work that He did upon
the cross of Calvary. And then the greatest evidence
that He finished the work, His resurrection, that's followed
by in chapter 21. The greatest and most wonderful
commission God ever gave to His preachers. And oh, what good
news this is to sinners. The Lord Jesus said, feed My
sheep. Oh, isn't that good news? Feed
My sheep. He had laid down His life for
the sheep. John 10 says that. He has redeemed
the sheep. He has put away the sins of the
sheep. He has risen from the dead for
the sheep. And then He tells His disciples,
specifically Peter, but really all of His preachers, now you
feed them. And don't forget the lambs. Because
you know in one expression there He said, feed my lambs. Are there
any young, tender lambs here this morning? Young in the faith.
Oh, He said, feed you too. Feed My sheep. He hasn't forgotten
us. We're always on His heart. We're always on His mind. And
He sends His preachers to us. Oh, they're sinners? Yes. This
one is. Everyone is. Except that one
who is the prince of preachers. But all of the underlings, all
of the under-shepherds were sinful men, saved by the grace of God,
taught the things of God. And he says to me, feed my sheep. And we go into
the green pastures of the Word of God. Oh, how tender the grass
is. And we're nourished. Well, this morning, I want us
to go back to the very beginning, or excuse me, to the end of the
greatest message ever preached. And I direct your attention to
one verse of Scripture. John chapter 16, verse 28. John
16, 28. Our Lord Jesus, nearing the very
end of His message, He tells His disciples here three very
powerful statements. Number one, He says, I came forth
from the Father. Number two, and am come into
the world. And number three, again, I leave
the world and go to my Father. I could have called this From
the Father to the Father, because the verse begins and ends that
way. I came from the Father, I'm going
back to the Father. That would have been a good title,
I'm sure, for the message. But here's what I've entitled
this message. I've entitled it Christ's Origin.
Here's His origin. I came forth from the Father. And here's His, secondly, His
incarnation. And am come into the world. Number three, here's His departure. I leave the world. I leave the
world and go to my Father. This one verse really gives us
a good understanding and it summarizes our Lord's person and His work. And it really sets the stage
for John chapter 17. Who is this one who prayed for
us? Who is this great interceder? Who does the intercessory work?
Who is this One who is our Mediator? Who is the One who says to the
Father, I will, on behalf of His people? Who is He? Well,
He's the One who came forth from the Father. Who has Himself come into this
world. And when he had finished the
work that he came to do, then he left this world. He said,
I leave this world. I'm going back to the Father.
And you know that when he left this world and went back to the
Father, whatever mission the Father sent him on, he fulfilled
it. He did what the Father told him
to do. And actually, in John 17, our
Lord deals more specifically and more in-depth with these
three issues of His origin, of His incarnation, and of His departure. Let's see if we can grasp what
these three statements are all about. Number one, His origin.
He said, I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the
Father. Three things are implied. Number
one, if He came forth from the Father, if He came forth from
the Father, He must have existed before He was born into this
world, if He came forth from the Father. He must have been with the Father
and one with the Father. You notice that he says in verse
27, John 16, 27, he says, For the Father loveth you, because
you have loved me, and you have believed that I came out from
God. I came out from God. He dwelt in the Father. Really
the idea is here that He came out of the Father. He was one
with the Father. He dwelt with the Father from
all eternity. And now He has come out of the
Father. There's His deity. There is the fact that He's truly
God. The only one who can save us,
the only one who can help us, has to be God in human flesh. We must stand up for the deity
of the Lord Jesus when others are tearing it down. Yes, He was truly the Man Christ
Jesus. I take nothing away from that.
But when He assumed our nature, He did not cease to be God of
very God. This one who prays in John 17. Yes, He's the Man Christ Jesus,
but He's the God-Man Christ Jesus. Therefore, His prayers avail
much. with the Father. He says, I came
out from the Father. And doesn't this remind you of
what John says, the way he begins the book in John chapter 1, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God? Or as the interlinear Bible reads,
taken right out of the original, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. God was the
Word. This quite simply, and I say
quite simply, there's nothing simple about this, but it's making
us face this glorious fact. He's God. He's God. And then if He came forth from
the Father, if He came out of the Father, then the Father must
have had a reason for sending Him forth. He must have had a purpose for
sending Him. If that One who is God of very
God, the Creator of all things, the Sustainer of everything,
if God sent Him into this world, He must have come here on a mission. And whatever that mission was,
being man, he would fulfill it. Being God, he could not fail
to fulfill it. The Father gave His Son. The Father sent His Son. He says,
I came forth from the Father. I was one with the Father from
all eternity. You can't grasp that. I know
you can't. I can't either. One with the
Father. Who would be a fool and try to
describe or explain the Trinity? The Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit. The Great Three in One. not three
gods, not each one a third god, each one fully God. And within
the Trinity, there's the three persons of the Trinity who according
to the Scriptures, though their works certainly in many cases
overlapped, specifically we attribute the election unto salvation to
God the Father, the redemption of the elect by the Son of God,
and that quickening of the elect, the calling of the elect, the
teaching of the elect, the comforting of the elect to the Holy Spirit. But each one of them is equally
God. Now, it pleased the Father that
in the Lord Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, all the
fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily. That's the reason in
that passage I just read to you. When Philip said, Lord, show
us the Father, it'll help us. We'll better understand. Just
show us the Father. We see you, but we want to see
the Father. And he says, Philip, Philip,
have I been with you all this time? Don't you understand? If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. And I'll tell you, when we get
to heaven's everlasting glory, we'll see God. We'll see all of God in one person. The Lord Jesus Christ. Because seeing Him, we see the
Father. Seeing Him, we see the Son. And
seeing Him, we see the Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you something else
quickly on this origin. This statement shows His willingness
to come. I came forth from the Father.
No reluctance. You know, those of you who are
moms and dads, You tell your children when they
were small or your grandchildren now, but you told them something
to do this. Quite often they don't do it
that first time around. Did you hear what I said? And
they may do it reluctantly. Or there may have to be further
measures taken to kind of reinforce the instruction and the command. But our Lord Jesus, when God
the Father sent Him into this world, He wasn't reluctant to
come. He was glad to do it. In fact, there was a joyfulness
within him according to Hebrews 12 even as he faced the death
of the cross of Calvary. It was the joy of saving us,
of having all of us with Him in glory forever and ever. That
brought him great joy. So much so that he was willing
to taste death with all of its horrors. He was willing to bear
the wrath of God for us for the joy that was set before Him. What is that joy, Lord? My people
will be with me and like me forever and ever. No reluctance. And He knew the path marked out
for Him because He marked it out Himself. Yes, He did. Well, quickly, let's
get to this second point, the incarnation. I am come into the
world. He's the only man. He's the only man who chose when
he would be born, where he would be born, To whom He would be
born? I mean, He arranged all the details
way ahead of time, back in eternity past. I've heard people say, I wish
I was born into a different family. Well, I don't. I'm thankful I
was born into the family I was born in. Because that's the way
God purposed it. Have you ever thought about,
slightly off subject here, but have you ever thought about,
if I had a do-over for life, if I had a do-over, in golf we
call it a mulligan, if I got a life's mulligan, and I had
my life to do over, some things to do over, what would you change
about it? What would I change about it?
And you know, when I'm thinking right, which isn't very often,
but when I'm thinking correctly, I wouldn't change a thing. And the reason is because that
path marked out for me, even the twists and the turns and
the, as it were, falling into the briars of life, and making
some tremendous mistakes along the way. Those things were necessary
for me to make me who I am today, and the same is true with you. It's all been set forth from eternity, ordained
from eternity, and you're fulfilling the will of God. But our Lord
Jesus, He came and He said, I always do those things that please the
Father. I always do. This is the one who was born
of a virgin. Another truth we stand firmly
for. I absolutely detest these so-called
Translations of the Bible that talk about Mary being a young
woman. She was a virgin. Our Lord Jesus was not polluted
with that stream of sin that began in man back in Eden's garden. He wasn't polluted with that
stream. That stream from which He flows
the snow-capped mountains of God's glory. The pure water of
life. He came into this world. The
Son of God absolutely perfect. He said, I'm coming to the world. He told the Jews back in John
8, He said, I'm not of this world. He said, I'm from above. You're beneath. You're from beneath. And I don't think he's talking
merely about you're from the earth. I believe he's talking
about you're from the evil one, because he said you're of your
father the devil. You come from the regions of
death. I come from the regions of life.
And he says, I'm come to the world. Why did he come? He came
to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to save His
people from their sins. He came to bring in everlasting
righteousness. He came to do that work the Father
sent Him to do. And that work included a
life of righteous obedience, and a substitutionary death upon
the cross of Calvary by which He would bear all the sins of
His people and bear them away into a land uninhabited. And
He would separate our sins from us as far as the east is from
the west and bring in everlasting righteousness for us. And the
third thing is, His departure. And His departure really was
threefold, or maybe we should say in three stages. First of
all, there was a voluntary death. He departed. He told His disciples,
I'm going away. Where are you going? I'm going
to die. I'm going to die. He was going to do that which
was absolutely necessary in order for sinners like you and me to
live. It was a voluntary death. He departed from the land of
the living. He said, I have the power to
lay down my life and I have the power to take it again. He laid
it down. He took human life into union
with His deity to begin with and now this Divine One lays
His life aside for a little while because death's the penalty for
sin which He bore. It was a voluntary death. And
number two, it was a voluntary resurrection. I know sometimes
it says the Father raised Him, sometimes it says the Holy Spirit
raised Him, but He raised Himself. I have the power to take it again,
He said. And then His was a voluntary
ascension. No chariot sent for Him like
was sent for Elijah. He doesn't need a ride. By His own power, by His own
authority, as He was giving some final words to His disciples,
He just began to raise up in front of them. He pronounced
a blessing upon them. And they watched and He just
went out of sight. So He defied the law of gravity. Gravity is His law. That's His
law. He put that into effect. And
he who made the law, having fulfilled God's law, now the law has no
more power over him. He ascends back to the Father. I leave the world. I leave the
world and go to my Father. And I'll tell you what, you read
Psalm 24, when he got home to glory, They said, open the gates! Open the gates! Who's coming? A redeemed sinner? Oh no! The
Redeemer of sinners! The Lord of hosts! The King of
glory! He's coming home. He's coming
home. And oh, what a welcome He received
when He got back to glory. And the Father said, on the basis
of your finished work of redemption, sit here at my right hand. The God-man said here at my right
hand, to all of you enemies who made you footstools, and you
run all this universe, you're the Lord of all of it. God made
him Lord. And that's our Savior. That's
our Savior. Oh, trust Him. He's a glorious
Redeemer. Could we sing a final song? We'll
sing about His blood. 212.